These guides are designed to help players who are new to Civ but still interested in Vox Populi, familiar with Civ but new to Vox Populi, or even those well versed in Vox Populi who just want to see if there's anything they didn't know about a particular civilization. I am actually a big fan of Zigzagzigal's Civ guide series, and it really helped me learn a lot about the game, and I wanted to bring a similar experience for fans of the Vox Populi or Community Balance Patch modpack. For those interested in the modpack it can be downloaded here[forums.civfanatics.com]

Anyways, without further ado, onto the Ottomans!

Before I go into depth with this guide, here's an explanation of some terminology I'll be using throughout for the sake of newer players.

Beelining - Focusing on obtaining a technology early by only researching technologies needed to research it and no others. For example, to beeline Bronze Working, you'd research Mining and Bronze Working and nothing else until Bronze Working was finished.
Finisher - The bonus for completing a Social Policy tree (e.g. +33% Great Scientist rate and +25% growth in all cities from rationalism.)
GWAM - Great Writers, Artists and Musicians. These are the three types of Great People who can make Great Works, a major source of tourism for cultural Civs.
Opener - The bonus for unlocking a Social Policy tree (e.g. +25% Great Person Rate and +100% construction of guilds in Artistry)
Tall Empire - A low number of cities with a high population each.
UA - Unique Ability - the unique thing a Civilization has which doesn't need to be built.
UB - Unique Building - A replacement for a normal building that can only be built and used by one Civilization.
UI - Unique Improvement - A tile improvement that can be made by workers that doesn't replace any other improvement that can only be made by a single civilization
UU - Unique Unit - A replacement for a normal unit that can only be built by one Civilization or provided by militaristic City-States when allied.
Uniques - Collective name for Unique Abilities, Units, Buildings, Tile Improvements and Great People
Wide Empire - A high number of cities with a low population each.
XP - Experience Points - Get enough and you'll level up your unit, giving you the ability to heal your unit or get a promotion.

The Ottomans do not have a start bias. None of their uniques care too much about terrain, so that's ok


Completing a trade route grants 150& to the origin city if international, and +150& if internal. Bonuses scale with era




A ranged unit



Positive One-Off Changes

• Higher combat strength (24 instead of 22)
  
• Higher ranged strength (31 instead of 30)
  
• Obsoletes at Ballistics rather than Dynamite

Positive Stay on Upgrade Changes

• -15% combat strength when defending. Unit will heal every turn, even if it performs an action(March)
  
• 25% combat bonus when attacking

Misc Changes
Copper gains +1&(Changed from just +2)

Positive Changes

• +3
  
• +50% production towards siege units
  
• All siege units made in this city gain the Volley promotion(+50% ranged combat strength against cities and fortified units)
  
• When you construct a unit in this city, gain equal to 20% of the units cost

These scores are merely my personal opinions from playing and examining this Civ, you may find other uses for the Ottoman uniques that make you disagree with a certain ranking


The Siege Foundry as well as the Janissary give the Ottomans an incredibly powerful offense. There strengths don't translate great to defense, but nonetheless Domination is probably the Ottomans best route.
Ottoman trade routes can net them a solid amount of culture, although it doesn't translate to tourism at all.
The Ottomans are almost as good at science as they are at warfare, due to their UA and UB. They also get some solid growth from their UA, and some extra production from their UB
The Ottoman UA nets them a good amount of gold. They may not have any bonuses to diplomacy, but their use of trade routes encourages them to go statecraft, which is an automatic bump to diplomacy.
Finally, the Ottomans want to wait until their Siege Foundry's are up to start building an army, so they can afford to build some religious infrastructure early on.

Whenever you have a trade route you usually have to make a choice. Send it internationally for gold, and possibly some science and culture on the side, or do you send it internally to bolster a city with food or production. The Ottomans complicate this choice by giving a different lump sum of yields for completing each type of trade route. 150(scaling to 300 in the medieval and 150 more each era after) gold and culture for internal trade routes, and the same amount of food and science for an international trade route. All of those yields are pretty valuable, and you don't necessarily have to make a strong choice one way or the other. I would recommend trying to keep a rough balance of internal and international trade routes. I would recommend as The Ottomans to get to Trade as soon as possible and to get a caravan up fast. Eventually you will have many trade routes but at this point you will only have one, so the question (assuming you have a nearby city state or city of another civ) is should your first trade route be internal or international. My personal recommendation is international, for one simple reason.


Above: The amount a tech cost increases with each city you found, but this should still give you a good idea of roughly how much a tech would cost early in the game

The second tier of techs, which include techs like bronze working and trade, cost less then 150 science. The first tier costs about half of that. This means that when your first international route finishes, you will get at least 1 free tech. That is insanely good. While the science from trade routes does scale, it scales slower then how much the cost of techs does, so you won't get a free tech from every trade route as the game goes on, but this is still really good throughout the game. Make sure you are always keeping your trade routes up, and you should find yourself with a healthy amount of science, culture, gold, and food.

Looking at the Ottoman UA, it may appear like they are a relatively tall, peaceful, trade focused civ, but the Siege Foundry offers as much potential as the UA, albeit requiring a somewhat different playstyle then the UA.



Siege units are usually fairly expensive to make throughout the entire game, but the Siege Foundry grants a massive 50% production bonus towards them, making them pretty much the fastest thing you can make throughout the entire game. This is further assisted by the Siege Foundry having extra production over the normal forge. This isn't a big deal in the long run, but early game 3 production is a big deal, and makes sure your cities are efficiently making things. This efficiency ties in perfectly with the second major bonus of the Siege Foundry. Whenever a unit is made in an city with a Siege Foundry, you gain a lump sum of science equal to 20% of the units production cost. This is perfect, as you build siege units fast, but they aren't actually cheaper then normal. It still won't be nearly the massive amount of lumps that you get from trade routes, but it is something you can keep going at a faster, more consistent, and less riskier pace.


Forget the curveball Ricky, hit 'em with the Volley

If faster building siege that give you science wasn't enough, the Siege Foundry also gives your siege units Volley, for free, right when they are built. Volley increases your siege's effectiveness against cities and fortified units by 50%, which is a really good bonus. For any other civ that uses siege, Volley is usually the promotion they are trying to get to, but the Ottomans just skip right to it. Normally that wouldn't be possible for other civs until military academies. Of course the Ottomans can get those too, so later in the game they will have siege units immediately built with Volley and Siege III or even Field III if you want.

Freshly conscripted from Istanbul, ready for the front.

The Ottomans already have some of the best siege in the game (only really rivaled by Sweden and maybe Korea) so it may seem a bit awkward for them to have a ranged UU, and I won't deny it's a little strange, but the Janissary makes up for it by being really strong. A unique unit usually has at least one of three things to make it stand out from a normal unit. It attacks better then its normal counterpart, it defends better then its normal counterpart, or is easier to utilize then its counterpart. The Janissary has all 3 going for it.



Offensively, it has a massive 25% combat bonus on the attack. The Janissary can absolutely wipe the floor with any units at or below it's era, clearing the way for Ottoman siege to take down enemy cities.

Defensively, the Janissary starts with the March Promotion, making it the only ranged unit capable of getting it. March does lower your combat strength on defense, but makes it so your unit heals every turn, no matter if it performs an action or not. This ensures that Janissaries never have to stop fighting, always being able to keep up pressure on the enemy.

Finally for ease of use, and arguably the most powerful part of the Janissary, is that it comes earlier then the normal musketman, arriving at gunpowder rather then metallurgy. This is fantastic for the Ottomans, as it means they will have Janissaries up the same time they get cannons, giving them a massive power spike in the renaissance that almost no civ can match.

• +25% combat strength when attacking
  
• -15% combat strength on defense. Heals every turn, even if it performs an action(March)

The Janissary on paper seems like a weird addition to the Ottoman uniques, but it is a strong unit that comes earlier then it should, on a civ who was already good at science, which almost guarantees that when it comes on the field, no one will have an answer to it. All of its promotions even carry over on upgrade, ensuring your ranged dominance

The Ottomans are simultaneously a great domination and a great science civ, and they aren't much better at one then the other. But for the Ottomans to truly maximize their conquest, they have to sacrifice some science, and vice versa. No matter what route you go for you will still be good at both, and still able to utilize all your uniques. However, I wanted to point out what is being sacrificed going for each route, as while as what situations might better favor a change in victory route.


A domination Ottomans focuses more on their UB and UU, while somewhat lessening the strength of their UA, since the cost of techs and policies will be higher due to having more cities, making the linerally scaling culture and science less useful, not to mention your trade routes are more vulnerable to pillaging when at war a lot.

You should go for a domination victory if...

• There are really strong science civs, such as Korea.
  
• Most or all of the civs are weak defensively
  
• You share a land border with several neighbors

A Science Ottoman is NOT a peaceful Ottoman, however they are an Ottoman who are trying to limit their expansion to keep tech and policy costs low to maximize the effect of their trade routes. They only go to war to either take out a weak opponent early on to strengthen their power, or to take out a dangerous rival, and when doing so they only take important cities and raze the rest. Your UA is brought to it's full potential here without completely sacrificing your UB and UU, however they aren't used to their fullest in this scenario either, being a supplement to your strong science and making enemy civs think twice about trying to fight you.

You should go for a science victory if...

• There are really strong defensive civs, like the Shoshone
  
• There are several civs with strong cavalry, like Byzantium, the Huns or Mongolia, or other civs with fast units like the Zulus
  
• You largely have a landmass to yourself

The Ottomans should start with Authority to help early conquest. Despite not being a diplomatic civ, the Ottomans can still do well with Statecraft, mostly for the extra trade route, but the other trade route bonuses are useful too. Finally, a science Ottoman will do best with Industry whereas a domination Ottoman would do better with Imperialism


Opener: Barbarians are no longer much of an issue, and you gain more benefits from killing them. The production is always nice too.

Dominance: Extra science will help speed up your worker techs, and get you to Trade quicker

Tribute: A bit more extra production and some gold to buy workers or emergency units with

Imperium: You'll be conquering a good bit, so getting extra yields is always welcome

Discipline: The Ottomans don't do well with happiness, so this should help a bit

Honor: Makes your units stronger, gives you more of them, and ensures you can stay at war a bit longer without destabilizing.

Finisher: Not as good for The Ottomans as it is for other Authority civs, since they prefer to build units for science, but Free Companies, Foreign Legions and Mercenaries in the late game can be a great supplement to your army either in an emergency or for domination


Opener: Small bit of gold and a few extra yields in the capital can't hurt

Trade Confederacy: If you're trading with city states for international routes, might as well get some extra benefits out of it

Foreign Service: Completing quests can be really helpful for farther away city states that diplomatic units will take some time to get to, plus the spies are useful

Shadow Networks: A solid boost to science.

Exchange Markets: An extra trade route, bonus tourism modifiers from having trade routes with other civs, possible monopolies, a fantastic boost.

Consulates: You may not be here to win a diplomatic victory, but having some more sway in the world congress is never a bad thing

Finisher: Not the greatest finisher, as you're culture is pretty decent, but then again your science is good too, so this might help you if you get access to a late wonder early


Rationalism is normally the go to for science civs, but it is a little different for the Ottomans, as they can already get lots of science from unconventional sources. This further allows them to do that, while increasing their production capabilities much more then rationalism

Opener: Two trade routes is the big reason you're here, but you might as well keep going, there's lots to love in industry

Division of Labor: Seaports and Train Stations are normally expensive buildings, but now they are in line with other buildings. Also a large boost to your production and gold outputs

Mercantilism: A large boost to your culture and science outputs. If there was something for food and faith and you'd have everything you could ever want.

Free Trade: Extra gold from ITRs is always a good thing

Entrepreneurship: Gold and production, the industry tree knows what it wants, and you do too.

Protectionism: Better internal trade routes is really nice, but the other bonuses are certainly welcome

Finisher: You'll have at least a few specialists, so extra production and gold from them is a good thing


Opener: At this point in the game (depending on the map type you're playing on) your last rivals are likely on different continents, so faster navies and embarked units is great. The extra production is also fantastic for you, as the faster you can make units, the more efficiently you can get science from them.

Colonialism: If you've been doing a good job of conquering your neighbors, you've likely accumulated a good amount of monopolies, which already give great boosts. Why not make them better?

Regimental Tradition: Great Generals and Admirals are very important to keep your army fighting at peak strength, so making them affect more units, and affect them more, is great.

Martial Law: You might have a few puppets by this point, and possibly some happiness issues. This does a bit to make both less of a burden.

Exploitation: Making your military strong is nice and all, but what's the point if your cities can't gain some benefits too? Plus if you have a far away army it isn't as much of a pain anymore to get them upgraded

Civilizing Mission: Gold to support your conquests, production to support your conquered cities, both exactly what you need on the war path.

Finisher: A better navy, less unhappiness, and making your air units more effective on defense are all solid things to have

A science Ottoman should go Freedom due to its trade route bonuses, but a domination Ottoman should do the tried and true Autocracy


Economic Union: 2 trade routes, 2 more City States to gain influence with

Civil Society: Makes Specialists more reasonable to use without sacrificing growth

Avant Garde: Some extra scientists and engineers are always nice, and the happiness boost is good too


Arsenal of Democracy: Making units more efficiently means you're making science more efficiently

Universal Healthcare: A free hospital in every city, possibly before you even have biology researched, is amazing.


Space Procurements: You've probably been making at least a decent bit of gold from trade routes, so you should be able to invest it back into your victory.


Elite Forces: Whether you need to replenish your army or are continuing to fight with veteran units, this will make them improve much faster

New World Order: There is a solid chance you'll have lots of unhappiness at this point in the game, this helps alleviate that somewhat.

Military Industrial Complex: Combined with Imperialism upgrading units is pretty much free


Total War: Faster unit production = more science and more units

Commerce Raiders: A stronger navy to help protect your trade


Air Supremacy: Free Airports allow your army to be almost anywhere at any time, and almost eliminates the need for a navy as long as you've conquered/founded a city on every continent

Petra: A bit hard to get if you don't start near a desert, but the extra trade route this early is huge

Statue of Zeus: Yes your siege units already start with Volley, yes this is excessive, but why not have it?

Temple of Artemis: You won't actually have Siege Foundry's yet, but once you do, faster unit building means more efficient science.


Colossus: The coastal, classical cousin to Petra. Should be a bit more reliable to get then Petra, and while it won't be as good since it is later, the extra trade route is still very good.

Terracotta Army: You get stuff from building units, why not from killing them?


Alhambra(Authority Only): A good bit of culture, plus if you want mounted units, they have an extra promotion now.


Palace of Westminster(Statecraft Only): Makes sure you can at least contest any bad world congress decisions, if not pass ones beneficial to you.

Brandenburg Gate: You'll likely have a large army as the Ottomans, since you want to keep building units for science. Don't let supply limit be a limiting factor

Neuschwanstein: Might be hard to get due to terrain, but this will help any happiness problems a lot


Broadway(Industry Only): The music doesn't help you very much, but the extra culture could be nice

Prora(Autocracy Only): Happiness problems be gone!

Statue of Liberty(Freedom Only): The extra production is nice. The free social policy is better


Pentagon(Imperialism Only): Some free air units, and if you ever want more they come out faster and better


CERN: Two free techs, useful no matter what you're doing

Great Firewall(Science): Helps make sure people aren't leeching off of your science lead

Hubble Space Telescope(Science): A massive help in both getting the techs to build spaceship parts, and actually building them

The Ottomans have some complicated uniques, and while they aren't the hardest to use in practice, they do require active use, and sometimes it is hard to keep track of every bonus they have.


While the trade bonuses do scale throughout the game, they are most powerful early on, the longer you take to get them, the worse off you are.


Yes you build strong siege units faster then anyone, but at the end of the day siege units are still siege units, and are quite vulnerable without something to take fire for them. You will want melee units to protect them until you get Janissaries, and then you will still want Janissaries to protect them as well.


The Janissary is a strong unit that you should try to get as soon as possible, but siege units are the core of the Ottoman military strategy, and you have a good window before Janissaries to get some catapult and trebuchet wars in.


It can be easy to think of the Ottoman UA as a science bonus, and therefore only sending international trade routes, but the gold and culture from internal trade routes is very useful, in fact I would argue the gold is essential as the Ottomans lack any other gold bonus to support their army. Try to keep a healthy mix of internal and international trade routes

The Ottomans have very strong science, and probably the strongest ranged army in the game. However, their unconventionality leads to some very exploitable weaknesses.


The Ottomans gain a lot from trade routes, more so then probably any civ besides Morocco and Portugal. Compared to those two civs however, The Ottomans are a warmonger. They won't have many friends, and therefore fewer safe places to send a trade route. This makes it easier to predict where their trade routes are going to be, and to pillage them. The Ottomans don't gain a thing from their UA if the route gets pillaged before it finishes. If you do declare war on the Ottomans to do this, just be ready for a strong counterattack.


There isn't much you can do to stop the science The Ottomans gain from building units, what is more important to consider as an opponent of the Ottomans is that they are going to have a large amount of strong siege. Siege is really good at taking out cities, and does decently well against naval and ranged units, but they do really, really poorly against melee attackers. Mounted units are going to be your best friend against the Ottomans.


The Janissary is a really strong attacking unit. It comes early, hits hard, and even heals on its own. However, it shares the same flaw as the rest of the Ottoman army. Mounted units, as it has -15% combat strength on defense. If you happen to be the first on the Ottomans list after unlocking the Janissary, you are in trouble though, as knights aren't strong enough to do the job, unless you can get a lot of them. Try to send in lots of units at once to hopefully kill a Janissary/siege unit or two, and try to get to lancers as quick as possible. Once lancers are on the field the Ottomans will have a much harder time, although you will want to make sure you always hit hard and fast, because while the Ottoman army isn't fast, it sure will hit hard back.


While pillaging trade routes is a good way to deny the Ottomans their UA, it is risky given their strong military. However, Morocco doesn't have to worry about it as much, as they can pillage without having to declare war. They are also a great defensive civ, with a strong mounted ranged UU, and while mounted ranged isn't as good as normal mounted units for the Ottomans, it will still prove tough for the Ottomans to invade Morocco.


Early-Game Warmongers: A great time to take out the Ottomans, as they will likely neglect starting to build almost any military until they get their UB up.

Mid-Game Warmongers: Conversely, this is when the Ottomans are at their peak. Either ignore them, or make sure to bring lots of mounted units. Their siege won't be as threatening if the Ottomans are forced to defense, but their Janissaries certainly are scary.

Late-Game Warmongers: Use lots of armor units, make sure to devastate any former Janissary you find, and don't start this war without lots of units, the Ottomans will likely have a large army at the start, and can rebuild quickly.

Science Players: The Ottomans have pretty strong science, but their production towards things that aren't units is somewhat subpar. Keep up a good defensive force to prevent invasion, and you should be able to keep up on science and beat them to important wonders and spaceship parts

Cultural Players: Similar to science players, try and use any production bonuses you have to keep up a good defense. Probably don't try to take any wonders the Ottomans like though, most of the important wonders for them work just as well if they steal it or build it, don't give them any more reason to invade.

Diplomatic Players: Embargoing the Ottomans hurts them a ton, Global Peace Accords almost just as much. Try to bribe others to war the Ottomans so their trade routes get pillaged.

These guide cover every civ in the game, and can be used as a quick reference

• Civ Summaries

• America (Domination/Science/Culture)
  
• Arabia (Culture/Science)
  
• Assyria (Science/Domination)
  
• Austria (Diplomacy/Culture)
  
• The Aztecs (Domination/Science)
  
• Babylon (Science)
  
• Brazil (Culture)
  
• Byzantium (All)
  
• Carthage (Domination/Diplomacy)
  
• The Celts (Domination/Culture/Science)
  
• China (Domination/Culture)
  
• Denmark (Domination)
  
• Egypt (Culture)
  
• England (Domination/Diplomacy)
  
• Ethiopia (Science)
  
• France (Domination/Culture)
  
• Germany (Diplomacy/Science)
  
• Greece (Domination/Diplomacy/Culture)
  
• The Huns (Domination)
  
• The Inca (Science/Domination)
  
• India (Science/Culture)
  
• Indonesia (Domination/Culture/Science)
  
• The Iroquois (Domination)
  
• Japan (Domination/Culture)
  
• Korea (Science/Domination)
  
• The Maya (Science/Domination)
  
• Mongolia (Domination)
  
• Morocco (Culture/Diplomacy)
  
• The Netherlands (Diplomacy/Domination)
  
• Persia(Domination/Culture)
  
• Poland (Domination)
  
• Polynesia (Culture)
  
• Portugal (Science/Diplomacy)
  
• Rome (Domination/Science)
  
• Russia (Science/Domination)
  
• The Shoshone (Domination/Science/Culture)
  
• Siam (Diplomacy/Science/Culture)
  
• Songhai (Domination)
  
• Spain (Domination/Culture)
  
• Sweden (Domination)
  
• Venice (Diplomacy/Culture/Domination)
  
• The Zulus (Domination)