New Civ Game Guide: Ottomans (Tides of Power)

[FXS_Sar]

Meet the newest Modern Age civ joining Civilization VII, the Ottomans! This civ is coming with the second part of Tides of Power; don't forget to scoop it for free until January 5, 2026. (Really, please don't forget. Go grab it!).

Game guide here.

And get a first listen of their soundtrack:

Moderator Action: Details below:

Unique Ability​

Devlet-i ʿAlīye-i ʿOsmānīye: When any leader Excavates an Artifact in the Ottomans' territory, they generate an additional Artifact. Infantry and Naval Units receive increased Combat Strength when attacking.

Attributes​

• Militaristic
• Cultural

Civic Trees​

Şahi Topu

• Tier 1: Unlocks the 'Siege Train' Tradition. Army Commanders receive the Barrage Promotion.
• Tradition - Siege Train: When a District's Defenses are destroyed, all Land Siege Units and Infantry Units have their Movement restored.
• Tier 2: Increased Settlement Cap. Infantry units receive Increased Combat Strength against Districts.

Harbiye Nezâreti

• Tier 1: Increased Production towards Siege Units and Infantry Units. Land Units require less maintenance.
• Tier 2: Increased Settlement Cap. Unlocks the 'Erkân-ı Harbiye Mektebi' Tradition.
• Tradition - Erkân-ı Harbiye Mektebi: Land Military Units fight as though they are at full Strength even when damaged.

Lâle Devri

• Tier 1: Unlocks the Hammam Building. Unlocks the Sultanahmet Camii Wonder. Unlocks the 'Sedef Kakma' Tradition.
• Tradition - Sedef Kakma: Quarters with a set minimum number of Happiness Buildings receive increased Culture. Quarters with a set minimum number of Culture Buildings receive a set amount of Happiness.
• Tier 2: Unlocks the Camii Unique Building. Gain a Policy Slot.

Tanẓîmât

• Tier 1: Increased Production to Museums. Unlocks the 'Osmanlı Barok' Tradition.
• Tradition - Osmanlı Barok: Increased Happiness on Great Works.
• Tier 2: Gain an Artifact. Explorers ignore Vegetated and River tiles for Movement.

Unique Infrastructure​

Külliye: Unique Quarter. Increased Culture and Gold to Specialists in this Settlement.

Hammam: Unique Building. Happiness Base. Gold adjacency with Cultural Buildings.

Cami: Unique Building. Culture Base. Happiness adjacency with Science Buildings. Has a set number of Artifact slots.

Unique Military Units​

Barbary Corsair: Unique Light Naval Unit. It costs no Movement to Coastal Raid.

Janissary: Unique Infantry. Increased Combat Strength against other Land Units. Settlements suffer a Happiness penalty for every Janissary stationed in or occupying a District.

Associated Wonder​

Sultanahmet Camii: Happiness base. Wonders in this Settlement receive increased Culture and Gold. This is increased further for Exploration Wonders and even further for Antiquity Wonders. Must be built adjacent to another Wonder.

Starting Biases​

• None

 

[Jkchart]

Interesting design…but the Janissary might (sight unseen) be the single most baffling unique unit just for being an infantry replacement (already the most underused/underpowered unit class) that actively causes unhappiness in your empire if it’s in any districts **at all**. It’s thematic yes, but I think if this is not tuned correctly that happiness bonus could kill the AI, and just would encourage players to not use the unit if it is too harsh.

That’s based on my reading of the unit. Perhaps it excels more than I would expect with all of the combat bonuses in the open fields and against land units though? I certainly hope so for that tradeoff because it will make city defense AND offense more difficult to plan based on how I read it. Time will tell, I want to be optimistic about it. Maybe that penalty shouldn’t apply to occupied/conquered cities though, but then it could be too easy to circumvent. Idk.

 

[Gen.Washington]

Another victim of the ages system, awkwardly placed between the exploration and modern age.

 

[moysturfurmer]

Interesting design…but the Janissary might (sight unseen) be the single most baffling unique unit just for being an infantry replacement (already the most underused/underpowered unit class) that actively causes unhappiness in your empire if it’s in any districts **at all**. It’s thematic yes, but I think if this is not tuned correctly that happiness bonus could kill the AI, and just would encourage players to not use the unit if it is too harsh.

I do like the idea of there being some kind of strategy that incentivizes low happiness though. Like maybe there’s a policy you can unlock through one of the modern government types that makes it so that the closer a settlement is to 0 the more X yield you get.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

At first I was perplexed by the civ ability's artifact bonus, because the chance of archeology sites spawning in your territory is not great. Then I realized you could prime it by settling Natural Wonders, and you get a free artifact when an explorer does research at a culture building after hegemony. A nice synergy with Isabella, I see.

 

[Siptah]

I still don't quite get the unique ability. If I see an Ottoman player, I will always rush for the artifacts in their territory because it will give me two artifacts instead of one? How is that helping them?

 

[Daigotsu Max]

Pretty solid design overall - if modern can be made a bit longer/more interesting they could be fun to play.

 

[Lukas1990]

Jannissary as unique units? I am disappointed. Also Blue Mosque is strange choice.

 

[Berrern]

I'm curious about the Barbary Corsair ability: "It costs no Movement to Coastal Raid" - can you also do multiple Coastal Raids per turn? I guess not, because if you're in a Navigable River in a dense Settlement, you can really do some serious pillaging in a single turn!

I still don't quite get the unique ability. If I see an Ottoman player, I will always rush for the artifacts in their territory because it will give me two artifacts instead of one? How is that helping them?

To be fair, it'll most likely be easier for them to Excavate it first as it's in their territory - also helped by their Civic that lets their Explorers ignore Vegetation and Rivers

 

[Leucarum]

They are doing a good job at being evocative with civ bonuses. It isn't what I'm looking for, but it definitely is Ottomans...

 

[TheGhostEnthusiast]

I still don't quite get the unique ability. If I see an Ottoman player, I will always rush for the artifacts in their territory because it will give me two artifacts instead of one? How is that helping them?

I think it's meant to be a double edged sword to represent that a sizable portion of the Modern Age had the Ottomans on the back foot, encouraging other Civilizations to be watching you for signs of weakness so they can swipe a portion of your empire's wealth and prowess for themselves. It also historically reflects how many of the artifacts uncovered during the Ottoman occupation of Egypt actually went to Britain... playing as the Ottomans, you will have to be constantly vigilant.

 

[Jkchart]

I think it's meant to be a double edged sword to represent that a sizable portion of the Modern Age had the Ottomans on the back foot, encouraging other Civilizations to be watching you for signs of weakness so they can swipe a portion of your empire's wealth and prowess for themselves. It also historically reflects how many of the artifacts uncovered during the Ottoman occupation of Egypt actually went to Britain... playing as the Ottomans, you will have to be constantly vigilant.

Yeah I actually quite like this but I’m always hunting for artifacts though so

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

At first I was perplexed by the civ ability's artifact bonus, because the chance of archeology sites spawning in your territory is not great. Then I realized you could prime it by settling Natural Wonders, and you get a free artifact when an explorer does research at a culture building after hegemony. A nice synergy with Isabella, I see.

Oh, I do hope it actually does work with that.

 

[Siptah]

I think it's meant to be a double edged sword to represent that a sizable portion of the Modern Age had the Ottomans on the back foot, encouraging other Civilizations to be watching you for signs of weakness so they can swipe a portion of your empire's wealth and prowess for themselves. It also historically reflects how many of the artifacts uncovered during the Ottoman occupation of Egypt actually went to Britain... playing as the Ottomans, you will have to be constantly vigilant.

Yeah, I'm aware why it makes sense historically (also Greece, and Mesopotamia – and not just to the British). But I fear double edged swords such as this will always benefit the player much more than the AI. So, an Ottoman as enemy will mean faster victory times for human players, just as playing the Ottomans will do (which are additionally helped by additional GW slots, faster-to-build museums, and faster explorers – if you can find the culture to research these things). It's one thing if it's an ability the AI can't use properly, but another if it's an ability that you can use against the AI. But we'll see how it plays soon enough.

 

[Krikkit1]

I still don't quite get the unique ability. If I see an Ottoman player, I will always rush for the artifacts in their territory because it will give me two artifacts instead of one? How is that helping them?

They are closer to those Artifacts than you are.
If they see an Artifact in your territory, they may decide to invade before digging it up.

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

Are there any ways to prevent enemy Explorers from reaching your artifact tiles? Does being at war and placing a military unit on them stop Explorers?

I think the biggest problem with this Civ design is that Explorers are uninteractive and just “hover” on top of the map.

 

[Krikkit1]

Interesting design…but the Janissary might (sight unseen) be the single most baffling unique unit just for being an infantry replacement (already the most underused/underpowered unit class) that actively causes unhappiness in your empire if it’s in any districts **at all**. It’s thematic yes, but I think if this is not tuned correctly that happiness bonus could kill the AI, and just would encourage players to not use the unit if it is too harsh.

That’s based on my reading of the unit. Perhaps it excels more than I would expect with all of the combat bonuses in the open fields and against land units though? I certainly hope so for that tradeoff because it will make city defense AND offense more difficult to plan based on how I read it. Time will tell, I want to be optimistic about it. Maybe that penalty shouldn’t apply to occupied/conquered cities though, but then it could be too easy to circumvent. Idk.

They do seem to have a lot of infantry bonuses.

 

[Berrern]

Are there any ways to prevent enemy Explorers from reaching your artifact tiles? Does being at war and placing a military unit on them stop Explorers?

Unfortunately, no. I once tried to nuke one , he still kept on digging as the mushroom cloud cleared...

 

[Xandinho]

An ability focused on archaeology is something I'd originally expect for Mexico or modern Egypt, but not for the Ottomans. Not that it doesn’t make sense, but I really wasn’t expecting it.

Overall, the Ottoman design seems quite interesting, but the unfortunate part is that it falls into the rather dull Modern Age.

I really liked the bonus from the Sultanahmet Camii. A wonder that grants bonuses to other wonders is something different and fun (do we finally have a “Petra wonder”?).

 

[SeelingCat]

Ottoman Uniques!

Devlet-i ʿAlīye-i ʿOsmānīye	Ability	دولت عليه عثمانیه - "Sublime Ottoman State"	The Ottoman Turkish name for the Ottoman Empire.
Şahi Topu	Civic	"Royal/Shah's Cannon"	The Dardanelles Gun, a 15th-cenury bombard that say action in the 1807 Dardanelles Operation as part of the Anglo-Turkish War. It was buily in 1464 and modeled after the Basilic cannon used for the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453.
Harbiye Nezâreti	Civic	حربیه نظارتی - "Ministry of War"	The Ministry of War of the Ottoman Empire, established in 1908. Enver Pasha was among the individuals who held the title of War Minister between 1908 and 1940.
Lâle Devri	Civic	لاله دور - "Tulip Period"	The period of Ottoman history from 1718 - 1730, associated with a peaceful and prosperous Ottoman Empire. Tulip culture captivated the upper classes during this period. Tulip Period architecture is noted for having more Western influences in its design.
Tanẓîmât	Civic	تنظيمات - "Reorganization"	A period of reforms defined as stretching from 1839-1876, starting with the Edict of Gülhane. Sultans and statesman worked to reverse the decline of the empire by reforms to the legal, military, and administrative apparatuses of the state.
Siege Train	Tradition		Perhaps a reference to the many famous Ottoman sieges in history: Constantinople, Belgrade, Kruje, Otranto, Rhodes, Tripoli, Malta, Candia, Szigetvár, Vienna...
Erkân-ı Harbiye Mektebi	Tradition	اركان حربیه مكتبی - "General Staff School"	A staff college, based in Istanbul, that educated staff officers for the Ottoman Empire starting in the mid-19th century.
Sedef Kakma	Tradition	صدف قاقمه - "pearl inlay"	A craft technique of inlaying mother-of-pearl into carved pieces of wood. This craft had been practiced for centuries, but the peak of such workmanship was in the 17th and 19th centuries. Furniture, doors, and weapons were among the objects decorated with mother of pearl in this way. Gaziantep in particular is known as being a center of this craft.
Osmanlı Barok	Tradition	"Ottoman Baroque"	A reference to Ottoman Baroque architecture, which was the stylistic successor to that of the Tulip Period. Stretching from roughly the 1740s to the 1830s, it was marked by a departure from classical Ottoman architecture and the adoption of European architectural and decorative trends.
Külliye	Quarter	كلیه	A complex of buildings centered on a mosque and often run through a waqf/vakıf. Other than the main mosque, a Külliye could also include buildings such as a madrasa, medical clinic, kitchen, or hammam.
Hammam	Building	حمّام - "bathhouse"	Also known as a Turkish Bath - a type of steam bath or public bathhouse. They built off an established tradition of Greco-Roman and Byzantine bath traditions, but were intertwined with Middle Eastern architectural development and the requirement for ritual cleansing in Islam.
Cami	Building	جامع - "mosque"	The Turkish word for mosque. Sultans often patronized the construction of new, grandiose mosques - Istanbul province itself contains more than 3000 of them.
Barbary Corsair	Military		Muslim corsairs and privateers that operated out of the Barbary Coast in North Africa; some of the states there (Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli) were under Ottoman sovereignty, but Moroccan ports also harbored corsairs. Raids by the Barbary pirates occurred from the 8th century until 1830 with the French conquest of Algeria.
Janissary	Military	یڭیچری - "new soldier"	Elite infantry units that served as the first modern standing army. They were drafted via the Devshirme system, by which Christian boys were converted and pressed into military service. Eventually, the Janissary corps were abolished by Mahmud II in 1836 (the Auspicious Incident) after a major revolt.