New Civ Game Guide: Ottomans (Tides of Power)

[UWHabs]

With Siege Train you could literally take over the entire map on the turn you unlock that, if it also restores their attack. Plan it carefully, you could walk through and pillage everything, and then just need to have enough attacks to take down the defenses for one district, and then all your troops can move again.

Despite the artifact bonus, to me they still seem very militaristic. I think they have a chance at the cultural game if they re-make how artifacts work, and push that deeper into the tree. I agree with some of the above where their explorer bonuses feel very late. At least it feels like they should have one of the cultural civics early, maybe giving a free explorer, and they they'd really be a beast at excavating.

 

[Jkchart]

Look fun, but by including those two unique units in particular the Ottomans are the most glaring example of a civ that straddles the Exploration/Modern divide in a confusing way à la the Mughals, the Spanish, and the “Pirates.”

All I will say is that there are good examples they could have used more appropriate to the period but the devs chose, for better or worse, to use the recognizable but antiquated units they have used in the past.

Personally, I disagree with that decision and felt they could have put a more modern flair on the Ottomans, but I also feel it still fits with their current design of the Modern Era by including Empires that are rising at the start of the era and empires entering it at their peak/falling like the Ottomans. After all the Janissaries and Barbary corsairs were contemporaneous with Napoleon.

Ultimately, it is what it is and I won’t spend energy on paragraphs about it, but with the breadth of research they’ve done on creating civs with so much variety and new angles, these two units really do feel shoehorned in to the Modern Era for the sake of being iconic Ottoman units.

 

[Uberfrog]

Just the most awkward fit in the Modern Era. Everything about this should be in the Exploration Era, apart from the gimmicky artificial stuff (which kind of represents the absolute low point of the Ottoman era)

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

All I will say is that there are good examples they could have used more appropriate to the period but the devs chose, for better or worse, to use the recognizable but antiquated units they have used in the past.

Personally, I disagree with that decision and felt they could have put a more modern flair on the Ottomans, but I also feel it still fits with their current design of the Modern Era by including Empires that are rising at the start of the era and empires entering it at their peak/falling like the Ottomans. After all the Janissaries and Barbary corsairs were contemporaneous with Napoleon.

Ultimately, it is what it is and I won’t spend energy on paragraphs about it, but with the breadth of research they’ve done on creating civs with so much variety and new angles, these two units really do feel shoehorned in to the Modern Era for the sake of being iconic Ottoman units.

They are definitely interesting choices but I'm not sure what other iconic units would work better in the Modern, so I'm fine with it. Maybe the Dardanelles Gun could have worked over the Janissaries considering it was used in the 19th century, despite being built in the 1400s?

I think the Sipahis would be more obsolete, and out of place in the Modern Age, than the other choices above.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

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

Really?
Janissary is disbanded very early in the 19th Century.

And Corsairs lost its relevant also in the same century.

 

[Gorbles]

The Modern Age starts in 1750 CE. We can quibble over empires stretching beyond this starting point (as the Ottomans did), but it's not a gotcha to say that something they're using ended in the 19th or 20th centuries (Janissaries were disbanded in the 1820s).

I mean, I get it r.e. Janissaries. But they're also pretty iconic. What would folks have them replaced with? There's a lot of "there are better options", but not much detail on those better options. Alexander's Hetaroi gives a good example in the Dardanelles Gun, but that would change the internal design pretty significantly (not opposed to it, just scoping out effort).

 

[UWHabs]

I think the problem to me is that by the time you get to ideologies and want to be fighting, 99% of the time you're already into landships and WW1 era units. So units like Cossacks or Janissaries don't necessarily fit as neatly into the picture, especially once upgraded and they're trying to battle like t3 modern tanks.

I'm assuming their bonuses to infantry and siege is in reference towards that Dardanelles gun for the siege part. So they get a nod there, while the infantry part of the troop also gets a special unit.

 

[stealth_nsk]

The Modern Age starts in 1750 CE. We can quibble over empires stretching beyond this starting point (as the Ottomans did), but it's not a gotcha to say that something they're using ended in the 19th or 20th centuries (Janissaries were disbanded in the 1820s).

I mean, I get it r.e. Janissaries. But they're also pretty iconic. What would folks have them replaced with? There's a lot of "there are better options", but not much detail on those better options. Alexander's Hetaroi gives a good example in the Dardanelles Gun, but that would change the internal design pretty significantly (not opposed to it, just scoping out effort).

Yep, while modern is generally built around XIX century, it spans from 1750 to 1950 and some UUs exist only in short period within this timeline, like Katyusha.

 

[m_mus]

Yeah, I'd say placing the Ottomans in the Modern Age is pretty counter-intuitive, since then being an imposing and somewhat innovative force (in terms of post-medieval statebuilding) had its time from let's say 1400-1700 ... afterwards they spiralled into a long and winding decline. Their prime is in the game's 2nd age.

 

[Krikkit1]

Yeah, I'd say placing the Ottomans in the Modern Age is pretty counter-intuitive, since then being an imposing and somewhat innovative force (in terms of post-medieval statebuilding) had its time from let's say 1400-1700 ... afterwards they spiralled into a long and winding decline. Their prime is in the game's 2nd age.

I think it’s because that decline was so long and winding that they fit there. Their Artifact mechanic is essentially meant to model their decline.

 

[Gorbles]

Yeah, I'd say placing the Ottomans in the Modern Age is pretty counter-intuitive, since then being an imposing and somewhat innovative force (in terms of post-medieval statebuilding) had its time from let's say 1400-1700 ... afterwards they spiralled into a long and winding decline. Their prime is in the game's 2nd age.

"towards the end of Exploration" (which starts at 400 CE) is the same kind of overlap as "beginning of Modern". It feels very vibes-based, vs. "this is where the empire should sit".

Is it possible to build a different kind of Ottomans that would fit in Exploration? Yeah, probably. But it wouldn't look like the one we have.

 

[stealth_nsk]

BTW, potential Ottoman inclusion was discussed on this forum long before first leaks and nearly everybody were putting them in modern age.

 

[UWHabs]

I think the most logical for them puts them in the modern era, with Byzantium taking up the exploration slot for the region. It's less weird to move the Ottomans later and have them be modern, otherwise if you put them in the exploration era then they would overlap Byzantium.

 

[Arcaian]

BTW, potential Ottoman inclusion was discussed on this forum long before first leaks and nearly everybody were putting them in modern age.

Yeah, putting the Ottomans in an age that basically spans 400 CE to 1600 CE feels significantly more counter-intuitive to me.

 

[FishFishFish]

I do like the Civ having a lot of stuff from the Tulip Period. Although I wish they would've embraced that period more.

Also I always felt that the Barbary Corsair could've be given to a Maghrebi civ instead of the Ottomans.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Yeah, putting the Ottomans in an age that basically spans 400 CE to 1600 CE feels significantly more counter-intuitive to me.

Indeed. For all it's strengths and weaknesses, the Ages system really leans into a sequence design. It makes more sense for Romans > Byzantines > Ottomans to be across Antiquity > Exploration > Modern than to have Byzantines and Ottomans crammed into Exploration together since they each had their peaks of power spaced out across time, even if that means fudging the Ottomans' peak a little later.

 

[UWHabs]

Indeed. For all it's strengths and weaknesses, the Ages system really leans into a sequence design. It makes more sense for Romans > Byzantines > Ottomans across Antiquity > Exploration > Modern than to have Byzantines and Ottomans crammed into Exploration together since they each had their peaks of power spaced out across time, even if that means fudging the Ottomans' peak a little later.

The game would have a better split if you had, say, 5 ages. Then you would probably have antiquity->400AD, 500-1500, 1500-1750, 1750-1900, and 1900+ as your ages. In that system, then Byzantium would fit in Age 2, and the Ottomans would fit more around ages 3-4 in that world. It'd fit the civs better, but you'd probably need to be able to skip some age transitions since I don't really want to switch civs 4 different times in the game.

 

[Leucarum]

... And 3 age transitions is already pushing what the game can handle.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

The game would have a better split if you had, say, 5 ages. ... I don't really want to switch civs 4 different times in the game.

Right. As much as age granularity would benefit historocity, it's hell on playability.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

The Modern Age starts in 1750 CE. We can quibble over empires stretching beyond this starting point (as the Ottomans did), but it's not a gotcha to say that something they're using ended in the 19th or 20th centuries (Janissaries were disbanded in the 1820s).

I mean, I get it r.e. Janissaries. But they're also pretty iconic. What would folks have them replaced with? There's a lot of "there are better options", but not much detail on those better options. Alexander's Hetaroi gives a good example in the Dardanelles Gun, but that would change the internal design pretty significantly (not opposed to it, just scoping out effort).

Nizam i Cedit. which themselves a replacement of Janissary

https://www.worldhistory.org/image/12495/nizam-e-cedid-troops/