carl corey
Deity
I played a few turns with each save and had no problems.
Thanks for testing. I would have done it myself but didn't have the time.

Played as Mehmed to 1700, gunpowder in 1100.
Yeap, that seems more like a standard route to play. Anyway, this is clearly map dependent. I'm not sure it's worth beelining if you have lots of good city sites that no-one settles. On the other hand, a map where you get boxed it would lend itself to braking out with those Janissaries. Or you could deliberately slow your expansion just to get them faster. Do you have a save from your game? Would be interesting to compare it to other games.
1 for three on attempts this morning. The first two tries I was caught by barbarians, the third, I did get the Janisaries by 1350 AD, but a neighbour had rifles by then.
I guess I just wasn't ready for Monarch...
This afternoon I went back to Warlord...
Well, since I discovered those marvelous XML files that the WorldBuilder provides I can easily modify a save to lower the difficulty level. Just say which one you'd like to try, and at what difficulty and I'll post a save.
Played as XIV. Got GP in 960, 5 muskets by 1100. Didn't play past that as based on calculations and some flaws in execution -- trying again tonight.
Played as Louis XIV on both High Road (via Education) and Low Road (via Guilds).
High Road: Gunpowder in 640 AD. 5 Muskets in 760 AD.
Low Road: Gunpowder in 620 AD. 5 Muskets in 740 AD.
Interesting routes. I guess there's more than meets the eye. And 620/640AD seems a very good date. I'll try to look at the saves sometimes soon to see what the general situation is. But the strategy does seem viable, doesn't it?