Considering the fact that Ottomans historically had the Horse Archer, they should have access to this unit. It really shouldn’t be a unique unit available to just one civ (The Rus). The Horse Archer should instead, be a shared unit being accessible among civs that historically used archery on horseback and if Age of Empires IV is going to be more historically accurate than the previous games, then the Horse Archer shouldn’t be a unique unit and the Ottomans without the Horse Archer is like the French without the Knight because both cases tend to not historically make sense (both cases being rather unrealistic). So, what should happen in future versions is that the Horse Archer should absolutely definitely be a shared unit that’s available not just to the Rus but also the Chinese, Delhi Sultanate, and especially should be given to the Ottomans ASAP as well. As the Horse Archer becomes a shared unit, it can cost food and gold instead of food and wood and can also go for slight increase in HP as well and the Horse Archer being a shared unit also makes things easier for accessibility to the Horse Archer for potential future civs based on civs that historically utilized archers on horseback (i.e., Persians). So overall, the Ottomans are definitely going to need to be given the Horse Archer due to historical accuracy, which is part of the purported principle of AoE4 being more historically accurate than the previous major games of the AoE series.
Like I said devs accept that ottomans as Turks as giving Seljuks landmarks to the Ottomans, devs should give horse archers to the Ottomans. If they dont give, this is so unhistorically ironic.
Rus have horse archers and barely use them. Mongol have mangudai (horse archers) and never use them. So why Otto need horse archers?
Because it’s historically accurate for the Ottomans to have the Horse Archer. I mean come on now, Turks were famous for their big use of archers on horseback. So, it would make sense for the Ottomans to have the Horse Archer and like I said, if AoE4 is going to be more historically accurate than the previous major games, then the Horse Archer needs to be a shared unit that’s accessible to civs that historically deployed horse archers. Also, here’s an example picture of an Ottoman horse archer:
There are many things in this game that are not historically correct, so I don’t bother about real 100% accurate history in this game. Just to be fun!
I fair about introducing units, but I think horse archers are simply bad. Introducing them for ottomans don’t change anything. No one will use them.
I will change sipahi fortitude ability with one that transform them in horse archers, it will be interesting
Now I do get that the game isn’t 100% historically accurate, which I wasn’t calling for but I just believe that a unit with a generic name like “Horse Archer” sounds like something that would be a shared unit rather than a unique unit. Now, giving the Sipahi the ability to use a ranged attack sounds like a good idea and it can most certainly be the good alternative to giving Ottomans, the Horse Archer and honestly, I’m most certainly going to like it considering that as you said, it would be interesting.
mangudai has been in need of a buff since release, so you can’t really compare
Other Civs also have missing historical units, AoE4 just using some of them because of balance reasons and game design choice. Some games like total war have much larger unit roster.
Most civs has less than 3 unique land military unit. Ottomans has 4 already, 1 less than Chinese with all Dynasties (Mali has also 5).
And about adding toggle ranged ability to horseman: what is gonna counter it? Even if it’s duration based, it ll be OP.
And I’m pretty sure every civ have some kind of ranged cav in history. They weren’t relying on as much as asian based civs though.
Talking about balance, perhaps once the Horse Archer becomes a shared unit, the cost of it can be changed to be food and gold instead of food and wood as a maybe helpful balance solution.
If any civ can make horse archers, there is still a reason to make normal archers instead of horse archers? The mobility factor is a game changer and there is a high risk that archers became useless
They are the same devs 
. Forgotten Empires works on both.
Horse archers cost more, have more counters, have shorter range without a unique tech, have no bonus damage against spearman, and they deal only marginally more dps.
They have their disadvantages.
I think the Ottomans should be given a horse archer (different design/stats than the Rus one to make it fun). But only when the Delhi get a horse archer, the Abbasids get something besides camels, the HRE get different types of Landsknechts (pikes, guns, mounted), and the Japanese, Norse and Byzantines get a civ. The Ottomans already have 4 unique units and a unique building. That’s more than any civ other than the Chinese and Malians. There are 7 civs that need more attention than the Ottomans in that they have fewer unique units/buildings. If any civ needs another unique unit it’s the English as they only have Longbowmen.
I also think the horse archer should not be a shared unit. They should vary by civ like we see with the mangudai. Either that or the Rus need another unique unit.
If that’s the case, why not leave? It’s obvious no-one except your alts is on your side. Also, go get some therapy, you seriously need it.
You got that right. He keeps creating alt accounts and we sure can’t have that constantly happening. People should be able to debate on something or do criticism of something without anyone creating trouble.
They have it in AoE3 so 100% should be given it in AoE4.
Mehter with CA will be worse than Mangudai for a cheap cost.
Faster than anything with ability to reduce dmg from outposts and tcs or just with faster firing rate.
There’s a reason Ottomans have no CA in their roster.
EDIT: Also before any of you respond “historical accuracy blah blah” - first gameplay has to be fun, then historical accuracy might eventually come to play.
Always.
I get that gameplay fun needs to come first but still, letting the Ottomans have access to the Horse Archer is still a good idea (unless the Sipahi is given the ranged attack ability, which in that case, wouldn’t need to be given to the Horse Archer unit) and the gameplay can still be fun with the Mehter and Horse Archer. The Horse Archer just needs to cost more and cost food and gold instead of food and wood for the sake of balancing measures.
You get a unit that cannot be forced to fight (like Mangudai) AND it can catch everyone (more or less like Mangudai) AND it cannot be dealt with by using outposts without springald or cannon emplacements (unlike Mangudai).
I get CA would fit them but Mehter makes their CA better than Mangudai which are very unique unit.
Devs went for Mehter identity and I can’t blame them since it’s fun and great.
Also Ottoman roster doesn’t need CA since they’re pushed more towards siege and Jannissaries in castle rather than mobile composition like Mongols or Rus have.