Hi everyone!
We’ve all heard the saying that Turks are “free Elo” at lower ratings (probably up to 1200 or so), but from my experience, they feel completely overpowered and incredibly difficult to counter for low- to mid-elo players.
The only consistent way to beat Turks is to rush them early—but that’s nearly impossible if the Turk player walls up or you’re on a closed map. Their fast Imperial Age timing into Janissaries and Bombard Cannons is brutally strong and almost unstoppable. Once they reach that point, the game is pretty much over. Their unit composition is not only highly cost-effective, but Hussars can constantly raid, and their late-game army trades incredibly well.
Civs that rely on expensive or slow units—especially elephant civs—stand little chance. The mobility and efficiency of the Turks just overwhelm them.
I genuinely believe the game should reward adaptability and strategic diversity, not allow one linear power spike to dominate most matches. While this might not be a problem at higher ELOs, the majority of players are not at that level.
What makes it worse is how easy it is to master this one strategy with Turks. After just a few matches, it becomes brainless and frustrating for both the user and their opponents.
I think this could be addressed in two possible ways:
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Let players ban civilizations just like we can ban maps.
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Rework the Turks to make their power spike less oppressive, especially in team games or closed maps where they can’t be rushed and benefit from infinite gold via trade.
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Give Elephant Archers some kind of bonus against those pesky Hussars. Infantry cannot deal against the Turks because of the Janissary fire shredding them.
And before anyone says “just play Turks then”—I have. But it’s mind-numbingly boring to play the same way every single match. I’d honestly rather lose a fun, challenging game than win a dull and effortless one.
4 Likes
At least Turks is not OP in open maps. Their powerspike has been nerf once for Janissaries 8 range
In my case I have faced closed maps more often than not. Players usually vote for Fortress or Black Forest. Everyone seems obsessed with those two.
Fast Imp is a meme strategy that’s easily countered by mass knights. Also, it’s done with hand cannoneers, not some weird expensive unit that misses half its shots.
When you see Turks is still dark age when every one is feudal, just FC + siege workshop near the turks and you have 90% chance to destroy him very easy with rams and mango.
Turks fast imp is unstoppable in very close map like Black Forest but on Arena it’s easy to counter. On Arabia Turks are bad.
Make chemistry research instantly, but not free
Turks get free hussar with extra PA and instant BBC access. Plus janis and hc that barely need upgrades to punch.
this power spike is a bit too much
Taking the free chemistry but researched instant, keeps turks fast imp, but slows it down to reasonable level. And their is zero impact on turks feudal and castle age where nerfs aren’t needed.
Alternatively free but not instant is also an option.
It’s targeted directly at the issue
I’ve always felt the turks aren’t as broken at low elo as Spanish with Conquistadors and Cumans with 2tc boom/ram push. Maybe just my skill issue but even when I win against Spanish its with a K/D of 150/300.
Yeah, Turks are indeed broken and have a 100% win rate across all elo and maps. 
Definitely agree. Turks fast imp and castle drop jannisaries have gone untouched for years in the name of being “nostalgic”. Just because one might have enjoyed a civ being a certain way for years, doesn’t mean it should be. The people who play against fast imp Turks on arena and fortress every game can agree with me.
2 Likes
Bengalis can get 8 free villagers in a classic 3TC boom. Meanwhile, Turks only feel like they have 3 extra vils after putting 15 vils on gold (which I always do), and only after a 3TC setup and going full gold comp. Anyone with a bit of logic can see which one is the better eco bonus and which civ needs additional perks to make things make sense.
So I’m rather wondering how flanks on Arena still get caught by a castle drop / Janissaries.
When you’re the flank and the enemy flank on your side is Turks, you hit first.
If it’s the enemy pocket who’s Turks, then you need to coordinate with your pocket to double-push the Turk or at the very least, have your pocket deal with him while you handle your flank.
If your pocket doesn’t do their job, that’s not the Turks’ fault.
And if anyway the Turk managed to finish his castle drop, you make few 3 - 4 rams to destroy his castle. He has only villagers to kill it.
Always efficiency over numbers. Turks win.
Don’t forget I am talking about Low-Mid ELO players. Larger number of villagers doesn’t automatically translates to efficiency at this level.
Getting housing space filled up is another problem with more villagers. Bengali Imperial Age Unique Tech is the worst UT in entire game considering the cost - use ratio. Goths get that bonus for free. I never research it. Game is over before it serves any purpose. It’s a resource dump trap.
Not just Economically, but also Military wise Turks are more efficient. Elephants are the clumsiest units to use because of low speed and large hit circle. Hussars and Janissary are butter smooth. Both unique techs of Turks are effective to use.
Imperial Age Unique Tech of Turks is one of the most essential (Any tech that outranges others is highly effective).
Dude thinks elephants are the most OP thing.
Ive explained over and over that their long train time and sluggish speed make them way worse for wear. We might be talking to a Michi player?
3 Likes
He is probably not even playing in ranked games.
I know it’s a meme topic with a meme demand. At least I wouldn’t make it that obvious by saying that Turk eco is more efficient.
You yourself said about gold bonus applicable from the start of game.
When do you start mining gold?
As early as the start of a drush possibly so you have loom and the gold needed for more militia
It’s a tech that you get once you’re at 200 pop. It’s fairly expensive, but extra pop space means more military units, and adding more units has a quadratic* effect on army power (per Lancasters square law). It makes the pop-efficient Bengalis even more pop efficient, but it’s only worthwhile if you have a lot of villagers (or in other words, after a boom). Goths get 10 additional pop space. Bengalis generally get more than that (as they’ll often have over 100 vils), and Bengalis are extra pop efficient while Goths are notably pop-inefficient. Being so late-game makes it a pretty niche tech, but I consider it better than hussite reforms (trash monks don’t really fit into trash wars and are very micro-intensive for that point of the game) and Nomads (useful if you’re tight on space, otherwise a waste of res). And it’s comparable to Aznauri cavalry (Georgian UT the reduces cavalry pop space). Players who aren’t in the habit of getting up to 200 pop in imperial age won’t get any notable benefit out of the techs, but they’re strong for players who do a proper boom.
Note that SotL did a video on Lancasters square law some time back, and he found that due to false assumptions, the exponent is actually a bit less than 2. But it’s still enough for a group of 30 knights to beat 2 groups of 20 knights.
