Turks

The Turks are a Middle Eastern civilization in Age of Empires II who originated from Central Asia and are based on the Seljuk Empire, the Sultanate of Rum (shown in the Manzikert scenario) and the Ottoman Empire. The Turks are cavalry-and-gunpowder-oriented and are primarily an offensive civilization.

Overview
The Turks were best known for winning many battles in the Crusades as well as successfully besieging Constantinople which ended European foothold of the Silk Road and contact with the Orient. The Turks were also highly involved in the sciences and mathematics especially in the area of Alchemy that would later form the backbone of modern chemistry. Being an Islamic civilization, they were notable for transmitting this knowledge to the west. To reflect this achievement, Turks mine gold faster and research Chemistry for free. This allows them to use gunpowder units immediately. They also used gunpowder quite effectively, becoming the first "gunpowder empire," having received it from their control of the Silk Road. Therefore, many of their unique bonuses and technology benefits their gunpowder units. They have stronger yet lower costing gunpowder units from Archery Ranges, Siege Workshops and Docks. These gunpowder units are also created faster granted by their team bonus. However, their Mangonels are inferior to most civilizations as they lack the Onager upgrade and subsequently, the Siege Onager upgrade. In the Dock, they only lack the Fast Fire Ship upgrade, but everything else is available. Therefore, when playing as the Turks, given their civilization bonus and team bonus, it is advisable to create more gunpowder units in their armies. Their unique unit, the Janissary, is a gunpowder unit that is essentially a more powerful version of the Hand Cannoneer. The Janissary is strong against infantry and even cavalry if massed, but are surprisingly weak against most other archer units, especially Skirmishers. The Turks also have free light cavalry upgrades. Artillery, their unique technology, increases range for all cannon units. This allows Bombard Towers and Bombard Cannons to hit targets from further away and gives Turkish Elite Cannon Galleons 17 range. Turkish Elite Cannon Galleons with Artillery and Trebuchets with Siege Engineers researched are tied for longest range attack in the game. All that being said, the Turks also possess strong cavalry tech trees (lacking only Paladins) and fully-upgraded Cavalry Archers) to make a fast strong army.

The Turks is the only civilization that cannot upgrade their Spearmen to Pikemen or Skirmishers to Elite Skirmishers. Despite lacking these two important upgrades to counter infantry and archers, they have arguably the best Cavalry Archer and Heavy Cavalry Archer after researching one of their unique technologies, Sipahi, from The Forgotten onwards, as they have 90 HP for the Cavalry Archer and 100 HP for the Heavy Cavalry Archer.

The Turks' biggest threats are the Italians and Goths, since the former have strong anti-cavalry and anti-gunpowder capacity with Genoese Crossbowmen and Condottieri (in addition to the Turks lacking the necessary counters for Genoese Crossbowmen like Elite Skirmishers and the Onager upgrade); while the Goths' Huskarls and cheaper Halberdiers will make quick work of the Turkish gunpowder and cavalry units respectfully (the Turks have to rely on Champions and beefy Hand Cannoneers to counter the Goths' infantry army). The Turks are a formidable foe to any infantry civilization such as the Aztecs, Teutons, and the Japanese, due to their wide variety of units to counter their infantry (such as the Janissary unit). When gold runs low in the lategame, the Malay will be problematic foe for the Turks since the Turkish trash line is incredibly weak and the Malay's Two-Handed Swordsmen with Forced Levy upgrade are trash units that counter trash units.


 * Unique Unit: Janissary (more powerful hand cannoneer with increased range,)
 * Unique Technologies: Artillery (increased range for Bombard Towers, Bombard Cannons and Cannon Galleons), Sipahi (Cavalry Archers +20 HP)

Civilization Bonuses

 * Gunpowder Units have +25% HP
 * Gunpowder technologies are 50% cheaper
 * Chemistry technology free
 * Gold miners work 15% faster
 * Light Cavalry and Hussar upgrade free
 * Team Bonus: Gunpowder units created 20% faster

Changes in The Forgotten

 * Elite Janissaries are now affected by the Turkish team bonus

Changes in Rise of the Rajas

 * Gold miners work 20% faster (up from 15%)

In-game dialogue language (Turkish)

 * Evet? (Yes?)
 * Emrin? (Your command?)
 * Hazır (Ready)
 * Efendim? ("Sir?", or "My lord?")
 * Doğru (Right)
 * Yaparım (I’ll do it)
 * Tamam (Ok)
 * Oduncu (Lumberjack)
 * Seyis (Groom)
 * Avcı (Hunter)
 * Balıkçı (Fisherman)
 * Çiftçi (Farmer)
 * Madenci (Miner)
 * Usta (Builder)
 * Tamirci (Repairer)
 * Saldır! (Attack!)
 * İleri! (Forward!)
 * Allah-Allah! (warcry)

AI Player Names

 * Alp Arslan - (20 January 1029 – 15 December 1072), real name Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri, was the second Sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty. As Sultan, Alp Arslan greatly expanded Seljuk territory and consolidated power, defeating rivals to his south and northwest. His victory over the Byzantines at Manzikert ushered in the Turkish settlement of Anatolia. For his military prowess and fighting skills he obtained the name Alp Arslan, which means "Heroic Lion"in Turkish.
 * Atiz the Khwarezmian -
 * Bayazid - (1354 – 8 March 1403) was the Ottoman Sultan from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I and Gülçiçek Hatun. He built one of the largest armies in the known world at the time and unsuccessfully besieged Constantinople. He adopted the title of Sultan-i Rûm, Rûm being an old Islamic name for the Roman Empire. He was defeated and captured by Timur at the Battle of Ankara in 1402 and died in captivity in March 1403.
 * Chaghri Beg - (989 - 1060), Da'ud b. Mika'il b. Saljuq, also spelled Chaghri, was the co-ruler of the early Seljuq empire. The name Chaghri is Turkic (Çağrı in modern Turkish) and literally means "small falcon", "merlin".
 * Danishmend - was a Turkish dynasty that ruled in north-central and eastern Anatolia in the 11th and 12th centuries. The dynasty centered originally around Sivas, Tokat, and Niksar in central-northeastern Anatolia, they extended as far west as Ankara and Kastamonu for a time, and as far south as Malatya, which they captured in 1103. In early 12th century, Danishmends were rivals of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, which controlled much of the territory surrounding the Danishmend lands, and they fought extensively against the Crusaders.
 * Ghiyas-ud-Din of Ghor - During his early reign, he defeated the Ghurid claimants to the throne and fought with the Khwarazmian Empire over the lordship of Khorasan. He occupied Herat in 1176 and went on to establish control over most of what is now Afghanistan and the surrounding areas by 1200, and as far west as Bastam and Gurgan. His brother, Mu'izz al-Din, helped manage and expand the eastern part of the empire (as far as Bengal) and served Ghiyath with utmost loyalty and deference. Ghiyath died in 1202 and was succeeded by his brother Mu'izz al-Din.
 * Seljuk - was the eponymous hero of the Seljuq Turks. He was the son of a certain Toqaq surnamed Temür Yalığ (meaning "of the iron bow") and either the chief or an eminent member from the Kınık tribe of the Oghuz Turks. In 985, the Seljuq clan split off from the bulk of the Tokuz-Oghuz, a confederacy of nine clans long settled between the Aral and Caspian Seas. They set up camp on the right bank of the lower Syr Darya (Jaxartes), in the direction of Jend, near Kzyl Orda in present-day south-central Kazakhstan. There, in 985, Seljuk converted to Islam.
 * Suleiman the Magnificent - Suleiman became a prominent monarch of 16th-century Europe, presiding over the apex of the Ottoman Empire's economic, military and political power. Suleiman personally led Ottoman armies in conquering the Christian strongholds of Belgrade and Rhodes as well as most of Hungary before his conquests were checked at the Siege of Vienna in 1529. He annexed much of the Middle East in his conflict with the Safavids and large areas of North Africa as far west as Algeria. Under his rule, the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and through the Persian Gulf
 * Sultan Malik-shah - During his youth, he spent his time participating in the campaigns of his father Alp Arslan, along the latter's vizier Nizam al-Mulk. During one of such campaigns in 1072, Alp Arslan was fatally wounded and died only a few days later. After that, Malik-Shah was crowned as the new sultan of the empire, however, Malik-Shah did not access the throne peacefully, and had to fight his uncle Qavurt, who claimed the throne. Although Malik-Shah was the nominal head of the Seljuq state, the vizier Nizam al-Mulk held near absolute power during his reign. Malik-Shah spent the rest of his reign waging war against the Karakhanids on the eastern side, and establishing order in the Caucasus.
 * Sultan Murad - Murad II's reign was marked by the long war he fought against the Christian feudal lords of the Balkans and the Turkish beyliks in Anatolia, a conflict that lasted 25 years. He was brought up in Amasya, and ascended the throne on the death of his father Mehmed I. His mother was Valide Sultan Emine Hatun (daughter of Suleyman Bey, ruler of Dulkadirids), his father's third consort. Their marriage served as an alliance between the Ottomans and this buffer state, and produced a son, Mehmed II, who would go on to successfully conquer the Byzantine Empire's capital, Constantinople, in 1453.
 * Sultan Sanjar -(b. 1085 – d. 8 May 1157) was the Seljuq ruler of Khorasan from 1097 until in 1118[1] when he became the Sultan of the Seljuq Empire, which he ruled as until his death in 1157.

Trivia

 * Turks are the only civilization that doesn't get Elite Skirmishers. This also means that they can't train Imperial Skirmishers when allied with the Vietnamese.
 * The Turks are also the only civilization that does not have access to either Onager and Pikemen, making their late game counter army expensive.

Video Overview
Note: This video is in two parts.