The Janissary fulfills the role of the Musketeer from other civilizations, though it costs more food than a Musketeer. They are one of the four heavy infantry units available to the Ottomans, the other three being the Humbaraci, Nizam Fusilier, and Azap. They have significantly more hit points than Musketeers.
Although the Janissary marches slowly and is weak against artillery, Rifle infantry, and foot archers, it is strong against cavalry and shock infantry. The Janissary fights at range with a musket and does slightly less ranged damage than a Musketeer and uses a yatagan (Turkish sword similar to Greek kopis and signature weapon of the Janissary) for hand attacks, doing less damage to cavalry than a Musketeer, but more damage to other units. Like the Musketeer, Janissaries can be upgraded to the Imperial level.
In the early Ages, Janissaries combined with Abus Gunners form a somewhat expensive but very powerful combination as artillery such as Falconets is not available until the Fortress Age. Janissaries will devastate any cavalry that come near the group while the Abus Gunners will take out any infantry they meet.
Even if the player does not plan to make Janissaries late in the game (because of the presence of highly upgraded artillery), the player should keep about 10 on hand if the "Battlefield Construction" card is in the player's deck. With this card, Janissaries can build Barracks, Stables, and Artillery Foundries to bring even more pressure to a weakened opponent immediately, and not have to bring a Settler that runs the risk of getting killed on the way to the battlefield to build military buildings. They do build far slower compared to a Settler, so this is why bringing 10 of them will speed up the process (8 can focus on constructing one building while the other two construct others or replace them if they die).
Upgrades Janissaries to Imperial (+50% hit points and damage); requires Guard Janissaries
Campaign appearances[]
In the Age of Empires III campaign, Janissaries are led by Sahin The Falcon to attack Morgan Black and the Knights of St. John, battling them for the majority of the campaign. However, with the threat of The Circle, they later assist Morgan in stopping them.
Baghdad Janissary[]
“
Powerful heavy Ottoman musket infantry with a lot of hitpoints.
”
—In-game description
The Baghdad Janissary (Tufanci Corps before the Definitive Edition, Janissary before an update) is a counterpart of the Janissary, which starts with +10% hit points and damage.
"Ottoman Expeditionary Army" is available to the Italians, Maltese, Ottomans, and Portuguese upon revolting to the Barbary States, and Dutch and Portuguese upon revolting to Indonesia.
Unit all melee attack damage +15%; Rajput hand attack damage +20% instead, +1 Hindu Villager
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
Unit hit points and damage +5%
Good Faith Agreements
Consulate unit train time -50%; Consulate technology cost -40% (-300 export for Brigades), research time -50% (except Brigades), +1 Hindu Villager
Foreign Trading Companies
Adds 0.75 to export trickle rate; banner army export cost -15%; Indian unit cost +2.5% (Hindu Villager, Fishing Boat, and Sacred Cow cost +5% instead), +1 Hindu Villager
Janissaries cost 100 food, 25 coin, give 13 XP when trained or killed, have 235 hit points, and the in-game description is "Powerful Ottoman infantry that acts like a powerful Musketeer."
The ranks of the janissaries were filled by all manner of people pressed into the service of the Sultan - slaves, European prisoners of war, or captured Christians. They were not allowed to wear beards or marry, but were known to enjoy wine. There is some disagreement whether they were required to remain celibate. Without families of their own, when a janissary died his property passed to his regiment, or orta - a Turkish word meaning hearth. Their ranks were peppered with culinary terms; the commander was called the "head cook" and the next in command, the "soup distributor". They carried as a symbol of honor a heavy iron pot, which if lost or destroyed greatly disgraced the orta. They were encouraged to be independent, and could be very unruly and even disrespectful to their superiors. Many rose to political prominence in addition to being a powerful military presence. The janissaries were slaughtered in Constantinople in 1826, during an event now called the Auspicious Incident. The janissaries had gathered in protest to Mahmud II's imposition of European drill and discipline on the janissary corps. The sultan ordered them killed with no quarter by his newly raised regiments of European-style soldiers. The janissary corps was broken.
Janissaries were known for their colorful dress, white felt hats and remarkable mustaches. They initially were armed with bows, but soon adopted muskets and rifles.
”
Gallery[]
An in-game Janissary
Veteran Janissary
Guard/Imperial Janissary
Janissary concept art
Another Janissary concept art
The Janissary's history portrait
A Fishing Boat with three Janissaries
Janissary in the original version and Definitive Edition
In-game Janissary in the Definitive Edition
In-game Veteran Janissary in the Definitive Edition
In-game Guard/Imperial Janissary in the Definitive Edition
Painting of a group of attacking Janissaries
Giannizzero Illustration by Cesare Vecellio, depicting a later Janissary in 1589
Veteran Janissaries
Guard Janissaries
Imperial Janissaries
+20% hit points and damage
Flint Lock (+10%)
Cree Tanning (+5%)
Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Tar Kilns (+5%)
Paper Cartridge (+15%)
Iroquois Lacrosse (+10%; vanilla Age of Empires III only)
Smokeless Powder (+10%)
Armatoloi (+5%)
Yoga (+5%)
Clenched Fist (+25% hand damage)
Socket Bayonet (+20% hand damage)
Somali Oryx Hide Shields (+5% ranged resistance)
Military Drummers (+10%)
Quechuan Mountaineering (+10%)
Akan Fontomfrom (+5%)
Apache Endurance (+5%)
Town Watch (+3)
Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost)
Standing Army (-25%)
Quechuan Diet (-15%)
Immigrants (-10%)
Ottoman Brigade (ships 13 Baghdad Janissaries; Indians only)
Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
TEAM Senegalese Riflemen
TEAM Grenadier Guards
TEAM Yongle Infrastructure
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints
TEAM Coffee Consumption
Ottoman Expeditionary Army
TEAM Scout Infantry
TEAM Inca Bridges
Dravidian Martial Arts
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
Good Faith Agreements
Foreign Trading Companies
Infantry Hitpoints
Schiavoni Swords
TEAM Sengoku
TEAM Knights of the Round Table
TEAM Mariachi
5 Janissaries
6 Janissaries
14 Janissaries
8 Janissaries
9 Janissaries
Enderun School
Acemi Oglan School
Kuleli School
Matrakci School
Derbentler
TEAM Gunpowder Infantry Hitpoints
TEAM Spanish Inquisition
TEAM House of Bernadotte
TEAM Ranged Infantry Attack
12 Janissaries
Janissary Combat
