Turkey strategy guide from the original cog

[Harvey Birdman]

Turkey 1805
Turkey’s initial production goal should be… merchant vessels.
The Adriatic and Ligurian Seas can be quite profitable to merchant vessels. Turkey with money has choices; Turkey
without money is stuck! Note that your high Feudalism hurts mercantile income. Consider lowering your Feudalism
if you’ve got additional merchant vessels in the works, though do this cautiously: each change in Feudalism may take several turns and each turn it lowers national morale, and there’s a small chance that national morale will be severely
affected. So only try this if you’re not at war and can afford to lower your tax rate to help bolster national morale.
Consider renting the Turkish Fleet to the British! This may help you finance a land war against Austria or Russia.
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Strategy Guide
Supply depots are not as important to Turkey, provided that Turkish units can find safe places to forage while they are resting. This is so because, typically, the Turks only have the morale to fight for a few rounds of battle before their morale breaks and they are forced to retreat, and this often this happens
before they run out of the supply with which they entered
the battle. Also, their great number of irregular cavalry makes it more likely that they can capture and use an enemy supply caisson.
Winning a battle on equal terms against Austria or Russia is very difficult for Turkey. Turkey usually needs to take a longer,
more strategic view. A multi-battle strategy often suits Turkey well. Find the enemy’s weakest units at the start of a detailed battle, charge the weak units with all the cavalry and irregular cavalry you can assemble, and then retreat and get out of the battle before the enemy can pin you down and punish your infantry. After several battles of this operation, the enemy may be weakened enough that you can force a direct conflict and win the battle. If Turkey can manage to win a battle, its large number of irregular cavalry can deliver a punishing toll on the enemy during pursuit.
Remember that units fighting in their home territories get a morale bonus. For Turkey, this bonus is a significant boost above their normal morale.
As medium term targets, consider Sicily and Southern Italy. If France is doing well against Austria, consider joining in with the French and taking your target Hungarian provinces as a prize when Austria surrenders. Beware that this may bring you into war against Russia.
Don’t get your mindset trapped – in time you can build a Turkey of high morale elite troops if you concentrate on developing
your barracks. Or become a serious naval power. In 1805, the Spanish navy isn’t very big, and the British tend to use theirs to sink the French navy. Cheer every sinking ship. If you decide to make one of these changes, consider dropping
military readiness to 50% to provide the money you’ll need. At the start of 1805 the rest of Europe is pre-occupied and this can provide the opportunity you need to reform your economy and develop your provinces.
The Turks will have the choice of whether or not to become an Empire early in the 1805 scenario. The extra .5 morale is a crucial help to the Turkish units, who need all the morale they can get. However, Turkey only barely qualifies for Imperial
status (21 out of 20 points needed) and so if they lose any wars at all, or any protectorates, they are likely to lose Empire status with devastating results.

[Joram]

Don't ignore North Africa.  With just the Egyptian army and maybe a couple extra divs if you aren't great with tactical battles, you should be able to conquer up towards Tunisia.  Some of those nations are worth glory but and some aren't but any extra income from them is sorely needed.
 
Feudal level is a tricky one.  Yes it hurts your economy but it does also give you free troops as well.
 
Strategically, you can get a lot by ganging up on Austria and Russia at the right times.  If France is in a position to dominate them, quickly declare war, send a corps to their capital capturing a city or two along the way.  Focus on grabbing protectorates as you don't even need to win the war to permanently get them (you just have to not lose!).  Of course this strategy will not endear you with your neighbors so in MP you need to be extra careful.