Ottoman strategy
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[edit] Expansion into Asia
One very possible way to advance your nation is to ignore much of what you think the Ottoman state should look like and advance towards the east. Pretty much everyone from you all the way to China is in your culture group.
Your first goal would be to pacify the Balkans of course. I made everyone a vassal including Hungary. Alternatively you could annex everyone except Hungary on the Balkan peninsula (Lots of Badboy) and give it to one state of your choice since they are all in one culture group (in patch 1.1 has to be done by editing save game as "sell province" does not work).
Annex small Turkish states in Asia Minor and then work on improving your production, government and land forces and invest 3 or 4 of your slider changes to innovative. With luck and a nice adviser you should be able to turn the Latin tech group. All while pacifying Crimea and Central Asia.
Since you will be annexing lots of Muslim states your relations with them likely will be bad.
One very important move you need to make with this strategy is to annex Moldavia. Since going though Bulgaria/moldavia is easier than through Caucasus.
Satelliting Georgia is a good idea, they are sitting on a gold mine.
The 2 provinces of Persia that are directly west of Caspian Sea are colonies. if you get to them early you can destroy them and then put your own Turkish colonists there.
[edit] European Expansion
Expansion into Asia does have several advantages, but for a different challenge, one can try expanding into Europe. To do so, assessing the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the game can help.
[edit] Ottoman Strengths and Weaknesses in 1453
Strengths
The Ottomans have a good manpower base that can reinforce a large army. They also have a fairly good income. They begin the game in possession of a large army and navy, and have a ruler with excellent diplomatic, administrative, and warfare skills. They have an army reform advisor at skill level 5, and they also control a center of trade. They also have access to Eastern infantry and cavalry, which are superior to the West's at the beginning of the game.
Weaknesses
Some of the starting provinces in the Ottoman state are Orthodox Christian, although the state religion is Sunni Islam. Even when tolerance for Christianity is at a maximum, the difference in religion creates a loss of tax revenue and makes increasing stability a very long process. They also control provinces with cultures that are outside their main culture group.
[edit] Strategies for expansion into Europe
Increasing tax revenue is important. Putting workshops in all your provinces helps. Try to ally/royal marriage/propose vassalization to Karaman, Candar, and Dulkadir. Use gifts when necessary. Eventually you can diploannex them.
You'll want to maintain peaceful relations with the Mamluks, Crimea, and Kazan. Generally, I would advise against allying with them because they will drag you into unwanted wars. On the other hand, you might give them military access and royal marriages so that if they declare war on you, they will suffer a huge stability hit.
You also want to keep an eye on Qara Koyunlu. Their religion is Shiite Islam, and therefore diplomacy is much harder. I have found that if you maintain a big army, they generally leave you alone. They have to worry about the Mamluks to the West and the Timurids to the East (both Sunni), so they won't go after you unless you're easy pickings.
With your Eastern diplomacy as good as possible, you can then focus entirely on conquering the West. I usually don't bother leaving any troops on my Eastern border. Massing all your forces in the West makes you much more effective and deadly. Plus, I figure that if I'm sneak attacked while at war with Europe, I'll give my European rivals a good peace settlement and turn my armies Eastward. Mercenaries are always an option too.
Conquer as much as you can without going over your badboy limit. Military annexation is horrible to your reputation, but at the beginning of the game you will probably be doing a lot of it. A possible way to avoid ruining your reputation is to wait for Hungary, Poland, or Venice to annex some of the tiny countries that surround you, and then take the provinces from them in a war. The reputation hit is much lower that way.
Never let your reputation be perfectly honorable (all the way at zero). Reputation repairs all the time unless it's perfect, so if your reputation is at zero you should start a war.
For many decades, your biggest Western rivals are going to be Austria and Poland/Lithuania. Depending on how the game plays out, they will either be weak (unlikely), moderately powerful, or extremely powerful by the time you are ready to destroy them. Once you fight them, make sure to have generals commanding your armies. Avoid catastrophic defeats by watching out for their powerful generals. I played a game where Lithuania converted their warfare-level 9 king to a general. Their army would go around butchering thousands of my troops while suffering minimal casualties. The only way to outmaneuver such a general is to allow the sieging of one of your provinces until his army gets enough attrition. Then, counter-attack with an overwhelming force commanded by your best general.
Convert conquered provinces to increase stability and maximize income. It helps to eventually change your government to a theocracy because this gives your missionaries a much better chance of succeeding. Don't do this before you've done all the royal marriages and vassalizations you want to do, however, and be ready for a huge one-time stability hit.
The Ottomans are a fun militaristic country to play, even if your empire ends up in tatters. You can learn a lot of useful army strategies by playing them, and can then apply those strategies to other countries you play. Have fun!
