Ottomans
Ottomans
Primary culture
Turkish (Levantine)
Capital province
Edirne (149)
Government
Ottoman Government
State religion
Sunni
Technology group
Anatolian
Ottoman ideas
Traditions:
- +5% Discipline
- +3 Tolerance of heathens
Kanunnames
- −20% Core-creation cost
- +1 Max promoted culture
Ghazi
- +20% Manpower recovery speed
Timar System
- +15% Cavalry combat ability
Autonomous Pashas
- −10% Cost of reducing war exhaustion
The Law code of Suleiman
- +10% National tax modifier
Tulip Period
- +10% Trade efficiency
Found the Imperial School of Naval Engineering
- −10% Ship cost
Ambition:
- +33% Land force limit modifier
Timurid invasion, but several beyliks remain independent. These Beys jockey for a position between the expanding power of the Ottomans on one side, and the 
Mamluk Empire of Egypt and Syria, still the strongest state in the Middle East, on the other.
In Europe, the Ottomans have defeated the Crusaders in the Battle of Varna, killing Wladyslaw, the 
Polish and 
Hungarian king. 
Byzantium now lies exposed and Hungary has been forced on the defensive, but with the fortress of Belgrade, still serves as a strong bulwark against further Ottoman expansion. The lesser princes in between can survive only by playing the great powers off one another. Further south, Skanderbeg leads 
Albania in revolt against the Ottomans, supported by 
Venice, which still dominates the seas.
The realm ruled by the Ottoman dynasty is not yet a centralized state in 1444. The sultan's authority is enforced only by his small household of servants, recruited from slaves captured in war and from the 'devshirme', the periodic conscription of Christian youths from the Balkan countryside. These are the famous Janissaries, who will in time grow into a powerful standing army. The Ottomans have come to power with the military backing of numerous marcher-lords, still highly autonomous on the Balkan frontier, while the administration lies in the hands of the Turkish aristocracy, literate in the ways of statecraft, but largely independent of the sultan's authority.
All this is about to change. Having defeated the Crusader armies, the old sultan Murad II is now on his way back to his estates in Manisa, leaving the government in the hands of the young Mehmed II. It is he who will go on to transform the Ottoman state into an empire, acquiring Constantinople as an imperial capital and establishing a centralized administration to rein in the marcher-lords and old Turkish families. For 'The Grand Turk', there can be no compromise – the House of Osman is to be the supreme authority in the land. The only question is this: where will his armies turn to first??
Europa Universalis IV starts on November 11th 1444, the day after the Ottomans' victory over the Christian alliance at Varna. They begin owning most of Anatolia and the southern Balkans. For new players, the early game will likely be focused on consolidating the country's position in those regions. Internally, the country is divided between the 
Orthodox and 
Sunni faiths. Economically, they hold the majority of the Constantinople node trade power with very easy access to the rest.
In the Balkans, the important trade center of Constantinople and the region of Morea are held by the declining nation of Byzantium and its vassal, 
Athens. The Aegean Sea is controlled mainly by Venice and 
Genoa hindering control of the Constantinople trade node. The Anatolian region is a home to several Turkish Beyliks. Further east, in the Taurus and Caucasus mountains, the hordes of 
Aq Qoyunlu and 
Qara Qoyunlu control some outlying Ottoman territory, and shield the Ottomans from their historical rival, the Timurids. To the south, historical and trade rival the Mamluks control a sprawling trade empire that extends into Africa, while their vassal 
Hejaz controls the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. To the west, the Balkan nations are ripe for the taking - 
Moldavia is the only safe nation due to it being a march of Poland which blocks expansion. Further expansion into the west is halted by 
Austria and Hungary, while across the Adriatic, Italy is mostly protected by the 
Holy Roman Emperor and 
Aragon.
The Ottomans have a unique government type named the Ottoman Government. This government is in many ways synonymous with the royal household, but with a harem feature that ensures that there will never be a lack of heirs for the Ottoman ruler. The Ottomans follow the 
Hanafi school of Islam.
Contents
Ottoman GovernmentEdit
The Ottoman Government is a unique government type with fixed dynasty and the following benefits:
+0.5 Yearly legitimacy
−10% Unjustified demands
+150 Governing capacity
+5 Maximum absolutism
This government is permanently lost if the country is no longer Muslim or if the government type is changed during the Revolution disaster or by revolutionary rebels enforcing their demands.
HaremEdit
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Available only with the Rights of Man DLC enabled. |
The harem helps ensure that there will never be a lack of heirs for the empire. An event triggers if the current ruler has reached 30 years of age and has no heir which allows the player choose an heir for the throne from a random list of three choices, being able to view their monarch stats prior to the choice.
- See also: Ottoman events#Harem
id
The Sons of [Root.Monarch.GetName]
As befits a man of his caliber and stature the Sultan has fathered several capable children and many who show great promise as future rulers. Both the sons themselves and our government officials are acutely aware that only one can inherit and what awaits the others. Our Viziers are adamant that it is now high time for [Root.Monarch.GetName] to name a favorite among the possible successors. This is unlikely to end the competition for [Root.Monarch.GetHerHis] favor but it will hopefully stop the worst succession struggles that might follow if our [Root.Monarch.GetTitle] should meet his maker without having picked a clear successor."
Trigger conditions
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Mean time to happen
6 months |
Immediate effects
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Option conditions
 The Pious son is our favorite.
The Strongest son is our favorite.
The Studious son is our favorite.
The Natural Leader is our favorite.
The Gregarious son is our favorite.
The Entrepreneurial son is our favorite.
The Most Gifted son is our favorite.
The Generous son is our favorite.
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PashasEdit
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Available only with the Cradle of Civilization DLC enabled. |
This government may assign a pasha to one of its states from the state interface, and the following modifiers will be applied to each province in this state:
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−50% | State maintenance |
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−2 | Local unrest |
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+20% | Local construction cost |
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+20% | Local regiment cost |
Removing the Pasha causes all the provinces in the state to suffer a +5 local unrest penalty for 10 years.
JanissariesEdit
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Available only with the Cradle of Civilization DLC enabled. |
Janissaries are a special unit category available only to countries with the Ottoman government, and are displayed with a red background in the army view. They are elite infantry troops with 
−10% fire damage received, 
−10% shock damage received, and 
+100% army drill gain modifier. However, unlike other special units, janissaries are 
+100% costlier to reinforce.
Janissaries can be recruited Macro-builder or from the state interface of states comprising heathen provinces: each 10 heathen 
development in the state gives 1 janissary regiment. This costs 
10 military power per regiment raised. They do not use manpower when recuited. Over-reliance on janissaries may trigger the Janissary Coup disaster after the end of the 
'Age of Discovery'.
MissionsEdit
- Main article: Ottoman missions
Practically all of the Ottomans missions revolve around expanding their borders. In the early stages of the game, many of the missions revolve around reclaiming the lands of Anatolia, as well as the iconic mission to conquer the City of the World's Desire: Constantinople or Conquer the Crusader's Last Bastion (Rhodes). Further missions will request the Ottoman Empire to expand and conquer the regions of Balkans, North Africa, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, as well as individual provinces - all to increase trading power in the spice trade and to unite lands against Christendom.
EventsEdit
- Main article: Ottoman events
Many historical events are the aftermath from the expansion and government reforms of the Ottoman Empire - such events can revolve around the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the trade states of Venice and Genoa, the left-over Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, enacting reforms that might not be popular with everyone, or suppressing nationalistic rebels.
DecisionsEdit
Adopt the Provincial Government System
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Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.27. |
Appointing provincial governors, or 'Beys' can certainly improve administration of taxes and such but with less direct control over our provinces there is also the possibility of ambitious governors spending most of their time caught up in intrigues and internal feuds.
Potential requirements
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Allow
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Effects
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Expand the Devshirme System
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Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.27. |
By enrolling young men from newly conquered lands into service we have increased the efficiency of our recruitment process considerably. Let us further expand and refine this system as our state grows.
Potential requirements
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Allow
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Effects
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Disband the Janissaries
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Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.24. |
In 1622, the 17-year-old Sultan Osman II, decided to curb the Janissary excesses. The year before he had been defeated by the Poles during the 'Moldavian Magnate Wars', which he mainly blamed the cowardice of the Janissaries for. He was also outraged over being 'subject to his own slaves.' Rumors about the Sultan preparing to disband them soon reached the Janissaries who revolted and imprisoned Osman. Shortly after he was strangled to death.
Potential requirements
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Allow
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Effects
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Make Constantinople Capital
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Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.24. |
The glorious city we have recently conquered will make a splendid capital for our nation. Constantinople is the greatest city on earth, and our government would make it so much stronger.
Potential requirements
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Allow
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Effects
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StrategyEdit
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.29. |
OverviewEdit
The Ottomans begin the game in 1444 in the 
Anatolian military technology group at level 3 for Administration, Diplomacy and Military with Feudalism embraced. If you rush to Military level 5, 
Ottomans should have the strongest infantry units, comparing to 
Western, 
Muslim and 
Eastern units.
If the Ottomans have completed the 3 listed decisions, Adopt the Provincial Government System, Expand the Devshirme System and Make Constantinople Capital, they are likely the physically largest and most developed nation on 3 continents. At this stage the question becomes how big can the Ottomans grow. Other than Austria, Rivals may include 
Commonwealth, 
Russia, 
Great Britain, 
France, 
Ming and 
Spain.
60% Ratio. As a Sunni nation, Cavalry numbers may be up to 60% of a total army size, excluding 
artillery, before the Insufficient Support penalty is incurred. Note that this will be reduced to the standard 50% Cavalry ratio upon conversion to another religion.- Anatolian units: see Anatolian land units. Early game Anatolian units (up to military tech 15) are superior to Western by 1 pip. Notably, Janissaries (infantry at military tech 9) have 1 offensive fire pip; the only other tech groups to get fire pips this early are
Indian and 
Chinese (who have a much harder time embracing institutions). Conversely, Anatolian cavalry has no fire pips until tech 18, compared to 10 for Western.
The JanissariesEdit
The Ottomans may have the event “The Janissaries” fire if their ruler is above 5 monarch power in any category and they have 50 
army tradition. If accepted, the Janissaries give considerable military bonuses to the Ottomans for the remainder of the game. In addition to the extra power their Anatolian units have, the bonuses from the Janissaries catapult the military strength of the Ottomans far above that of their neighbors.
However, accepting this event will additionally unlock the unique “Janissary Coup” disaster for the Ottomans in 100 years. While the disaster can take an enormous toll on the Ottomans if left unattended, it is easily ended by taking the decision “Disband the Janissaries”, which removes the military bonuses. In addition, the disaster can be avoided entirely if the Ottomans ruler has above 5 skill in any category; a condition made much easier by having the Ottoman Government where the sultans often gives 3 heirs with good stats after age of 30. Therefore, disinherit heirs without a skill above 5 is also fine for avoiding the Janissary coup disaster.
Building up Janissary regiments as soon as possible is advised due to the considerable power it gives early in the game, and because the disaster is easily avoided by choosing an heir that disables the disaster. As a player playing against an AI Ottomans, it is often advised to wait to fight them until they disband the Janissaries and lose the military bonuses.
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Available only with the Rights of Man DLC enabled. |
Early MovesEdit
Venice guarantees Albania, and although Ottomans has a core on them, fighting Venice for an OPM might not be worth it. Therefore, annexing Byzantium in the beginning is a wiser choice, not only because the player gets the decision to make Constantinople capital, but also because they get free claims on Serbia. This allows the player to attack 
Serbia immediately after the fall of Byzantium. With a rapid conquest of Serbia, the player can finish off 
Bosnia and 
Wallachia with the free claims provided by the mission tree. During these battles, be sure to use diplomats to improve relations with European countries to prevent a coalition, especially Venice and the members of their trade league,
Ragusa, Poland, and 
Bohemia.
While aggressive expansion in Europe drops, try to take small Turkish beyliks in Anatolia early to prevent Mamluks or Qara Qoyunlu from conquering them. The Ottomans are strong early on so it's possible to do several wars at the same time. However, fighting in two fronts is challenging for new players. Therefore, a new player should focus on one war at a time.
Goals After Early MovesEdit
From here, the possibilities for the Ottomans are endless. Some players may try to Unify Islam which involves conquering holy sites (provinces) and converting all of the player's provinces to Muslim. Some players may seek the Definitely the Sultan of Rum or Parisian Pasha achievements. They are not as hard even for a new player. All the player will need to do is to manage aggressive expansion well, to keep up on tech and institutions and to keep expanding. The Ottoman mission tree provides a huge amount of claims and many places are worth it to take later on.
Aq Qoyunlu owns one 
Syria province which can be released (Rakka: 1.28), easily diplomatically vassalized and later fed Syrian cores from Mamluks (with significantly reduced aggressive expansion). Aq Qoyunlu owns one Ottoman and one Syrian core and should be taken as soon as possible (best if QQ is in some difficult war, e.g. with Timurids or Mamluks).
Other early war targets are 
Trebizond and 
Theodoro, which are not a huge problem. It is fine for 
Crimea to take them because of the Crimean Succession Crisis. The Ottomans may get Crimea as a march through an event, or they may get a Subjugation casus belli.
There is a mission for conquering Caffa from Genoa but it is advised to pick it only after the Shadow Kingdom event happens, otherwise the Emperor will protect Genoa.
Georgia and 
Circassia should be annexed or vassalized before Qara Qoyunlu takes them.
A single successful war with Hungary ending by releasing 
Croatia, 
Transylvania or 
Nitra may cripple them and be a stepping stone to conquer HRE lands. However a strong European ally will probably be required for this war. France, Poland, Bohemia or even 
Muscovy can decide to ally the Ottomans and help in the wars against the common enemy Austria.
Another war target is Venice to take it's and its vassals' Balkan possessions - these are essential, otherwise Venice will steal the trade income from Constantinople and Alexandria. The player should be careful and have a bigger navy than Venice and its allies together. The player can also wait until Venice's rivals such as Austria and Hungary attack them. This makes them even easier to take down.
After getting these possessions, the player will be much more powerful than their rival to the south, the Mamluks. They can then be attacked to conquer the rich land of Egypt and the Holy Cities of Jerusalem, Mecca and Medina.
Converting to OrthodoxEdit
Ottomans can convert to Orthodox in several ways:
- The quickest way occurs prior to annexing any territory by sending a missionary to an Orthodox province triggers enough unrest to create a possible rebellion. Ottomans are sufficiently Orthodox to be able to convert by accepting the rebels demands. However, if this is done the Ottomans lose out on the decision to make Constantinople the capital missing 11 development points. The upside is that Constantinople will not need to be converted.
- A second way to convert and securing the extra 11 development from the make Constantinople the capital decision is by conquering Byzantium and at least two of the four nations of Athens and Albania, Theodoro, or Trebizond. After Constantinople is secured and the decision clicked sending a missionary to any Orthodox province with unrest below 0 will create a rebellion that will allow accepting demands to convert to Orthodox. Religious rebels generated in the province of Trebizond have the advantage of being able to force convert Anatolia while completing sieges on provinces. A rebel generated in Edirne or Kirkkilise are the closest to Constantinople and can force convert that province - which otherwise can not be converted until a combination of
patriarch authority, an inquisitor and Religious ideas are taken. - Both methods should be done prior to the annexation of the Anatolian Beyliks as the extra provinces will reduce the percentage of Orthodox.
Note, there are two handicaps to this as reduced 
religious unity incurs a 
corruption penalty and initially Orthodox are unable to convert Sunni provinces.
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Available only with the The Cossacks DLC enabled. |
If the Dhimmi estate has low loyalty, revoking the heathen provinces granted to them will spawn zealots of the province's religion. As soon as the game starts,the Impose New Religious Tax interaction from the Estate tab can be taken, reducing Dhimmi loyalty to 35. Many Orthodox provinces start out as belonging to the Dhimmi estate, and can be revoked after a year has passed. The Zealots spawned will convert every non-Orthodox province they occupy to Orthodox if the occupied province is not within a fort's Zone of Control, including Konstantiniyye after Make Constantinople the Capital decision has been taken, if the fort in Edirne is destroyed.. Zealots will not be able to cross the strait to Anatolia as there are almost always AI ships in the Sea of Marmara. They instead will march all the way around the Black Sea until they are defeated in battle by a nation along the way, or arrive back into Ottoman lands. The player can annex Trebizond and send a missionary to the province (as outlined above) after granting it to the Dhimmi estate, then revoke the estate ownership after a year if they wish to force convert Sunni Anatolia prior to switching to Orthodox.
Converting to CopticEdit
Conversion to Coptic is done fastest by taking the 3 Coptic provinces Van, Yerevan and Nakhchivan from Qara Qoyunlu. Converting to Coptic removes the unique government type from Ottomans.
Give those provinces to the Dhimmi estate, and spawn 3 Coptic rebel stacks by revoking those provices a year later, after making the Dhimmi disloyal by asking for gold.
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Available only with the Rights of Man DLC enabled. |
However, all Coptic holy sites are easily conquered, so the Ottomans will get the benefit of the five Coptic blessings very early on.
Converting to CatholicEdit
Conversion to Catholic is also possible as the Ottomans. This can be done in an many ways however, the easier ways include securing either a Catholic province from Bosnia, Ragusa, Sayuda from the Mamluks or waiting for Athens to convert its province and then securing it. However, as the amount of Catholic is small relative to the empire it will take a several years of waiting as a rebel stack forcibly converts provinces. However, this can be shortened by utilizing Dhimmi revolts.
Note, there are two handicaps to this as reduced religious unity incurs a corruption penalty and initially Catholics are unable to efficiently convert Sunni provinces.
Form Holy Roman Empire (Outdated)Edit
After becoming Catholic the Ottomans can be elected and can gain a lot of Imperial authority by adding all of their European provinces to the HRE, and passing several reforms. Call for Reichsreform may already have been passed before the Ottomans become emperor, so Institute Reichsregiment and Reform the Hofgericht may be passable. The Imperial authority tick from all of the new provinces in the empire will also allow you to pass the following reforms quickly. (Not Posible after 1.30 Patch)
Staying SunniEdit
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Available only with the The Cossacks DLC enabled. |
Many Orthodox provinces start out as belonging to the Dhimmi estate. Therefore, by conquering many European lands and putting Dhrimmi to your states, Dhrimmi should be influential and loyal to you. If the Dhimmi estate has high loyalty, -10 tech cost and tolerance are provided. The Impose New Religious Tax interaction from the Estate tab can be taken as the source of hiring advisers and war.
It is possible to get Italian states after the The Shadow Kingdom events by either vassalizing Italian and conquering Naples if Aragon loses it. This could get some easier institution process, as the colonization and printing press might be slow if the player conquer too much Asian lands.
IdeasEdit
The choice of Ottomans are fairly diverse and can be approached in a number of ways. Given that the Ottomans can release and do re-conquest for Syria/Persia/Iraq and also can diplo-vassalize Fezzan and feed it high coring cost north African land, taking 
Influence ideas that has reduced 
diplomatic annexation cost. Later 
Diplomatic ideas can be taken to more effectively reduce aggressive expansion by giving 
−20% province warscore cost and 
Improve Relations so any AE quickly cools down.
Administrative ideas are recommended as the 
−25% core reduction cost can stack with the −20% from Kanunnames. The lowered cost and maintenance of mercenaries will help the Ottomans to field a large force of mercenaries.
If the Ottomans choose to go Orthodox, Coptic, or Catholic,
Religious ideas may be a good choice as Deus Vult yields the Holy War casus belli making the acquisition of territories east or south of the Ottomans free from the use of diplomatic power. This is especially strong with the Coptic faith as it will yield even more coring cost reduction, and a casus belli with nearly all neighbors (among other bonuses). Administrative ideas may be required to manage the administrative power cost of coring all that land. The bonus 
+1 missionary, 
+3% missionary strength and 
+2% missionary strength vs heretics will be of great help in maintaining Ottomans' religious unity.
If Ottomans stay Sunni,
Humanist idea group is usually the best option for handling rebels and fits well with an aggressive conquest style where Ottoman don't have time to convert all heathen provinces. The Ottoman traditions gives a +3 tolerance of heathens you can stack this with the +2 tolerance of heathens in this idea group. With that, you don't have any penalty to religious unity in heathen provinces. It also gives provinces for the Dhimmi estate, which can be quite lucrative.
It has the be noted however that a military idea group isn't important in the early game because of the Anatolian tech group, which gives The Ottomans extra unit pips compared to the Western nations. In the late game, at military tech 19 (for infantry) and tech 18 (for cavalry) The Ottoman units will have less unit pips compared to the western tech group. Ottomans should get more military idea for further aggression.
Offensive ideas shine with good generals and siege ability with Ottomans' tendency to often be at war and having high military tradition
Aristocratic idea with Anatolian troops could be strong early game, helpful in putting military points into other areas, such as extra manpower, extra diplomat to annex vassals, Monthly autonomy change to counterbalance Lighten Dhimmi Tax Burden, keeping military traditions high and getting an extra siege pip are very good to keep the Ottomans as an unbeatable military force.
Quantity idea could solve later on manpower problem while 
Quality idea solves the each single battle.
AchievementsEdit
Own and have cores on Rome, Moscow and Constantinople as Ottomans.
Assign Pasha to Paris.
Country guides
Eastern technology group 
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 Bosnia  Byzantium  Circassia  Cyprus  Georgia  Greece  Lithuania  Montenegro  Muscovy  Novgorod  Poland  Ragusa  Russia  Serbia  Theodoro  Trebizond  Tver  Wallachia
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Anatolian technology group 
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 Ottomans
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Muslim technology group 
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 Granada
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Nomadic technology group 
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Central African technology group 
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 Kuba Mutapa
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East African technology group 
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 Ethiopia Mogadishu
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| Muslim technology group
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 Mamluks Morocco Tlemcen Tunis
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West African technology group 
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 Air Mali
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| Eastern technology group
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 Jerusalem
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| Muslim technology group
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 Arabia  Ardabil  Hisn Kayfa  Oman
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Indian technology group 
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 Assam  Bahmanis  Bengal  Orissa
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Chinese technology group 
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 Bali  Brunei  Dai Viet  Japan  Khmer  Korea  Majapahit  Malaya  Pagarruyung  Pasai  Sunda
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| Nomadic technology group
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 Jianzhou  Timurids  Uzbek
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Western technology group 
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 United States
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Mesoamerican technology group 
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 Maya
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North American technology group 
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 Caddo  Cherokee  Iroquois
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- ↑ Does not have the country modifier Devshirme system or the country flag lapse_of_devshirme
- ↑ Custom tooltip for Yoklama: See the end of the Janissary Coup disaster