The Ottomans are back! A usual staple in Civilization, the civilization that preceded modern-day Tukey and fan-favourites is coming back to Civilization VI in the new Gathering Storm expansion.
But boy, do they look overpowered. Or at least all of their bonuses are stacked in the midgame.
The Ottoman’s unique ability is called the “Great Turkish Bombard”, which gives them stronger siege units that are faster to produce. And any conquered city will not lose a population and gets Amenity and Loyalty bonuses. This alone makes them great for world domination.
But there’s more. You have the Barbary Corsair unique unit that replaces the Privateer. The unit will not take movement points for doing coastal raids, so the Ottomans can take control of the seas too, like their Civ V counterpart.
They also have the Janissary, a Musketman replacement unique unit. It costs one population to train one and starts as a free promotion. But it won’t cost you a population if you train one in a conquered city.
The Ottomans can also build Grand Bazaars, the Bank replacement for Commercial Hubs. It brings extra Amenities and extra strategic resources.
Lastly, we get the leader, which is still Suleiman The Magnificent. But this time he brought a friend. His unique ability is the Grand Vizier which gives him a unique governor, Ibrahim. Ibrahim has its own promotion tree and can be sent to cities outside of your control.
The Ottomans in Civ V had a leaning on domination based on their unique units but were never considered strong enough as the bonuses lack synergy. But with the new bonuses to loyalty, Amenities and the fact that conquered cities make for good Jannisary production, The Ottomans can really play the wide game, amassing many lands and cities.
All of these sound ridiculously overpowered, but keep in mind most of the abilities come into play by the Renaissance era and nothing else afterward. So make that era the time to snowball to a Domination victory.
Civilization VI Gathering Storm expansion will be available on February 14, 2019 for PC (Steam).