Guns of the Porte - Ottoman First Impressions

Well after having got some games in with the Ottoman Empire I feel like I am beginning to understand them a bit. So I will give you my opinions on the fleet so far (not the individual ships!).

HMS Sphinx's figure head.

All your small and mediums have a DR of 4. This means your smalls are quite hard to damage but will go down to a critical quite easily. However the cruisers, armoured or normal, are quite easy to damage. And with no access to shields you must be careful. Good use of your Firtina is imperative. Which leads to:

Beware the French and their tape measure of DOOM

 Beware the early activations. Your Firtina generators fog effect dissipates at the end of every turn and this can strand your ships, especially your Fettah cruisers who will go down quickly without that protection. Mine seem to be made of Semtex and I have lost one a game to a magazine explosion. The storm Impedes the opposition so hitting on 5+( your fog effect already does this so is of no use here but can save your frigates), it also slows them down by an inch and ensure that they have a turn limit of 2 inches. This all helps as the longer they take to get across the better and they are not so manoeuvrable.

Sir those mines look awfully close

 Do not get too close! The Ottomans have great long range and middle ground fire power and have truly appalling AP. This is what balances the fleet. So do not allow your enemy to close. We are fast too! Well our skimmers are. with the exception of the Penguins and the Italians everyone will get more AP than you and our AA is very ordinary. If they get close they will prize you. CAP your fighters to your battle ship all the time, you will need them. However they must brave your guns first.

In amongst it.

   Mines are great for area denial. Smalls have alot to fear from them due to the Stirginium mine effect. However so do your own small and mediums. Put them down and forget about going near them. I made the fatal error of using them as a screen and then attacking through them as a lone tiny flier recon did for one Fettah and got another crit on another! And the bastard survived! The Zuhaf is expensive for a small with no ordnance but they can pump out those mines quite fast while flying around close to your lines.

The Sadrazam is feeling a little lonely

   The Ottoman damage output is high till the end. A Fettah cruiser that has lost 3 hull still has 8/6/4/2 broadsides with 2 re-rolls due to Sustained Fire, an FSA Lexington has 6/4/1/0. Any damage from your bombards and turrets is Corrosive so during the endgame with alot of limping ships those extra hull point losses will be important. All our bombards are fixed channel so movement and correct angling is important, the Sinop is not a fast ship so must be correctly positioned.

The RC close in.

   So in summary keep away from everyone, get your fog up early and do not for the love of all that is holy go into your minefields. These are only my first impressions and I will expand on them as the Empire sees more action. Feel free to ask questions or correct me! For the Glory of the Sublime Porte!