The Ottomans are one of Age of Empires 4’s new civilizations, featuring unique bonuses that let players steadily build an army even without resources. Ottoman Military Schools periodically grant free units, ensuring a constant supply of military units at no extra cost. Here’s an AoE4 Ottoman build order that kickstarts your military production with Military Schools before going for a second Town Center.
The Imperial Council system lets Ottoman players gain experience over time by training troops and advancing through the Ages. This experience can then be used to claim one of 9 unique technologies, ranging from area-healing Imams to siege engine boosts. If that wasn’t enough to convince you, the Ottomans also have access to unique units with powerful abilities. Available in the Castle Age, Janissary hand cannoneers are incredible against cavalry and can repair siege engines. Pair them alongside the Great Bombard, a hulking cannon with longer range and area damage than rival bombards. Add Mehter war drummers into your formations and pick between enhanced attack speed or armor bonuses across your units.
The following Age of Empires 4 build order prioritizes building Military Schools for some early aggressive tactics. While you can hit the Feudal Age earlier, early Military Schools can help you build an army for free. This Ottoman build order for AoE 4 focuses on efficiently building a Military School in the Dark Age and forcing your enemy to respond to constant attacks.
Age of Empires 4 Ottoman Dark Age Rush Build Order Guide
- Send five villagers over to Stone to gather 10 Stone each. This will give you enough Stone to build a Military School.
- Send one villager to gather Food from Sheep. Keep sending new villagers from your Town Center to Sheep.
- Once you get 100 Stone, send four villagers that were gathering Stone to gather wood from one of the trees next to your Town Center. Use the fifth stone-gathering villager to build a Military School and then collect Food from Sheep. Set your Military School to train Spearmen.
- Set the Military School’s rally point towards the enemy player’s settlement. This lets you perform some early Spearmen aggression in the Dark Age.
- Once you get enough wood, use a villager to build a House (50 Wood) and then a Barracks (100 Wood). Ottoman military buildings cost 33% less than those of other civilizations.
- Train two Spearmen and set the Barracks’ rally point towards the enemy base.
- Use a villager to build another House and then a Mining Camp near your Gold deposit. Send the next two villagers to gather Gold.
- Start sending villagers from the Town Center to gather Wood and build a Lumber Camp near your wood line.
- Once you have enough resources to head to the Feudal Age (in about 4 minutes), send five villagers from Sheep over to build the Twin Minaret Medrese. This Landmark spawns in new Berry Bushes around it every 120 seconds.
- Right when you start moving towards the Feudal Age, send your three Gold gatherers over to Stone and make a Mining Camp.
- Pull one of your Wood gatherers to build a House and then return them to gathering Wood.
- When you hit the Feudal Age, use the five builders to gather Food from the newly formed Berry Bushes under the Landmark. Switch your Military School from Spearmen into Sipahi production. These mounted units are perfect for raids, especially with their damage-boosting Fortitude ability. Remember that the ability also makes them take more ranged damage.
- Once you have 100 Stone, pull two villagers from your Sheep to build a Military School and then send them over to gather Stone. Use two more villagers from Sheep to build a Blacksmith and then a Stable before sending them to Stone as well. Build military buildings in the influence area of a Blacksmith. Ottoman Blacksmiths raise the production speed of military buildings around them.
- Keep sending new villagers to the Berry Bushes under your Landmark. Exhaust these Bushes quickly to make the most of their ability to respawn.
- Once you have 300 Stone, build a second Town Center (around the 8-minute mark) and start training villagers.
Why This Ottoman Build Order Works
Building up an army of Spearmen right at the Dark Age lets you deny key resources from enemy villagers. Even if they do build an Outpost or train Spearmen to protect their base, they lose more resources than you since your Barracks costs less Wood. And if your enemy decides to counter your Spearmen with Archers in the Feudal Age, your Sipahi horsemen will be able to clear them out. Head into the Castle Age and your Janissaries will keep your siege engines safe from cavalry raids. The Mehmed Imperial Armory Landmark functions like a Military School but trains expensive siege units instead.
The Ottomans have multiple ways of developing their economy. While this Ottoman build order picks the Food-producing Twin Minaret Medrese, the other Landmark offers gold instead. The Sultanhani Trade Network lets you garrison Traders inside for bonus Gold income. Pair this with the Imperial Age Sea Gate Castle to grant Traders a speed boost and extra armor under the influence of Ottoman Keeps. With the new patch reducing the training time of Traders, trade routes are a compelling way to secure an economic advantage.
With this Age of Empires 4 Ottoman build order, put pressure on your opponents right from the Dark Age. Force out a response from them and counter them with free units from your Military Schools. The Ottoman civilization shakes things up with its approach to military production and its steady trickle of free units. They’re a great option for players already accustomed to Age of Empires 4’s existing eight civilizations.
