Turkish Features

The Turkish-themed update of 1.2.0 was the first official "themed" update for VIET, setting the precedent for future themed updates. It focuses on giving Muslim Turks - particularly those in Anatolia - some new features and mechanics, much of which focuses on their offensive against the Byzantine Empire.

Formation of Rum
The Formation of Rum event chain has been one of Project Balance's crowning jewels, a complex event chain akin to EUIV's dynamic historical event chains that tries to guide the game into developing a historically plausible set-up in Anatolia and the Balkans, particularly concerning the ERE and the Turks. Much of this event chain has been adapted in vanilla VIET (and the full thing is still in PB+VIET).

Basically, after their initial invasion of Armenia, there is a high chance the Seljuks will continue their attack on the Byzantine Empire by launching an invasion of Anatolia. If they are successful, they will set up an independent Sultanate of Rum headed by another member of the Seljuk dynasty. The ERE can attempt to reclaim most of the Anatolian coast afterwards; regardless of whether the ERE is successful or not, this results in a reasonably powerful Sultanate of Rum that presents a serious threat to the ERE.

Conquering the ERE and forming the Turkish Empire
Muslim Turkish lords close enough to the ERE have access to a special CB, Turkish Conquest. It will allow you to slowly chip away at the Byzantine Empire. Note however that you cannot use this CB on Constantinople until the Byzantine Empire is greatly reduced in size, to about 30 holdings or so.

Conquering the ERE will trigger a special event that gives you the "Turkish Empire" (if you currently don't have an empire) and the "Fetih" nickname. You, and everyone else who will hold the Turkish Empire, will also get the Kaser-i Rum trait (similar to the Augustus trait from LoR). If the Byzantine Empire is further whittled down in size (to about 15 holdings), it will cease to exist and all its de jure territories will be de jure part of the Turkish Empire.

Miscellaneous Additions and Changes
Due to the important position of eunuchs in the historical Ottoman Empire, there are a few minor flavor additions concerning them. From time to time, the ruler of the Turkish Empire will get a random event allowing them to receive a free eunuch (generally of the religions and cultures the Ottomans historically ruled). Additionally, the ruler of the Turkish Empire can grant any of these eunuchs two possible minor titles - Chief Black Eunuch and Chief White Eunuch. The former is available to eunuchs of African cultures, the latter to those of Slavic and Balkan cultures.

Additional minor titles the ruler of the Turkish Empire can give out include Kapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral) and Bostanji-Bashi.

Tips and Strategies

 * Playing from 1307-1337 as one of the Turkish dukes or kings in Anatolia will provide you with the most opportunity to make use of the new Turkish features. In particular, consider playing as the Ottomans and trying to create the Third Rome as they did historically!
 * Use a variety of CBs when attacking the ERE - i.e., don't rely just on Turkish Conquest or Holy Wars. Note that Turkish Conquest gives you a small regiment of troops (a few thosuand) right after you declare war, so consider using Turkish Conquest when you feel like you need an extra boost.
 * Remember that you can only attack Constantinople using the Turkish Conquest CB if the ERE has about 30 holdings, and that the ERE will only actually be destroyed if it has less than 15 holdings. Thus, if possible, it might be sometimes better to wait before launching a costly attack on Constantinople and instead focus on seizing the remaining territories of the ERE to weaken it; the smaller the ERE is, the easier it will be to get the Turkish Empire and the special features associated with it.