Having control of one's economy is better than auto spawning free villagers.
The cost saving of not having to pay food for villagers with Ottomans, is more than compensated by better, and more numerous military shipments.
Janissaries are great in Colonial, but begin to suck in later ages. Cav archers suck. Grenadiers suck. Great Bombards are inferior to Heavy Cannons. Indeed, the only strength to Great Bombards is how fast an Ottoman (church) FI can get 5 of them on the field. Not that this matters all that much, considering that Spanish usually either kill their opponent or lose in Fortress. That an the fact that aside from Texus, an Ottoman FI is quite dangerous against a well executed Spanish FF.
Abus Guns remain great throughout the entire game. But, without adequate anti-cavalry protection, they become Lancers fodder. Indeed, I find as long as I reach Fortress with an intact economy and a couple shipments (which gets easier and easier with every fight), Skirmishers, Rodeleros and Lancers pretty much annihilate Jan/Abus.
Spahi ... oh those Spahi, when an Ottoman gets to Fortress (usually following your own advance), you plank down a stable and train 5-10 Dragoons. There goes one of the Ottoman's greatest advantages.
Indeed, I find Lancers to be so much better than Spahi. Not in individual strength ofcourse, but in utility. The damage they deal to infantry is actually comparable, especially when I use the Cabaleros upgrade. But my Lancers can usually get away with more of them alive from enemy ranged cavalry, because of better ranged resistance. More importantly, if I screwed up (which we all do, atleast some of the time) and get my 5 Lancer shipment killed, I can make new ones. With Spahi, not so much, atleast no until Industrial.
And ofcourse the whole not having to pay 1000 food to turn a Russian Strelet horde into dust, is also kinda nice.
On the Spanish side, on the other hand, we have the already mentioned Lancers. We have Rodeleros that are useful from the moment they come on the field to the very end of the game. The same can be said of Skirmishers and Dragoons. Oh, did I mention how awesome it is to have Dragoons instead of the aweful Cavalry Archers? I did? Well it bears repeating.
And then we have the Mercs. Ottoman mercs pretty much suck, aside from the 5 Mamelukes (which turn their tail and run from a mere 5-10 Dragoons). All that emphasis on cavalry (plus the too few to be useful Corsairs). Spanish Mercs on the other hand are way better. The awesome Highlanders and Swiss Pikes can wreak so much havock in the hands of somebody with a brain.
Your enemy got Black Riders, Manchu, Kalmucks or Landsknecht out? No problem. Highlanders will take care of 'em. Your enemy is massing free cavalry (*cough* Germans *cough*)? Highlanders and Swiss Pikes will take care of both.
Indeed, with alittle help from their Falconet and Lancer friends, Highlanders, Swiss Pikes and Rodeleros rip apart the Skirmisher + War Wagon combo. Well, that is if you attack early enough to prevent real massing of those units. Which as Spain you thankfully are in a position to do.
The Ottomans on the other hand are condemned to Jans and Abus to combat that same combination. Not that bad, right? Well, the Ottomans rarely have the resources to get those units in sufficient numbers quickly enough. There's that control over one's economy rearing it's ugly head again. Well, unless you're me and you forget to keep training villagers after about 35-40 in some games.
And last, but definitely not least, is the shipments. In general I found that a 33% discount on shipments + trade post (or three-five built with the help of ATP) during the advance to Colonial, is generally better than the early trade post of the Ottoman for generating shipments. I find myself shipping 4-5 shipments (3 vil, ATP, schooners, 700 gold, 5 vil) before even reaching Fortress and stil able to spam shipments there almost in a queue.
That's the conclusion I came to today after thinking on it for a while. Thanks for triggering the thought process, Chala. Apparently I didn't need another hundred or so games.
"One wants to be loved, failing that admired, failing that feared, failing that hated and despised. One wants to instill in other people some form of emotion. The soul shudders before emptiness and wants contact, no matter the cost."