Oman is a Tier II nation located is a country located in Asia 
on the Arabian Peninsula. Oman borders the 
UAE, 
Saudi Arabia, and 
Yemen. It has a coast on the Arabian Sea.
Background
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman is a country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia and the oldest independent state in the Arab world. Located in a strategically important position at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the country shares land borders with the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest, and shares marine borders with Iran and 
Pakistan. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam exclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz (which it shares with 
Iran) and the Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.
From the late 17th century, the Omani Sultanate was a powerful empire, vying with the Portuguese Empire and the 
British Empire for influence in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence or control extended across the Strait of Hormuz to modern-day Iran and Pakistan, and as far south as Zanzibar. When its power declined in the 20th century, the sultanate came under the influence of the 
United Kingdom. For over 300 years, the relations built between the two empires were based on mutual benefits. The UK recognized Oman's geographical importance as a trading hub that secured their trading lanes in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean and protected their empire in the Indian sub-continent. Historically, Muscat was the principal trading port of the Persian Gulf region. Muscat was also among the most important trading ports of the Indian Ocean.
Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said was the hereditary leader of the country, which is an absolute monarchy, from 1970 until his death on 10 January 2020. His cousin, Haitham bin Tariq, was named as the country's new ruler following his death.
Oman is a member of the United Nations, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It has sizeable 
Oil reserves, ranking 25th globally. In 2010, the United Nations Development Program ranked Oman as the most improved nation in the world in terms of development during the preceding 40 years. A significant portion of its economy involves tourism and trading fish, dates and other agricultural produce. Oman is categorized as a high-income economy.
Base Statistics
Economy
Oman gains $207,675 money per turn. $188,622 from tax and $19,053 from resources.
Resources
Military
Oman starts with a home guard of 20k infantry in its capital, Muscat. Oman has a manpower capacity of 60,000, just like any other tier II nation.
| Base Manpower Capacity of Oman per Conscription Law | |
|---|---|
| The following columns below present the manpower capacity from lowest (Disarmed) to highest (Required). RP stands for "Recruitable Population". | |
| Disarmed [1% RP] |
|
| Volunteer [2% RP] |
|
| Limited [5% RP] |
|
| Extensive [10% RP] |
|
| Required [25% RP] |
|
Geography
Terrain
Oman is entirely flat, except for its northern coastline, which is Hilly.
Biome
Oman is entirely Arid.
Cities
There are 7 cities total in Oman, its largest and capital city being Muscat.
Strategy
Uniting the Peninsula
While playing as Oman, there are multiple formables you can make, such as the 
Omani Empire, the 
Arab League, and the 
Islamic Caliphate. The latter two are pretty unlikely unless you are able to get a sufficient economy and manpower to conquer all of the Middle East and North Africa 
. It is also more important to gain a foothold in East Africa and expand in the Arabian Peninsula, instead of directly going for strong countries such as 
Turkey and 
Egypt. As soon as you start playing your first threat is Saudi Arabia, who can easily annex you with its population and economy advantage. Start by making 2-4 electronic factories and sell them to AI countries. You will not be able to completely rely on trade, but this is the Middle East, so you will be able to develop cities and build mines so you can increase your tax and resource income, thus reducing your reliance on trade for the time being. After trading your 
Electronics, make a motor factory and a steel factory. While the steel and motor factories make some troops, train them to become Arid specialized, and invade the United Arab Emirates. This is important since Oman has no square cities, which you need in order to make tanks. By the time you fully invade the United Arab Emirates your factories should be finished so make 1k or more tanks (The good thing is that you do not have to worry about trading Oil since you already produce 8 per turn) and just like the infantry, specialize them for Arid conditions and declare war on Yemen. Invade one city and after the AI's home guard attacks your tanks and dies, split your tanks into groups of 200 and have them auto capture Yemen. After annexing Yemen, start setting up a military in order to defend against Saudi Arabia. It may seem like a good idea to take 
Qatar, 
Bahrain, and 
Kuwait before this, but then you will have to defend those cities as well as your own territory in the southern Arabian peninsula. After setting up a military with several thousand tanks, as well as some infantry to defend your key cities first take Saudi Arabia's cities on its west coast, which is where it gets much of its manpower and tax income from. Then you can rush Riyadh with your tanks. After taking the capital, split your tanks into groups of 200 again and then auto capture Saudi Arabia. After this you only have to invade Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait in order to form 
Arabia.
Reclaiming Dominance in the Indian Ocean
Alternatively, If you are allied with Saudi Arabia or it is AI and you don't have interest in invading it (although it is a good idea anyways since its massive Oil reserves means you will not have to buy it) then you can just invade UAE, Yemen, Qatar, and Bahrain, and then start expanding into the Horn of Africa . By now you should have at least 1-2k tanks that are trained for arid conditions, so taking 
Somalia should be no problem. Next you will need to invade 
Kenya and 
Tanzania. Most of the time these countries are not players, but if they are, and have already created the 
East African Federation, then you will need to create a navy, as the Omani Empire was primarily maritime. Start by making a few battleships along with destroyers, or even an aircraft carrier if you have the money. Make sure to switch to capital ships doctrine so you can make those battleships faster for less money, and if you have already invaded Saudi Arabia, you don't need to worry about an oil deficit. Most of their important cities such as Dar es Salaam will be near the coast, so place your navy there to instantly bombard any tanks or other units that they make. With your navy assisting the landing, move your tanks to a coastal city and start making a move towards their capital. The East African countries are not that powerful in terms of manpower or economy, so you will be able to successfully invade them as long as you have developed your cities and created an army capable of crushing any of their forces. Once you have invaded all of Tanzania and Kenya's core cities, annex them and form the Omani Empire.
Forming the Arab League
Assuming you have already annexed the territories needed for the Omani Empire, you already have a head start in the Middle East. However, there are still several threats you face. By this time, Turkey would probably already annexed the countries needed for the 
Ottoman Empire, and may have gone even further. It is possible that Iran will have expanded into the Middle East by now but most of the time they will be invading countries in Central Asia so that they could form the 
Khwarazmian Dynasty. Egypt could have also expanded into the Middle East instead of Turkey, and could have also expanded into Africa and annexed 
Sudan or 
Libya. A country such as 
Spain or
Italy could have also expanded into North Africa . So lets assume that all of these countries are just your average player, not really capable of outsmarting you but it also won't exactly be a cakewalk conquering them either, as population and economy wise, all of these countries would best you. For starters, take 
Comoros and 
Djibouti, as they are required for the Arab League, easy to invade, and it is seriously unlikely that a country like 
Madagascar would be a player. Then, take 
Iraq because even if Turkey is a player, they may have instead expanded into the Balkans instead of the Middle East. In order to take down Turkey, you will not be able to use sheer military might since they could easily crush you with their massive manpower reserves. Build up tanks on the border before it becomes too suspicious to them, and then launch an attack, optionally, use attackers to chip away their army and bombers for their factories to worsen their economy. In order not to let them do the same to you, place a few units of anti-aircraft in your major cities. Rush Ankara, and then Istanbul, and by this time they should have either given up or collapsed. Alternatively, you could get an ally like 
Russia to help, and work on an agreement to split Turkey since you do not actually need Turkey's cores for the Arab League, just 
Syria and 
Lebanon (That is, unless you want to form the Islamic Caliphate later on. Therefore, you shouldn't be allying others unless you aren't planning to expand after you form the Arab League, or this ally is a friend who is willing to cede you the land). Once you have finished annexing those countries, move on to Egypt. Cairo is their main source of tax income, manpower, and it is also their capital, so you can cause serious damage to their stability and economy if you manage to capture it. Of course, they would have fortified it by now, so use an aircraft carrier or attackers to destroy their defenses. Once you have done that, once again rush the capital with tanks and auto-capture the rest of their cities as they collapse or give up. Next, move onto Libya, if Italy has already annexed it use a navy to blockade it while you invade it. Since you would have annexed Egypt by now you have access to the Suez Canal so you can move your naval units from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. At this point you could negotiate with Italy to give up Libya or just invade it with your superior army and massive navy. Next invade 
Algeria and hope a country like 
France hasn't annexed it yet, and if they have, invade it the same way you did with Libya and negotiate for Algeria or just blitz France. Even better, if these European countries are fighting with each other (like those western barbarians usually are always doing) then you can use it as an excuse to join and grab their African colonies. Next invade 
Morocco or optionally Spain if they have already annexed it, then 
Mauritania as it usually isn't invaded and now you can form the Arab League.
Reuniting Most of the Islamic World
Let's be real here; if you have already managed to form the Arab League with 
Oman of all countries you would have already taken some other countries too, such as Turkey and the 
Iberian Union. From this point on it gets much harder because the last few countries you need to conquer are usually already annexed by major powers. If 
India is a player, they would have already conquered Pakistan and 
Afghanistan for the 
Maurya Empire. Iran being a player is also not uncommon, and even if it weren't, Iran is one of the hardest nations to invade due to most of its territory being in both Mountainous terrain and entirely in the Arid biome. First off, to make invading Iran a slightly less painful experience, upgrade mobility for your land units so that they spend less time in attrition. Move your navy to the Persian Gulf to discourage them from making a navy, It really doesn't matter where you invade from, as nearly all of Iran is covered in Mountainous terrain, but your priorities are both Tehran and the square cities, to stop them from making more tanks and also decrease their manpower gain/tax income. Hopefully you aren't invading Iran by the book, because there are many, many ways that a player could counter your attacks. Assuming that you have conquered Iran successfully, it is time to move onto Pakistan and Afghanistan. Once again, there are many ways that an Indian player could counter you, but generally, you want to move that huge navy to coastal cities such as Karachi, so defenders would be bombarded and any troops rushing to their aid would also be destroyed. You have two options at this point, to invade Pakistan and Afghanistan and then start negotiating, or take India's capital and wait for them to collapse, the latter being much longer but also ensures you both countries if India refuses to give them up. Once you have finished invading and annexing them, form the Islamic Caliphate!
Formables
Oman can form the following:
- The Islamic Caliphate
- The Omani Empire
- The Arab League
Threats
Significant Threats
- Saudi Arabia is an immediate threat as they are in close proximity and may take you for more Oil.
- Kenya or Tanzania may become players and form East African Federation to stop you from forming.
Ethiopia or Italy may invade Somalia for 
Ethiopian Empire and 
Italian Empire, respectively. Additionally, Italy might take Libya too, but this is not an issue in the early game.
Less Likely Threats
- Iran may invade you to gain a foothold in the Arabian Peninsula.
- Turkey will most definitely invade the nations you need for the Arab League.
- Egypt is much stronger than you and will also invade nations that you need for the Arab League, they might even go further and invade Saudi Arabia for the
Mamluk Sultanate. - European countries such as France and Spain may take the nations you need for the Arab League.
- Any of the countries you need for the Arab League such as Iraq, Morocco, or Algeria may become players.
- India will take Pakistan and Afghanistan for the Maurya Empire. This is less of a problem since you will not be trying to form the Islamic Caliphate right off the bat.
Overall, if you stay in East Africa and don't expand outside of the Arabian Peninsula, you have very few or insignificant threats. If you are aspiring to form the Arab League or Islamic Caliphate though, you will need a military strategy and diplomacy to keep your sovereignty.
Trivia
- Oman is where a former moderator for Rise of Nations, cogman12344, is from.
- Oman is one of the countries who still kept its absolute monarchy.
- For a long time, the Omani Empire has had a large influence in the Swahili coast, as a result many Omani families still live in Zanzibar, and Oman hosts the largest Swahili speaking population outside of Africa, estimated to be around 22,000 to 100,000.
- Oman, in real life, owns two exclaves, the Madha and Musandam exclaves. Likely due to how cities in the game are scripted, this is not displayed.
