Turks questions

So I've gotten turks randomly 6 times in the past 2 days (I only play a few games a night so this feels insane). Anyways, a couple questions:

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1. I know gold is super important to turks, but I almost always have food shortages in castle and imp. Admittedly I dont use CA very often, so every other unit besides bombards cost food.
2. Why are turk's CAs considered so good? Is there anything besides the +20 HP upgrade? (which i'm not downplaying, it is a big boost to that troop)
3. The lack of pikemen AND elite skirm is just debilitating. Since gunpowder doesn't show up until Imp, in a 1v1 a guy knows he can go full xbows with cheap pikes and I can't do shit. Or he can go full knights and I'm toast. A strong army of either xbows or knights crushes me and most civs have a strong option with either cavalry or archers. I have to pray i can outplay person with a scout rush but that's so predicable i'm late to castle and f'd with knights in my base.

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I just wish they got pikes or elite skirms. One of those would make things just a little more balanced because it takes a lot to mass up CA's to deal with knights