Scramble for Africa: Any tips for Ottoman deity.

[pozz]

Having finished The Boers on deity, I decided to try for the Ottoman achievement.

I generally give up Tunis, selling all the buildings I can before it gets overrun.
I try to bribe the Italians to attack Egypt instead.
I've tried both building privateers and cannons, found privateers the best as that limits the amount of 'insert name of Italian ironclads here' that can attack your cities at the same time, but they generally get ripped apart.

Anyone have experience with Ottomans and have succeeded in fighting off the Itais that can point out what I'm failing at ?

*edit*

Btw, do anyone know if one can start with iron inside ones border because frigates would be such a great help instead of those 40+ damage ones poor privateers suffers from attacking :'(

 

[jkg777]

Having finished The Boers on deity, I decided to try for the Ottoman achievement.

I generally give up Tunis, selling all the buildings I can before it gets overrun.
I try to bribe the Italians to attack Egypt instead.
I've tried both building privateers and cannons, found privateers the best as that limits the amount of 'insert name of Italian ironclads here' that can attack your cities at the same time, but they generally get ripped apart.

Anyone have experience with Ottomans and have succeeded in fighting off the Itais that can point out what I'm failing at ?

*edit*

Btw, do anyone know if one can start with iron inside ones border because frigates would be such a great help instead of those 40+ damage ones poor privateers suffers from attacking :'(

Here's a start with iron for the Ottomans.

I've had initial success with on turn 0 selling the Harbor in Tunis for 20 gold, then selling Tunis to Italy for 10 GPT and all the luxuries and strategic resources they have. This buys some time before they will attack. Then I use 2GPT and embassy to buy coal from Morocco.

I send a worker over to build the mine on the iron but since I've traded for iron with Italy I can start building a frigate right away. I've also got coal to build iron clads if desired.

I usually am able to bribe Italy to attack Morocco around turn 2 for 3 GPT, 3 oil, 2 horses and the embassy.

I get DOW'ed by everyone around turn 10-11 and then the fun starts but at least I have a frigate or two, an iron clad and money to buy some stuff.

Any pointers for the Boers? Still trying to win that one.

 

[pozz]

With The Boers, bribing gets really important. You really need Portugal and zulu warring early on and losing as many units to each other as possible. I won by having them fight and wipe out the English presence in South Africa. It needs to be done rather quickly, as they outproduce you big time.

If at all possible try to not position your cities too close to the zulu, as to aggravate them the least, full blown war on 2 or 3 sides will kill you off.

The attempt I finally succeeded with had a small mountain range going up to the west of my starting area, thus limiting the English's attacks on my area, this may have been a huge factor in holding them off initially.

 

[Machiavel]

Hello.

I'm stuck trying to win as the Ottomans on Deity for days now, and I, as well as a few others I believe, could use some help from those who actually won. At the very least, sharing our experiences could be useful.

In my most successful try, I used jkg's save and initial strategy: I sold Tunis to Italy and bribed them to go to war with Morocco, improved the iron and got some more, as well as coal, through trades. I first built the Ironwork in Tripoli, before building frigates and ironclads. I can't remember the build order, but I think I had two frigates and two ironclads (one was bought with money from city-states and trades) by the time Italy declared war on me (around turn 11). I was then building privateers in both cities to serve as shield for my heavier units.
I took Palermo with captured Caio Duilios on turn 22, lost it right away and retook it on turn 23. I had to defend it for a few turns, but the extra coal and iron provided by the city, as well as using the Great Admiral's ability, made it doable. I was then able to easily get Tunis (around turn 27), Cagliari (around turn 29) and Catanzaro (around turn 32). From there, I had such a powerful fleet than taking Algiers, Gibraltar and Lisbon was cake.
Unfortunately, I encountered a lot of problems after that. First, because I gave Tunis to Italy at start, they were able to expand just south of me, so I had to build a few land units to finish them (helped by Egypt), which delayed gold relative productions. Then, France slowly conquered Morocco (which was my main trade partner), wiping them out or almost around turn 50. At that point, I didn't really know what to do to win, so I sent my fleet south to take more cities, but I encountered a larger one, a mix of English and Portuguese ships, so I was stuck on this side. Egypt then asked me to declare war on Ethiopia, which I did, but sending my land units toward them took a lot of time and wasn't really worth it.
I gave up around turn 60, seeing how far ahead Egypt and Ethiopia were on VPs: even by wiping out the latter, I don't think I could have caught up, considering the only trade partners left were Egypt (but they earn more gold than I do from my trade routes and were my main competition), Germany (but only one or two city were available) and a few city-states (which didn't give a lot). I couldn't ever get peace from Portugal, England or France (the latter were even coming for me while most of my units were far away), so it just seemed impossible to win.

Since then, I'm playing on a previous initial save, where all the natural wonders are findable within the first ten turns (using Sipahis), allowing me to trade my luxuries for strategic resources or gold. This save only lack iron (but it's pretty cheap to get enough from Egypt) and coal (I rerolled A LOT and couldn't get a single start with coal within my borders, so I think it's just impossible).
I noted a few interesting things playing on that save: you can get the 9 coal from Italy on turn 0 and so prevent them from building more Caio Duilios before war is declared; you can get a city from Ethiopia if you declare war on them early (I usually steal a worker with my Sipahi while looking for the natural wonders and ask for peace around turn 10); you NEED to get the coal from Morocco on turn 0 and some iron from Egypt (maybe on turn 1), so you can use frigates, ironclads and captured Caio Duilios without the resource penalty; you can steal a few settlers from Germany if they declare on you early (they usually do, as well as France, around turn 2 on my save), but extra workers don't seem to be really useful, since you don't need to improve a lot of stuff; you can bribe Italy and France to war with Morocco or even Egypt, but I'm not sure they even try to fight them before turn 11 (which is when Italy declares on you); with one external trade route and gold from city-states (most being easy to find on my save), you can usually buy an ironclad before going to war.

Now, this is what I'm doing on this save, before Italy declares war:
- Get coal from Italy and Morocco, iron from Egypt and start looking for the natural wonders.
- Keep Tunis and have it produce a frigate and a privateer (or two frigates if I send a lot of production via internal trade routes).
- Build the Ironwork then an ironclad in Tripoli (I also tried to build the Heroic Epic instead of the Ironwork, but I can't get them both and have enough ships).
- Build a frigate or a privateer in Benghazi (or spam cargo ships and caravans to send production to other cities).
- Buy an ironclad in Tripoli just before war.

With this start, I can survive a few turns, but I end up swarmed by privateers and land units getting on my coast. Even when I manage to take those out, Italy is building so many Caio Duilio (at least one or two per turn), that I end up losing Tunis.
I know the key is taking Palermo and keeping it, but I can't seem to do it without giving up Tunis (which I want to keep to avoid them expanding and attacking by land). Maybe I'm doing something wrong production-wise: how can I get both the Ironwork and the Heroic Epic in my capital as well as enough ships? What should I do with my initial cargo ship and caravans? Should I build more with Benghazi to send production to my other cities or send them for gold and build units? Any advice is welcome.

Well, I'm finally done. Sorry about the wall of text, but I felt details were important. I'm also sorry if my english is awkward (it's not my native language).

 

[Cyssero]

Hello.

I'm stuck trying to win as the Ottomans on Deity for days now, and I, as well as a few others I believe, could use some help from those who actually won. At the very least, sharing our experiences could be useful.

In my most successful try, I used jkg's save and initial strategy: I sold Tunis to Italy and bribed them to go to war with Morocco, improved the iron and got some more, as well as coal, through trades. I first built the Ironwork in Tripoli, before building frigates and ironclads. I can't remember the build order, but I think I had two frigates and two ironclads (one was bought with money from city-states and trades) by the time Italy declared war on me (around turn 11). I was then building privateers in both cities to serve as shield for my heavier units.
I took Palermo with captured Caio Duilios on turn 22, lost it right away and retook it on turn 23. I had to defend it for a few turns, but the extra coal and iron provided by the city, as well as using the Great Admiral's ability, made it doable. I was then able to easily get Tunis (around turn 27), Cagliari (around turn 29) and Catanzaro (around turn 32). From there, I had such a powerful fleet than taking Algiers, Gibraltar and Lisbon was cake.
Unfortunately, I encountered a lot of problems after that. First, because I gave Tunis to Italy at start, they were able to expand just south of me, so I had to build a few land units to finish them (helped by Egypt), which delayed gold relative productions. Then, France slowly conquered Morocco (which was my main trade partner), wiping them out or almost around turn 50. At that point, I didn't really know what to do to win, so I sent my fleet south to take more cities, but I encountered a larger one, a mix of English and Portuguese ships, so I was stuck on this side. Egypt then asked me to declare war on Ethiopia, which I did, but sending my land units toward them took a lot of time and wasn't really worth it.
I gave up around turn 60, seeing how far ahead Egypt and Ethiopia were on VPs: even by wiping out the latter, I don't think I could have caught up, considering the only trade partners left were Egypt (but they earn more gold than I do from my trade routes and were my main competition), Germany (but only one or two city were available) and a few city-states (which didn't give a lot). I couldn't ever get peace from Portugal, England or France (the latter were even coming for me while most of my units were far away), so it just seemed impossible to win.

Since then, I'm playing on a previous initial save, where all the natural wonders are findable within the first ten turns (using Sipahis), allowing me to trade my luxuries for strategic resources or gold. This save only lack iron (but it's pretty cheap to get enough from Egypt) and coal (I rerolled A LOT and couldn't get a single start with coal within my borders, so I think it's just impossible).
I noted a few interesting things playing on that save: you can get the 9 coal from Italy on turn 0 and so prevent them from building more Caio Duilios before war is declared; you can get a city from Ethiopia if you declare war on them early (I usually steal a worker with my Sipahi while looking for the natural wonders and ask for peace around turn 10); you NEED to get the coal from Morocco on turn 0 and some iron from Egypt (maybe on turn 1), so you can use frigates, ironclads and captured Caio Duilios without the resource penalty; you can steal a few settlers from Germany if they declare on you early (they usually do, as well as France, around turn 2 on my save), but extra workers don't seem to be really useful, since you don't need to improve a lot of stuff; you can bribe Italy and France to war with Morocco or even Egypt, but I'm not sure they even try to fight them before turn 11 (which is when Italy declares on you); with one external trade route and gold from city-states (most being easy to find on my save), you can usually buy an ironclad before going to war.

Now, this is what I'm doing on this save, before Italy declares war:
- Get coal from Italy and Morocco, iron from Egypt and start looking for the natural wonders.
- Keep Tunis and have it produce a frigate and a privateer (or two frigates if I send a lot of production via internal trade routes).
- Build the Ironwork then an ironclad in Tripoli (I also tried to build the Heroic Epic instead of the Ironwork, but I can't get them both and have enough ships).
- Build a frigate or a privateer in Benghazi (or spam cargo ships and caravans to send production to other cities).
- Buy an ironclad in Tripoli just before war.

With this start, I can survive a few turns, but I end up swarmed by privateers and land units getting on my coast. Even when I manage to take those out, Italy is building so many Caio Duilio (at least one or two per turn), that I end up losing Tunis.
I know the key is taking Palermo and keeping it, but I can't seem to do it without giving up Tunis (which I want to keep to avoid them expanding and attacking by land). Maybe I'm doing something wrong production-wise: how can I get both the Ironwork and the Heroic Epic in my capital as well as enough ships? What should I do with my initial cargo ship and caravans? Should I build more with Benghazi to send production to my other cities or send them for gold and build units? Any advice is welcome.

Well, I'm finally done. Sorry about the wall of text, but I felt details were important. I'm also sorry if my english is awkward (it's not my native language).

I haven't played as the Ottomans yet, but could you maybe meet France in time to sell Tunis to them? I'm not sure how much it would end up helping you either though.

 

[Machiavel]

I admit I haven't thought of that. Algiers is like five tiles away from Tunis, so it's doable, and it would indeed prevent Italy from expanding. On the other hand, since France is declaring on me very early, it's possible that they would help Italy wiping me out. Usually, they only send a few land units to try and get Tunis when it's swarmed by Italy, but I'm able to block them with my riflemen.
I guess I could also try and give it to Morocco and hope to get it back later on (if France or Italy gets it). I think it's a shame not being able to keep it, but it seems impossible to repel Italy otherwise.
In my last try, I bribed Italy on turn 1 or 2 to go after Egypt instead of Morocco. It was kind of interesting because they left their cities undefended. I thought I'd have a chance but their fleet quickly came back to attack Benghazi while they were producing more ships to go for Tunis. They even took Alexandria from Egypt and attacked me on land. Maybe it can be useful if the bribe come at the right time, but I don't know yet when to go for it. It also hurt my GPT, so I ended up with less ships.

 

[pozz]

I've always kept Tunis personally, instead bribing Italy with money to go to war with Egypt. Tunis then got time to build a single unit, while you sell a building every turn. This way you also get some slight damage on the Italian ironclads, which really are the main problem.

I also try to bribe France into going to war with Morocco around turn 10 to relieve pressure from land.

My two horses go on exploration mode at the start, and then I use one to patrol near Tunis' borders after its fall to catch workers and settlers.

 

[pozz]

I haven't played as the Ottomans yet, but could you maybe meet France in time to sell Tunis to them? I'm not sure how much it would end up helping you either though.

Wont help much as all European nations (at least in my games) declare war at turn 11-13, giving Tunis to France would just let their floods of foreign legions penetrate your defenses.

Bribing them to declare war on Morocco and hoping they wont get an open borders agreement with Rome is really much better.

I've thought about gifting it to Ethiopia though, you can conquer it back then when your war ends, Rome wont get another production city or a free pass to the continent. You will lose a trade partner though.

 

[Machiavel]

I kinda want to give up after my current try: I'm turn 84, and earning more than 1000 GPT for at least 15 turns, but Ethiopia is still getting more VPs (1k ahead of me). I can't wipe them out because of the jungle surrounding them and the fact that I have to deal with all of the europeans. On the other hand, I'm earning at least three times more gold than Egypt, but barely getting more VPs each turn. I'll get past them eventually, but I can't understand how it can be so slow. Is there a cap on VPs earned with gold?
I really could use some advice from those who won this. Maybe am I doing something wrong, but I'm running out of ideas.

 

[crocivfanatic]

I kinda want to give up after my current try: I'm turn 84, and earning more than 1000 GPT for at least 15 turns, but Ethiopia is still getting more VPs (1k ahead of me). I can't wipe them out because of the jungle surrounding them and the fact that I have to deal with all of the europeans. On the other hand, I'm earning at least three times more gold than Egypt, but barely getting more VPs each turn. I'll get past them eventually, but I can't understand how it can be so slow. Is there a cap on VPs earned with gold?
I really could use some advice from those who won this. Maybe am I doing something wrong, but I'm running out of ideas.

Same here,maybe a few turns more and possibly even more as i left game after last 15 turns remained,was toobored with having huge navy on both sides of continent.So you figured out too how giving cities close to border gives huge number of gold plus also euro nations giving gold for peace.But the problem with ethiopia still stays,despise Egypt Dowed them relativity early they were not able to do anything,ethiopia even got their one city.
I think terrain configuration plays part here as well-for example cyssero map which he uploaded for when playing as boer it is good because ethiopia loses city against belgium very early and that plays a big role in win.Another thing what is important,there is no sense to bribe other nations to dow on ethiopia unless they manage to take over city,otherwise it just more points for them.And another thing which could be tried as well-is to send an army of workers to cut forest in their territory,as it seems forrest making rifled cannons unusable(they need to go right to city to be able to fire)which explain why none of other nations cant get their cities.

And i had a bit different strategy then you-on start,i traded gold for +10 gpt with Italy.I also got france and italy to Dow on Marroco and Egypt.Then right before turn where they all declare war,i sell city to ethiopia.Thanks to that,i am able to put rifled cannon on tunis,and shoot directly to palermo,and they cant shoot back as it is inside ethiopia border,and also that border prevents Italy/France to attack you from that side.

So you might try that,then build a 4 cities below your main cities,sell it to Egypt when they start to attack it and when Egpty will be willing to offer huge gpt for them,and then send army to Ethiopia on side where there is no other nations coming and try to take atleast 2 cities,and that might do the trick.

 

[Machiavel]

I finally did it! The key is indeed to wipe Ethiopia out. No matter how much gold you're earning, they'll still get more VPs, and you can't trust the AIs to take them out. Knowing that, I bought a settler as soon as the situation with Italy allowed it, and settled on the coast a few tiles east of Addis Abeba. I started to build an army there while I was taking cities in the mediterranean sea. I also was very lucky to have both Morocco and Egypt expanding just south of my initial cities. No one ever declared war on Egypt, and Morocco had very little trouble, so they shielded me effectively.

In my opinion, the best way to deal with Italy is to sell Tunis to Morocco, preferably just before it's taken so you can produce a ship before. I built the Ironwork and the Heroic Epic in Tripoli before pumping out ships (frigates with the iron Egypt sells, and one or two ironclads with Morocco's coal). I used the initial cargo ship to send production to Bengahzi and build another one there to send to Tripoli. The initial caravans are sent to Egypt for gold at first because it's safer. With one or two Caio Duilios, you can take Palermo (essential because of the coal) before the other two italian cities.

Morocco was earning an insane amount of gold at that point in my game, so as soon as I took Algiers, I sold it to them for 300+ GPT. Doing that ensures that you're getting more VPs from gold than the other north africans until around turn 60. Gibraltar and Lisbon are easily taken afterwards. You can then try to take cities on the western coast, but it wasn't really helpful in my game: most of the europeans offered peace treaties very late, so it was hard to advance on that side. Still, I managed to take a Portuguese city and sold it to Morocco, but it wasn't really worth the trouble. Portugal was the only one to offer peace around that time (they gave me 100+ GPT). As for trade routes, I eventually had all seven of them going from a mediterranean city to Tunis or Algiers. That's also why giving at least one city to Morocco is important: those trade routes give a decent amount of gold and are perfectly safe.

Italy managed to settle a city on the east coast as well, but I bribed Egypt and they took them out. I later was able to get them to attack Ethiopia while I was building my eastern army. You need a lot of patience when fighting Ethiopia: their units get insane bonuses from terrain and capital defense. Since I was getting a lot of gold, I could buy necessary buildings in all my cities and most of my units (I sent a few of them from my capital to Ethiopia via Egyptian roads). I was again lucky because Egypt helped (I couldn't bribe them in my previous tries), as well as Portugal and Belgium eventually. Ethiopia was really dumb at some point, because they sent almost all of their units to take a Portuguese city while leaving theirs undefended. Though it was still hard to take them because of the terrain, it was managable. I sold one or two cities (those that would have been hard to defend from the europeans) to Egypt to be sure I had better income than them. That and peace treaties gave me enough gold to get past them on points.

I think I pretty much said everything. I hope it can help those still trying to win this. A few factors are essential, but then it's pure luck.

 

[pozz]

I finally did it! The key is indeed to wipe Ethiopia out. No matter how much gold you're earning, they'll still get more VPs, and you can't trust the AIs to take them out. Knowing that, I bought a settler as soon as the situation with Italy allowed it, and settled on the coast a few tiles east of Addis Abeba. I started to build an army there while I was taking cities in the mediterranean sea. I also was very lucky to have both Morocco and Egypt expanding just south of my initial cities. No one ever declared war on Egypt, and Morocco had very little trouble, so they shielded me effectively.

In my opinion, the best way to deal with Italy is to sell Tunis to Morocco, preferably just before it's taken so you can produce a ship before. I built the Ironwork and the Heroic Epic in Tripoli before pumping out ships (frigates with the iron Egypt sells, and one or two ironclads with Morocco's coal). I used the initial cargo ship to send production to Bengahzi and build another one there to send to Tripoli. The initial caravans are sent to Egypt for gold at first because it's safer. With one or two Caio Duilios, you can take Palermo (essential because of the coal) before the other two italian cities.

Morocco was earning an insane amount of gold at that point in my game, so as soon as I took Algiers, I sold it to them for 300+ GPT. Doing that ensures that you're getting more VPs from gold than the other north africans until around turn 60. Gibraltar and Lisbon are easily taken afterwards. You can then try to take cities on the western coast, but it wasn't really helpful in my game: most of the europeans offered peace treaties very late, so it was hard to advance on that side. Still, I managed to take a Portuguese city and sold it to Morocco, but it wasn't really worth the trouble. Portugal was the only one to offer peace around that time (they gave me 100+ GPT). As for trade routes, I eventually had all seven of them going from a mediterranean city to Tunis or Algiers. That's also why giving at least one city to Morocco is important: those trade routes give a decent amount of gold and are perfectly safe.

Italy managed to settle a city on the east coast as well, but I bribed Egypt and they took them out. I later was able to get them to attack Ethiopia while I was building my eastern army. You need a lot of patience when fighting Ethiopia: their units get insane bonuses from terrain and capital defense. Since I was getting a lot of gold, I could buy necessary buildings in all my cities and most of my units (I sent a few of them from my capital to Ethiopia via Egyptian roads). I was again lucky because Egypt helped (I couldn't bribe them in my previous tries), as well as Portugal and Belgium eventually. Ethiopia was really dumb at some point, because they sent almost all of their units to take a Portuguese city while leaving theirs undefended. Though it was still hard to take them because of the terrain, it was managable. I sold one or two cities (those that would have been hard to defend from the europeans) to Egypt to be sure I had better income than them. That and peace treaties gave me enough gold to get past them on points.

I think I pretty much said everything. I hope it can help those still trying to win this. A few factors are essential, but then it's pure luck.

Thx. It seems to be pretty much what I've tried to do the last few attempts, I guess what is lacking for me is exectution

My warfare with Italy tends to take too long and as such cost too much money, I need to get better at punishing them early

Ps. Is granting Tunis to Morocco really preferable to grant it to Ethiopia ? You want to wage war against Ethiopia and can as such take it back quite easily again, and it does have a few luxury goods you can sell for gold ?

 

[Machiavel]

Trade routes between Tunis and the other mediterranean cities are really useful, and since you're going to declare war on Ethiopia, it's better to give it to Morocco. Now, you can wait till you give them Algiers to trade and get Tunis back from Ethiopia, but I wouldn't bother. That's still one less city to take from them, especially if you're short on time.

As for Italy, I usually am able to take their three cities by turn 30-33. Once you get Palermo and keep it, it becomes a lot easier. Spam privateers and use them as shields for your frigates, Caio Duilios and ironclads. It's ok to run out of coal for a few turns so you can swarm Palermo.

As soon as you can afford buying a settler instead of a ship, do it and send it, with a Rifleman, toward Ethiopia through Egyptian roads.

 

[crocivfanatic]

Congrats,but you need to post screenshot of last turn before end and also save game with first turn of game A few questions:When did you declare war on ethiopia,same moment when you founded city there or later in game?What their cities you managed to take and howmuch cities left in ethiopia power?Did ethiopia lost any city on start?
Also when it comes to giving Tunis to Marroco i admit i didn't take that in account,as i took tunis back few turns after taking palermo,but i guess that could be better since then you get +300 gpt from marroco due border connecting,plus ethiopia gets less overall score then.

And when it comes to Marroco/Egypt shielding you,that didnt worked in my previous game as they have open border to attackers.
Which is why i bribed france in last game to attack marroco,but i see that is bad idea as then you lose potential +300 gpt(but i think i gained +100 by giving it to france when peace was established).
But still it should be fine even if they allow open boards,as longest you have like 2/3 rifled cannons should be fine no matter does France or Germany attack.
And when it comes to Italy,i had zero problems with them,it seems you can actually manipulate with it by setting a specific layout of your troops, so basically in my last game i had one rifleman left on tripoli,second one down on road,and ironclad sitting on cargo ship starting line(to prevent Italy ships flying into it and pillage it)but for some reason they never bothered to attack me(possibly due that layout)which was a bit strange since in last hundred attempts(as i was repeating first 20 turns many time)they were always attacking.

And while getting france to dow on Marroco is obviously bad since then marroco will lose almost all cities then and no possibility to get +300 gpt then ,it is good to get Italy/France dow on Egypt right before all dow turn,since France never would touch Egypt anyway,Italy as well,but it was good since Italy founded a city deep down in Egypt south territory and Egypt took it over.
And there is a danger if you dont use that how Egypt would never want to declare war against Italy and you might need it later.

And when it comes to take over Palermo,i think mine strategy is better as it is 100% effective(you cant lose)while yours with one or two Caio is risky since it can easily fail if Italy have a bigger number of Caios at that moment and i got it on turn 33 as well.Not to mention i was never able to have more then one Caio as second one was which i took was usually destroyed in next turn.And also at my last game i had zero problem with iron/coal as Egypt got it somewhere so i was able to get it by trade so i didnt even cared for Marroco being overun by France and Portugal.Plus you can even get it iron/coal from city states as well.

And when it comes to peace with european cities,it happen close to last 25 turns,but it's not always same,for example on first game i got piece with everyvone,while on second germany and england refused to have piece no matter what,but again i have left 15 turns so it possible how them would accept peace as well.

 

[Machiavel]

I declared war at start to steal a settler but they offered peace around turn 15. I then waited till I felt my army was big enough in the east to declare again, so probably around turn 45-50. I bribed Egypt to attack them a few turns before I did it myself. They weren't attacked before that and I managed to take all of their cities (I think there were 5 or 6 of them), selling only two to Egypt.
Giving Tunis to Ethiopia would indeed increase their score, but it's probably better to wipe them out completely anyway. Their score is mostly culture, so it's not lost when they lose their cities. If you can't attack them early, their score will be almost impossible to catch up, even if they have one city left. Wipe them out.
In my successful run, I didn't bribe anyone to attack Egypt or Morocco, and they never gave open borders to an european. Morocco was especially strong in this game and would have been ahead of Egypt point-wise if I didn't sell them Algiers. They were literally covering the western half of North Africa with their cities. France managed to take one at some point, but it was very late. You can indeed easily defend your initial cities from inland europeans, unless they wipe out Morocco. In one of my games, France was avle to do it and was coming for me with a decent army.
As for Italy, they don't have many Caio Duilios (maybe two) if you take their coal at start. Then you can capture a few as they buy/produce them. Use privateers to shield them as they heal and then swarm Palermo. That's how I did it, but a better strategy is of course possible. About them never attacking Egypt though, don't be so sure: in one of my games, I bribed them to attack Egypt and they took Alexandria in the first ten turns, attacking me on land after that.

I deleted the initial save, so I'm sorry, but here's the screenshot:

 

[seti777]

I finally got it!
Thanks for all tips I found here.