Conqueror event

I am playing as the Aztecs right now, and the (French) conquerors are causing some trouble. In guides, it said that they won't appear if I meet their caravels before they can see my land, but that does not seem to be the case in the newest version?
Any other suggestions on how to deal with them? I might be able to whip a settler in time and settle him on a small island, hoping that they will spawn on a different island...

Another question:
Does the AI ever win by UHV? Does it even actively pursue UHV? (or any other method of victory)

 

1) Yes, although rarely.
2) No. (Yes.)

 

I dealt with the conquerors by preparing a bunch of catapults and jaguar warriors as soon as I spawned. Then when the conquerors came I hit them for a bunch of collateral damage and finished them off with jaguars.

 

There are a few ways:

1) I played as France, burned/collapsed all of Europe, before causing myself to collapse right before Aztec spawn.

2) Place a bunch of galleys at the entrance to the Caribbean so that no ship can enter the Caribbean without meeting you. Then you still have to worry about invasion from the Pacific side, which is still possible.

3) Build up a bunch of catapults and Jaguars and face the conquistadors head on

4) If you're playing as the Maya, you can possibly tech to Optics and then sail to Europe before they get to you. That's possible in DoC, idk in normal RFC.

5) Play as Vikings first, settle all the way to Vinland (North America), switch to Aztecs, send ship up to Vikings, get open borders, send ship to Europe

 

Spam multiple units before their arrival, especially catapults. They are not so strong as it seems (if u don't play on Emperor).

As for another question: almost never, if u don't help them, well. Once I saw Turks with 2/3, India always makes 1/3, Arabs too, if it is 600AD start. In fact, AI tends to complete UHV, but it's very late all the time. In my Arabian game I vassalized Netherlands and saved them from collapse (their stability and research enormally boosted, they even gained advantage in tech race). Later, they started settling cities near spices and "tried to settle first" in Australia, but... time for UHV already gone.

 

The AI doesn't know about the UHV.