I'm still sore from not being able to hand this in, but I figured I'd share my strategy since it was working so well. I see it's similar to what PaperBeetle used, though I maintained a beachhead at all times:
Capture a town from the AI, one that is on a hill, and far away from most AI units. Rush walls and fill with muskets. During the first turn, only a few of the AI's units should be able to reach you, in particular if it's an AI without horses. Withstanding that first assault is pretty easy. Press end turn and survive.
After that first IBT, all of the AI's units will have moved towards your beachhead. Use your second invasion stack to capture a town on the other side of the island. The AI will have no units that can reach that town now, unless it has horses in which case likely a few of those can. In any case you don't need to garrison this town. If the AI doesn't have any fast units, the killing Marine will do, otherwise a few more of those. During the next IBT the AI has the choice between attacking your muskets behind walls on a hill, or move towards that other town you just took that is hopefully undergarrisoned. Only once during the game as far as I played it did the AI not decide to move all its units out of your beachhead town's territory and head towards that other town.
On turn three, abandon the town you just took and raze it. Now your only hold on the island is your fortified beachhead, and the AI will move all its units towards it again, none reaching you.
On turn four, capture yet another underdefended town on the other side from your beachhead, rinse and repeat.
Once the AI is down to a few towns only, in particular if it has a non-coastal capitol, capture all you can in one turn and then make peace, and sign ROP. Unload marines in the town closest to the capitol, and move them in close. On the turn after, attack the capitol with your large stack of marines, destroying the civilization and killing all his several hundred units without having to fight them.
Of course, it wasn't always this easy or formulaic, there were lots of things to keep track of (what towns are close to one another, that could make some units reach a conquered town? Could I take and raze two towns on the same turn? Do I need units in waiting to take care of settlers on the turn after I made peace? etc.) but the general idea is the same. The trick is not how to kill off the ridiculous AI forces with minimal losses - it's how to avoid killing them!
I rarely used armies, there was simply no need for them and they couldn't be shipped. Twice I did create one to help in the coup-de-grace hits on the capitols, and then left that army on the conquered island for barb control.
When I stopped playing because I realized I wouldn't make it, I had conquered Spain, America, Aztecs, Maya, Inca and was about to coup-de-grace Japan. I also had units in place to take care of backwards India, and I was expanding over the barb-infested islands. This was in 900 AD. America was taken down the normal way since they had spent their units fighting Spain for centuries. Spain was taken through ROP rape, when America was almost gone, and all remaining Spanish forces were off trying to take the last American towns on the far end of the long peninsula. Aztecs, Maya, Inca and Japan were all taken through the method I outlined above.
I also think I was helped by the fast tech pace in my game. I gifted the Aborigines (Greeks) and Lapita (Babylonians) into the MA in 975 BC, and was able to get both Feudalism and Invention (which King Nuu already had!) very fast, I had both before the ADs. I self-researched Gunpowder and had muskets quite early on too.
I had a great time playing, thanks a lot for the great game civ_steve! Some day I might even find the time and drive to complete it...
Capture a town from the AI, one that is on a hill, and far away from most AI units. Rush walls and fill with muskets. During the first turn, only a few of the AI's units should be able to reach you, in particular if it's an AI without horses. Withstanding that first assault is pretty easy. Press end turn and survive.
After that first IBT, all of the AI's units will have moved towards your beachhead. Use your second invasion stack to capture a town on the other side of the island. The AI will have no units that can reach that town now, unless it has horses in which case likely a few of those can. In any case you don't need to garrison this town. If the AI doesn't have any fast units, the killing Marine will do, otherwise a few more of those. During the next IBT the AI has the choice between attacking your muskets behind walls on a hill, or move towards that other town you just took that is hopefully undergarrisoned. Only once during the game as far as I played it did the AI not decide to move all its units out of your beachhead town's territory and head towards that other town.
On turn three, abandon the town you just took and raze it. Now your only hold on the island is your fortified beachhead, and the AI will move all its units towards it again, none reaching you.
On turn four, capture yet another underdefended town on the other side from your beachhead, rinse and repeat.
Once the AI is down to a few towns only, in particular if it has a non-coastal capitol, capture all you can in one turn and then make peace, and sign ROP. Unload marines in the town closest to the capitol, and move them in close. On the turn after, attack the capitol with your large stack of marines, destroying the civilization and killing all his several hundred units without having to fight them.
Of course, it wasn't always this easy or formulaic, there were lots of things to keep track of (what towns are close to one another, that could make some units reach a conquered town? Could I take and raze two towns on the same turn? Do I need units in waiting to take care of settlers on the turn after I made peace? etc.) but the general idea is the same. The trick is not how to kill off the ridiculous AI forces with minimal losses - it's how to avoid killing them!
I rarely used armies, there was simply no need for them and they couldn't be shipped. Twice I did create one to help in the coup-de-grace hits on the capitols, and then left that army on the conquered island for barb control.
When I stopped playing because I realized I wouldn't make it, I had conquered Spain, America, Aztecs, Maya, Inca and was about to coup-de-grace Japan. I also had units in place to take care of backwards India, and I was expanding over the barb-infested islands. This was in 900 AD. America was taken down the normal way since they had spent their units fighting Spain for centuries. Spain was taken through ROP rape, when America was almost gone, and all remaining Spanish forces were off trying to take the last American towns on the far end of the long peninsula. Aztecs, Maya, Inca and Japan were all taken through the method I outlined above.
I also think I was helped by the fast tech pace in my game. I gifted the Aborigines (Greeks) and Lapita (Babylonians) into the MA in 975 BC, and was able to get both Feudalism and Invention (which King Nuu already had!) very fast, I had both before the ADs. I self-researched Gunpowder and had muskets quite early on too.
I had a great time playing, thanks a lot for the great game civ_steve! Some day I might even find the time and drive to complete it...
The hill town actually held out against those 80 units that started in my territory (though they could have taken it easily if all their spears had attacked), but my entire military was essentially wiped out in one turn.
