Fighting stronger enemies on island or continent maps

[civverguy]

Note: I haven't tried this many times so it might not work all the time. Suggestions are appreciated.
Are you annoyed at your opponent with a stronger military declaring war on you and you can't wipe them out? Well, I have found a way to weaken them permanently.
If the enemy is close to you, get a bunch of transport ships + military troops (multiple movement units or marines-like troops are recommended) and ravage the enemy's coastline. Take a bunch of ships the destroy the enemy navy. Take the enemy's coastal cities, sell everything in there, abandon them, and put the units back to your ships (this is assuming that you can't hold the cities) . Also, destroy the coastal improvements. Do this with the other coastal cities. Pretty soon your enemy will be weakened permanently. No coastal cities= no boats = no threat to you. After doing this, settle in the places where the cities were razed.
If your enemy is far away from you but you can still reach them, take a couple of land units and settlers in boats. Use the land units to take the small cities on them small islands (I call them colonies). You probably won't have any problems because the AI doesn't have many units there. After you take the colonies, settle in the islands where the enemy colonies were.

 

[ZanzibarZim]

Note: I haven't tried this many times so it might not work all the time. Suggestions are appreciated.
Are you annoyed at your opponent with a stronger military declaring war on you and you can't wipe them out? Well, I have found a way to weaken them permanently.
If the enemy is close to you, get a bunch of transport ships + military troops (multiple movement units or marines-like troops are recommended) and ravage the enemy's coastline. Take a bunch of ships the destroy the enemy navy. Take the enemy's coastal cities, sell everything in there, abandon them, and put the units back to your ships (this is assuming that you can't hold the cities) . Also, destroy the coastal improvements. Do this with the other coastal cities. Pretty soon your enemy will be weakened permanently. No coastal cities= no boats = no threat to you. After doing this, settle in the places where the cities were razed.
If your enemy is far away from you but you can still reach them, take a couple of land units and settlers in boats. Use the land units to take the small cities on them small islands (I call them colonies). You probably won't have any problems because the AI doesn't have many units there. After you take the colonies, settle in the islands where the enemy colonies were.

Hi. I’ve done similar things, but only from a position of military dominance. For example, if I’ve decided to go for a Spaceship win and I’ve decided a land campaign is too time-consuming. In that case, I might send a Battleship/Destroyer SoD along the coast and obliterate improvements. For an added touch, fill a couple of Transports with Infantry and Artillery and land them on a coastal Mountain. Then shoot everything in sight, reimbark, repeat.

A more effective strategy is to establish a land invasion shuttle route. The enemy coastline is too far away for a single Transport trip. Start with the nearest coastal city. Park a Transport (or Galleon, etc.) in the middle of the straight. Park a couple of warships on top of it for defense. Then load a Transport, move to the parked Transport, activate all the land units and hit L(oad). The game will ask you which ship you want to put them on. Put them on the ship that still has movement points. Then move them to the next ship/the enemy coastline/a beach-head city on the enemy coast. Having a beach-head city is best, because then you can build a unit, move it to your coast, load it on the shuttle service, and have it in action on the next continent in the same turn. I once ran a shuttle service over 12 squares with Caravels. It was time-consuming but totally worth it.

Keep the shuttle service in place even after you have Airports, because you will still need to move Workers, Great Leaders, Armies and Artillery around as these units cannot be airlifted.

You don’t need to confront enemy naval units with expensive naval units of your own, just kill their cities. Using this strategy, naval units aren’t a threat until bombardment. The key here is to bombard them back, preferably with Artillery. Their now-weakened ships are either easy prey for your own smaller (and cheaper) navy, or they have to go all the way home to heal up. By the time they get back to try again, the war is probably over one way or another.

If you establish a beachhead city on a large continent, you will be vulnerable to enemy SoD attacks. My favorite was the time I had to fend off 40 Modern Armors with 6 Mech Infantry and 6 Artillery. I had to use a 4-Transport shuttle across 22 Ocean squares to bring in reinforcements and barely hung on with the skin of my teeth. Try to build the beachhead city on a Hilltop square. Always buy a City Wall and a Barracks right away.

ZZim

 

[gmaharriet]

Keep the shuttle service in place even after you have Airports, because you will still need to move Workers, Great Leaders, Armies and Artillery around as these units cannot be airlifted.

Shuttle service (aka ship chaining) is great, but you CAN airlift workers. I don't use airports, but I do create and use airfields (faster and cheaper than airports) and airlift workers all the time. You just need to get the first worker to the other continent to create an airfield, as well as several on your own continent. You're entirely correct about the Leaders, Armies and Arty.

 

[ZanzibarZim]

Shuttle service (aka ship chaining) is great, but you CAN airlift workers. I don't use airports, but I do create and use airfields (faster and cheaper than airports) and airlift workers all the time. You just need to get the first worker to the other continent to create an airfield, as well as several on your own continent. You're entirely correct about the Leaders, Armies and Arty.

I only have Civ3 Vanilla. No airfields, no airlifting Workers. I forgot those were a couple of the differences between the versions.

ZZim