I have to say this map is pretty frustrating. I spent several hundred turns turtled in, with Perpentach alternating between "everybody gang up on the Lanun" and "everybody fight everybody". Each time that I tried to detach a force large enough to take an AI player's city, another AI sent their invasion force and I was forced to withdraw.
I finally managed to muster enough troops to eradicate the Hippus. I thought that I was finally gaining momentum and could beat up the other players... only to realize that my next neighbors the Infernals were wielding Champions, which my Swordmen were no match against. I checked the technology advisor - had the Infernals outteched me, did I need to research something to get Champions of my own? It turned out that no, this wasn't the case - I'd had the technology for them for at least a hundred turns, but I hadn't realized they needed a harbor to produce. Fortunately I did get Heron's Throne built in the one coastal city I have... so I have a total of one city which I can use to produce Boarding Parties, while the Infernals can produce Champions in as many cities as they happen to possess.
This sounds like I'm up for a slow, slow grind.