The Sea...

[Halk]

I'm struggling off the coast of China, there are a rather large amount of barbarians around. I have barely enough ships that I can keep them down, but I cannot disperse the camps without a land unit. If I send a land unit then they go into those horrible embark ships which are very fragile. Is there any way to avoid that happening? Can I somehow protect my swordsmen as they go island hopping?

 

[am138]

Focus more of your cities on sea unit production? If you can gain naval superiority, you can easily make your landings. Depending on what age you are in, air units would be a good move. I've found late-game naval bombarding to be pretty effective too.

 

[Halk]

I'm in the medieval era. Focusing on sea unit production isn't an option... my empire is stretched in every direction already. I've found the only thing I can do, pretty much, is block behind my swordsman, and block in front of him so that no galleys can get near him. As soon as the barbs get caravels that tactic would stop working though... so I'll need to wipe out all of the camps by then, they don't spawn ships (I think) until the encampment has existed for a while. Once I clear them all out I can clear them out as they appear.