I played a game just now, called rivers, a custom made map, with four islands and rivers crisscrossing them. There was 4 teams. Me(Teutons) Eric the Red(Franks) Ramathura(Mayans) and Darius, (Persia) The Setup was every man for himself.
We each had our own islands, and I put gates, walls and towers around mine, preventing invasion. It was set up like this:
ME Darius
Eric the Red Ramathura
I shared a border with Eric the Red, and two with Darius.
I started out with villagers, mining, lumbering, etc. Darius started killing mah farms and fishing boats, so I'm like, aw hell naw,so I bust out a small fleet (less than half a dozen ships) who annihilate him, and his dock near me. Meanwhile, Eric the Red starts sending out a dozen troops to level my gates. I set up two towers, which quickly crush the attackers. I start building an army at this point. I build one of out teutonic knights (arguably best in the game) Paladins (mounted units), catapults, and bombard cannons. My total army is around 30 people. I march into eric the red's territory...
and get my ass whooped. My catapualts are collapsed, so they can't break Eric's buildings. My knights and paladins are quickly defeated. Now, while this is going on, Ramathurtha sends around 20 ships for an attack on one of my docks. They are utterly defeated by my kamikaze ships. I have a huge problem now. I'm landlocked, with nowhere to run. I can produce no more gold, so I can't build an army or anything to defend myself. Eric's guerilla warfare is destroying all my outposts and towers in the surrrounding area, so I can't see anything. He launchs an offensive manuever on an unprotected dock. My other docks are too covered to help. Eric breaks through my gates (No gold for towers), and using his navy as support, quickly destroys my city.
End.