How to CTW in 8 min of Battle...toughest

[Drachen]

I've been messing about with the campaign mode and have found a strategy so unbalancing that I consider it a cheat. I'll attach the last battle and any who are interested can take a look at the victory stats. Three battles taking a combined eight minutes on toughest. I ended up with a "Marginal Victory" because I turtled into the information age and the campaign ends there...but you can still keep playing and get a win even though it took so long in game time. In real time this strategy is much much faster than battling every turn and here is how it goes. Do not attack any territory, pass every turn, gather tribute, buy bonus cards, form alliances with your neighbors so that they don't attack you, and wait until there are just a few great powers left. Then declare war on your neighbor, use the Sabotage and Treachery cards to get next to his capital without fighting, and attack using a bunch of cards to bolster your effort. Rinse and repeat. The bonus cards give you an insurmountable advantage against the AI as you can see from the attached recording. If you want to see an insane advantage then play all the cards as you attack the Chinese. I found however that one mercenary army meant that I could select my troops and send them to take his capital and take no other action to get the win. Kind of weird for Toughest but there it is! I also found that the AI would make peace and form alliances for small amounts of tribute and you can use this to great advantage, i.e., you pick when and where to fight. And thats about it. Enjoy!