I've played Warlight for a long time, mostly all single player. Had gold stars on all the old maps. But for some reason this level is giving me fits. I'm expanding as rapidly as possible while also trying to break the AI's super bonuses. I very much dislike when I have an AI as a partner because they don't tend to cooperate. I just get swarmed from everywhere and can't seem to keep any of my bonuses in tact. I first tried abandoning the South and focusing solely on my Northern territories where my commander is located. That went ok but was soon overwhelmed trying to push through the "Breached Wall" by the AI coming from the Assualt Ships. After several tries I tried using both of my territories from the start, however this proved even worse as I was overwhelmed from all sides now. Any tips or thoughts would greatly be appreciated. Thanks for replies upfront.

This is definitely one of the harder levels, although I don't think it's anywhere near as hard as the old Crazy and Insane Challenges.

Here are some tips:

Your AI companion can't expand quickly enough due to his position on the map (his growth gets bottlenecked after a while). If you can give him some space in another part of the map, he can grow more quickly.

After that, it's basically a question of breaking through some key areas in the map (like the ships). So long as your enemies don't control any megabonuses and you do, you'll have the upper hand. Those large megabonuses were key in my victory, I remember that much.

Also, it helped me to try to expand *towards* my ally, so as to "join forces". Control all that territory and you can effectively have a small enough border that you can have a chance at proper defense.

As with any other single-player levels, DO send out large armies to hunt for the enemy Commanders. Taking them down is far easier than outplaying the AI on a large front.

Also, check your ally's orders every turn ("View Teammate's Orders") so you can coordinate attacks. It's frustrating that you can't change them, but that allows you to make sure that the order of attacks is appropriate and that you don't over- or under-deploy in certain areas of the map. (For instance, if your ally stupidly leaves a territory undefended, you can transfer armies to him there on your first order.)

Edited 7/1/2016 18:16:11

Just tried a new strategy and gave my AI one of the super bonuses and pushed hard up through ships with my commander and large forces. Killed the AI commander that was located in the castle. All seemed well to my AI start losing the back end of his territory. Soon he was overwhelmed which subsequently led to my demise. I'm also ATM trying to only focus on one of my forces, the north force. Have had better results that way. Is this the strategy I should take or no?

gift early in the west, focus expansion/fighting in the east. that's how i did it.

I did the same as Tim. Gifted the West on turn 2 and kept a territory there to send a stack in to find the nearest commander. Sent a stack in from the other side to find that commander as well. Stay alive while your stacks seek and destroy

Just finished. Not excellent but 28 turns. I had to gift in the south and attack only with my commander and his troops. Then I had to fight off AI in north log enough for my AI to take some ground. Then went into castle. Had to babysit up there for a while, while my AI let a lot of troops sneak behind his borders so I basically had 4 turns where I did nothing but donate troops to him so we could take the breached wall. Once he finally got his act together it was pretty much over with as I killed a commander and basically waltzed into the walled in area. Thanks for all the help.