I'm stuck at this level: It tells me to survive until turn 16 - so my boss gets to strength 300, but by turn 12 the AI has normally taken over most income and crashes me. If I get at one point 20 income that's the max, but the AI has at that point already an income of 23 and much more space to expand where I can't bother him. So I'm just left with my boss and some random fields, but no income to win any space and increase my income. Any help is welcome as I tried several ideas, but it was always the same.
Below are all informations about the level:

Starting position: https://pasteboard.co/IskffSF.jpg
Template Used: Custom
Highlighted Settings
None
Basic
Map: Atlantis https://www.warzone.com/SinglePlayer?PreviewMap=51634
Teams: Free for all (no teams)
Initial Territory Distribution
Automatic or Manual distribution: Automatic
Territory limit per player: No Limit
Distribution mode: Custom Scenario
Cards
Reinforcement Card: In 5 pieces for 5 armies (minimum 1 piece per turn)
Number of card pieces you get per turn: 1
Maximum number of cards you can hold: 3
Visibility of opponent's playing cards: Hidden
Visibility of opponent's cards: Hidden
Armies
Fog: Normal Fog
Commanders: Off
One Army Must Stand Guard: Off
Multi-attack: Off
Move order: Cycle
Base armies per turn: 5
Extra armies for territories: None
Army cap: Off
Luck Modifier: 0%
Rounding mode: Straight round
Offensive kill rate: 60% (standard)
Defensive kill rate: 70% (standard)
Can attack by percentage: No
Can transfer-only: No
Can attack-only: No
Local deployments: No
No-Split Mode: No
Overridden Bonuses: None
Commerce: No
Mods
None

20 income against 23 AI income sounds like easy pickings to me...

Not if the AI has nearly from the start always more income - so it's accumulating on his side and he attacks me on minimum 3 places with around 20 and sometimes even with his boss

Congratulations! You won in 21 turns.

Your attempts: 1
Your wins: 1
Your fastest win: 21 turns


i guess you're not agressive enough. defend with minimal and counterattack late to take back territories from the AI to make it spread and easier to take out.

What do you consider minimum defence? 3 armies?

AI always attacks assuming you will not deploy. if you have 0 standing armies in a territory => attacks with 1 (unless it has a lot of spare armies), so if you can spare the armies defend with 2-3 and attack back late (after delays).
if you have 1 army standing AI will attack with 2 -> defend with 3 for a succesful counterattack. also AI tends to attack from every bordering territory if it can afford it, so calculate that in too.

hope this helps.

That level was tricky for me at first. What helped me was splitting my forces in 2 after reaching Amadeus III, one with the boss alone and 1 with my armies by themselves. I found that I sent the boss alone to LAL and the armies to MOZ, 70% of the time, the enemies boss would go to my armies and I could use my boss to burn my opponents armies while building a good enough income to overtake him. For the 30% of the time It backfired, I would either lose my boss (and accept defeat) or in rare cases, hold out long enough for the boss to powerup enough to take down the enemy boss