Hey, I guess you're right. You win some, you lose some....

It's an unfortunate scenario: Your opponent(s) defeated your navy with his at least somewhat intact. He schooled you on naval combat. The oceans are his for the taking, and your coastline could be surrounded for all you know. What can you do to pull off a win without a navy? What kind of mind games ...

Don't lock yourself into one strategy for each continent, be flexible! Assess the situation on a case-by-case basis. Different allies and navy placements will cause your strategies not to work a lot of the time. Try something new every time based on what you think your opponents will do.

the only time it is appropriate to exploit a bug (yes, there are appropriate times...) is against a noob, or a friend. The intimidation factor alone of seeing ships floating on land would be hilarious for a noob. Poor little guy'll break down and cry.

Backstabbing is only beneficial when you are sure you can hit your target quickly and with little return fire. I rarely backstab. It's only when I want to kill someone, but also use their nukes to kill another opponent. Then I'll let him do his business, and then nuke him to hell. Example: Diplo mat...

i don't know if this is part of the standard "beam attack" or not, but... what I like to do is beam attack a target that is past the intended target. You could tell them to nuke the ocean on the other side of the continent. I'll let some bombers launch as soon as possible, then the defense...