Strategy for Hard Challenge 7
Please note that this game is very luck based on hard, so no plan is fool proof. You may do all the below steps and still lose - the game is just cheap that way. Be prepared to rage, but keep trying, you'll get it eventually.
1. To start, upgrade your cannons once and your armour once. Lots of people say grab speed first but this never worked well for me on this map.
2. Go south and attack Nassau, the closest town. You will probably die in your attempt. Don't worry, no one usually goes to it yet. When you respawn, head back and capture it.
3. Now sit on its border, letting you and it heal. You can grab nearby crates or resources, but don't stray too far.
4. Here's the tricky part. You need to attack the town in the middle of the map (the only town with gold). But you need to choose the right opportunity. Let someone else attack it first, so when they get it, it goes down to a level 1 town instead of level 2.
Now watch whoever took over the town and wait until they're off distracted, attacking a far off base or getting attacked by others - preferably both! Now move in and take it. Stay by it's border.
5. This is the real luck based part. You have to hope that none of the AI get too smart and go up and attack Nassau, cause then you'll have to leave your post, and then someone will probably attack the gold town.
6. Let your gold and wood build. As SOON as you can, upgrade Nassau. Preferably, camp even longer and upgrade Nassau a second time.
If an enemy attacks you and they're a bit more powerful, you can either stay and fight, or leave and get back the gold town in the future. If you want to fight, a tip is to keep moving along the borders of your town - this means about 1/3rd of the time you're not fighting them. And during this 1/3rd, you're being healed and they're not. It gives you a slight advantage.
7. Once you get enough rum along with your wood, you can try to upgrade. However, this is dangerous since you'll be leaving the gold town alone. Try and wait for a moment of opportunity, when everyone is distracted. You can also move up about half way, and see what happens - if no one attacks it, keep moving. Alternatively, camp even MORE and upgrade the gold town as well.
8. Once both towns are fully upgraded, you're on the home stretch. Feel free to go up north and upgrade, but don't think your towns won't be attacked - keep an eye on them and ALWAYS turn around and head back to them as soon as they get attacked. For upgrading, I recommend grabbing +1 speed first, then +1 cannon, and keep alternating until they're maxed - then next get armors.
9. Here's the final part. Stay near the gold town and wait 'til you've got a good amount of upgrades. Wait until you have at least 4 wood and 8 gold. Try to wait far into the game, but not too late - around the 1-3 minute mark should suffice.
Choose one of the towns on the left side to attack. Whichever's owner is distracted, and whichever is a lower level. If you have a bomb, obviously use it before you attack. Take the town, and immediately upgrade it twice.
That's it - just camp this towns borders and let it heal. If you did it late enough, it won't matter if anyone attacks your towns, it's too late.