First off, as we all know, you can get an access to their benefits placing your units nearby when there are no TP guardians left. Pretty simple. However, you can protect them from your opponent even if you have to move your army somewhere else.
The easiest way to do that is to place a building in the close „range" of a TP (apart from walls — thanks @P
i k i l i c for a reminder) — ideally an Outpost, as it serves its defensive purposes, too. Your opponent then won't be able to take the TP unless he destroys the building, which may take a while and can buy you time to retreat with some troops and defend it with them.P wrote:notification
A stealth mode may come handy here, as it allows also you to keep control of a TP. Move your stealth unit nearby — your enemy won't be able to do anything about it and will be very confused, unless of course it dawns on him that he should bring his explorer, as he „Sees Stealth" (check out my previous tip!). Therefore, I'd recommend to create a Spy in case you play a European civilisation, as usually it's the only stealth unit available for them, and when spotted, they can easily deal with opponent's hero. It's a more risky way than building an Outpost for instance, but may not be so obvious to other players and sometimes you can get away with that.
It's not over yet in terms of Silk Road tricks! If you happen to play a long game on this map, like a big FFA or Compstomp, put the „Advanced Hot Air Balloon" card in your deck! If a TP isn't guarded, a Balloon may gain control over it, just as a regular land unit. If you leave it above the TP, there's literally no way of losing the access to valuable resources or XP, as your opponent just cannot kill a Balloon.
If you spot a free TP, you can use regular Hot Air Balloons (age 2 card) to take it, too. The main threat is that they die after a couple of seconds, but if there are no enemy units nearby, you may be able to keep it.
Spyglass, on the other hand, isn't useful here as it does not affect the Silk Road TPs whatsoever.
If you like the tip, like the post, so that I know whether it was helpful or not!