Reading this thread was like watching Tyrion's trial where everyone he slighted in Season 2 comes back to make these grandiose stories about how wicked a person he is.
I've been out a couple of days, and coming back I'm astounded this thread has doubled in size. I've read through every post, or at least every post that caught my attention. While I won't disclose the internal political dilemmas we have faced, I will say many of the complaints are well-founded. Now that's not to say some of you guys haven't exaggerated, but here it is: as soon as any of you learned about another faction's sentiments towards us, you very likely tended to join the bandwagon, and I don't blame you. Strategus is a lot of work, and managing diplomacy with multiple factions and organizing war for the sake of war can be difficult (see: Acre), whereas joining a super alliance (or a global NAP) and going against the Squids is much easier and more reassuring than a war with say MB or Occitan.
All the nay-sayers who claim Strategus would be much different if we were not causing wars is lying to themselves. Since the wars between Black Company and Frisia, Hospitallers and GFORCE, and Acre and GFORCE, none of these factions have done anything to continue waging war. It is July, folks. Strategus started in February. Granted this may be because of activity issues or what have you, but the rest of the wars that I can name myself have been Squid Wars or AI fights. All the people complaining that this Strategus is not as good as the last don't seem like they're doing much to better the situation.
When he comes to me I mean to stand,
not run from his shooting flames,
stand till fate decides,
which of us wins. My heart is firm,
My hands calm: I need no hot words.
