Defending vs. stronger neighbor early attacks

[Reverend Zombie]

Originally posted by alexti:
I'm actually curious what Reverend Zombie did with his money. He was probably referring to the recent MP game when he's attacked me very early with mercenaries and I couldn't figured out where his money went in that game, so I was thinking that may be he has just paid too much for mercenaries.

Ah, yes, my first MP game.

You were Pangea, I believe. I should not have attacked in that situation, true, but I do not remember too much else about that game.

This post is actually prompted by other games I have been in since then, where I have run into stronger neighbors such as Jotunheim when I was Marignon or Abysia. I kept the peace, but I was not sure why my neighbors would not want to attack my weaker troops with their giants. An inferior number of giants has no problem taking out twice as many man-sized troops, it seems to me. Other than diplomatic reasons, I am not sure why the "giant player" would refrain from taking out another player early on if they happen to be neighbors.