Zachriel
Kaiser
Actually, it was a very good strategy and a good game in this case. You'll notice that Satsuma encroached on both rival capitals, robbing them of some their best lands with rivers, shields and grass, their lands with the lowest corruption, cutting into their working area and their cultural area, and providing me with roads into the heart of their countries. When war came, I was within a couple map squares of their capital.
I don't see the downside. It's certainly not an exploit as the strategy has a strong basis in history and in gaming. Examples include Europeans in North American planting settlements in Native lands, and Abraham planting a new civilization in the midst of Canaan, leading to all sorts of problems for the original inhabitants.
Sorry for the poor photography. The snapshot was taken before the invention of chemistry.
