Convinced me!
Besides, no need to over-diplomatize this: if none of you guys think you can turn this around in your favor, then it's time to quit. Thank you all, this was certainly one of the best games I ever played, both for the fun-factor and the quality of plays. That early expansion by jeffr was just plain awesome! (You should try out you stuff with a cheaper castle, though
) And I'm awed how Chris not only survived, but also got through the whole game only being attacked once, despite the central position: That's some diplomacy, right there.
The item-mod looks a lot better than the earlier iteration. I'm not sure if the changes to Hell Sword are at all adequate: all it does is make protection/hp based SCs better in relation to defense-based ones, I'm afraid. The golem will function nearly as well without a shield: it will get almost as much protection bonus from berserk. (The readme seems to be inaccurate, btw: don't use it.)
The nations mod looks very promising. Although I'm not sure if I like the changes to Caelum, thematically. Not that I ever played them.