I do scorched earth tactic when i'm ganged up upon so badly that i have no chance of surviving. Did it in Afterthought and in Nuance, both times Baalz was one of the people attacking me, so i might be the one who is he mainly referring too
- or not
I'm not sure whether this is an effective discouraging tacting - i've had it used against me a few times and it didn't discourage me much
. Annoying other player is not why i do it either. As for setting taxes and pillaging, this allows to stockpile a lot of gold quickly - which you can send to other player to bribe them to help by attacking your enemies. More often than not that help comes too late, but it's worth to try.
And when you're about to get defeated, it's IMO quite right to send whatever have left to whomever you perceive as greatest enemy of your enemies. Gods should not go down quietly and peacefully, but cursing those who kill them with spite and hate