[Xietor]

Stale turning typically does not help your cause when you are at war, though if you are new at the game, and are fighting a wily vet like Atul, it likely is frustrating. My scouts are not watching your battles, but if you are getting trampled by elephants, that can be very disheartening when you are on the trampled end of things.

There are a lot of elephant nations in this game, and you really have to plan your defense against them before the game starts(pretender selection). There are just too many of them to just hope that you do not start next to one of them.