Actually, I wish I had attacked you earlier instead of turtling. There were several times when your pretender was operating in Ulm's territory that I was tempted to kill him with a few thugs. It's a lot harder killing your SCs now with all the gear they've got (which of course I helped contribute to by trading with you
).
And soon enough you'll be adding death summons to the roster.
So, I agree with your point about avoiding a fight with you but if it is inevitable I figure far better to do it early game than late game.