It's not that I think their request (3k cow, 5k core) was overly extravagant, it's just that it came right after losing a war. We were already down having lost. A lot of our players are not really used to playing in the top, and play to always retal hits and never give acres for CF (what you might call the greatmorbo attitude). Nothing would demoralize them more. It also wasn't just the total number of acres, it was the distribution. AMA wouldn't settle for just one hit on our biggest prov.
And yes chrystal, Cello did say that stuff, but I don't repeat it as an attempt to slander him. I mostly mentioned it because I was honestly quite impressed at his display of knowledge of human psychology - he's clearly done a lot of diplo. I don't think it was in earnest and I don't hold it against him... it's all part of the game ;)