Yay, its back
I haven't decided quite yet how I will vote (the one thing I am quite sure off is that the cost of having Carthage as an ally is probably gonna be too high) but I would say I get the feeling its better to think of those choices as parts of an eventual package rather then isolated decisions. The allies and assets we decide on should be, partially at least, decided by the ennemies we choose.
For example, if we are fighting Taras battles on the italian mainland are likely to be the deciding factor of any conflict. Therefore, better to get rid of the Daunis as possible ennemies and to get better hoplites with the Demos Exoria. Failing that, having Metapontion on our side with good relations with the other cities of Magna Grecia and Sicily with the Demos Antipatrie would be a descent second choice. Against Taras the Sikeliote League and Thurii would be the evident choice for allies.
Choosing Syracuse as an ennemy would essentially be the variation of Taras, another foe from the region with more theoritical power then Taras but also a more distant one, and a wounded one at that. While the better Hoplites would still be nice having the Dauni down is simply not as valuable then in a fight against a closer Taras, who might actually reach out to them, so the Demos Exoria is probably not gonna be the good choice against them. Tough a better economy and navy would undoutebly produce boons for us in opposing Syracuse the decisive factor in containing them would likely to be their opponents ability to get local powers to collaborate to do so, hence why the Antipatrae, as well as Thurii and the Sikeliote League, would be the way to go in this instance.
Finally, iff we go with Korinthos as an ennemy, on the other hand, any fight will have the sea as a principal theater, so better to with the Drakoniae and its better and bigger navy. While the risk of being engulfed in the Peloponesian War is not to be taken lightly this is the one instance where the advantage of going with Athens might just actually outweight them.
