They stomped Sorraine mercilessly in the war prior to this despite being hopelessly outmatched.
Only appearing to be outmatched. In reality, they had a remarkable ability to swell their ranks once the war actually started. Not only that, their ruler did an excellent job of gaining sympathy and swaying others to their side. Their political maneuvering was almost perfect.
And yes, Sorraine did not perform very well in that war. We had several key figures either go inactive and autopause, or outright leave/quit soon after the war began. While both sides made poor military decisions (OW's attempted sack of Akanos, and Sorraine's subsequent attempted sack of Sasrhas), Sorraine's attack on Sasrhas with only two siege engines obliterated our army, and we never recovered from it.
Of course, we are doing *much* better in this war.
