The hardball line tells you to chest your cards (and maybe slip a couple up your sleeve).

For though some be lidder, and list for to rayle, / Yet to lie vpon me they can not preuayle: […]

The siege of Dristra failed, as the emperor found himself surrounded by the Pechenegs. […] Fearing a Cuman–Pecheneg alliance, Alexios immediately sued for peace and the Pechenegs agreed to a truce, which they immediately broke in order to take advantage of Alexios' notorious lack of troops and invade Thrace.

Ultimately, Nicholas aspired to a pan-Serb ideal, desiring nothing less than the resurrection of the medieval Serb empire with himself upon Dusan's throne.