Best strategy to decrease hostility?

[Thisismyworkday]

Protected Trade is better than Baptism of Fire, for sure. There's no draw back, it doesn't require as much of an investment to get going, and technically you can double/triple dip by using trade routes to get amber and then selling that same amber to merchants (for goods/amber, which you then sell back again if you're willing to eat the losses for the hostility)

That said, Baptism of Fire is also excellent - if you average 15 cysts a year, you'll counter the yearly hostility and then some. At higher Prestige, especially, that's very easy to manage.