Heartless Artificer Loyalty penalty and resolution for it

[Buzzerker]

In my opinion, on Medium difficulty, it literally cripples the potential of this faction.

[Shadow_Actual]

Never played as her, but IIRC she has an ability that resets her cities' loyalty at the cost of influence. It's temporary, but succeding at that balancing act is core to her playstyle.

[Buzzerker]

Originally posted by Shadow_Actual:

Never played as her, but IIRC she has an ability that resets her cities' loyalty at the cost of influence. It's temporary, but succeding at that balancing act is core to her playstyle.

Well the issue is it's a constant problem that rears it's ugly head throughout the game session when you play as this faction and it can get considerable, the disloyalty penalties I mean. It can snowball really quickly. it's a hamstring that can turn into a roadblock in a crisis. Sometimes the influence isn't there or the influence spent doesn't remove enough of the negative loyalty (disloyalty) to be effective when it's necessary.

What it means for me personally, If I were to buy this game when it's done, is that it's a faction I would prefer to avoid because it's not worth the hassle.

I can play another faction and not deal with it and use pretty much the same units.

That's another issue where this game greatly differs from Gladius. The factions are so similar that they are practically redundant. (in the DEMO anyway) In Gladius the factions are more distinct in terms of units. They look differently and although there are some similarities, play differently. There is more of a distinction.

[badassunicorn]

Yep, pretty much what @buzzerker said.
Played some turns with the Artificer. Why am I getting punished via higher disapproval for something that's supposed to be the built-in bonus trait of my faction, e.g. increased pop growth?
I mean, I can crack the whip (speaking in Civ IV tongue here ^^) to boost production, but to compensate for that I have to invest sh**loads of influence. In the meantime, population keeps growing at higher pace. It really feels not like balanced design.