Emperor mode (hardest difficulty) feels like an unbalanced mess of RNG nonsense.

[Genghis Pawn]

I've only played the Cardanian campaign. I was attempting to beat it completely on all difficulties before moving on.

On Emperor, some levels can be beaten within minutes on the first attempt as long as you understand the game and are paying attention.

By contrast, I've sunk >10h into the final level of the campaign, trying tiny variations over and over again, just hoping that I'll catch a microsecond break and be able to blitz the AI. No luck. It's maddening. The game is not skill-based.

One really weak design point that has come to light is that all AIs seem to be on the same interal timer. Things will be going OK, and then suddenly all 3 opponents will utilize their Powers and stage coups or assassinate emissaries in 3 different places simultaneously.

It doesn't help that I can't rely on hotkeys at all.

[Genghis Pawn]

Any Devs around that care to comment? Any chance of tweaking the AI on Emperor?

I've been holding off on a review. FWIW, I don't think I would be able to provide a positive review of a game that, while calling itself a puzzle/strategy hybrid, is essentially not skill-based when played on its highest difficulty. That's a design flaw that the intended audience will notice and resent.