Puppet States

[alpaca]

So what do you think about puppet states so far? Before the game was released I thought they might be very powerful indeed, so I'm curious how they're shaping up.

Can you access the city screen for puppet states in the full game or is it like in the demo that you have to annex them to do that? I've found this to be a hidden disadvantage to puppet states because it means you can't buy tiles for them.

 

[Tennyson]

You have to annex them to inspect them.

I got a bunch of puppet states from Arabia as part of a peace deal. They nearly lost me the game. At first the extra income is nice, but the cities keep building buildings that you have to pay for, dragging down your economy. And they keep growing, sucking up extra happiness.

Maybe I'll know better once I know the game mechanics better, but for now, don't go nuts on puppet states. They ain't free.

 

[King Jason]

You can't access the city screen. So far I'm not entirely sure on them. However, I think more so than the fact that it saves you happiness, the key appeal is that it doesn't increase your policy costs.

Granted, I haven't checked enough to see if my culture still increases when they build temples and such, I don't think it does, the description only specifies gold and science and that'd make sense that it didn't when the costs don't go up.

So far, they're alright I guess.