Should creating puppet states be a no brainer as they currently are?

Pang Bingxun said:

...Surely creating a puppet is the better choice to maximize ic of the alliance as whole. But it is more like 2 month or more till icd break even is reached. Without the advantages against short manpower(India for extreme) and short resources(Malaysia for extreme) i would still choose for not liberating as i might utilize the ic in a better way. It is manpower and scare resources that make puppets valueable. Still ic would need to be high enough to utilize the puppets manpower.

Click to expand...

considering that puppets are pretty much free ic that can be used by the puppet master 100% by simply trading away the puppets money and supplies for resources that you will get back through the puppet resource limits makes puppets a complete no brainer for anyone and the short term dissent can be very quickly removed by utilizing the puppets money and supplies...

and your math is correct but you do not consider any long term benefits or advantages, just like you dont consider the cost of infrastructure (and is still very much against sliming down the infrabuilds to make the game viable for the ai)

PB-DK said:

considering that puppets are pretty much... makes puppets a complete no brainer...

Click to expand...

Totally, unequivocally, and absolutely true! I'm glad I have no brains... and therefore puppet everything!

pb-dk refered the tiny puppets, which are not existed previously, thus upon release receiving free (off-map) ic and resources. They are very OP and no point not releasing them.
Releasing "normal" puppets which don't receive any off-map bonuses may or may not worth it, depending on the situation as Pand described.

The odd thing, that you are far better releasing micro puppets, than huge ones (like releasing ottoman empire is a total failure compared to the 5-6 possible puppet)

Mr_B0narpte said:

I've always heard you say this but never understood why. I remember you saying something about it screwing with the ESE of units that have to be supplied through the Ottoman's lands but have not experienced such a thing myself. Or is it because those 5-6 puppets individually get more manpower and IC overall?

Click to expand...

they get on average 5 offmap ic each and about 10-20 manpower which you can leach off for money/supplies compared to a larger nation which might only get 10 free ic or none at all...

and remember that free ic cannot be touched at all, no way to bomb or even hinder that from aiding the puppet master