Why not research diplomacy? This is actually the only use for having diplomacy in the start of the game. Lets be honest, forced loyaly rocks when used correct. Those who don't use it correct have only themselves to blame.
Use it correctly?? That's what I thought I was doing!! I'm brand new and way low on resources, so I was hoping it was a shortcut to build up wood, silver & rock. I was wrong. If one has to have researched diplomacy for "Forced Loyalty" to work correctly, it should say that in the dialog box description.
Think of it from a noob's perspective: I need as many resources ASAP, and I don't have much built yet... (As a matter of fact, I didn't START looting until I got the Diplomacy award, and I'm not sure the Academy was built to a high enough level.)
The "Forced Loyalty" dialog box doesn't mention anything about having to research Diplomacy first, it simply says one can loot away for 5 hours with no repercussions.
And the "Diplomacy" box in the Research page says simply "Diplomacy lowers the dangers of resistance in a farming village by 20%." There's nothing to indicate the two are related other than the word "Diplomacy".
I was continually looting my villages while they were at 76% mood. Does this mean if I had done it with the mood at or above 80% (and not researched) I wouldn't have triggered revolts? Or does it mean that one MUST have researched diplomacy before "Forced Loyalty" works??
It seems to me all the "Forced Loyalty" thing does is keep the current mood from dropping when looting, but it also doesn't allow the mood to recover naturally.