Probably true for the most part, but I've had some decent success with this in larger realms to. You just have to do it differently for puppets that are easy to control and those that think they are doing what they want. (hardest part is just not having access to ruler's channel, but if they send you all the ruler messages it works fine.)
I've often see them being very loyal, but *too lazy* to send it all. Depends on the people involved, the context, and your aspirations.
