Well, a stale turn or two won't kill you, but I was thinking more that it looks like Reay is gonna be out for several weeks and is having trouble finding a sub - a situation that seems likely to be repeated eventually by others given the length this game will likely run. Letting him stale that long is a certain death sentence. I agree it's not ideal to have a sub at all, but given that people will need to be absent, and that finding people to step in for a temporary stint is a bit difficult (and problematical for them to come up to speed on a large nation in late game) it seems like much the lesser of distasteful options to let the player use someone who he thinks will best represent his interests.
Plus, speaking as the guy who suddenly found himself at war with QM I can say your objection about skill level differences in subs is certainly not limited to people playing more than one nation.
