Oh, Emperor. Yes, it can kick you in the teeth if you’re not ready for its direction.
Emperor was the first sub I bought at SC, and it was v.1. Instant anger soared in me. I had just introduced myself on the forum, some guys politely replied to my questions, and listening to Emperor I wanted to tell one guy to f off! I was really angry. (I only listened for 20 minutes of an hour-long sub)
So I took their advice and bought Ascension, which was much, much milder. I stayed on it for many months. Recon wasn’t a major issue in Ascension’s early builds. I’ve not used the Q or ZP builds enough to compare them.
But Emperor is no light-duty sub. It never has been. Rebirth had always been in it, and using Rebirth ZP a month back I realized this sub alone was why I struggled with Emperor. Rebirth (in Emperor) takes all one’s normal solid ground in life and says “really? Let’s do MORE!!!” It’ll shake your core.
This is just my opinion, but it still may be shaking up your normal comfort zone, which is what recon really is.
I’ll ask, have you considered Ascension or AM? One can always return to stronger subs. I did a loop here and there of Emperor while using Ascension since I love the positive self-talk in its script.