Oh I feel the costs are fine, it's not offensive that I have to wait for my T4, it's just the fact that losing all of my games would have given me an advantage that seriously messes with my good-natured, logically positive thinking self
Currently, getting promoted is not as important as getting the advantages and doctrines, so you can strive for the the latter and then worry about the former.
I think there needs to be some sort of tweak, because there should never be an incentive to keep trying to lose your battles.