Anno 2070 Sunken Research Labs

The biggest thing I discovered is you can't use your Ark upgrades. Which is rather sad. Just when I think Ubisoft is doing better, I discover they just secretly sabotage the game in a less obvious way.

I mean yes the game can be played without the Ark upgrades but they are significant. Even if you research them within the game you're playing, it won't let you equip it. So you miss out on powerful global buffs to your buildings/units. I could understand disabling the persistent Ark inventory, but not the ability to equip the items entirely.

So to answer your question: Yes, you do get "punished".

In my opinion, you shouldn't, but that's how the game is put together.

You don't.

From the Steam page:

Internet Connection: Temporary broadband connection for product registration, permanent broadband connection for multiplayer.

Translation: You must register online even if you only want to play it offline.

And it gets worse -- if try to play offline after registering online it'll still cripple the game for no apparent reason other than to punish you for daring to want to play the game without an internet connection.

This isn't even the worst customer-hostile DRM decision Ubisoft has made recently, but it's a good example of why I stopped buying Ubisoft games after Assassin's Creed 1.