On second read, I noticed the request for baby-mode.
Make a robot. Stay pure arti. Make sure to take the adamantine body feat. Shoot repeating crossbows. Stay out of the middle of big clusters of mobs. Spell power is of secondary importance to ranged dps. When you have the choice, boost impulse spell power, repair, electric, in that order of importance. Choose flaming turret as soon as it is available. Laugh as it single-handedly wipes out the next few levels. Repeat the same experience with blade barrier.
Essential Feats (Not necessarily in this order): Point blank shot, Adamantine body, Rapid shot, Precise shot, Quicken, IC: Ranged, Imp. Precise shot.
Very good feats: Precision, Maximize, Empower, Quick draw.
YMMV Feats: Insightful reflexes (depends entirely on how many points you put into Int. vs. Dex.), Mental toughness, Toughness, Dodge, Skill focus: UMD (kind of old school), Spell focus: evocation (along with Gr. spell focus: evocation, these are also kind of old school.), Augment summoning (makes a huge difference early, then makes you regret the waste of a feat, later).
Quicken is imperative, Maximize and Empower can easily be fitted in, but aren't essential. Extend is basically useless; most arti spells don't benefit from it.
Enhancement trees are extremely straightforward. If you have access to Harper, treat it like an official Artificer tree. It's arguably better than what the Arti has. It also means you can max Int., and only put enough points into Dex. to qualify for Imp. Precise shot (and Combat archery, if you plan on playing epics). The rest you can play around with. IMO, Endless Fusillade is better than attack speed, but its effective time is shorter than listed, especially if you forget to reload first.
I hope I don't need to tell you Con is not a dump stat.
If you want to play epic content, you'll have to learn how to kite.
(Turn sound off. That's the special trick for being able to use repeaters.)
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