How important is territory development?

[KatoCatV]

Hello,
There are so many ways to develop your territories in the game, but is it really that important?
(More taxes, faster innovation, and university building requirements.)
And should the developers rework this mechanic?

 

[Stolen Rutters]

The answer is very dependent on play style.

I like to raise armies that require stupid amounts of gold for upkeep and then conquer my neighbors with the armies. This play style is easier to do when you own previously developed land that your family conquered and your character now owns, or you could pick less developed land and develop it yourself, so I say yes.

On the other hand, other people like playing where you raid land you don’t own, and developing your territories is not part of that game sequence, so I say no.

I guess it depends. There aren’t a lot of restrictions to which game play path you choose.

 

[PAnZuRiEL]

On the other hand, other people like playing where you raid land you don’t own, and developing your territories is not part of that game sequence, so I say no.

Raid land you don't own, and use the extra income to develop your own territories so you can raid harder. Isn't that the usual loop?

 

[Stolen Rutters]

Raid land you don't own, and use the extra income to develop your own territories so you can raid harder. Isn't that the usual loop?

Good point… I’m not sure. I haven’t tried it yet. I’m a conquer a space and develop it player, because I like having bigger armies...

Spoiler

I mean I played as Norse characters when the game first came out, but that was to conquer Normandy and become English at the time. All the fancier raiding features from later expansions weren’t included yet. Was development a thing that long ago?

 

[DiabloDeVille]

Hello,
There are so many ways to develop your territories in the game, but is it really that important?
(More taxes, faster innovation, and university building requirements.)
And should the developers rework this mechanic?

Do you mean increasing the development of the province, or building buildings? Always build buildings, ports then farms then forts. Development only matters for building universities, as its a prerequisite, it doesnt impact innovation gain much.

 

[Pendables]

It makes my capital look yellower on the development map mode, which is good enough for me.

 

[megamanx06]

More development is always good. It increases your income and levies by a percentage (though levies are less important with how the military system currently works) and is directly tied to your tech gain. The only downside to high development is the increased risk for plagues.

 

[Hope and Piece]

More development is always good...

Seems that in a week there will be one case that is not so, as I remember seeing a dent to fertility growth from develoupment for nomads

 

[Voidian]

Extremely important, gamebreakingly important.

Both buildings and development make such a difference that you'll realize if you bother with it, at all, the game breaks and you will no longer be able to have fun in that game.

Wealth producing buildings stacked with bonuses (often from the mill types) in a valuable county (constantinople comes to mind, but any place with a great temple will do) can be responsible for more wealth than the rest of your empire's vassal taxes combined.

Likewise 2 full stacks of a decent MAA type (basically anything that's not cheap crap, like light infantry) stationed in a county with a high level military building of the correct type are enough to stackwipe any army in the planet.

As for the Development stat itself, it just stacks those even further, and if you split from your main culture creating a small culture of your own, around your own territory fully developing it would make you reach the tech cap in every era decades before everyone else.

 

[GhostDanny]

The game is supposedly more dynasty simulator than map painter.

 

[Benismann]

The answer is no. +50% tax at max sounds good, but it's not multiplicative, which means it's not as good as u think if u have any other bonuses, especially the big ones. and let me tell you - there're a lot of tax mult bonuses. +50% to an already existing +100% bonus is +150%, so instead of getting, say, with base tax of 1, you went from total of 2 to total of 2.5. Is it worth caring for? No.
It does have it's own mapmode tho, if only AIs didnt have CD of like 10 years for developing via steward and historical buildings like auelian walls didnt just outscale every other county via passive dev gain... Maybe it would be less boring of a mapmode, but as it stand, euh.

Oh and techs, ig. But that means you just plop stewardship on increasing development in the capital and just dont touch them ever. That's usually good enough.