Telecoms

[CarnageINC]

Hello, new to the game here. I have a question about telecoms and when to use them. It says it 'improves the development of a region'. Well, how/where can you see the 'development' of a region. I used them a few time and couldn't find a place where it said it made any improvement. Can someone help me out on this?

[loki100]

Look on the census screen (F6 if I recall) and its about 5 columns in (check the tooltip). It will help get you up to 100% (Which has real benefits in terms of output of farms, mines and factories). It is overtaken by the sewer card later on which is a lot more effective.

[CarnageINC]

Ahh, found it! Thanks for the help.

[harrybanana]

Is there any advantage at all to playing either the sewer or telecom cards on a region which is already at 100% development? I believe they have other advantages in terms of lowering revolt risk and increasing population, but not sure if they are worth the cost.

[Jim-NC]

They increase population, which leads to more people. The extra people can help if you want more industry in that region, and don't have enough people, they also help to buy more stuff (the more population, the more they purchase, but it's a small increase for each use of the card - less then 1 point improvement in consumption, but it adds up over time).

They also can help with revolt risk (if there is one). Especially useful in American and Russia, where they add national regions if all conditions are met (which changes them from colonies), but leaves native population that might want to revolt, or countries with sizable minorities (like Austria for example).

[loki100]

Is there any advantage at all to playing either the sewer or telecom cards on a region which is already at 100% development? I believe they have other advantages in terms of lowering revolt risk and increasing population, but not sure if they are worth the cost.

once I had all my domestic regions at 100 I stopped using the Telecoms card (relatively expensive just for population gain) but regularly use the sewers as the population boost is well worth the investment (remember more pop = more domestic demand and also more workers etc). I've had a couple of colonies flip to non-national status (reflecting immigration) and use the Telecoms cards there and that has helped build up the capacity to properly exploit some key goods like gems.

I think you also get a small prestige gain on the sewers card ... not got access to the game at the moment so can't check.

[Kensai]

What do you mean in your last sentence, Jim? Minorities should get "diluted" if the population grows. But I have noticed this happening only in colonial areas where you install immigrants. It's only there it helps by decreasing the revolt risk.

[Jim-NC]

I meant that territories with minorities are more likely to revolt, and this can be lowered by using the card. In the American West, and Russian East, there are many territories with sizable minorities that *may* want to revolt against your benevolent rule. This card lowers the revolt risk for those regions.