Is max development really important?

[ESI]

Playing as Abbasid in Bagdad my development is at 100 at 1150 and it's kinda underwelming.

[Half-lidded Bruiser]

Did you expect extra benefits for reaching 100? That's just one more than 99.

[Apoloyn]

Regardless of whether you control the County or your Vassal does, the higher the Development, the greater will be their Vassal and Tax contributions. Yes, high development has as noticeable impact on the game.

Whenever I play as Realms with high Dev. counties and then revert back to some of my other games with low Dev. counties, the difference is night and day. I make tons of money and have a large and rapidly growing pool of Levies. By contrast, when I play as Realms with low Dev. my Levy pool barely grows and my Income inches upward, despite the fact that I keep growing my Realm size very often.

[Autumn]

Not really, no. Almost all your money is going to come from buildings in your own domain unless you either get absolutely massive or only sit on your starting duchies while ignoring better ones.

[Apoloyn]

If you build lots of buildings in your Domain, your Development rating will by definition increase, which will in turn increase both the income that you make and its levy contributions.

If your Vassals increase development, so to will their pool of taxable income, which will by definition increase the amount of tax that you make off that amount, so your income off your Vassals, will still increase.

[Apoloyn]

A county with a Development rating of 0 will have NO buildings. But a County with a Development rating of 100 will have all of its slots filled with buildings and each of them will probably be at Tech. Level 10.

Based upon the line of reasoning that says 'Development does not matter', there would little to no difference in income between these two counties. Yet, in reality that does not happen. Both the amount of gold and levies that you would make off the Dev. 100 County would be MASSIVELY more than the County with a Dev. rating of 0.

[Autumn]

Originally posted by Apoloyn:

If you build lots of buildings in your Domain, your Development rating will by definition increase, which will in turn increase both income the income that you make and its levy contributions.

If your Vassals increase development, so to will their pool of taxable income, which will by definition increase the amount of tax that you make off that amount, so your income off your Vassals, will still increase.

Building things doesn't add development as far as I'm aware, and both income and levies aren't actually that closely linked to development. As an extreme example, Constantinople gets something like 15 gold monthly at base income and the absolute highest development would add +50% for 22 gold. I think some of the gold mines can get higher but that also means waiting longer, because the starting point is even lower. As long as you're getting tech fast enough you really just don't need to worry about development.

[Apoloyn]

Development = Infrastructure.

To take a real-life example, a place like Hong Kong or Singapore would have a very high Development rating.

A place like the Sahara Desert or the Australian Outback would have a Development rating of 0.

If your Realm controlled any of the two of these areas, guess which one would make more money?

[Autumn]

Originally posted by Apoloyn:

A county with a Development rating of 0 will have NO buildings. But a County with a Development rating of 100 will have all of its slots filled with buildings and each of them will probably be at Tech. Level 10.

Based upon the line of reasoning that says 'Development does not matter', there would little to no difference in income between these two counties. Yet, in reality that does not happen. Both the amount of gold and levies that you would make off the Dev. 100 County would be MASSIVELY more than the County with a Dev. rating of 0.

You don't get building slots with development.

[Skorpius]

Development for gold gains is pointless, By mid game 11century or so, I am loaded with gold even after all building have been upgraded, I can choose a crusade and buy all mercenary's and still not even dent my gold. So ....