When should you concentrate development?

[Sledjer]

I've been looking for information on the mechanic, and it seems as though it used to be overpowered, but then it got nerfed and a lot of people stopped using it. Is it always bad to do now, or are there situations where it is good? If there are, when should I do it?

[Dante_Deepdarkness]

It depends on your goals.
If you are "in a hurry" for conquering, you must use it every time you can, it reduces the development of the provinces, for a little going to your capital. But less development means less monarch points to core. And it also helps if you are after faith or even cultural conversion, the worse the development of a province the faster and cheaper it is to do it.

Or for example if you go for the Desert Power achievement, when you conquer out of Arabia you use it to give “free” development into your capital (if it is desert), so you will need to use the monarch points only on the rest of the valid provinces (you can move your capital and keep conquering and concentrating, that way you use less monarch points on it, but it is just a possibility not mandatory).

Otherwise, it is more an own decision than a fact. Think about your goals and decide if it is worth or not.

[grotaclas]

I often use it if I conquered slightly more than 100 overextension so that I get below 100 again

[red1]

I use the feature up until my capital reaches 50 development. Also, I use it more often on provinces of my trading companies. The hit to manpower and tax revenue is already diminished by the trading company mechanic.

[Mason]

Always*.




*Not always

[Totally Innocent Chatbot]

In its current iteration it's basically just a "I core every province in this area slightly cheaper" button. Use it on recent conquests in areas where you own most or all the provinces in the area before coring, especially for provinces you plan on leaving as Territories or Trade Companies, or cultures you don't plan on accepting. Best not to use it in areas you plan on fully stating, especially provinces from a subject you have just integrated, unless you're facing imminent issues with Governing Capacity. You can, however, use it on a subject you have almost finished integrating to get it done faster - it doesn't matter if it makes them disloyal if the development reduction bumps the progress past 100%, because the integration will automatically finish the next month regardless.