Getting colonies from European powers

[steelwarrior77]

Is it enough to attack their European holding and hold them for WS or do I need to occupy their colonies also?
Do Protectorates give me extra officers and recruits?

[loki100]

to answer the first part, it doesn't matter where the warscore comes from, so you can win the war in Europe and take the colonies as the price of peace or try to build up WS purely in a colonial war.

if I recall Protectorates help with economic exploitation, but if you play the send settlers cards those people may generate recruits etc in turn

[steelwarrior77]

Thanks so only if I send settlers? What if a country is a formal colony?
And what about factories - can I upgrade them later to the next level or do I have to scrap the existing one and build the new one?
Does negative inflation actually reduce prices?

[loki100]

I think the issue of replacement manpower is connected to development levels and your native population, so a colony/protectorate as such makes no difference except it is then more likely you have an overall higher level of infrastructure. I'm not sure about this as PoN is a bit too liberal about military manpower in any case so its never been a constraint - so never paid too much attention to where it comes from.

With factories you upgrade manually when a new generation appears - be a bit careful as some level 2/3 factories may demand inputs that are not readily available, in which case its better to stick with what you have. In addition, sometimes the extra inputs are not really worth paying for - fishing is an eg where the first type doesn't require coal ... and usually supplies all you need

Again this is a guess, but my view was that negative inflation has no impact, regard it as a buffer against any positive shifts and treat it as if it was zero.

[steelwarrior77]

Thanks - as a smaller nation manpower is actually of concern ;-D

[loki100]

Thanks - as a smaller nation manpower is actually of concern ;-D

it improves mid-game. I think the only playable power that will have game long problems is Belgium. With S-P once you unify and start playing development cards like sewers, telegraphs and universities (plus level 2 rails), you have plenty and that is probably the second smallest (in at start population) power in the game.

A while back I think Kensai was exploring options to dampen down mid-late game population growth but I'm not sure it ever came to anything. But I found with Italy I had to stop using the domestic development cards from about 1890 or I couldn't keep up with the population demands.

[steelwarrior77]

Yep, was talking about Belgium - and also if colonies can improve the situation like an early expansion or colonies ;-D