Devastation
War damage to a province, from 0% to 100%. Battles, bombing and repression cause it; it cuts output, growth, population, supply and infrastructure, adds unrest, and heals only slowly in peace.
Devastation measures the war damage a province has suffered, from 0% to 100%: wrecked factories, flattened housing, broken bridges and displaced people. It is the lasting mark that fighting leaves on the land, and it outlives the war that caused it.
The 1946 campaign begins in a world full of it. Much of Europe east of the Rhine, the German cities, the western Soviet Union, Japan, the Philippines, Burma and the provinces of the Chinese war start devastated, from a few points up to 60-80% in the worst-hit cities, such as Berlin, Warsaw, Stalingrad, Hiroshima and Okinawa. The Devastation map mode shows where.
What causes it
- Battles. Every battle adds devastation to the contested province, scaling with the number of casualties. See Wars.
- Strategic bombing. Bombers devastate enemy-held provinces in the region they target, and add war exhaustion to whoever holds them. See Air and Naval Warfare.
- Forceful repression. A government putting down Unrest by force with its troops devastates the province by 5 points.
What it does
Every effect scales with the province's devastation and appears in the matching tooltip.
| Effect | At 100% devastation |
|---|---|
| Economic output | -100%, point for point: a province at 30% devastation produces 30% less |
| Economic growth | -150%: a wholly devastated province's economy shrinks |
| Population growth | sharply lower |
| Supply | half as many troops can be supplied |
| Unrest | +2 points of unrest a month |
| Infrastructure | half a point of railroads and roads destroyed for every point of devastation inflicted |
Devastation therefore hurts twice: output and revenue fall immediately, and slower growth means the province falls behind for years. Because unrest also lowers output, a heavily devastated province can be caught in a spiral of damage, discontent and lost production.
Recovery
A province recovers half a point of devastation each month in which no battle is fought in it. Recovery is steady but slow: a city at 60% takes about ten years to heal completely on its own.
Recovering from devastation does not rebuild the railroads and roads it destroyed. That is Infrastructure repair, which is faster than new construction and helped by Public Works spending.
Reconstruction aid
Countries can speed recovery abroad. A diplomat on a reconstruction aid mission can rebuild a war-damaged region (at least 5% devastated) of a country that is not at war with the sender and does not strongly dislike it. Each delivery pays 2% of the region's annual GDP into the host's treasury and repairs 3 points of devastation, so populous and richer regions cost more to rebuild. As the work progresses, reconstruction works raise the region's economic output by 8% and speed its infrastructure building for two years, and the host's opinion of the donor warms. The host may refuse the aid, though rarely from within its own bloc.
National focuses and postwar aid programmes can also fund reconstruction (see National Focus and Equipment & Modernization).
Devastation and occupation
Devastation is separate from Occupation. An occupied province pays its owner nothing until retaken, whether or not it is damaged; a devastated province still pays its owner, only less. A province fought over for a long time typically suffers both.
Related articles
- Economic Output: how devastation lowers GDP.
- Infrastructure: the railroads and roads war destroys.
- Wars: battles and their consequences.
- Air and Naval Warfare: strategic bombing.
Pages that link here
Air and Naval Warfare · Brigades · Demographics · Diplomatic Missions · Economic Output · Infrastructure · Map Modes · Migration · Money & the Budget · Occupation · Supply · Taxation · Unrest · Urbanization · Warfare