The borders shown in the geoscape are not a perfect match with the actual ingame regions, so if you place it on the edge, you might end up getting a different bonus. Country/continent bonuses are still mostly the same as in older version with a few important differences: Settling in the Cali Republic gets you eight captive catgirls, who become recruitable after some research. Take good care of them, they are fast and skilled, but fragile. The Theban Hive start got a big nerf, you'll start getting govt retaliations at May '01, to compensate for how much more it gives you. The Turan money drain is more severe in the first month when you build your hideout there. Romanica, and to a lesser degree, Ghostgates, has a hidden bonus mission that gives you a chance to test out the nun outfit's special weapon. Red Revolution gives you peasants revolutionaries, compared to standard peasants they already have decent firing skill and ritual of rebirth done. Central Asia start got a buff: Although you get 777 capitatory taxes dumped on you, you are given a guaranteed Krazy Hassan leaflet in March '01 if you have a hideout in Central Asia. This is incredibly valuable, because as of version N7, researching it lets you buy weapons from Hassan - in the form of random lootboxes. The contents vary from gun emporium to Krazy Hanna tier, but whatever you get is much cheaper than buying it normally.