Summary
Manor Lordsis an early access city-building game that promises endless possibilities. The game’s development tree encompasses Food Production, Military, Trade, and Industry. Each skill within these trees plays a vital role in shaping your kingdom’s future.
Acquiring development points is the only way to unlock these perks and these are earned by reaching new settlement milestones, specifically through constructing and upgrading your burrage plots. We take a look at what should take priority when spending development points in the early game.
Manor Lords is currently in Early Access, so there are some development points that are missing or still in development. All information was correct at the time of publishing.
Food Production
Early in the game, food stands out as your most critical resource. Therefore, opting for adevelopment point that enhances food productionis a good place to start. Your first choice should be betweenForest Management and Trapping, based on proximity to resources at your starting point.
Trapping works anywhere in the forest, not just near hunting grounds.
If you find yourselfnear a rich berry deposit, prioritize Forest Management. Conversely, if the berry deposit is farther away compared to a wildlife deposit, and you haveproximity to trees, prioritize Trappinginstead.
Given that maps in Manor Lords areprocedurally generated, your starting position and resource placements will differ each time.This underscores the importance of adjusting yourfood gathering strategyto map conditions.
Military
Once you’ve established a reliable food supply chain, consider investing inCharcoal Burning. While firewood is abundant,fully staffing a chopping house can deplete forests rather rapidly. Instead, you should unlock this development point upgrade asap.
Assign one family to chop firewood until you amass a substantial stockpile, then allocate another family to the charcoal burner.Charcoal is twice as efficient as firewood, effectively doubling your fuel production with this development point. If you’re short on available working families, you canalternate one family between cutting firewood and producing charcoal.
Deep Miningwould be a good point to invest in from the mid-game to late game. This will upgrade Mining Pits into Deep Mining Pits. Ifbuilt over a rich resource deposit,these effectively give you aninfinite amount of that resource.
Deep Mining Pits canonlybe placed over rich resource deposits.
These Deep Mining Pits mines will work forever, as long as they are staffed. However,establishing a healthy food and fuel supply is recommended before getting into weapon and armor manufacturing.
Industry
Inhighly fertile land, focusing on farming becomes vital, making theHeavy Plowdevelopment point a valuable addition. This upgrade equips plows to farmhouses,significantly improving field work efficiencyat the expense ofusing an ox during harvestseason.
Unlocking Sheep Breeding early on can be beneficial forproviding wool and clothing to your citizens. However, itrequires a healthy economy to afford the initial investment in sheep. I recommend unlocking Sheep Breeding after you’ve established a solid economy.
Despite this temporary usage, unlocking the perk proves beneficial as itsubstantially boosts field production.Without it, constructing overly large farms may not be cost-effective.
Conversely,in areas with poor fertility, it’s best to delay this development point,and explore alternative strategies, such as trading.
Trade
After establishing a stable supply of food and fuel, it’s time todelve into trading to generate wealthfor your settlement.The first step is acquiring Trade Logistics.
This development point caps the cost of establishing new trade routes at 25 regional wealth, a significant aid in managing initial expenses.However, the primary allure of Trade Logistics lies in its role as apre-requisite for unlocking Better Deals,arguably the most impactful development point in the game.
Better Deals eliminates import tariffs, reducing all import prices by ten regional wealth. This perk opens avenues like importing barley at a lower cost, enabling cost-effective beer production for your citizens. While importing beer directly is an option, brewing it from imported barley proves more economical in the long run.
Overview
In summary, begin byboosting food productionwith your first upgrade point. Then, set up acharcoal production systemto resolve fuel shortages.
Now you have food and fuel, you can eitherexplore crop cultivation and trading, or prioritize trading,based on land fertility. In regions with low fertility, prioritize mass-producing planks and charcoal for profitable sales, supported by a few foresters for sustainable production.
As trading flourishes, you canpivot to building and equipping an armyif that’s your goal. Alternatively, continue expanding and relish the game’s freedom and possibilities.
