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InManor Lords, looking after your settlement and providing them with food, water, and security is your ultimate goal towards expansion and regional dominance. There are too many parameters you must look after to keep the citizens happy if you want to achieve your end goals.
The difficulty levels and various scenarios impact how your gameplay will play out. The game gives multiple options that cater to a wider audience of RTS and city buildings, but where do you fall? This guide provides a rundown on the differences between all difficulties and which one you should choose.
Manor Lords is in Early Access on Steam. The content is subject to change as the game development progresses. We will update this article as required when the game comes out of Early Access.
All Difficulty Settings And Scenarios Compared
There arethree difficulty templates that players can selectin the game:
Each difficulty switches the modifier valuesbased on the three scenarios you select. Since the game is in Early Access, you have the following scenarios:
Build a large town settlement
Conquer every region on the map
Survive all attacks and build a large town
2
3
None
Relaxing is the beginner-friendly difficultyin the game that hastolerant modifiers activeby default. You can alwayschange the values as per your likingand make any scenario much easier or more difficult.
Youdo not have to worry about bandits and raiderswhile playing the Rise To Prosperity and Restoring The Peace scenariosin Relaxing mode, as both are turned off by default. This means yourgreater goal will always be the expansion of the settlementfrom a small village to a large town in the former scenario anddominating new territoriesin the latter.
Since the game is about city building, theRelaxing mode is best for players who are new to this genre. Your entire focus will be on understanding the management of resources andhow to keep the approval rate high to get more peopleto join your settlement.
1
Balanced
If you have agreater understanding of key mechanics in RTSand city-building games, then theDefault difficulty is for you. Thismode is for experienced playerswho have a general awarenessof the core mechanics this genre demands.
An ideal experienced player will pick up the basics very easily in the game andmove on to the advanced ones, such asbuilding the city, maintaining surplus supplies, and creating variousunit types in the army. Playing the Rise To Prosperity scenario on the Default difficulty still gives forgiving modifiers, butRestoring The Peace and On The Edge give you a real challenge.
Theraider and bandit modifiers remain active,which means you have tostartbuilding the militiafrom year one. Youdo not get the double starting suppliesfrom the start and only get the standard ones.
Weather events will affect your stocksif left out in the open.Expect crops to suffer more from weather eventslike droughts and low yields because moreplantations will reduce fertilization.
On top of that, theMedium Penalty modifier is active for the approval ratings.
People in your settlement will have moderate toleranceand your approval rating will fall more often if you oversee the demands.
5
Difficult
Challenging is by far the hardest difficulty settingin the game and no matter what scenario you play,you will have a tough time completing its end goal. This is atrue test for players who are professionals at resource management in RTSand city-building games.
Youstart in winter with standard supplieswhile playing the Growth end goal. Theweather events are tough, and crop survival and higher yield rates become very low.
While playing the Domination end goal, therewill be more than a single raid in two years.Bandits will also spawn from the get-go.
Preparing an army inthe first yearshould be the highest priorityin defending the people. Otherwise, all efforts will be lost asraiders destroy everythingin the settlement andbandits steal raw and produced resources.
Which Difficulty Setting Should You Choose?
Depending on the scenario you pick, the three challenges can either become simpler or more challenging.If this is your first game, then pick the Relaxing and Rise To Prosperity difficulty combination.
This combo will ensure you get the hang of in-game mechanicswithout feeling the burnout of micromanaging resources. Building a communityand providing clothes, food, andfuel in ample quantitywill be enough to keep you hooked for a very long duration.
Seasoned RTS and city-building playerswho want to master the learning curve and face optimal challengesmust select the Default and Restoring The Peace scenario combination. We recommend this setting for players whoplay at least four or five games of a similar genre in a year. This will help them build familiarity with the core mechanics quickly.
If youfind joy in the headaches of micromanagement and are an experienced player in RTSand city-building, theChallenging and On The Edge combination scenario is perfectfor you. Not everyone enjoys micromanaging dwindling resources and dealing with the stress of running out of vital supplies in-game. But for those who thrive on the chaos and find pure joy in it,this setting is catered to such an audience.
