Summary
I loved the time I’ve spent withManor Lords, but there are a few major issues holding me back from getting far enough to see everything it has to offer, which despite its early access status, is quite a lot. Because I know games take a long time to make, and Manor Lords is almost entirely the work of one sole developer,I’m perfectly happy to wait however long it takesfor the game to respond to player feedback and improve the experience.
However, I didn’t actually have to wait that long for my issues to be addressed – it looks like the next patch will help me get around a major obstacle, so chances are I’ll be diving in again sooner than I thought.
Greg ‘Slavic Magic’ Styczeń characteristicallyannounced on Twitterthat he’s working on adding interactive fish ponds to the game, and that the current plan is to release them as part of the next patch in“a few weeks”. He also said that cattle, and a butcher to kill them for meat, are “on the priority list” but still unconfirmed.
This is huge for me, though I’m aware that this might not sound like much to people who haven’t yet played the game. One of my biggest obstacles is that I can’t offer my villagers enough food variety because there just aren’t that many options. I can send people out to hunt wild animals, but the need to make sure I don’t harm the ecosystem by killing them all limits how much meat I can get.
I can pick berries, but this food source dries up during winter, for obvious reasons. I haven’t gotten the hang of farming, and the first scenario the game offers you doesn’t have great land fertility anyway. I can get eggs from adding chicken coops into the backyards of people’s houses, and I can get vegetables by doing the same, but the latter take ages to grow.
In practice, my experimentation has always led me back to the same thing: supplementing my food with trade. But trading is inefficient without trade routes, which cost money to create. And I need that money to trade for food. It’s a paradox I haven’t been able to fix yet. There are definitely ways I could get around this – the guides I’ve read written by people much better at the game than me have indicated as much – I just haven’t had time to tool around in it again.
But fishing ponds, depending on how easy they are to implement, could make things a lot easier and make my citizens a lot happier. They could supplement my diet, and if they produce enough fish, offer me another way to make money, and fingers crossed, won’t make my economy crash from hyperinflation in the process. It happens.
Butchering farmed livestock rather than hunted wildlife would offer me the same thing, though that’s an unconfirmed feature as of right now. Look, Manor Lords can be unforgiving, and that’s fine because it adds to the fun, but that means I’m going to cling to every new feature that might make my life easier like it’s a lifeboat. I just want my little villagers to be happy and healthy. Give me those good Omega-3s.
Manor Lords
WHERE TO PLAY
Manor Lords is a strategy game that has you roleplaying a Medieval lord. You’re the one calling the shots as you send your soldiers into huge battles while also maintaining the social balance back behind your walls.
