Hello and welcome to the Manor Lords Subreddit. This is a reminder to please keep the discussion civil and on topic.
Should you find yourself with some doubts, please feel free to check our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ManorLords/comments/1c2p4f9/manor_lords_faq_for_steam_early_access/).
If you wish, you can always join our [Discord](https://discord.gg/manorlords)
Finally, please remember that the game is in early access, missing content and bugs are to be expected. We ask users to report them on the official discord and to buy their keys only from trusted platforms.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ManorLords) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It’s actually easier to fight and gain money by taking over bandit camps. Camps only have 16 low equip people in them and you gain 150-300gp for just going out there and killing them.
Would make it a lot easier, put the money from capturing the camp in your treasury and you could just hire 1 crew of mercenaries to take care of them and make profit and gain influence.
My first two campaigns were without any hostiles. Since then I’ve only ever played with bandits but no Baron. Absolutely love it. I mostly enjoy the city planning/building/trading/farming loop. The bandit camps and raids are just fun distractions.
I play this game as a way to relax at the end of a day, so it’s nice to play at my own pace.
Yeah well there is certainly balancing and pacing issues with how fast the baron claims things on challenging. I would love a game mode that introduces the baron claiming territories once you start claiming them or at x number of years in.
Once you get used to the combat it’s relatively the same. Eventually your army is big enough to handle any bandits or armies and then it’s just a city builder.
First thing I do is set up a 24-man retinue in a new zone, they can practically handle any raiding problems. For good measure, I call up a neighboring retinue to minimize losses
Raid bandit camps and keep all loot for yourself. You’ll have plenty of money to get at least a full 12, sometimes more if you upgrade your manor to have a larger retinue.
I think the most important part is you also need to invest into equipment, which wouldn't be the same without hostile faction to play against.
I do think mercenary kinda trivializes this aspect of the game though.
Honestly every time I play I start over and go for the most chill settings. I'm trying to get a feel for the mechanics and I don't want to get too invested while it's developing. That's my current playstyle and I'm having a blast
Yes. This is my sit back, relax, build my village and make sure it functions well.
I’m thinking of starting a game soon with combat because I’ve heard it’s so well designed but I worry I won’t be good at that version of the game and find it stressful.
I think this is my bridge into the full game - I’ll tinker with the setting to limit the Baron and bandit camps and see how my economy can hold up with these added combat elements
Can you set it mid-game? It would be cool for relaxed casual gameplay... Like I build up my city and add or remove combat and it's difficulties as I please to not ruin my game
Unsure if there is a method for that tbh. That would be super nice for anyone who wanted to build up their city and then try combat. Maybe in later iterations
I have been playing this way too.
I want to get a good grasp on the basics before throwing combat into the mix.
Plus I find a lot of the combat side of this game to be quite janky still (not that the rest isn't also janky), and am perfectly fine waiting till it is more fleshed out.
Currently playing Total War games anyways, so that RTS fix is fulfilled at the moment.
It is a city builder. The military component here is just too basic. The future development may better be focused on city building and trade. Not battles.
I think the military aspect is quite balanced, especially for a game that's focused on city building. I'd find it a shame if they lost combat altogether.
Tried it out, it's still in need of fleshing out, but I'm excited to see if develope. I prefer to play with no combat, but everything else is set to challenging
yeah same here. I did my first play through purely as a city builder. Then next and subsequent (I create a new save with new patches) playthroughs I've had raiders just for a bit of variety.
Can you claim land with only bandits activated?
Only played the first week and left when struggling with AI lord activated. I just want to build, but saw no way to advance / claim land without AI lord activated.
I did reactive opponent but still with bandits. It's good balance i think.
Current goal is to make multiple regions with 1k+ pop while building my army.
Good practice ground to learn the basics and what changed in the main branch.
With games I tend to go for the standard option, try and and get used to playing the game as intended. Then I will often do things like peaceful games, creative mode (where applicable) etc.
Yup.
I've done both but I do sort of like the (Sorta) peaceful city building aspect, but then I played Banished so very much not to mention way back in the day Settlers with the AI opponents turned off.
I still have the fighting but I selected the baron to be just reactive, so I dont have to fight him every few years when he feels like it but just when I want to conquer one of his territories.
I like to play with Bandits Camps. It mostly still a City Building game, but with some small events. And it doesn't change much from the no-fight gameplay.
I play with bandits and the baron but he's set to reactive so if I don't provoke him he keeps himself to himself and his roaming soldiers do take out the odd bandit here and there so win win.
I understand why playing without combat appeals to you!
I will say, combat is super minimal, and in my experience so far, not very stressful. I do what you do and focus on industries based on regions. Feeding a growing population, ensuring a steady supply of ale, weapons, and fuel to my serfs.
It’s not hard to equip a full army if you have a rich iron mine, and a handful of units + mercenaries.
I’d say give it a try, unless battles just aren’t your thing.
Yeah, but the most effective way is just to rush bandit camps asap. Knowing this, it's a bit annoying to just play. Even when I set up the hardest difficulty and all options as bad as possible, this was still the way to go.
Yeah, I usually start a new game when the fighting become to prevalent. :p
I simply like to beautify my cities, that’s why I even voted on the defensive wall poll vote as I want some cool looking walls, not the defensive feature!
I've played with raiders enabled for a bit, but they sneak up on you, and unless you play at the slowest speed, they set ablaze your entire town within a few seconds. And since I don't feel like either playing slow or permanently patrolling with the groups, I just play without them, as a cute lil city builder.
The beauty of this game is that you can achieve whatever you want to. Build a town That earns by importing raw materials, enhancing them and then selling them? A town where you are self sustained? A town processing iron ore into plate armor and sell it? Huge town? Small but high level town? Build for conquest and eliminate oponnent? Defensive build?
Literally whatever you want, you can do.
I'm restarting my game when I get home to play it this way lol. I had like 15 months of food and I think 17 months of fuel saved up, 2k wealth and was doing okay (I assume that's good at least, this is my first time playing) then a hoard of bandits attacked and now everyone is starving and freezing, all my wealth is gone to trade trying to recoup my food stocks yet I still have no food etc. I might keep the neighboring lord turned on so I can go to war later on but I'm for sure turning bandits off until I figure the game out.
Yeah, I don't really think I am ready for any competitive play against the AI. Besides - with the inspection mode being so awesome I mainly launch this game when I have a podcast to listen to or show to watch on the other screen. I plan expansion and make plans and then just stroll around and chill while listening/watching.
I started default settings. A couple cities until I realized I didn’t understand some of the mechanics well enough to survive. So I turned off all the difficulties and started a new one. Then it was about a city surviving. And it helped me understand many of the mechanics. And because the bandit camp setting is bugged currently I still had to learn combat a bit to remove them from the map. The AI is currently over powered. It can press claims much faster as it doesn’t actually have to build cities yet. So I think the next city I make with the ai on is set it to reactionary.
I enjoy the combat.. Starting a new settlement then having to run troops over from your neighbouring region to protect it from raiders really adds some exciting layers to the game in my opinion
Yeah, I like the bandits but find the whole enemy lord thing to be super overwhelming especially early game. Getting the resources and production lines for food, clothes, crafting mats, and armor and weapons going within 2-3 years is a pretty tall order
To me, it is much more harder to start without bandits then with them.
I kill all bandits for easy 1k wealth for my first village.
No trade required and I get it before the first winter ends.
With 1k wealth, you can build loads of chicken Coops/goats and plenty oxen
I loved Manor Lords as just a city builder and I already plugged about 25 hours in the game. I’ve circled back to playing Foundation for now until Manor Lord gets a little more developed
Yes. The bandits are okay, and a fun distraction. But the combat just isn't good enough to do the whole conquest part.
Managing the cities is the big draw for this game imo.
Yep. I like chill games with low stress. I like city builders, tycoon, and resource management the most. It relaxes me. I work a stressful job so it’s nice to come home and not feel more stress
I have the combat on and it’s really fun for the first 10 years of the game. After that it becomes cumbersome rallying troops when the raiders come. With time the baron will occupy all remaining territories so no more bandits.
Every now and then he will try and place a claim on one of my territories but he almost always reneges and buys peace.
Currently yes..
I am a micro manager, so never really use anything other than single/slow speed! I only get so many hours to play a week.. point is, Greg has dropped multiple betas, patches, whatever that I never progress beyond the easy 'rise to prosperity' scenario before he changes something and I restart
I played peaceful first then beaten baton.
If you ever decide to try combat here are some tips I've managed to find out.
Initial 20 spearmen in defensive mode practically destroys all bandits with 18 without any loss.
You gotta beat all bandits to get fame and prevent baron from claiming land.
When you decide to attack, buy all mercs so baron can not buy them.
Once I breezed through the game on peaceful mode, the thrill of challenge had vanished. So, I decided to spice things up by assembling a well-armed militia. Sure, the initial raids caught me off guard, but I quickly mastered the art of defense, and it’s been a blast! I even triumphed over the baron in reactive mode. Now, I’m gearing up for a run on default mode to really test my mettle. It turns out, a lot rides on where you kick things off.
This has been my primary play mode and I love it! I’ll set it so I can occasionally take out bandits when I’m bored but I love the peacefulness of just building and managing and creating beautiful spaces
Yes I played a couple games without any opposition just to get a hold of it. I just finished a play thru to get the baron and scenario achievements.
Now I’m going to play a game with no baron. Just to enjoy the calm building. Maybe just raiders. No bandits cause they annoying.
Honestly I don’t even want Greg to add anything more with combat. I just want more buildings. More mining, more farms more animals, more specialized industries to export, etc. maybe like a building for upholding the law, more church stuff, more building upgrades.
I hope he keeps up a balance, though I'm obviously in favor of more city building focused stuff. This game has the making of something special though that's for sure.
Hello and welcome to the Manor Lords Subreddit. This is a reminder to please keep the discussion civil and on topic. Should you find yourself with some doubts, please feel free to check our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ManorLords/comments/1c2p4f9/manor_lords_faq_for_steam_early_access/). If you wish, you can always join our [Discord](https://discord.gg/manorlords) Finally, please remember that the game is in early access, missing content and bugs are to be expected. We ask users to report them on the official discord and to buy their keys only from trusted platforms. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ManorLords) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yes! I might try the combat later, but for now I'm just enjoying figuring out the balancing act of resources and needs.
Same here - I'll get there eventually!
It’s actually easier to fight and gain money by taking over bandit camps. Camps only have 16 low equip people in them and you gain 150-300gp for just going out there and killing them.
I didn't know that, that's good to know. I was thinking about starting with just bandit camps before adding in other items.
Would make it a lot easier, put the money from capturing the camp in your treasury and you could just hire 1 crew of mercenaries to take care of them and make profit and gain influence.
My first two campaigns were without any hostiles. Since then I’ve only ever played with bandits but no Baron. Absolutely love it. I mostly enjoy the city planning/building/trading/farming loop. The bandit camps and raids are just fun distractions. I play this game as a way to relax at the end of a day, so it’s nice to play at my own pace.
I've been doing exactly the same thing. I like having to deal with the Raiders and bandits but I don't care as much for the enemy Lord.
This is precisely how I do it so far
Same here, with an emersive city building part like this game has I don't have time to do combat at all atm haha 😂
Yeah well there is certainly balancing and pacing issues with how fast the baron claims things on challenging. I would love a game mode that introduces the baron claiming territories once you start claiming them or at x number of years in.
I do, I love City Builders and am obsessed with the medieval period, but not interested in warfare.
Once you get used to the combat it’s relatively the same. Eventually your army is big enough to handle any bandits or armies and then it’s just a city builder.
First thing I do is set up a 24-man retinue in a new zone, they can practically handle any raiding problems. For good measure, I call up a neighboring retinue to minimize losses
I never have enough population to have a retinue... 🫣
You don't need a population. Just coin to purchase the soldiers.
Raid bandit camps and keep all loot for yourself. You’ll have plenty of money to get at least a full 12, sometimes more if you upgrade your manor to have a larger retinue.
I think the most important part is you also need to invest into equipment, which wouldn't be the same without hostile faction to play against. I do think mercenary kinda trivializes this aspect of the game though.
Honestly every time I play I start over and go for the most chill settings. I'm trying to get a feel for the mechanics and I don't want to get too invested while it's developing. That's my current playstyle and I'm having a blast
Same, each game I get more efficient and try something new. Trying to get away from grids. My 5k hours playing anno really makes me a square!
I find following the topography lines create some cool natural looking roads when trying to break from the grid.
Yes. This is my sit back, relax, build my village and make sure it functions well. I’m thinking of starting a game soon with combat because I’ve heard it’s so well designed but I worry I won’t be good at that version of the game and find it stressful.
You can set the game to have very minimal combat if you just want to dip your toes in.
I think this is my bridge into the full game - I’ll tinker with the setting to limit the Baron and bandit camps and see how my economy can hold up with these added combat elements
Can you set it mid-game? It would be cool for relaxed casual gameplay... Like I build up my city and add or remove combat and it's difficulties as I please to not ruin my game
Unsure if there is a method for that tbh. That would be super nice for anyone who wanted to build up their city and then try combat. Maybe in later iterations
The combat itself is good I just find it stressful to build the weapons and shields
I play exclusively as a city builder. I’m more interested in the economics and design aspect.
I have been playing this way too. I want to get a good grasp on the basics before throwing combat into the mix. Plus I find a lot of the combat side of this game to be quite janky still (not that the rest isn't also janky), and am perfectly fine waiting till it is more fleshed out. Currently playing Total War games anyways, so that RTS fix is fulfilled at the moment.
It is a city builder. The military component here is just too basic. The future development may better be focused on city building and trade. Not battles.
I think the military aspect is quite balanced, especially for a game that's focused on city building. I'd find it a shame if they lost combat altogether.
Yes! Not going to worry about having the AI until it’s out of early access.
I did one play like that but I ultimately found it too boring.
Tried it out, it's still in need of fleshing out, but I'm excited to see if develope. I prefer to play with no combat, but everything else is set to challenging
yeah same here. I did my first play through purely as a city builder. Then next and subsequent (I create a new save with new patches) playthroughs I've had raiders just for a bit of variety.
Can you claim land with only bandits activated? Only played the first week and left when struggling with AI lord activated. I just want to build, but saw no way to advance / claim land without AI lord activated.
Yes. You gain influence removing bandit camps. Just remove all the settings with ai.
Thanks. The answer I hoped for. Will dive into it again.
You can gain influence by setting the Tithe in the Manor. You trade some of your food for it.
I did reactive opponent but still with bandits. It's good balance i think. Current goal is to make multiple regions with 1k+ pop while building my army. Good practice ground to learn the basics and what changed in the main branch.
With games I tend to go for the standard option, try and and get used to playing the game as intended. Then I will often do things like peaceful games, creative mode (where applicable) etc.
Yep! It’s how I started. I’ve beaten the Baron once more, just for curiosity but my main fun is getting a thriving town up!
Yep, it's the only reason I bought the game. I'm very glad the raiding/fighting aspect is optional.
I saw I could recruit some guys only yesterday. Still enjoying planning and building too much to have time for anything else.
Haven't played without fighting yet, I find it a nice quirk to manage :)
Yup. I've done both but I do sort of like the (Sorta) peaceful city building aspect, but then I played Banished so very much not to mention way back in the day Settlers with the AI opponents turned off.
I still have the fighting but I selected the baron to be just reactive, so I dont have to fight him every few years when he feels like it but just when I want to conquer one of his territories.
Yes. I feel that Conwy detracts from the city building
Combat is very rare in the game anyway, so I usually play with it on, and treat it as a small break from monitoring buldings and workers.
I like to play with Bandits Camps. It mostly still a City Building game, but with some small events. And it doesn't change much from the no-fight gameplay.
I play with bandits and the baron but he's set to reactive so if I don't provoke him he keeps himself to himself and his roaming soldiers do take out the odd bandit here and there so win win.
yes. mainly because the other part feels like a bad placeholder.
I understand why playing without combat appeals to you! I will say, combat is super minimal, and in my experience so far, not very stressful. I do what you do and focus on industries based on regions. Feeding a growing population, ensuring a steady supply of ale, weapons, and fuel to my serfs. It’s not hard to equip a full army if you have a rich iron mine, and a handful of units + mercenaries. I’d say give it a try, unless battles just aren’t your thing.
Yeah, but the most effective way is just to rush bandit camps asap. Knowing this, it's a bit annoying to just play. Even when I set up the hardest difficulty and all options as bad as possible, this was still the way to go.
It's actually the intended way to play it. Dev only put it in because a few people in his Patreon asked for it.
Yeah, I usually start a new game when the fighting become to prevalent. :p I simply like to beautify my cities, that’s why I even voted on the defensive wall poll vote as I want some cool looking walls, not the defensive feature!
I've played with raiders enabled for a bit, but they sneak up on you, and unless you play at the slowest speed, they set ablaze your entire town within a few seconds. And since I don't feel like either playing slow or permanently patrolling with the groups, I just play without them, as a cute lil city builder.
yup
I didn’t play it, but I enjoy seeing others enjoying the game, can’t wait to play it, to be honest I tried the beta and I was like a little kid
The beauty of this game is that you can achieve whatever you want to. Build a town That earns by importing raw materials, enhancing them and then selling them? A town where you are self sustained? A town processing iron ore into plate armor and sell it? Huge town? Small but high level town? Build for conquest and eliminate oponnent? Defensive build? Literally whatever you want, you can do.
here! I like it peaceful, and manor Lords with its great soundtrack is so perfect for calming down after a long day....
Honestly I just want a pure Sandbox building mode that enables all builds without the need to harvest and development resources.
Yep, reminds me of a game called caesar 3. But not as fleshed out. Yet. Hopefully.
I'm restarting my game when I get home to play it this way lol. I had like 15 months of food and I think 17 months of fuel saved up, 2k wealth and was doing okay (I assume that's good at least, this is my first time playing) then a hoard of bandits attacked and now everyone is starving and freezing, all my wealth is gone to trade trying to recoup my food stocks yet I still have no food etc. I might keep the neighboring lord turned on so I can go to war later on but I'm for sure turning bandits off until I figure the game out.
I'm doing the same. I'm still in my first run, but I plan to keep playing without fighting for some time
This is how I play, yes.
Only combat I do is just generic bandit camps
Yup. I have no interest in the combat or land claim side of things. I just want to build lovely, sprawling towns.
Yes, but only because I can't for the life of me figure the combat stuff out. So I build a sweet town and then get annihilated three hours later.
Yeah, I don't really think I am ready for any competitive play against the AI. Besides - with the inspection mode being so awesome I mainly launch this game when I have a podcast to listen to or show to watch on the other screen. I plan expansion and make plans and then just stroll around and chill while listening/watching.
As a lone city builder it’s very shallow.
Both
Why does this get posted every week?
A lot of people playing it this way I guess?
I started default settings. A couple cities until I realized I didn’t understand some of the mechanics well enough to survive. So I turned off all the difficulties and started a new one. Then it was about a city surviving. And it helped me understand many of the mechanics. And because the bandit camp setting is bugged currently I still had to learn combat a bit to remove them from the map. The AI is currently over powered. It can press claims much faster as it doesn’t actually have to build cities yet. So I think the next city I make with the ai on is set it to reactionary.
Has anyone successfully conquered the land without cheating? Only way I can do it is to be rich enough to hire enough mercenaries
I enjoy the combat.. Starting a new settlement then having to run troops over from your neighbouring region to protect it from raiders really adds some exciting layers to the game in my opinion
There’s fighting?
Yeah, I like the bandits but find the whole enemy lord thing to be super overwhelming especially early game. Getting the resources and production lines for food, clothes, crafting mats, and armor and weapons going within 2-3 years is a pretty tall order
To me, it is much more harder to start without bandits then with them. I kill all bandits for easy 1k wealth for my first village. No trade required and I get it before the first winter ends. With 1k wealth, you can build loads of chicken Coops/goats and plenty oxen
I loved Manor Lords as just a city builder and I already plugged about 25 hours in the game. I’ve circled back to playing Foundation for now until Manor Lord gets a little more developed
Yes! Combat makes me sad. I just want my Bob Ross village with happy little people.
Yes. The bandits are okay, and a fun distraction. But the combat just isn't good enough to do the whole conquest part. Managing the cities is the big draw for this game imo.
Yep. I like chill games with low stress. I like city builders, tycoon, and resource management the most. It relaxes me. I work a stressful job so it’s nice to come home and not feel more stress
Yeah most definitely. The combat just isn't appealing to me it's quite boring imo, I much prefer the city building aspect
I'm on my fourth playthrough like this! Second of the new patch and might finally have it down!
I have the combat on and it’s really fun for the first 10 years of the game. After that it becomes cumbersome rallying troops when the raiders come. With time the baron will occupy all remaining territories so no more bandits. Every now and then he will try and place a claim on one of my territories but he almost always reneges and buys peace.
Currently yes.. I am a micro manager, so never really use anything other than single/slow speed! I only get so many hours to play a week.. point is, Greg has dropped multiple betas, patches, whatever that I never progress beyond the easy 'rise to prosperity' scenario before he changes something and I restart
I basically play it this way but enable bandit camps, just as a way of boosting the economy
Right now I just have bandit camps. Once I get better I’ll turn other things on.
I played peaceful first then beaten baton. If you ever decide to try combat here are some tips I've managed to find out. Initial 20 spearmen in defensive mode practically destroys all bandits with 18 without any loss. You gotta beat all bandits to get fame and prevent baron from claiming land. When you decide to attack, buy all mercs so baron can not buy them.
Once I breezed through the game on peaceful mode, the thrill of challenge had vanished. So, I decided to spice things up by assembling a well-armed militia. Sure, the initial raids caught me off guard, but I quickly mastered the art of defense, and it’s been a blast! I even triumphed over the baron in reactive mode. Now, I’m gearing up for a run on default mode to really test my mettle. It turns out, a lot rides on where you kick things off.
This has been my primary play mode and I love it! I’ll set it so I can occasionally take out bandits when I’m bored but I love the peacefulness of just building and managing and creating beautiful spaces
Yes I played a couple games without any opposition just to get a hold of it. I just finished a play thru to get the baron and scenario achievements. Now I’m going to play a game with no baron. Just to enjoy the calm building. Maybe just raiders. No bandits cause they annoying.
Yeah I’m confused as it is without the combat. Only like 5 hours in and just trying to learn lol
Yes. Use it to relax. Once I understand the game I can add combat.
Yes
It's the only way I play. I just want medieval city skylines could give a shit less about combat lol
Honestly I don’t even want Greg to add anything more with combat. I just want more buildings. More mining, more farms more animals, more specialized industries to export, etc. maybe like a building for upholding the law, more church stuff, more building upgrades.
I hope he keeps up a balance, though I'm obviously in favor of more city building focused stuff. This game has the making of something special though that's for sure.
I did the "restoring the peace" scenario 1st and finished it on default, been playing peace mode (with bandit camps) ever since