Today, I finally won a game in Manor Lords! It was against two AIs that built their own towns.
The first city with the tier 3 church is mine. The second is the one I took from the blue AI, I reworked it to make it sustainable and generate income. The third one belonged to the yellow AI, I took it over, set the regional wealth tax to 100%, and didn't touch anything else.
I was able to control the whole map with the army shown in the screenshots, plus 3 mercenary bands per battle (so the AI couldn't hire them). The battles were really easy.
I found that the hardest mechanic in the game is food. But after reading a few guides on Reddit, I managed to keep 15+ months of food stored in my main city. It dropped when I focused on warfare and stopped supervising the town, but it was stable before that. I used 300% orchards and 200% burgage plots with an even mix of vegetables, backyard animals, and fruits except extra apple orchards for cider. After that, I set up a crop rotation across multiple ~0.5 morgen fields, and food started flooding in! In the late game, I added some cows and sheep, and it worked great. I also use the 71.4% fish reserve for ealy games it was great.
Money was pretty easy too, i just sell planks and charcoal from year 1, destroy every bandits on the map for regional wealth and later i sell the extra weapon and armor.
I didn't reach a massive city with high-tier citizens because I felt it required a bit too much micromanagement, which isn't really my thing. I just did what was needed to win, and I had a great time playing it!
Here are a few disappointments I had while discovering the game:
- AI cities expand fast at first, but stall later on. They don't build farms, upgrade citizens, or build proper castles, just the basic manor.
- Battles were too easy and lacked tactical depth. I just placed a wall of melee troops in front of my ranged units, and they wiped out everything because the AI simply rushes at you without any real preparation.
- I hoped city battles would feel different, but the game just spawns an open battlefield outside town. It's a bit disappointing, it would be awesome if taking a city required destroying the manor.
- Only 1 (or 2 in the beta) development point per region level. Adding more cards shouldn't be too complicated since town progression is already functional.
I know the game is being developed by a solo developer. I’ve followed the project for five years, and my feedback isn't meant to be harsh, just a few things I noticed and wanted to share!