A new Manor Lords update has just arrived for testing, and it’s the one we’ve been eagerly anticipating, adding a wide range of new mechanics, features, and foodstuffs to the medieval city builder. Developer Slavic Magic took a detour from such additions over the past few months to tidy up backend systems that were starting to struggle under the increasing weight of the simulation, but now it’s back to tangible ‘new things’ again.
With the introduction of an ‘advanced structures’ tier, seasonal animal breeding and produce, and a range of balance changes, this latest Manor Lords beta patch is a good time to jump back in and see what’s different. I’m feeling a little peckish, so let’s start with food. Cows (and calves) have been introduced and can be imported via the livestock trader. They’ll give you a passive Milk yield, and can be butchered for Beef and Hides.
Alongside this comes Oats, which can be made into food for your population or turned into Animal Feed, needed for both cows and sheep to sustain them through the Winter season. Then there’s Cheese (made with Milk and Salt at a new Cheesemonger that’s unlocked at Burgage Plot rank three), Cider (from Apples), and Mead (from Honey). Seasons also now impact when your pasture animals will breed, and when produce such as Wool and Milk are available.
The other big overhaul is the addition of an ‘advanced’ tier of buildings. These require professional builders assigned to the new Construction Yard, which also increases build speeds by 50% when it’s being properly maintained, and can utilize Oxen to transport Timber in bulk. While advanced structures need specialists on the job, you can still have your other families help out with more basic tasks such as material transport and ground flattening.
There are new building animations as well – you’ll see these in action with the Large Stone Church, which has just arrived. Apiaries have been reworked to be seasonal, with yield accumulated through spring and summer, and harvesting in the fall. This is determined through Wilding affinity, with meadows now establishing both the strength of such yields and now many you can support. The new Herbage affinity gives you a chance for extra yield from pasture animals, based on your meadows.
If these additions have you craving a fresh start, you can do so on a new ‘Wide Valley’ map. Elsewhere, the main interface has also been overhauled, there are ‘Active Recipes’ to set more precise priority orders for your Artisans, and Trading Posts now have storage filters to control what goods they work with. When fires happen, you’ll notice your workers and animals reacting much more realistically, and the AI running rival settlements has been made smarter.
Slavic Magic has also implemented a wide list of balance changes. I won’t run down all of these, but you’ll want to note that Pastures now require 2.2x the area for the same amount of space, along with a construction cost in Planks based on their size. Rye yields have been reduced slightly, making Wheat more efficient if its fertility exceeds 30%. Wax is less valuable in trading, settlement level milestones and Wooden Churches now grant influence, and building times overall have been increased.
Manor Lords update 0.8.097 is live now on the beta branch. Simply right-click the game in your Steam library, head to the properties menu, then the betas tab, and use the password ‘veryNiceBasket’ (without the quote marks) to enable the pre-release build. Slavic Magic recommends backing up your saves before making the switch, and adds that you should remove any installed mods, as “they will most likely crash the game.”