Manor Lords is a big medieval city-building hit, although it's still in early access. As with all games in this stage of development, you can expect balance issues, bugs, and game-breaking exploits. Trade is the main offender, and it's addressed in the latest Manor Lords patch 0.7.923.
The trading in Manor Lords was so badly broken that most improvements in the latest update focused on fixing the economy. The first thing developer Slavic Magic did was change the cost of trade routes. They're now 50% cheaper when you choose the Trade Logistics development branch, instead of costing just 25 regional wealth (which is nothing). This will make trades for certain goods more difficult, forcing you to turn to production.
If that's not enough, the base cost of opening a trade route went from 12 to 20. Plus, the Better Deals development branch has reduced the foreign import tariff by 50% instead of removing it.
As trading is connected with the market and region's economy, you still have to think about oversupply. The price multiplier for oversupplied goods is now 0.75x for oversupplied and 0.5x for critically oversupplied.
This should make you think twice when you decide to spam the market with one product so you can earn money fast. With these penalties, it's better to have more products to offer to avoid oversupplying.
Villagers now drink less, while archers are deadlier
One of the funnier titbits I found in Manor Lords Patch 0.7.923 is the fact that the developer had to change how much ale villagers drink. Apparently, they were too often enjoying alcohol, so Slavic Magic made them reduce ale consumption by 75%, which is around 1/3 per family per month. I guess it's hard being an NPC in Manor Lords.
Another improvement, which I would like to think is connected to drinking less beer, is the improvement in archers' damage. They went from a meager 4 to 13 damage, making them a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Now, you can really diversify your combat strategies as you'll no longer have a feeling that archers are shooting feathers instead of arrows.
Visit the Manor Lords steam page for the complete list of all changes in the first official Manor Lords patch.
For more on Manor Lords, check out Manor Lords Early Access Review on Pro Game Guides.
Published: May 31, 2024 05:54 am