First proper Manor Lords patch focuses on archers, trading, homelessness mechanics and overly expansive AI

Manor Lords developer Slavic Magic, aka Greg Styczeń, has unveiled the broad strokes of the game’s first proper patch in Early Access. This follows a tumultuous opening weekend where the new city builder showed up on top of Steam’s buying charts, causing Valve’s mighty servers to crack like overloaded oxen under the pressure.

Proposed changes include improving archer damage, retuning the game’s trading mechanics, and reducing the AI’s eagerness to gain territory. We can also expect a fix for “all the weird homeless bugs”, which I’m assuming refers to homeless people behaving in strange ways, rather than the game defining insects as homeless and expecting you to house them. Even though I do I think it’s going to be an interesting ending, and it’s worth noting that publisher Hooded Horse has an insect strategy sim on the boil, and argh, enough tangents, it’s the end of my shift. Here’s a tweet detailing Styczeń’s plans to update the game.

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As noted in subsequent tweets, Slavic Magic are as well working to “improve saw/storage efficiency” and targeting the next bug this stops people from playing in free mode. If you’re experiencing crashes, Slavic Magic points out that you may need to update your video card drivers – sure, the devtips equivalent of “holding a pitchfork by the forked end”. What next, turn off and turn on the PC again?

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It’s quite funny to watch reports of technical problems on social media, because some of the “problems” are just faithful depictions of medieval economy and agriculture – I say this as if I know the slightest thing about both of these things. For example, one player is worried that their farmers stopped harvesting their fields in November and switched to plowing and sowing. Developer he comments that this is actually the right and proper behavior of farmers: the fields must be plowed if they are to be harvested next year. No magic beans in this neighborhood, you bloody townspeople!

While capers like me make fun of people who advertise their humiliating ignorance of crop rotation on social media, our diligent guide writers are tilling the land of the Manor Lords and harvesting a fresh crop of how-to pages. If you’re having trouble with a particular aspect of the game, you may want to take a look at our Manor Lords Beginner’s Guide, which takes players through their first year as a Manor Lord and ends with some suggestions for what to do in their second year. More advanced players may prefer these Manor Lords tips and tricks aimed at all skill levels. Or you can take a page from Nick Reuben’s book and chase the ox.

There’s no launch date for the first Manor Lords patch, but I think it’s just “when it’s ready”. If you’re wondering whether to buy, Nic has taken some time out of his busy cattle-harassing schedule to write a review of Manor Lords.