Firewood, alongside Food, is arguably the most important material to stockpile in the popular new medieval city-builder Manor Lords. Though it's not needed much at first, it eventually becomes crucial to have lots of it since it keeps your citizens warm and fuels many different industrial resource-producing structures. This is especially true during the winter season, as Firewood gets burned twice as fast during its frigid months.
Manor Lords never explains how to get Firewood (Fuel) directly, resulting in many players being confused about gathering it. If you're not sure what to do to obtain it yourself, don't worry — it's very simple, and in the below guide, I'll explain exactly what you'll need to do to both get Firewood and dispense it your people.
How to get Fuel in Manor Lords
Firewood is actually one of the easiest resources to farm in Manor Lords, as all you need to do to get it is build a Woodcutter's Lodge near forested areas and assign at least one family to it. Keep in mind that Woodcutter's Lodges are very cheap since they only require 1 Timber, so they should be one of the earliest structures you build alongside a Logging Camp and some Burgage Plots to address Homelessness. You'll find the Woodcutter's Lodge in the Gathering tab of the Construction menu.
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Another thing to remember is that you can manually assign work zones for your Firewood gatherers by selecting the Woodcutter's Lodge, tabbing over to Advanced, and selecting the "Limit work area" icon. You'll have to manually give them a new location to get wood from once they chop all the trees in each spot down, but doing this while also having Forester's Hut workers plant new trees ensures you won't accidentally deforest the land too much. It'll also make sure your woodcutters don't destroy berry bushes or animal habitats, too.
Once you start getting Firewood, you'll need a place to store it as well as a place where it can be distributed to all the serfs in your settlement. Make sure you build and man a Storehouse and a Marketplace so everything goes smoothly.
Notably, your need for Firewood will increase significantly as you grow your city and upgrade its structures. Eventually assigning multiple families to a Woodcutter's Lodge to speed up the rate at which it's gathered is a good idea, as is building a second Woodcutter's Lodge if need be. Another viable option is to get the Charcoal Burning upgrade and make a Charcoal Kiln, which converts 1 Firewood into 2 Charcoal — effectively, this doubles all of your fuel.
Manor Lords is finally here, and it's fantastic. Without a doubt, it's one of the best PC games of 2024 so far, and as I wrote in my review, a must-play for anyone who enjoys city-builders. It's on sale until May 10 for 25% off, and it's also playable through PC Game Pass (and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, by extension).
