We've got some concrete plans for the first Manor Lords patch, and it looks like it could fix some unpopular problems in the new early-access city builder, including one that has bankrupted my town.
Developer Greg "Slavic Magic" Styczeń touched upon everything he intends to fix and change in a brief Twitter post. This includes fixing "all the homeless bugs," "tuning the archer damage," "slowing down the rate of AI claiming territories," "improving sawpit efficiency/storage," and, my personal favourite, "tuning the trade oversupply mechanics."
The homeless bugs saw villagers gather around random areas of people's villages and not pick a home to settle into, while the rate of AI claiming territories has been an issue for people who can't keep up in the harder modes like Restoring Peace and On the Edge. There has also been a known problem with the archers not doing enough damage for a while now. But the last change, which involves trade oversupply, is probably the most important update for my village.
Before Manor Lords was released to early access, a problem was brought to Styczeń's attention by a couple of YouTubers and press who had been tinkering with the city builder. It turns out that the trading system could be rigged to create an infinite money hack by just putting all your chips on one tradable item and mass-producing that instead of diversifying your outputs.
To try to prevent this from happening in every town, Styczeń added a feature that punished this strategy by dropping the price of any item that was being oversold. While this has been great for forcing us to become competent mayors, it does sting, especially when your town is expanding in population and only has access to a few resources.
Currently, I have a population of just 209 people, but as I'm trying to feed an ever-growing number of people, I can only afford to export clay tiles and eggs. Sure, I've managed to retain a constant supply of around 400 eggs at any given time (mostly just thanks to making every citizen own at least three chickens), but thanks to Styczeń's nerf, my eggs lose value with every sale.
I appreciate being forced to change up the products I sell, but when you don't have access to many resources and are constantly being hounded by hungry villagers, it can be hard to justify selling my crop of wheat or barley. But hopefully, this upcoming patch will switch things up a bit and allow me to put my 400 and something eggs to good use.
If you have any other problems that fall outside of trade logistics, then check out the known issues thread, which is constantly updated with information and other useful resources. Or maybe take a look at these 10 helpful Manor Lords tips for getting started and maintaining a thriving city.
Styczeń didn't say when the first patch will drop, but it's being worked on now.
