Manor Lords: Things You Need To Know About The 4 Seasons

Manor Lords

By Joe Grantham

Published May 1, 2024

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Manor Lords

Highlights

Master the seasons in Manor Lords to avoid disasters like ruined crops in summer droughts and freezing villagers in winter.
Take advantage of each season's unique tasks, like gathering berries in spring and harvesting crops in autumn, to thrive in the game.
Ensure important tasks, like finishing construction projects in summer and processing crops in autumn, are completed before the next season.

In Manor Lords, players will quickly come to realize that the seasons, and sometimes even the individual months, truly matter. For example, the weather has a real effect on the village, with rain being a threat to exposed goods, summer droughts being able to ruin the harvest, and the worries of cold winter nights always being present in the minds of the population.

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Furthermore, crucial steps in the farming process can only be carried out at certain times of the year, and seasonal deposits such as berries emerge in spring only to disappear once winter arrives. Therefore, it's important to know everything about the seasons in Manor Lords, so players can avoid disaster and assign their workers correctly to get the most out of the land and eventually thrive.

4 Spring

Berries Regrow, Sheep Can Be Sheared Again, & Rain Can Be Expected

Assign workers to the Foraging Hut as berries begin to regrow.
Assign Workers to the Sheep Farm to produce wool again.

Unless players tweak the difficulty settings, Manor Lords will start during spring, providing players with plenty of time to prepare for winter. More rain can be expected in spring, which means that players will want to make sure their supplies are under the safety of cover lest they be ruined. While this is usually a problem in the initial stages of the game, rain can still cause issues later on. For example, when players move a Logging Camp, all the timber is left behind in a pile.

Spring is also the time when berries begin to regrow, so if the village is in short supply of food, assigning a few workers to the Foraging Hut is a good idea. The berries regrow fairly quickly, and as a unique type of food in Manor Lords, they will keep villagers happy with the variety. As sheep shearing is forbidden in winter, spring is also the time when players should reassign a family to the sheep farm to produce wool. Lastly, while autumn is the correct season for plowing and sowing the fields, if, for some reason, players fail to do so in the autumn just gone, they can put all hands on deck to quickly try and plant some crops. This is only possible with small fields or with the help of an Ox for large fields and, of course, lots of workers.

3 Summer

Droughts Can Ruin Crops, & Players Should Get All Their Important Building Done Before Autumn

Focus on industries and other jobs that require time and manpower.
Finish all important construction projects before the harvest in autumn.

The only thing to worry about in summer is droughts, which can kill the crops, although this is only a threat with harder weather settings enabled. Other than that, the village can crack on as normal, and with no workers needed in the Farmhouses, there are more hands available for other industries and construction.

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In many ways, summer in Manor Lords is all about getting everything else done before September arrives, as lots of workers will be needed for the harvest. Therefore, players will want to finish any key building projects in the summer, and they will also want to ensure that all or most of the berries have been gathered. Players will also want to bring their militia home before the harvest if one has been raised to conquer other regions.

2 Autumn

Bring The Harvest In, Then Plow & Sow For Next Year

Assign lots of workers to Farmhouses to bring in the harvest before plowing and sowing again.
In the later stages of autumn, the crops can be processed by assigning workers to the Malthouse to turn barley into malt.

Autumn is all about farming, and it starts off with a big harvest as soon as September arrives. If players have lots of large fields, they will want to assign as many families as possible to their Farmhouses and watch almost the entire village come together to harvest the crops and then carry them to storage.

Next up is the plowing of the fields, and if players have unlocked the Heavy Plow Development Point, they will want to assign an ox to each farmhouse to speed up this process considerably. If not, they will want to maintain a large workforce of farmers. Either way, the workers will be required again for the final stage, which is the sowing of the crops. If these steps are not completed in a field by the time winter arrives, all progress will be lost in the current version of the game. Beyond farming in autumn, players will want to make sure they have enough firewood or charcoal for winter. This will also be the last opportunity players will have to gather berries before the harsh winter season rolls in. Additionally, villagers can start to process the results of the harvest by turning barley into malt and threshing the wheat into grain.

1 Winter

Fuel Consumption Is Doubled, & Those Without Firewood May Freeze To Death

Unassign workers from any Forager Huts as berries die in winter.
Unassign workers from any Sheep Farms, as sheep cannot be sheared.
Thresh wheat into grain, which can be sent to the Windmill.

Naturally, winter is the hardest month to deal with, and this is reflected in Manor Lords by each family consuming twice the usual amount of fuel per month. Unlike in other months, where villagers will simply be unhappy and lower the overall Approval Rating, a lack of firewood or charcoal in winter can result in villagers freezing to death.

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As shearing sheep is forbidden in winter and because berries die, players will want to unassign workers from Sheep Farms and Forager Huts respectively, as there is no work to be done regarding either of them, and their time can be put to better use elsewhere. If they were not able to do so at the end of autumn, players will also want to set about processing the crops that were recently harvested. For example, Farmhouse workers need to thresh wheat into grain, which can then be ground down at the Windmill into flour. Additionally, barley can be turned into malt at a Malthouse, and flax is used by weavers to produce linen.