Manor Lords is the latest indie sensation to take the gaming industry by storm, generating an impressive number of wishlists on Steam to quickly become one of the most anticipated games of its kind for 2024. Slavic Magic's debut project offers a realistic city-building experience set in medieval times.

This realism isn't merely limited to visuals and graphics; it is true for gameplay as well. Manor Lords features in-depth game mechanics for constructing your town, including tasks such as building houses, overseeing your population, crafting weapons, and much more. The guide below covers the farming mechanics of the game.

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Farming Requirements in Manor Lords

manor lords farm and house

It's a given that to cultivate crops, you'll require prime land, peasants to work the soil, and favorable weather conditions. While you may not influence the latter, you have control over the former pair.

Your farming plot must not only be expansive, but fertile as well. Moreover, it's crucial to maintain its fertility over time. Providing housing for your farmers is also important; after all, farmers are going to struggle to work while they are homeless. Additionally, certain farming tasks are season-specific, requiring careful planning and timing.

How to Select the Ideal Farm in Manor Lords

manor lords construction overlay menu

To ensure successful crop cultivation, your first task is securing fertile land. Begin by clicking on the Construction button and navigating to the Overlay options on the right side of the screen. Here, assess the fertility levels of Emmer, Flax, Barley, and Rye. Remember, red indicates poor fertility, yellow signifies moderate, and green denotes the best conditions.

If green land is unavailable, settle for yellow, but avoid selecting red, as it would be a waste of your resources.

To select a farming area, access the Construction menu, then select Farming, followed by Field. Use the four pointers to claim your desired farming area. Initially, refrain from making the land too expansive; an area around 1 morgen should be enough.

Your next task is to build a farmhouse, which requires three timber. This structure serves as the residence for the field workers, so make sure that the house isn’t too far away from the field, as that will reduce their efficiency.

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Farming Tasks for Each Season in Manor Lords

manor lords four seasons

Just like in real life, seasons will decide what the farmers will do on the land. During the Autumn months (September to November), farmers focus on plowing and sowing the farmland. Failure to complete these tasks by November results in the land becoming fallow during the Winter months.

In Spring and Summer, crops grow on their own, meaning no farmer's contribution is required. When the next Autumn rolls over, the crops should be ready for harvest. Subsequently, farmers will harvest the crops and prepare the fields by plowing and sowing them once more.

Repeatedly harvesting one type of crop can significantly reduce the land's fertility.

How To Improve the Fertility of Farmland

manor lords crop rotation

If the fertility of your entire farm has dropped dead, then you can revive it by turning it fallow, which basically means not growing anything for a year. However, an ideal lord won’t let things get that bad.

Maintaining land fertility mirrors real-life agricultural practices, particularly through crop rotation. Here's how to implement it effectively:

  1. Divide your farmland into three smaller fields.
  2. Access each field's menu and enable the checkbox for crop rotation.

During the early stages of the game, use the following rotation:

  • First Field: Crop, Fallow, Fallow
  • Second Field: Fallow, Crop, Fallow
  • Third Field: Fallow, Fallow, Crop
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In the later stages, once you've unlocked the Fertilization skill from the Farming Development skill tree, adjust the rotation as follows:

  • First Field: Crop, Crop, Fallow
  • Second Field: Crop, Fallow, Crop
  • Third Field: Fallow, Crop, Crop

After unlocking the Fertilization skill, use your livestock to pasture the fallow fields. Manure is highly efficient in improving farm fertility. Additionally, consider unlocking the Heavy Plow, enabling your oxen to plow the fields with greater efficiency. The Heavy Plow allows a single family to manage a significantly larger farm area.

How To Use Crops in Manor Lords

Once you've harvested the crop, your next objective is processing it, as it can’t be used in its raw form.

  • Send Emmer (Wheat) to the Farmhouse building to convert it to Grain. From there, transfer it to the Windmill to produce Flour, and finally to the Bakery to convert it into Bread.
  • Transfer Barley to the Malthouse to transform it into Malt. Then, send it to a Brewery for the final conversion into Ale. Taverns serve as distribution points for Ale.
  • Transfer Flax to the Weaver Workshop for conversion into linen. Once processed, you have the option to send it to the marketplace for clothing in your town or to the Tailor's Workshop for the production of gambesons (a type of jacket) or regular clothing.
manor lords
Manor Lords

Released
April 26, 2024
Developer(s)
Slavic Magic
Publisher(s)
Hooded Horse