The Steam Early Access launch of Manor Lords means the medieval city builder still has a long way to go. Developer Slavic Magic is in constant communication with players about mechanical tweaks and new features, getting into a rhythm now that thousands of players are settling into the game. After feedback, Slavic Magic has outlined how three mechanics have been received by players, and how they may change each of them soon.
For Manor Lords, this means the King’s Tax, Trade Route costs, and Archers are all subject to potential reworks. The strategy game already has the bones of something great, as we say in our Manor Lords early access review, but there are still going to be plenty of changes before we reach the fabled 1.0 launch.
First up is the King’s Tax, which Slavic Magic says has been “reasonably well-received” in a new Discord post. The developer wants to further reward players for going up levels, though, so is rethinking how the mechanic might scale. “Perhaps it should be scaled by in-game years (or just for example a full five-year exemption) instead by the Settlement Levels,” Slavic Magic muses.
No-one enjoys paying taxes, but if the King’s Tax arrives at an annual rate that may be a good benchmark for Manor Lords. After all, you don’t want to build up your settlement and find yourself in mountains of debt that exceed what you can make just because some guy in a big chair wants more money. Tying it to something other than Settlement Levels will hopefully alleviate that issue.
Slavic Magic also says that the idea behind upping Trade Route costs felt “unrefined.” They want the game to incentivize local production over excess foreign trade, but find a way of doing this that doesn’t feel too punishing. “I need to rethink what I actually expect the player to do. If I want to limit how many foreign routes people open (to incentivize local production and inter-region trade) then a limit or upkeep may be a better choice than just scaling the cost to crazy levels.”
Last up are Archers, which Slavic Magic concedes are feeling weak right now. The idea in Manor Lords is that archer damage scales the further away they are, so they might just get a flat damage increase, or their range may be improved instead. “It’s also possible that players still ignore that rain actually makes archers weaker,” Slavic Magic adds, “since no one mentions whether it was raining when they describe their testing situations.”
We’ve got a comprehensive Manor Lords guide to help you out in the game, alongside more detailed breakdowns of Manor Lords trade and how to increase your Manor Lords settlement level to give you a leg up.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.
