Manor Lords Unveils Major Fourth Update

Overview of Manor Lords Update 4

Manor Lords’ fourth update unveils extensive modifications, encompassing new maps, enhanced building functionalities, and refinements to gameplay mechanics.
This update also implements balance revisions, including adjustments to taxation, upgrades for stone wells, and improvements in unit formations.
Players will benefit from performance enhancements, featuring audio improvements, bug fixes, and user interface updates designed to elevate the overall gaming experience.

The latest update for Manor Lords, version 4, has been officially launched by developer Slavic Magic, marking a significant milestone in the game’s evolution. This release introduces a variety of fresh features, notably new maps, building mechanics, and notable gameplay tweaks, all aimed at refining and expanding the player experience.

It has been some time since the last major update, yet the enthusiasm for Manor Lords continues to flourish among fans of historical strategy games, despite its early access status. With each update, the game aligns more closely with the developers’ original ambitions. The previous release brought enhancements such as a King’s Tax and inter-region trading options. Despite facing criticisms related to technical issues and the pace of updates, Slavic Magic has maintained a dedicated following by actively responding to player feedback.

The fourth update introduces transformative game elements, including two new playable maps—High Peaks and Winding River. Players will also experience a revamped bridge-building system, an enhanced stone well, and improved visual elements for taverns. A key feature of this update is the clarified cliff system with a more intuitive user interface. Additionally, the distribution mechanics for ale and water have been revised, necessitating multiple ale contributions to upgrade the tavern.

Furthermore, Update 4 introduces balance modifications to various gameplay aspects, particularly how taxation operates in scenarios of insufficient funds. The stone wells can now supply up to 50 plots, new constraints are in force during drought periods, and the tavern employment model has shifted from three to one family member. The update also features increases in the availability of iron and stone deposits, paired with an experimental initiative aimed at rebalancing building costs.

A range of minor experimental updates has also been integrated, involving adjustments to unit formation dynamics and reduced rain durations. The audio quality receives enhancements with the introduction of new ambient sounds, enriching the tavern atmosphere. Additionally, the developers are working on cosmetic improvements, including updates to atmospheric effects like storm cloud visuals and a rework of the Deep Mine concept, further contributing to the immersive experience of Manor Lords.

The development team is committed to continuous improvement, focusing on refining performance through interface updates, crash fixes, and numerous bug resolutions. Resolved issues include those pertaining to brigand behavior, villager navigation challenges, and problems with soldiers falling off bridges. As the game continues to evolve, players are encouraged to remain engaged by reporting issues and providing feedback, thereby contributing to the game’s growth and success.

Manor Lords Update 4 Patch Notes

Changelog Version 0.8.004 -> 0.8.024

Major Changes

[Experimental] Cliff system rework
- The cliff regions are now more definable, enhancing clarity on traversable and buildable areas.
- A zigzag pattern will display over cliff areas when in build mode or while selecting units.
- Zooming out will no longer reveal unwanted gaps between landscape features and cliffs.
- Pathfinding issues around cliffs will now be resolved.
Restrictions on Workers for Stalls: Only storage building personnel can configure marketplace Stalls, addressing prior ambiguities regarding ownership and responsibilities.
Inventory Source Restriction: Marketplace supplies will now exclusively come from storage buildings.
Goods Supply Cap: The quantity of goods a marketplace can provide is limited by the number of stalls, now viewable under “granary supply capacity”or “storehouse supply capacity.”This helps in managing market needs effectively.
Stall Mergers: Fuel and Fabric stalls have been combined into a single General Goods Stall.
Connection Arcs: Connection paths will appear between storage buildings and their associated marketplaces when selected.
Marketplace UI Update: Enhanced marketplace supply UI to display the number of assigned families working from storage buildings.
Instant Stall Assignments: Workers will now promptly occupy stalls upon assignment.
Reduced Stall Storage Space: The maximum storage allowance for stalls is decreased to encourage a healthy marketplace turnover.
Abandoned Stalls Exclusion: Unoccupied stalls will no longer impact marketplace availability.
Market Availability Distribution: Adjustments made so houses now reserve only necessary varieties based on upgrade needs.
Regional Data Update: Marketplace supply panel data now reflects regional information, including available stall locations.
Disable Stalls Behavior: Storage workers will vacate stalls upon deactivation of market stalls.
Granary Direct Consumption: Villagers may directly consume food from granaries, reducing supply fluctuations.
Instant Market Supply Calculation: Market supply is recalculated instantaneously with any changes to stall storage.
Extra Tooltip Info: Tooltip enhancements now convey necessary food variety information within the region.
Marketplace Storage Filters: New storage filters allow players to exclude certain goods from distribution.
Refueling from Storehouses: Efficiency in supply management is increased as plots will now refill from storehouses whenever possible.
Instant Stall Setup: Workers will immediately try to establish or take over stalls when permitted.
Real-Time Overlay Updates: The overlay for supply categories updates live when hovered over.
Abandoned Stall Goods Return: Storage workers will retrieve goods from abandoned stalls back to storage.
Category Reorganization: Marketplace & Market Carts have moved to the Logistics category.
Changes to Ale and Water Distribution Mechanics:
- New distribution logic assigns similar handling to ale from taverns and water from wells.
- Upgrading towns now requires more than one ale, promoting both tavern and well upgrades.

New Features

New Playable Maps: Players can now choose between two new maps, High Peaks and Winding River.
Overstock Setting Added: A new “Overstock”option in the building tab allows control over surplus goods in a stall or tavern.
Bridge Building System: Introducing a new bridge-building functionality utilizing the Road Tool.
Stone Well Upgrade: The stone well now serves up to 30 plots of water supply, while the wooden well’s capacity has been reduced to 15 plots.
Level 2 Tavern Upgrade: Enhancements include the addition of a Level 2 Tavern upgrade along with a new visual design for the Level 1 Tavern.

Gameplay & Balance Adjustments

Taxation Approval: Taxation approval will occur even in the absence of taxable funds, streamlining player interactions.
Stone Well Supplies: Stone wells now accommodate 50 plots, justifying their increased costs.
Drought Restrictions: Fishing activity is prohibited during droughts.
Charcoal Burning: Charcoal burners are optimized to manage wood in stacks of 10 at once.
Woodcutter Efficiency: Woodcutters’ debranching speed reduced by 30%.
Windmill Storage Limitation: Windmills are now conditional on available pantry space for flour production.
Flour and Bread Output: Adjusted to ensure 1 grain produces 1 flour, with doubled bread output to alleviate windmill congestion.
[Experimental] Building Costs Rebalance: Streamlined building and upgrade costs, favoring diverse resource utilization.
Tavern Employment Reduction: The Level 1 Tavern now employs one family instead of three.
Pantry Capacity Adjustments: The pantry capacity of the Tavern at Level 2 reduced from 100 to 50.
Increased Deposit Sizes: Minimum and maximum sizes for iron and stone deposits have been notably increased.

Balance Adjustments

Apiary: Plank requirements increased from 2 to 4.
Stonecutter: Decreased logs from 2 to 1; planks increased from 0 to 4.
Mining Pit: Logs decreased from 1 to 0; planks increased from 0 to 4.
Tavern (Level 1): Adjusted logs from 5 to 3; planks increased from 0 to 4.
Mill: Logs reduced from 4 to 2; planks increased from 0 to 8.
Communal Oven: Remains at 2 logs, increased from 0 to 4 planks, and from 0 to 10 stones.
Bloomery: Logs decreased from 2 to 1; planks raised from 0 to 6.
Smithy: Adjusted logs from 2 to 1; planks increased from 0 to 4; stone requirement elevated from 0 to 6.
Clay Furnace: Adjusted logs from 2 to 1, planks from 0 to 6, and stone from 5 to 8.
Malthouse: Logs reduced from 4 to 2; planks are increased from 0 to 6, and stone from 0 to 12.
Tannery: Logs reduced from 4 to 2; planks raised from 0 to 6.
Level 2 Granary: Logs decreased from 5 to 2; planks increased from 10 to 12; stone requirement remains at 5.
Level 2 Storehouse: Logs decreased from 5 to 2; planks increased from 10 to 16.
Stable: Planks requirement increased from 2 to 4.
Burgage Plot (Level 2): Logs decreased from 4 to 2; planks increased from 0 to 8.
Burgage Plot (Level 3): Logs increased from 4 to 3; planks increased from 8 to 12; tiles and wealth remain unchanged.
Level 2 Well: Planks increased from 2 to 4; stone requirement remains at 10.
Tavern (Level 2): Remains at 2 logs; planks raised from 5 to 8; stone requirement increased from 2 to 10.
Church (Level 2): Logs decreased from 5 to 4; planks raised from 10 to 16; stone increased from 20 to 25; tile requirement remains unchanged.
Chicken Coop: Planks requirement increased from 0 to 2; wealth reduced from 25 to 15.
Bakery: Planks raised from 5 to 6, and wealth increases from 5 to 10.
Tailor: Planks requirement raised from 5 to 6; wealth increased from 5 to 10; tools requirement from 0 to 1.
Armorer: Planks increased from 4 to 8; wealth increased from 10 to 20; tools increased from 0 to 2.
Blacksmith: Planks increased from 5 to 8; wealth increased from 5 to 20; tools increased from 0 to 2.
Cobbler: Planks increased from 5 to 6; wealth raised from 5 to 10; tools raised from 0 to 1.
Bowyer: Planks increased from 4 to 6; wealth increased from 0 to 10.
Brewery: Planks increased from 5 to 6; wealth raised from 5 to 10.
Joiner: Planks increased from 4 to 6; wealth from 0 to 10; tools raised from 0 to 1.
Butcher: Planks increased from 4 to 6; wealth raised from 0 to 10; tools from 0 to 1.
[Experimental] Food Consumption Adjustment: Families now attempt to diversify their food consumption rather than randomly picking items.
[Experimental] Region Strength Selection Change: Instead of random selection, regions will now be picked from a finite pool ensuring rich deposits are available.

Minor Changes

[Experimental] Randomization of Pickup Locations: Crop collection is now smoother with randomized pickup locations.
[Experimental] Unit Formation Improvements: Units will now follow clearer formations while navigating obstacles.
[Experimental] Virtual Supply Distribution: Adjustments ensure active workers manage supply duties better.
Floater Icons Added: Corrected missing icons for taverns, trading posts, and marketplaces.
Building Access Limit Adjustments: Reduced the number of villagers waiting for building access during high transport request periods.
Tooltip Updates: Enhancements to tooltips for better clarity.
[Experimental] Rain Duration Shortened: Duration of rain effects has been reduced.
Deep Mine Animation Improvements: Mineworkers will now correctly animate as they operate underground.
Retainers: No longer influence approval ratings from taxation for players.
Construction Banner Features: New banners to alert players when construction goods are missing.
[Experimental] FSR Disabled: Disabled FSR due to potential GPU crashing issues.
Stamina Regeneration for Disbanded Soldiers: Regeneration for disbanded soldiers has been implemented.
AI Command Improvements: Enhancements made for AI commands in restricted areas.
Pathfinding Emergency Mode Fixes: Updated to ensure water obstacles are respected.
Burgage Plot Info: “Total,””occupied,”and “under construction”information is now displayed.
Granaries Limited for Tithe Goods: Tithes will be exclusively collected from Granaries to control supply fluctuations.
Unit Card Reordering: Players can now rearrange unit cards easily.
[Experimental] Task Failure Messaging: Updates allow clearer understanding of task failures.
Region Name Adjustments: Regions in Germanic Valley renamed for better localization.
[Experimental] FOV Adjustments: Changes in FOV now correlate with camera zoom levels.
[Experimental] Unit Formation Alignment: Units will now align with road direction when issued commands.
Inventory Optimization: Improved generation of inventory grid widgets to eliminate flickering tooltips.
Burgage Plot Numbers Display: Displays the number of burgage plots in the Region Panel.
Living Space Availability: Availability will indicate what is open rather than total numbers.
Smoother Camera Movement: Enhancements for more fluid camera movement during gameplay.

Performance Enhancements

Collision Checking Optimizations: Static collision checks have been streamlined.
UI Optimizations: General updates to improve user interface fluidity.
Market Demand Calculations: Enhancements for calculating market demands more efficiently.
Marketplace Erosion Functions: Improved functions for managing the marketplace’s dirt erosion.
[Experimental] Unit Ground Collision Optimization: Further tweaks to unit ground collision for improved performance.

Crash Fixes

GPU Crash Fix: Attempt to resolve UE5 crashes affecting some PCs.
Animal Death Crash: Fixed issues causing crashes when animals were slain during trade.

Bug Fixes

Brigand Behavior: Resolved issues with brigands failing to leave their camps during enemy troop engagements.
Pathfinding on “Winding River”: Addressed pathfinding errors causing traders to become stuck.
Oxen Order Management: Fixed orders lost when buildings were demolished or moved.
Coat of Arms: Corrected tint issues in the player’s Coat of Arms display.
Granary Navigation: Resolved navigation errors in small granaries.
Bridge Pathfinding: Fixed gaps leading to soldiers falling from bridges.
Stable Pathfinding Adjustments: Addressed issues with resting oxen leading to failed pathfinding.
Soldier Animation Fixes: Adjustments made to soldier animations to ensure proper actions are displayed.
Warehouse Transport Issues: Fixed warehouse employees not responding to transport requests effectively.
Cliff Road Placement: Resolved issues preventing proper road placement on cliffs.
Retinue Color Display: Fix implemented for Retinue color updates in the editor.
Wool Yield Limit: Adjustments made to wool accumulation processes on sheep.
Shearing Logic: Fixed issues preventing sheep from being sheared correctly.
Tavern Visitor Logic: Fixed seating glitches in upgraded taverns.
Clay Furnace Operation: Ensured furnaces don’t function without refueling.
Tavern Upgrade Logic: Resolved seating issues during tavern upgrades.
Encamped Raiders: Fixed raiders’ behavior in various circumstances.
Units Outside Map: Resolved issues with units camping outside designated areas.
Unit Movement to Player’s Region: Fixed pathfinding issues with raiders not targeting players correctly.
Underground Issues: Resolved bugs causing units to disappear underground near water areas.
Livestock Traders: Fixed issues with traders attempting to acquire dead livestock.
Combat Lag: Improvements made to reduce lag during dynamic combat scenarios.
Spawning Bandit Camps: Added further checks to prevent camps generating on water bodies.
Sawpit Oxen Tasks: Resolved issues with oxen not retrieving logs from disabled sawpits.
Villager Movement: Fixed issues with villagers favoring distant taverns instead of closer options.
Unit Locomotion Animation: Issues with locomotion animations corrected for various units.
Regional Goods Management: Addressed inconsistencies in regional goods surplus updates.
Surface Mine Issues: Fixed build stalling on surface mines.
Granaries Mixed Goods: Corrected issues with granary workers handling incorrect items.
Plot Snapping: Fixed snapping issues affecting flexible plot placement.
Unit Control Exploits: Resolved exploits allowing players to direct units improperly.
Obstacle Retaining During Retreats: Addressed issues with units being obstructed upon retreat.
Hunter Equipment Logic: Fixed issues with hunters not properly managing their equipment while fetching water.
Visibility of Large Characters: Adjustments made to improve visibility around large characters during gameplay.
Cursor Behavior: Resolved issues with cursor changes in various contexts.
Problem Banner Functionality: Fixed interaction problems within the problem banners.
Water Collection Issues: Corrected excessive water collection behaviors in populated areas.
Camera Behavior: Fixed unexpected camera behaviors related to water bodies.
Armament Triggering Issues: Issues with armament delivery being triggered under specific conditions corrected.
Villager Storage Management: Fixed rare occurrences of villagers disregarding storage limits.
Invisible Items: Resolved issues with items becoming invisible during unit retreats.
Possible Array Error Fix: Fixed potential errors related to spoilage mechanics impacting food supply.

Audio and Sound Enhancements

Town Ambience: Adjustments made to ambient sound levels and the addition of new background sounds.

Cosmetic Enhancements

Snow Displacement Feature: This feature has been disabled due to recurring glitches.
Drinking Mug Addition: Missing drinking mugs have been added for tavern interactions.
[WIP] Deep Mine Rework: Continued work on refining the Deep Mine design.
[WIP] Cloud and Atmosphere Adjustments: Ongoing work to enhance atmospheric effects, particularly for stormy weather.
Map Enhancements: Cliffs are now featured on the parchment map for better navigation.
Visual Updates: Improved visuals for Residential Expansions at Levels 1 and 2.
[Experimental] Abandoned Stalls: Removed the fabric covers from abandoned stalls for clarity.

Source & Images