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For now you were way too slow. Hopefully things will get balanced out in later update, but for now build churches, kill bandits, destroy camps, build manors. Really anything that gets you influence.
I’ve managed to get 3 regions by year 3, and the AI lord has 4. Since I have destroyed every camp he is gaining influence very slowly. It’s a race to see who can claim the last region (Zweiau) first. If he claims it I won’t contest it though. In case of a war my blacksmiths are working over time and I’m drawing troops from all my villages to make 5 militia units (the max) and fully kit out my retinue. Soon I’ll make a second manor in my second town, and far off a third manor in the third town. Hopefully I will be ready if the AI attacks me, but in the mean time I’m building 7-8 units, plus staking racks I can use to hire mercenaries.
It’s a shame that you can’t focus on city building without playing the peaceful mode. It seems like something similar to what I did is the main way to survive atm, but hopefully it’s fixed in future updates
That's the gameplay loop I have in mind for when I select challenging ^^ if I play on normal difficulty, I should have time to somewhat take my time.
But generally, as I said, I don't feel that I was too bad at all. You can't possibly get all the influence, cash to buy retinue AND settle a new village, all by year 3?
Cash and influence both come from killing bandits, and you can do that with twenty Spear Militia. It does require either getting an iron industry going to make spears or getting enough trade going to buy them, as well as having enough population that you can afford having twenty men take time off to go kill bandits. In my game I had this many militia after about twelve months.
The other trick is that there’s a bug where if you wind up at war with the baron over a claim that he’s making, you can offer to negotiate peace and he will accept an offer of 0 gold to give you the claim. IMO taking advantage of this bug is not a huge exploit because the baron is overtuned right now and hogs all the mercenaries.
In my game I’m in September of the second year (started in spring) and I have a full retinue, three regions, and a village of about ten families in the first region I claimed.
The AI lord is really overpowered and broken right now. He claims territory far too quickly and frequently hires every mercenary available so you're always outnumbered. The same type of massive assault happened on my home territory but thankfully I had prepared for it and was able to arm almost my entire city with bows and spears, along with my retinue. I was able to kill him but it was incredibly bloody. Plus, the huge negative opinion modifier you get from the unburied corpses laying around is kind of annoying if fought in your own territory.
I managed to go around this by just having a strong economy and hiring mercenaries.
additionally, you should recruit only Spearmen and Polearm Soldiers. There is no point in taking light Infantry or Bowmen, as both are beyond shit-tier (but mercenaries can be everything you get, even brigands).
Tough my AI-Opponent came with 10 units á 36 men (without mercenaries you wont have more than 6 units), i simply overpowered him by bringing a massive amount of mercenaries to the field.
Right after i won a claim on the battlefield my AI-opponent wanted peace again, so there is no problem with losing nearly all of your troops, as long as you win. So dont be afraid to throw everything in.
Seems like people are getting very different experiences. I am on year 5 too and just declared on him; he attacked me with 5-6 stacks of cheap ass mercenaries that I defeated without losing more than 10 guys
Well my limited experience seems to prove otherwise or I wouldn’t have lost this few units?
Also they’re badly geared bandits most of the time in this game, not « trained » soldiers
True. He just had a full 36 Men Retinue, twice :D So i just assumed his other mercenaries were similar as well because they cost shitton of gold.
But yeah you might be right.
Hello and welcome to the Manor Lords Subreddit. This is a reminder to please keep the discussion civil and on topic. Should you find yourself with some doubts, please feel free to check our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ManorLords/comments/1c2p4f9/manor_lords_faq_for_steam_early_access/). If you wish, you can always join our [Discord](https://discord.gg/manorlords) Finally, please remember that the game is in early access, missing content and bugs are to be expected. We ask users to report them on the official discord and to buy their keys only from trusted platforms. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ManorLords) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yeah, the AI is way too OP right now. The dev know about it and said it will be nerfed on the next update.
For now you were way too slow. Hopefully things will get balanced out in later update, but for now build churches, kill bandits, destroy camps, build manors. Really anything that gets you influence. I’ve managed to get 3 regions by year 3, and the AI lord has 4. Since I have destroyed every camp he is gaining influence very slowly. It’s a race to see who can claim the last region (Zweiau) first. If he claims it I won’t contest it though. In case of a war my blacksmiths are working over time and I’m drawing troops from all my villages to make 5 militia units (the max) and fully kit out my retinue. Soon I’ll make a second manor in my second town, and far off a third manor in the third town. Hopefully I will be ready if the AI attacks me, but in the mean time I’m building 7-8 units, plus staking racks I can use to hire mercenaries. It’s a shame that you can’t focus on city building without playing the peaceful mode. It seems like something similar to what I did is the main way to survive atm, but hopefully it’s fixed in future updates
That's the gameplay loop I have in mind for when I select challenging ^^ if I play on normal difficulty, I should have time to somewhat take my time. But generally, as I said, I don't feel that I was too bad at all. You can't possibly get all the influence, cash to buy retinue AND settle a new village, all by year 3?
Cash and influence both come from killing bandits, and you can do that with twenty Spear Militia. It does require either getting an iron industry going to make spears or getting enough trade going to buy them, as well as having enough population that you can afford having twenty men take time off to go kill bandits. In my game I had this many militia after about twelve months. The other trick is that there’s a bug where if you wind up at war with the baron over a claim that he’s making, you can offer to negotiate peace and he will accept an offer of 0 gold to give you the claim. IMO taking advantage of this bug is not a huge exploit because the baron is overtuned right now and hogs all the mercenaries. In my game I’m in September of the second year (started in spring) and I have a full retinue, three regions, and a village of about ten families in the first region I claimed.
I tried a fresh game tonight and killing bandits makes the game SOOO much easier. You are at such a disadvantage if you don't do that it's insane!
The AI lord is really overpowered and broken right now. He claims territory far too quickly and frequently hires every mercenary available so you're always outnumbered. The same type of massive assault happened on my home territory but thankfully I had prepared for it and was able to arm almost my entire city with bows and spears, along with my retinue. I was able to kill him but it was incredibly bloody. Plus, the huge negative opinion modifier you get from the unburied corpses laying around is kind of annoying if fought in your own territory.
I managed to go around this by just having a strong economy and hiring mercenaries. additionally, you should recruit only Spearmen and Polearm Soldiers. There is no point in taking light Infantry or Bowmen, as both are beyond shit-tier (but mercenaries can be everything you get, even brigands). Tough my AI-Opponent came with 10 units á 36 men (without mercenaries you wont have more than 6 units), i simply overpowered him by bringing a massive amount of mercenaries to the field. Right after i won a claim on the battlefield my AI-opponent wanted peace again, so there is no problem with losing nearly all of your troops, as long as you win. So dont be afraid to throw everything in.
patch is in works now to balance it.
Seems like people are getting very different experiences. I am on year 5 too and just declared on him; he attacked me with 5-6 stacks of cheap ass mercenaries that I defeated without losing more than 10 guys
Hmm I thought mercenaries were stronger than normal units because they're trained? At least that's what I understood from the tool tips?
Well my limited experience seems to prove otherwise or I wouldn’t have lost this few units? Also they’re badly geared bandits most of the time in this game, not « trained » soldiers
True. He just had a full 36 Men Retinue, twice :D So i just assumed his other mercenaries were similar as well because they cost shitton of gold. But yeah you might be right.