Medieval strategy sim Manor Lords is getting proper AI village-building, an upkeep system and fancier castles

Classic RPG remasters drop from the shadows, surprise GOTY contenders spring from the cracks, but life goes on in the sleepy oxen-powered villages of Manor Lords, the medieval strategy city builder from Slavic Magic and Hooded Horse. Well, not entirely.

Change is afoot in oxen country, as detailed in a round-up of update plans for the game’s first birthday. What did you get for your first birthday? I think I got: the continued affection and/or tolerance of my parents, after a year of being puked and widdled on. Manor Lords is getting: an upkeep system, various visual or UI rejigs, and a boost for the AI’s capabilities that ranges from non-player town-planning to the navigation of fortresses.

Founded by Grzegorz "Greg" Styczeń, Slavic Magic have grown since the absurd success of the early access release. “Since launch we’ve welcomed Nathan (map design), Tom and Kurtis from Flix Interactive (programming), Niklas (AI), Basia (2D art), Nicolas (3D art), and Darren and James (game design)," reads a merry Steam post, before unleashing a horde of suheadings that “is not a full changelog or final list”, but “should give you a good idea of where development is headed.”

Let’s get stuck in, then. As regards new buildings, they’re working on a quarry for “endless” stone mining on rich deposits, and a lime kiln that will be required for advanced construction. Planned visual changes include revamps for the UI and map resource nodes, and some overhauled castle pieces. But the juiciest bits appear to involve the AI, which can now build and run a small village, making use of concepts such as burgage plots, backyard and living space extensions that didn’t exist in the early access launch version.

“A lot of work was done to make sure the AI could use the plot tool properly,” the devs add. “We're still working on improving its city planning skills and will soon start working on its trading capabilities and farming.” Letting the AI build villages has also obliged a new approach to the game’s marketplace, though the Steam post doesn’t go into detail.

The devs are also making changes to the Record View, with a new screen for regional production and consumption. They’ve tweaked the approval system so that recent events have more impact than older events. And they’re working on a contentious-sounding upkeep system, “which means a smithy will need a constant flow of tools, and deep mines need a flow of planks”. It’s terrible to see the concept of “flow” invading the hitherto stolid pasture lands of the Middle Ages, but I do find the thought of planks cascading down a mineshaft sort of poetic.

Continuing with the theme of flow, there’s a nice bit in the post that breaks down the appetisingly maddening challenge of having units pathfind through castles that have several floors. “The whole world in Manor Lords was always coded in 2D, which made collisions simpler to resolve and made the game more optimized,” Slavic Magic explain. “However, this meant we can't have "proper" gates where people stand on top and walk below at the same time (they'd collide with each other).

“I decided to investigate this and rewrite the pathfinding to support multiple floors," the post goes on. "However, it's still being tested whether the extra computation cost is actually worth it (it's literally only for the gates, which in theory can be cheated by garrisoning in and out from the gatehouse doors).” Read the rest for a not very medieval, but undeniably cool development gif of militant rice grains struggling to escape a spiderweb of waypoints.

Nic liked the original early access version of Manor Lords, to the point that he interviewed the composers and also stalked a cow for clicks. Slavic Magic had planned to keep the game in early access for “around a year”, but it sounds like 1.0 is a ways off.