u/GDeFreest

Strap in, I’m about to do a LOT of rambling 😂

I doubt this will be seen by the devs at any point, but I thought I’d share a couple suggestions of things I’d like to see in manor lords just to see what the community thinks 😇

1) Hunting / Fishing / Foraging overhaul

Currently, as we know, fish, wild animals and mushrooms / berries are regional resource ‘nodes’ on the map, similarly to how iron, clay, etc, is. This is perfectly fine, but IMO is a little bit of an immersion breaker and doesn’t always make logical sense with the map (for an example, no fish in your region next to lake Lemm, etc…)

What I think would be a much more interesting system from a gameplay standpoint would be if fish / animals / foraged goods had an “Abundance” rating that was similar in nature to the farming system’s soil fertility rating.

Not only would this correct ‘illogical’ regions (IE huge forests with no wildlife or foraged foods, lakes and rivers with no fish, etc), but would have an interesting impact on gameplay. The more you expand and urbanise your region, the more you reduce the natural food abundance and must rely on other means of food production.

2) Walls & Gates

This one feels pretty essential to me! In short, I think that walls and gates would be an addition that a fair few players would welcome! It would be nice to wall a settlement without ‘disabling’ it with the manor 😝

3) Region mapping zones / sub-zones

This one came to me while thinking about the idea of implementing multiple independent settlements within one region, and I think it could be great for regional management as well as fun for players who enjoy more creativity / roleplay. Let me try to explain:

I’m imagining two different types of ‘zones’ that can be freely mapped: Settlement zones and Area zones.

Settlement zones, when drawn out, actively mark out the surrounded area as an individual settlement. It has its own wealth (like regional wealth), approval rating, and only draws from its own supplies (IE, buildings, marketplaces, etc inside the region but outside the settlement zone will not supply the zone.

For a little immersion, zones can be freely named (or renamed) just like regions. Maybe they could even appear in smaller letters on the map!

I think this could potentially lead to much bigger maps with bigger regions, if that’s something folks would want to see.

Area Zones would be more of a management tool, or just a fun bit of added immersion for players. This would allow players to mark out ‘sub-zones’ within their settlements that can be ‘snapped’ to by clicking their name within a zone management menu.

Players could utilise this in a purely practical way (I.E, marking out “Farming area”, “orchards”, “industry”, etc) or for a little bit of creative immersion to just name individual areas of larger settlements.

Maybe a little over-ambitious but I think it would be cool 😅

4) Inter-Regional Trading

I’m not sure how it would best be implemented, but I think it would be awesome to see a system where regions can directly trade with each other using their regional wealth (as opposed to exchanged goods via pack stations).

I think this would make the trade system more interesting and add even more value to controlling infinite or particularly valuable resources (stone, iron, etc), as well as create a more dynamic economy system.

Trade wouldn’t need to be limited to regions under your control - you could trade with other lords’ regions and your political standing with them could directly affect prices (which adds more meaning to diplomacy IMO, as well as events having direct economic ‘consequences’! Let me explain)

For example, if you are in good standing with one lord, you might get standard rates. However, if their regional supply runs low you might have to pay extra. Similarly, if raiders wipe out your trade partner, it’ll have a direct impact on your supply chain.

Similarly, if you are enemies with a lord then you may have to pay extortionate prices or be refused trade rights altogether (perhaps militaries of that Lord could even attack your merchants in their own regions?)

Anyway. Sorry for the gigantic wall of text 😂, but I’d be curious to hear what others think of those ideas, and what ideas of your own you’d like to see!