Manor Lords: How to lead an army? Manor Lords Guide
In most Manor Lords scenarios you will sooner or later be forced into battle. On this page of the guide we have described how to rally an army and how to direct your units during battle.
Last update: 10 May 2024
Most scenarios in Manor Lords involve fighting bandits or enemy soldiers. Once you have formed your forces, you must learn how to control them. On this page of the guide, we described how to assemble your army and the special march modes that they can use to move around a map.
How to assemble an army?
To assemble an army, you must select the Army tab from the menu at the bottom of the screen and select one of the available unit types to add a potential unit. Then click on this unit's card, which will appear at the bottom of the screen, and select Rally. A banner will replace your cursor - stick it in a specific place and your soldiers will arm themselves and go there to await your orders.
Civilians are drafted randomly into the army. Any man who is not a specialist (i.e. a resident of a plot with an advanced extension, such as a bakery or cobbler's workshop). You can recruit as many people as you can provided you have enough weapons. Each type of unit requires different equipment, e.g. to form spear militia, you must have spears and large shields in your warehouse. Armor is optional - if you have weapons in stock but no armor, your soldiers will fight without armor.
A single unit can consist of a maximum of 36 soldiers. If you can't equip that many people, the unit will be smaller. You can also add several units to manage several smaller ones instead of one large unit. Once you have built your manor, you will also always have access to retinue, a smaller elite unit whose soldiers are the only ones who can be upgraded, personalized, and wear plate armor.
The retinue's personalization options are still very limited in the Early Access version (0.7.002), on which the guide was based. The page will be updated as new features are added to the game.
In the army menu, you can also hire mercenaries to strengthen your forces. Each mercenary squad consists of several units, so in the early stages of the game a single squad can act as an army. However, mercenaries may appear in a different region than yours - this wastes valuable time getting to their destination, and they require monthly payment from the treasury. The available mercenary squads also change from time to time - the game will show a small notification at the top of the screen.
How to lead an army?
Managing your units is quite intuitive. First, you need to select your unit with the left mouse button (or hold it down and drag over several units to select them all at once). Then right-click on a specific place or on an enemy unit to make your army move towards them. The fights are automatic and begin when opposing units enter each other's range. Different units move at different speeds, so make sure your army doesn't spread too far apart.
It is also important to control the fatigue of your units and stop from time to time to let them rest. Moving increases the troops' fatigue, while sprinting and marching through difficult terrain accelerates the increase of fatigue. Fatigue has a negative impact on your army's combat skills, so pay attention to its level.
Special movement modes
When selecting a unit, you will see several buttons at the bottom of the screen. They are used to give orders, such as sprinting, stopping the unit or disbanding it. You can also implement a special type of march for a given unit. Below we have listed all types of marching and what their characteristics are:
- Give ground: The unit slowly retreats, provoking the enemy to attack. This mode is useful if you want to drag the enemy into a more favorable area or into the field of view of your ranged units.
- Missile alert: The chance to dodge enemy projectiles is doubled, but received melee damage is also doubled. This mode is useful if you are fighting only archers or if you are trying to flank enemy units to get rid of archers at the rear of the formation.
- Balanced: Default, balanced stance with no advantages or disadvantages.
- Stand your ground: Defense is doubled, but damage dealt is halved. This mode is useful if you need to survive until reinforcements arrive or if you want to finish off a weaker enemy without suffering heavy losses.
- Push forward: Soldiers attack with full force. This mode is useful when you want to eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible, e.g. when the enemy tries to retreat.
- Spread out: Unavailable during combat. The unit is faster and more effective at avoiding ranged attacks, but is worse at melee combat.
- Shieldwall: Exclusive to shield-wielding soldiers and unavailable during combat. The unit slows down significantly, but each unit receives a significant bonus to defense. This mode is useful when you want to prepare for melee combat.
- Shoot at will: Exclusive to ranged soldiers and unavailable during combat. Accuracy against enemies standing far away decreases, but accuracy against enemies standing close is higher. This mode is useful when an enemy unit gets too close to you.