Manor Lords: How to manage villagers? Manor Lords Guide
One of the most important aspects of playing Manor Lords is to skillfully manage your subjects. On this page we will tell you how to properly divide tasks among residents, how to assign families and how to use oxen.
Last update: 17 April 2024
The very basis of any thriving settlement in Manor Lords are its inhabitants. They are the ones who construct new buildings, operate the facilities, and work towards the village's prosperity and development. Your role as the manager will be sending the subjects to work in different areas, this way managing their time and responsibilities skillfully. On this page of our guide we explain basic actions involved in organizing the work of the village that will help the community thrive.
What are assigned and unassigned families?
The basic organizational unit in Manor Lords are families. These groups consisting of several settlers live and engage together in the activities assigned to them. Management of subjects is therefore not about giving orders to individual people but focused on organizing the work of entire families.
The main status describing the occupation of a given family is assignment. You can assign families to functional buildings in the settlement. To do this, click on a facility. In the opened window, go to the "General" tab and then click the plus button. If a family is available, they will be assigned to work in the building and begin generating products or services related to it. Families can be assigned and released from buildings at any moment, and this option will allow you to assign the workforce to wherever they may be needed at the moment. An assigned family will immediately start to perform chosen responsibilities.
However, this doesn't mean that every family inhabiting the village should be assigned to a workplace, as unassigned groups also have their uses. First of all, unassigned families take care of constructing new buildings in the village. The construction of a new building will not begin until there is at least one unassigned family in the village.
In addition to building, unassigned families also operate the oxen. Oxen are needed for transporting large logs of wood for the purpose of building new structures in the village.
After upgrading a residential building to level 2, the family living there will also automatically advance to the next level. If a residential building inhabited by a family has free space for an Extension, you can place one of a few available workshops there. The available Extensions include:
- Bakery Extension;
- Blacksmith's Workshop;
- Brewery Extension;
- Tailors's Workshop;
- Cobbler's Workshop;
- Joiner's Workshop;
- Armorer's Workshop;
- Bowyer's Workshop.
Families who live in houses with such Extensions will automatically be converted into artisans. Artisan families are removed from the pool of working families permanently, but in return, they will produce specialized goods. However, it is important to skillfully manage the pool of families. Artisans are extremely important for the development of the settlement, but in a village filled only with craftsmen, there will be no one left who can perform simpler, basic tasks.
More information about upgrading buildings can be found on the How to upgrade buildings page of our guide.
You can view the assignment and division of families at any moment by pointing the mouse to the bar at the top of the screen. The first two icons from the left will show the list of currently assigned and unassigned families. The house symbol shows how many Residental buildings are there currently in the settlement. The small human icon shows the current population of the settlement, and by pointing at it, you'll see a window where the families are listed based on levels and gender.
How to use an ox?
Oxes are the basic means of transporting goods in the village, which makes them an extremely valuable resource. The animal can move large logs of wood needed for the erection of new structures, as well as help transport resources and products between individual buildings. A small, still developing settlement should make do with one Ox, but later on you may need to get more of them.
The ox, in breaks between tasks, stays bound to a Hitching Post. This structure, with a cheap upgrade (2 wood) can be upgraded into a Small Stable, that can accommodate 2 oxen. You can also purchase an additional animal once a month. A new ox costs 20 Wealth and will be delivered to you by the livestock trader after a few days.
When your settlement is beginning to grow and you've managed to purchase more than one oxen, you can consider the option to assign Oxes to individual buildings. In the default form, the oxen are shared by all residents and are send to work as they are needed. However, if you want to make some ventures work without stoppage, click on a site that uses oxen (such as Logging Camp) and enter the "Advanced" tab. Then click on the plus next to the "Permanent Livestock assignment". One of the animals will be assigned to the facility and from now on it will not be distracted from the assigned set of duties.
How to properly manage human resources?
- At the initial stage of the village's development, it will be necessary to frequently adjust and juggle the distribution of assignments. Therefore, we recommend playing in realtime or with a slight fast-forward to be able to react when needed and in a timely manner.
- Try to build as many new residential buildings as possible to attract more settlers to your village relatively quickly. More information about increasing your population can be found on the How to get more settlers page of our guide.
- In the later stages of the game, make sure to have an eye on the number of Artisans and Militia members. Delegating too many families to these tasks will mean that there will be too few hands in the settlement to perform basic tasks.