Manor Lords: how to take over new regions? Manor Lords Guide

One of the main mechanics of Manor Lords is taking control of new regions. On this page of the guide we have described how to take over new regions, for what purpose to do it and what you should watch out for.

Last update: 24 April 2024

Your starting region in Manor Lords should be enough for the first few years of the scenario you are playing, but sooner or later the shortage of certain resources will force you to expand. On this page of our guide, we show how to capture new regions in Manor Lords and what are possible benefits from this.

• Why should I capture new regions?
• How to capture new regions?

Why should I capture new regions?

1. At the start of every scenario in Manor Lords, you begin controlling only a single region. Your priority in the first few years of the scenario should be to develop and expand - this means having a sizeable number of settlers in the village, automating the exploitation of the resource deposits, and establishing trade routes. Each region has its advantages and disadvantages - focus on making use of the strong aspects of the starting region, and then, as soon as possible, conquer a region that will make up for the shortcomings of the initial one.
2. We show an exemplary region map in the screenshot above. Our home region, the one in the bottom right corner of the map, is rich in Berries and Clay. This means we have enough food to satisfy the villagers in the initial stages of the game and a valuable resource on which we can base our trade (the mined Clay can be converted at a Clay Furnace into Rooftiles, which are a very valuable export resource). However, the weakness of our region is low fertility, which makes efficient farming impossible. The lack of Wheat, Barley, and Linen and the products received by processing them - Bread, Ale, Clothes, and Gambesons - makes meeting the villagers' requirements much harder, slows the development of the village, and finally hinders attempts to fully equip your military units with basic Armor. The problem can be temporarily solved by importing needed goods, but this isn't feasible in the long run.
3. For this reason, we decided to make a priority capturing the region neighboring ours - the one to the north-west. As you can see in the screenshot, it has very fertile lands, which should solve our agricultural problem. In addition, the region is rich in iron, and capturing these deposits will allow us to begin the production of weapons and armor for recruited military units, and with their help, eliminate bandits and political rivals without having to hire expensive mercenaries.
4. As the first year of the scenario passes, try to identify the strong and weak aspects of your starting region. Take a look at neighboring regions and target the one that mitigates your weaknesses the most. You can take a look at other regions by zooming out the camera, and additionally, by pressing the Construction button at the bottom of the screen, you can check the fertility of it.

How to capture new regions?

1. To take over a new region you need Influence. Taking a wild region costs 1,000 Influence while capturing an inhabited region is twice the cost. Before you make a claim on a region, make sure you have a few Militia or Mercenary units at the ready - your rivals can counter your claim and try to win the region through battle. In the same vein, you can also counter claims on a region made by enemies.

1. Amassing Influence is a slow, long process. After a few, one-time bonuses (250 Influence for building a Manor, building a Church, and upgrading the Church) the remaining ways of getting Influence are very slow and tedious. These are mainly upgrading the settlement level (further upgrading after a certain point has been passed may be difficult if you only own one region), monthly Tithe received by the Church as the villagers give the surplus of their food (you can set the % of the Tithe in the Manor menu), and destroying occasionally appearing bandit camps (you can also destroy camps found in different regions).
2. Once you have collected the required 1,000 Influence and successfully claimed the region, you'll need to start inhabiting it by building a Settler's Camp. It costs 250 Wealth - Wealth is mainly amassed through taxes (you can set their percentage in the Manor menu) and destroying bandits camps (provided after destroying a camp, you decide to keep the plunder for yourself).
3. After building a settler camp, 5 free families will settle in your new region. You can now start developing the village same as with the first settlement. Remember to construct a Pack Station and buy a Mule - this way you'll be able to transfer goods between the new region and the starting one.