8 Manor Lords combat tips and tricks
Win your battles in Manor Lords with these tips for strategic fighting
Looking for some tips and tricks to win battles in Manor Lords? Aside from serving as a highly detailed medieval city-builder, Manor Lords brings Total War-style combat to the fray, letting you direct different units in fights against invaders, rival armies, and all other forces that might threaten your growing town. Prevailing over these battles can be a tricky affair, especially for folks more accustomed to city-building games that don't involve legions clashing against each other.
Luckily, there are a few general strategies that you can keep in mind to turn the tides in your favour. In this guide, we'll outline 8 combat tips for Manor Lords to help you reign victorious.
1. Invest in protective gear and advanced weapons for your troops
An army isn't functioning at its best if it's primarily composed of unprotected fellows with subpar pointed sticks. Our guide to making weapons and armor has the full details, but in quick summary, you're going to need to upgrade your Burgage Plots in order to unlock building extensions that can truly aid your army. These include a Blacksmith's Workshop, a Joiner's Workshop, an Armorer's Workshop, and a Fletcher's Workshop.
Out of all of these options, the Armorer's Workshop can go a long way towards making your units hardier in the field, as it allows for the production of helmets. If you unlock the Advanced Armormaking and Master Armormaking Developmental Upgrades, you can also build mail and plate armor, which will raise the defensive stats - and survivability - of your men.
2. Diversify your units
Manor Lords offers a few different unit types, including the specialised Retinue - which are the closest thing to elite soldiers in this game - as well as polearm fighters, spear militia, and archers. The best units in Manor Lords, aside from the Retinue and Mercenaries (more on them below), include the Militia Footmen, the Spear Militia, and the Archer Militia, and a good army should strive to have these three types, which nicely cover melee and ranged attacks while still offering up decent defence.
It's possible that during your first few combats, you'll only be able to afford one type of unit. We recommend going for the Militia Footmen and supplementing their ranks with a steady assault from Archer Militia. Continue expanding the army with Spear Militia once you can afford it.
3. Rely on your Retinue
You need to build a Manor before you can hire a Retinue, because these strong lads are specialised soldiers who hang out in the Manor all day long, just itching for a fight. It's worth the time and effort, though, as Retinue members are the strongest melee combatants in Manor Lords.
Use your Retinue to lead your army, flank your enemies, and serve as tanks in the middle of a back-and-forth brawl. You'll gain 5 Retinue units by default, and you can recruit Retinue soldiers to a maximum of 12. For even more of these dedicated fighters, open up the Castle Planner and build a Garrison Tower, which will boost the max Retinue size by another 12.
4. Don't be afraid to pay for Mercenaries
Mercenaries seem expensive, but if they die, all that you've lost is a bit of coin in your Treasury. It takes time to gather Families to your settlement, and every deceased Militia member means a loss to your town's overall productivity. So don't be afraid to spend some money to hire these men-at-arms - it's their job, after all.
On a more specific note, the Light Mercenary Infantry and Heavy Mercenary Archer are two of the best units in the game, and more than capable of supplementing your Militia forces.
5. Use Stances to direct your troops
Click on any collection of units in Manor Lords and you'll see a row of icons pop up at the bottom of your screen. These are Stances, and they're used to direct troops in combat. The stances range from Balanced, which is the default stance for units, to more concerted maneouvers like Missile Alert, which causes your units to block incoming arrows.
When dealing with minor skirmishes against Bandit Camps, you can usually keep your troops on Balanced and watch them wreck havoc. When fighting Raiders or a rival army, however, you'll need to use strategy. We recommend watching the flow of battle and alternating between Stand Your Ground and Push Forward for your melee attackers. The former doubles their defence and is excellent for shield-bearers like the Spear Militia, while the latter makes frontliners go all-out on offence to break ranks. Meanwhile, have Archer Militia use Shoot at Will to fire upon enemies without shields. If you ever need to reorganise your forces or lure in enemies, make use of Spread Out and Give Ground. And if arrows come a-flying, make sure your boys use the aforementioned Missile Alert.
6. Flank your foes and attack from the rear
Whenever engaging in combat, it's best to rely on tried and true techniques that have served armies well throughout history - flank your foes, and avoid getting flanked by them!
To set up flanking tactics, you can select a group of units, hold the right mouse button, and drag your mouse to adjust their formation. Always try to position your units so that they're encircling enemies - oftentimes, the easy way to do this is to have your melee attackers on one side soaking up damage, while your archers sneak up from behind to deliver a steady supply of arrow blasts from the rear. Since they're hardier than most of your other troops, the Retinue is perfect for holding the line long enough for your ranged combatants to deliver killing missiles.
7. Monitor Morale, Effectiveness, and Fatigue
Click on your units to see a box that shows their overall Morale, Effectiveness, and Fatigue. Morale is basically an indicator of how willing your forces are to fight. You can keep it high if you have an overall high Approval rating for your settlement, and any militia forces fighting in their home territory will have higher morale automatically. If Morale dips too low, you'll lose your ability to use certain stances, and units will run instead of fighting to the death.
Effectiveness and Fatigue, meanwhile, measure how your units are actually doing in the flow of combat. You're going to want to pay attention to factors like terrain (see below) to confer buffs to your army's overall Effectiveness, which will translate to multiplyers added to the offence and defence of your units. The weather during a fight (no troops like battling in the rain) and flanking can also affect Effectiveness. Meanwhile, Fatigue will inevitably occur over the course of a battle, but you can go a long way towards reducing it by using Stances, relying on a healthy selection of varied troops, and pulling tired units back from the throes of immediate combat.
8. Attack on the High Ground
Elevation plays a role in Manor Lords battles, and it's always useful to be above your opponents when fighting, as your troops will recieve a High Ground buff to their Effectiveness rating. Enemies will recieve a Low Ground debuff, meanwhile. For maximum damage potential, try to position your archers on the high ground whenever possible.
If you're ever wondering about the intricacies of terrain, open the Manor Lords road builder and zoom in close to the battlefield. You'll see lines on higher terrain to indicate slopes and hills. You're going to want your units to stand atop those.
If you take all of these bits into account, combat in Manor Lords should be a victorious affair more often than not! That said, Manor Lords is a truly expansive game, and if you're searching for additional advice, head over to our beginner's guide, which contains everything you need to know to survive your first year. For a general selection of hints that'll help you in all aspects of this epic city-builder, take a look at our Manor Lords tips and tricks guide.