Manor Lords: Best Techs to Unlock Early

Manor Lords is still in early access so there will be far more of the game to play at some point. We are looking into the best way to spend your development points at the beginning of the game. You are the ruling lord of your settlement so everything is up to you. Your villagers will hunt if you say it’s best or farm if you think the prey is too scarce.

Making the most of your development points can make life in your village a lot easier later on. It will depend a lot on your playstyle or what resources your region has available but if you stick to the list below you will see a smoother growth for your people and revenue.

Best Technologies to Unlock Early in Manor Lords

Be aware that each region under your control will have a separate development tree. Everything you unlock for your first settlement will not carry over to any new territories you claim. This will enable you to create truly unique settlements with individual strengths and weaknesses that support each other as you grow.

Forest Management

When you unlock the Forest Management development you will double the capacity of all berry deposits in the region. Having twice the yield of berries not only doubles the amount of food your villagers can gather but will also help with the production of dyes. Early in the game, crafting clothes and cloaks is incredibly useful to create a substantial income for your village.

Even if we ignore the potential uses of the dyes, during your first few years, you will be dependent on whatever food you can gather and hunt. The last thing you want is to have starving villagers early in Manor Lords when you are still working out how to produce enough food through farming.

If you are in a region with a rich animal deposit, it is also worth investing in the Advanced Skinning development to double the amount of meat from each kill. However because you will have to limit your hunting so the animals can reproduce, you don’t want to rely too much on the meat later in the game.

Heavy Plow

Unlocking the Heavy Plow development in Manor Lords will allow oxen to help with plowing fields and moving crops to speed up the process. Considering farming is a seasonal resource, it would be wise to have bigger fields and thus more product. With the oxen helping with the workload, you will have the time to plant and grow more food for your people.

It is wise to get the Heavy Plow development early because it will open up the path to the Fertilization Perk. At a later date, the Fertilization development in Manor Lords will enable you to fence up the fields that you leave fallow so they can be used as pastures. This will speed up the regeneration of fertility. This is an important development if you wish a region to focus on farming.

Charcoal Burning

The Charcoal Burning development will unlock the Charcoal Kilns for construction. With the deadly winters in Manor Lords, you are going to want to ensure you have the fuel to keep your people warm. If your village is small then you might be able to survive with just a good supply of firewood but as you start to grow in numbers, you will begin to have a problem.

Using the Charcoal Kilns, you can turn a single piece of firewood into two pieces of charcoal, essentially doubling your fuel supply. This will reduce the workforce needed for your heat problem and free up your villagers for more profitable ventures.

Better Deals

The next recommended development has to be Better Deals. Trading is a key aspect of Manor Lords and any help you can get to reduce import costs and increase export prices will help you. The Better Deals development will reduce all import costs by 10. This will enable you to buy more for less. If you use this well, you can plug the holes in your production by spending some wealth.

Deep Mining

The last development, we are going to recommend the Deep Mining technology. This will depend greatly on whether you have any rich ore deposits available in your region. If you do not have access to any then this development is useless but if you do, it can turn your mining process into an unlimited resource.

It will unlock the Deep Mine upgrade. This will enable your mine to extract ore indefinitely. If you have a decent crafting system in place this is an unlimited source of revenue for your settlement in Manor Lords.

That concludes our guide on the best developments to get early in Manor Lords. As stated above, you will need to see what kind of resources you have available in your region before committing to spending any development points. Each region has different strengths and weaknesses you will have to work around and it isn’t easy. Nothing about life in the Middle Ages was simple but stick to this guide and it will be more straightforward. Check out our other guides for Manor Lords below!

• Manor Lords: How to Get and Use Mules
• How to Get Retinue Units in Manor Lords
• Manor Lords: The Ultimate Farming Guide