Manor Lords Beta 0.8.097 Adds Wide Valley, Cider, Cows, and New Production Controls

Manor Lords beta version 0.8.097 is now available for testing on Steam. Slavic Magic’s latest build adds the Wide Valley map, a redesigned main HUD, new food and drink systems, seasonal animal behavior, and a new way to control artisan production in the official Steam announcement.

The former Artisan Production Focus system has been replaced by Active Recipes. Players can now set the order in which an artisan’s recipes are completed, with the displayed numbers representing crafting queue priority. Artisans begin without an active recipe until the player assigns one.

The beta also expands settlement management with cider, mead, cows, calves, oats, animal feed, cheese, and the Construction Yard. Animals now need feed during winter, while breeding and resource production follow seasonal rules. Construction Yards move materials with handcarts and let properly maintained workers build 50% faster, while some Advanced Structures require professional builders.

Slavic Magic plans to spend the rest of the beta period fixing bugs and polishing the new content before moving it to the main branch by the end of August. Perks will be published after that release.

How to Access the Manor Lords Beta

Back up your saved files before changing branches. The developer also recommends removing mods because they will most likely crash the game.

1. Open Steam.
2. Right-click Manor Lords in your library.
3. Select Properties.
4. Open the BETAS tab.
5. Enter the password veryNiceBasket.
6. Choose pre_release from the beta participation menu.
7. Wait for Steam to update the game. Restart the Steam client if the download does not begin.
8. Launch the game.

Players can send feedback on the Steam forums and submit bug reports for issues with the test build.

Patch Notes — Manor Lords Version 0.8.090–0.8.097 (Beta)

This beta’s biggest changes affect settlement logistics, farming, animal care, production, and construction. The notes also cover AI behavior, balance adjustments, interface updates, pathfinding fixes, and crash fixes.

Major Changes

• New Map: Wide Valley.
• New UI: Main HUD has been refactored; a new layout, features and art.
• Artisan Active Recipes: Instead of the “Production Focus” only allowing Artisans to focus on one Production at a time, Active Recipes allow choosing the priority in which production is executed. Artisans start with no Active Recipes until the player sets them.
• New Beverage: Cider. Made from Apples 4:1 at the Brewery.
• New Beverage: Mead. Made from Honey 1:1 at the Brewery.
• New Pasture Animals: Cows & Calves. Cows may be imported via the Livestock Trader. They provide a passive yield of Milk, and can be butchered for Beef and Hides.
• New Field Crop: Oats. Shares a fertility with Barley, but is much more resilient. Sheaves are threshed into Oats, which can be consumed directly.
• New Commodity: Animal Feed. Oats may be crafted into Animal Feed at the Livestock Farm (Formerly named Sheep Farm) at 1:2 ratio.
• New Mechanic: Hungry Animals. Pasture Animals (Cows, Calves, Sheep, Lambs) become hungry during Winter and will consume Animal Feed each month (or die without).
• New Artisan Workshop: Cheesemonger. Unlocked at Burgage Plot Lv3.
• New Food: Cheese. Crafted from Milk & Salt 1,1:2 at the Cheesemonger.
• New Building: Construction Yard. Workers will store construction material and distribute to building sites via handcarts to improve logistics. They also build 50% faster when the Construction Yard is properly maintained.
• Improved Logistics: When assigned to the Construction Yard, Oxen will use the new Ox Cart, which allows transporting Timber in bulk to building sites.
• New Mechanic: Advanced Construction. Some buildings are considered “Advanced Structures” and require professional builders assigned at the Construction Yard to complete. Unassigned Families still help with transport and basic tasks like flattening the ground for these projects.
• New Upgrade: Large Stone Church.
• New Mechanic: Seasonal Assignment. Buildings can be set to automatically cycle your Assigned Families for each Season.
• New Mechanic: Seasonal Breeding. Pasture Animals now breed according to the season and herd size (Summer for Cows, Autumn for Sheep). Spring is when offspring are produced.
• New Mechanic: Seasonal Produce. Sheep may only be sheared once per year during Summer. Cows are milked monthly, but not during Winter.

Minor Changes

General

• New Affinity: Herbage. A chance of +1 extra yield for Pasture Animals based on the Meadow Environment.
• Apiary rework: Apiaries are now seasonal. They accumulate yield over Spring/Summer and are harvested in Autumn. Yield is determined by Wilding Affinity.
• Wilding Affinity rework: The Meadow Environment determines the strength of Apiary yields and how many Apiaries can be supported.
• Added storage filters to Trading Posts which control which types of goods they stock and import.
• Pasture fences now trigger collisions. Added pasture entrances.
• Implemented guide cart loading actions for forest log gathering.
• Demolishing a Logging Camp will no longer delete Logs lying on the ground felled by that Logging Camp.
• Demolishing a building now re-evaluates previously blocked road guide points for nearby buildings.
• Workers and animals are now much more reactive during fighting or escaping fire.
• Increased the default work area for Forester’s Hut.
• Overwriting a save file that fails no longer corrupts the original save file.
• Added some missing pathfinding data for the Trading Post.
• Buildings utilising certain resources and also requiring them for maintenance no longer reserve their inventory. Example: Blacksmith makes Tools and uses them for Maintenance. Now the produced Tools always count as Surplus, even if it means the Blacksmith has to grab them from storage again once Maintenance is due.

AI

• Will now select an Origin Perk.
• Will now build a Construction Yard.
• Will now select Production Focus for Artisans.
• Will now build Forester’s Hut.
• Will now build one Forester’s Hut near a Woodcutter’s Lodge.
• WIll now build two Forester’s Huts near a Logging Camp.
• Will now relocate its Logging Camp further out after the early game.
• Fixed AI not building its first Marketplace right after Logging Camp and Hitching Posts.
• Fixed AI manning Churches and Corpse Pits due to unburied Wild Animals.
• Fixed AI reserving too much firewood for charcoal production when wanting to sell it for early Regional Wealth.
• Fixed AI spending Regional Wealth on Artisans before getting its first Horse for the Trading Post.
• Fixed AI not being able to rebuild its Logging Camp when only two logs were available.

Balance

General

• Settlement Level milestones now grant 100 Influence which scales per level reached.
• Wooden Church construction now grants 100 Influence.
• Manor construction Influence lowered from 250 to 100.
• Fresh pass on construction time for the majority of buildings, overall increasing them.
• Manor Outer Tower (Lv1) construction cost reduced from 10 logs to 4.
• Pastures now have a dynamic Planks construction cost that scales with their size.
• Pastures require x2.2 the area for the same Pasture Space.
• Removed Pasture Space from Livestock Trader and Livestock Farm.
• Sheep produce 2 Wool when sheared. (With a chance for +1 due to Herbage affinity).
• Lambs and Calves yield half as much as their adult counterparts at the Butcher.
• Vegetable yields decreased ~30%.
• Fruit yields decreased ~10%.
• Fruit costs: Quince (-7%), Apple (+23%), Pear (+11%).
• Chicken coop yield speed increased 15%.
• Backyard Extension Pigs time to yield increased +30% (but see below!).
• Affinity “Pannage” now increases Pig yield speed by a rate proportional to the Woodland Environment. (Previously it was 30% of the Woodland Environment). This results in Woodland Environment having a greater impact on Pig Yields at extreme ends, while maintaining relatively a similar yield to before at the midpoint.
• Rye yield lowered 12.5%. This results in Wheat being the more efficient choice if Wheat fertility is over ~30%. Otherwise Rye will yield more.
• Wheat Sheaves, Rye Sheaves removed from Trading Post.
• Wax value lowered from 6 to 4 at the Trading Post.
• Increased Regional Wealth cost for Bakery and Cobbler extensions.
• Clay Furnace Assigned Families reduced from 5 to 3.
• Forester Assigned Families increased from 2 to 3.

Tasks & Behaviour

• Husbands can now help out getting Fuel if the rest of the Family are busy guiding Oxen.

Cosmetics

• [WIP] Guide loading system: Ox Guides now perform loading actions for Ox Carts.
• [Experimental] Curved locomotion: Animals avoid abrupt turning and compensate with taking more curved paths.
• Further improvements on Herd movements.
• Added resource model for cart transport: Wheat/Rye Grain & Flour, Oats.
• Added a tong holding Blacksmith’s iron rod.
• Added visual assets for resources in Storehouse, Granary.
• Added visual assets for resources in the basic supplies dump.
• Added support for new construction animations, like mixing mortar.
• Slightly enlarged Quarry footprint in order to avoid clipping issues.
• [WIP] Added a slow grazing locomotion mode for Cows on Pastures.

UI & Text

Styling & Text

• Added Help Pages entry for Pasture Animals detailing seasonal yield amounts, feed consumption rates and breeding timing.
• Updated tooltips for Butcher Production Focus detailing multi-input recipes.
• Renamed Sheep Farm to Livestock Farm and updated description/references.
• Seasons & Time tooltip updated to give more per season info.
• Added problem banner for no available Ox Guide.
• Removed references to “Ale” in tooltips and instead used the category “Beverages”.
• Active Recipe help button/text added to describe how the mechanic works.

Bugfixes

General

• Fixed bug where Rye both drained and gained fertility.

Logistics

• Fixed Marketplace sometimes not stocking correctly in order to reach full supply.
• Fixed Pack Station workers not always aborting tasks, returning goods, or bringing back mules when being reassigned.
• Fixed Granary workers not picking up overflowing Wheat and Rye Sheaves from farms.
• Fixed farmers bringing crops to a farmhouse before it’s been constructed.
• Fixed farmers bringing crops to a farmhouse that has no available storage space unless absolutely needed.
• Fixed Oxen endlessly trying to plow during the Winter if they don’t make it in time.

Pathfinding

• Fixed two “long” characters getting stuck together when their target locations overlap at certain angles.
• Fixed Hunters limping if they pathfind towards their target through any buildings.
• Fixed an instance of a horse guide getting stuck.
• Fixed workers pushing an animal away when trying to pet it (WIP: they still sometimes push it when they go away).

Save/Load

• Fixed issue where unfinished Manor construction would look finished when loading from save.

Text/UI

• Fixed a typo in the Well Upgrade text.

Cosmetic/Visuals

• Fixed Milk Bucket missing when carried by hand.

Crashfixes

• Fixed crash on placing Castle Tower near a wall in a specific way.
• Fixed crash that could occur when calculating transform for static good visualization.

Are you trying the new beta branch, or are you waiting for the main release? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram.

Manor Lords

Developed by Slavic Magic

Manor Lords is a strategy game that allows you to experience the life of a medieval lord. Grow your starting village into a bustling city, manage resources and production chains, and expand your lands through conquest.

Inspired by the art and architecture of late 14th century Franconia, Manor Lords prioritizes historical accuracy wherever possible, using it to inform gameplay mechanics and visuals alike. Common medieval tropes are avoided in favor of historical accuracy, in order to make the world feel more authentic, colorful, and believable.

• Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy
• Platforms: PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox One
• Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
• Modes: Single player
• Release: 2024-04-26
• Publisher: Hooded Horse
• Age Rating:
• IGDB Rating: 78.3/100

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