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Manor Lords - medieval city-building with large scale battles

oscar

oscar

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Fortress building is sort of uninteresting to me in a game in which combat mechanics will inevitably be shallow. People don't play city builders to also play some shallow RTS tower defence shit.

It would make more sense in a Dwarf Fortress-style fantasy setting but since this game is playing up its hard historical nature I don't see the point. Do we really need castles and massive stone wall systems to defend against random bandits and outlaws?

I've always thought a more interesting idea would be having a king/duke overlord who makes various demands of your settlement. Taxation regularly but in times of war a certain amount of conscripts also (and who knows how many will ultimately return home). Extra requests like the king is planning a great feast and demands 30 units of boar and 20 units of wine etc. Don't play ball and your overlord stops guarding your land leading to bandits making merchant caravans more rare and expensive and such or racks up tariffs. Keep him happy and taxes stay low and your lands well-patrolled.
 
Aemar

Aemar

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Aug 18, 2018
Messages
6,422
oscar said:
I've always thought a more interesting idea would be having a king/duke overlord who makes various demands of your settlement. Taxation regularly but in times of war a certain amount of conscripts also (and who knows how many will ultimately return home). Extra requests like the king is planning a great feast and demands 30 units of boar and 20 units of wine etc. Don't play ball and your overlord stops guarding your land leading to bandits making merchant caravans more rare and expensive and such or racks up tariffs. Keep him happy and taxes stay low and your lands well-patrolled.
Click to expand...
Sort of like Caesar 3 then, where the emperor demands goods and troops on various scenarios.
 

Shrimp

Liturgist
Joined
Jun 7, 2019
Messages
1,071
Am I going insane or didn't they already confirm this like half a year ago
 
Tyranicon

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
8,428
One of the few games I've been looking forward to.

Haven't been following dev closely though, so for all I know it could be a nothingbuger. Hope not.
 
Tyranicon

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
8,428
Gerrard said:
How the fuck would a game like this be the most wishlisted on Steam?
Click to expand...
Gamedev explanation:

It's a non-political game where you're a medieval lord and you do medieval lord things.

That is hugely appealing for a large audience.

AAA gaming is a dumpster fire right now.

They hit the lottery.
 
IDtenT

IDtenT

Menace to sobriety!
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Divinity: Original Sin
AN4RCHID

AN4RCHID

Arcane
Joined
Jan 24, 2013
Messages
4,861
IDtenT said:
Although there was Banished which was also hugely popular despite being an indie town builder.
Click to expand...
There's a whole little subgenre of these types of medieval town builders on Steam. Banished, Farthest Frontier, Timberborne, Going Midieval, etc... They are not even good games, but I've still played these turds because it's the best fulfillment of this particular fantasy available. Manor Lords looks miles ahead of all of them. Mainly because it seems to have real gameplay in the combat and economy, not to mention it puts them all to shame visually.

But then also throw in the disgruntled Total War and Age of Empires gamers. And probably a lot of Paradox paypiggies who are interested in strategy games in a historical setting, but cry themselves to sleep dreaming of tactical battles. What they've been showing looks like The Game for a few different audiences. So I'm not surprised it's building up a lot of hopium.
 
Tyranicon

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
8,428
Gerrard said:
How is town builder a mass appeal genre? It has always been a niche.
Click to expand...

Niche games/genres can slip into the mainstream.

This game makes a lot of promises: it's a city-builder, total war-like, medieval lord-sim. Basically like a different version of Mount&Blade.
 
holla_cabezas_de_mierda

holla_cabezas_de_mierda

Arcane
Joined
Jul 8, 2006
Messages
3,080
AN4RCHID said:
IDtenT said:
Although there was Banished which was also hugely popular despite being an indie town builder.
Click to expand...
There's a whole little subgenre of these types of medieval town builders on Steam. Banished, Farthest Frontier, Timberborne, Going Midieval, etc... They are not even good games, but I've still played these turds because it's the best fulfillment of this particular fantasy available. Manor Lords looks miles ahead of all of them. Mainly because it seems to have real gameplay in the combat and economy, not to mention it puts them all to shame visually.

But then also throw in the disgruntled Total War and Age of Empires gamers. And probably a lot of Paradox paypiggies who are interested in strategy games in a historical setting, but cry themselves to sleep dreaming of tactical battles. What they've been showing looks like The Game for a few different audiences. So I'm not surprised it's building up a lot of hopium.
Click to expand...
how is farthest frontier? I sort of Trust Crate since Grim Dawn is one of my favorite games ever and I don't even like ARPG's...I have not played Farthest Frontier yet, if I am honest it looks a bit bland, but I don't know, its also in EA
 
AN4RCHID

AN4RCHID

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Messages
4,861
holla_cabezas_de_mierda said:
AN4RCHID said:
IDtenT said:
Although there was Banished which was also hugely popular despite being an indie town builder.
Click to expand...
There's a whole little subgenre of these types of medieval town builders on Steam. Banished, Farthest Frontier, Timberborne, Going Midieval, etc... They are not even good games, but I've still played these turds because it's the best fulfillment of this particular fantasy available. Manor Lords looks miles ahead of all of them. Mainly because it seems to have real gameplay in the combat and economy, not to mention it puts them all to shame visually.

But then also throw in the disgruntled Total War and Age of Empires gamers. And probably a lot of Paradox paypiggies who are interested in strategy games in a historical setting, but cry themselves to sleep dreaming of tactical battles. What they've been showing looks like The Game for a few different audiences. So I'm not surprised it's building up a lot of hopium.
Click to expand...
how is farthest frontier? I sort of Trust Crate since Grim Dawn is one of my favorite games ever and I don't even like ARPG's...I have not played Farthest Frontier yet, if I am honest it looks a bit bland, but I don't know, its also in EA
Click to expand...
It is a lot better than Banished at least. But it still falls into a similar tedium after a certain point. Once you have your production lines built out and your buildings upgraded, there's not much to do. They're still adding stuff so it could improve... it could definitely use more variety, particularly in survival strategies and biomes. The main problem is that the systems - combat, economy, social management - are not that fun on their own, so it's basically a content grind which will always run dry sooner or later.
 
Harthwain

Harthwain

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Joined
Dec 13, 2019
Messages
5,659
oscar said:
Fortress building is sort of uninteresting to me in a game in which combat mechanics will inevitably be shallow.
Click to expand...
I think fortress building can be an important aspect, because it means you have to focus on defense instead of playing purely the economic game. It also makes city planning that much more important when you have to decide what will be protected by the city walls and what will be pretty much open for raiding. A medieval game without sieges just doesn't sound right. This was a huge aspect of warfare in real life. I heard that castles and walls will be added after the Early Access and I am really looking forward to that in particular.

oscar said:
People don't play city builders to also play some shallow RTS tower defence shit.
Click to expand...
Stronghold and Caesar come to mind.
 
Tyranicon

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
8,428
This is like the only game I'm looking forward to so it better not be shit.

:argh:
 
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