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Manor Lords absolutely excels at being a delightful, meaningful new entry in the city-building niche, but it's got combat, too, which makes it a bit of a real-time strategy as well. The crux of Manor Lords' combat - especially in the early game - are the Raiders: a vicious party of bandits that will march down on your village to try and burn it to the ground. Obviously, this is not a good thing, and here we'll teach you how to deal with the Raiders as swiftly as possible!
One thing to keep in mind here is that you may wish to follow our super-speedy Starter Guide before opening up the can of worms that is Manor Lords' combat. The guide will help you figure out what the most important bits and pieces of a budding village are, and it'll take mere seconds to get through it. As you won't be able to mount a meaningful defence without enough basic resources, make those your priority for sure.
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Combat in Manor Lords explained: Defending Against Attacks
Obviously, you cannot fight a war with no army, and so the first order of business in establishing a baseline of defense in Manor Lords is to raise an army. Here's how to go about doing that:
- Create a Burgage Plot Level 2 and set up a Backyard Extension, specifically one with a Blacksmith, Bowyer, and/or Joiner
- Click on the 'Army' option on the bottom hotbar and create a new Unit of your choice (Footmen, Archers, Spearmen, or Polearms)
This essentially drafts all healthy male townies and equips them with the gear your blacksmith(s) make, which gives you your armies. Note, too, that you'll need a Sawpit and a Bloomery to keep your craftsmen topped up with Planks and Iron Slabs, respectively.
After that's all out of the way and you've got your army going, it's time to deal with the villains you're facing. If your settlement is being stolen from by bandits, you'll need to find the nearby Bandit Camp and send your army to raze it to the ground. Y'know, proactively. On the other hand, the Raiders will come to you, and you'll need to prepare your forces to fend them off.
In combat, you've essentially got three different options:
- Stand Your Ground
- Balanced
- Push Forward
Alternating between them (with Missile Alert if you're facing Archers) is key to success in combat against Raiders, but do keep in mind that your troop composition matters a great deal, too. Keep in mind that you can hire Mercenaries for a sortie or two if necessary, which will come in handy if you can't, say, set up a stable of Spearmen in time to deal with the Raiders.
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