Linen in Manor Lords - how to get and why you need it

Linen has been around for a very long time. Archeologists have found proof that ancient people used wild flax fibers to create linen-like fabrics as early as 36.000 years ago. 

In Manor Lords, Linen place an important role in developing your settlements too. Let's have a look at what it takes to produce Linen and why you would want to.

Flax will be Linen

If you are lucky enough, you have Flax fertility in your region. In that case, you can build a farm with some fields. Farmers will tend to your fields in the autumn, making sure the land is ploughed and seeded.

Fertility overlay in Manor Lords. To the left, green indicates good fertility. Yellow, orange or red indicates bad fertility, resulting in low yields.

A year later, at the start of the next autumn, farmers will then harvest the Flax. It will be collected from the farm and delivered to a warehouse.

A weaver's family will collect the wool from the warehouse. The Flax will then be used in a Weaver's Workshop to fabricate Linen. 

Linen will be clothing

Of course, you will need to have a family of Weaver's. After building the Weaver, open up the building panel and add a family to work there. 

As soon as the Flax comes in, Linen will come out. This Linen will be sold in market stalls to crafty wives who'll knit some nice clothing for their family.

It will count towards the basic clothing requirement for families to upgrade to level 2. 

Clothing requirements

Clothing needs will change as families level up. 

Level 1 families need Leather (from Hides by Tannery), Yarn (from Wool by Weaver) or Linen. 

Level 2 and 3 families need Cloaks, Clothing or Shoes. These goods are created at level 2 Burgage plots with the corresponding workshop attached to it. 

But keep in mind: even level 2 and level 3 families still need their supply of level 1 materials. That means they need Cloaks, Shoes or Clothes as well as Leather, Yarn or Linen.

Linen will be better clothing

As mentioned in the clothing requirement section, level 2 families need Cloaks, Shoes or Clothes supplied to them. Those are made in Burgage plots with either a Cobbler's workshop or Tailor's workshop built.

A Cobbler's workshop will produce shoes. A Tailor's workshop will produce Cloaks and Clothing. Linen will be collected by the Tailor's family.

The Tailor's workshops use Linen, Yarn and Dye as input to create. The production line is:

• 1 Yarn and 1 Dye makes a 1 Cloak
• 1 Linen and 1 Dye makes 1 set of Clothes
• 1 Leather makes 1 pair of Shoes

That means Linen, combined with Dye (created from Berries in a Dyer's workshop), will make Clothing for your level 2 or 3 Families in Manor Lords.

The commodities produced at these workshops will be sold at the market to level 2 families and higher. This will satisfy their second tier clothing need.

Linen will protect your Militia

Another great way to use Linen in Manor Lords, is to produce Gambesons. A Gambeson is a kind of padded jacket, worn as armour. 

As opposed to the weapons and shields, Gambesons are not required to raise a Militia unit. Instead, your soon-to-be-soldiers will collect however many Gambesons are available from storage and march to battle. 

Gambesons are produced at the Tailor's shops. They require 2 Linen per Gambeson. If you are importing Flax or Linen, keep that into account.

To outfit a full unit of 36 soldiers with Gambesons, you will need to import 72 Flax or 72 Linen. If you have time and idle families, importing Flax will be the cheaper option. 

Gambesons in the Middle Ages

In medieval times, there were two different types of gambeson. Either designed to be worn beneath armour, or designed to be worn as independent armour. For common soldiers who could not afford mail or plate armour, like the Militia you raise, the gambeson remained a common sight on European battlefields during the entire Middle Ages.

You don't need Linen

Mind you, you don't actually need Linen to supply your villages and be able to upgrade families. 

For level 1 families, Leather (produced from hides by a Tanner) or Yarn (produced from wool by a Weaver) will do just fine. 

For level 2 families and higher, Shoes (produced from leather by a workshop) will also do just fine. 

Especially when you have a very decent supply of hides, this is a viable option. That means regions with a rich deer resource, or having some Burgage plots with the Goat shed extension, won't actually need to produce Flax or Linen at all. Unless you want to protect your soldiers with Gambesons of course.