Manor Lords developer blames players for not understanding core game mechanic

Strategy games require a certain kind of logical thinking to it. As a player, you need to grasp the core concepts of a game to be able to play it, let alone succeed at it. 

Manor Lords is no different. And with the developer's attempt at historical realism being present in a lot of the gameplay, the game can challenge players at every step of the way.

Does that make sense?

One of the core concepts of Manor Lords is marketplace logistics. 

Marketplace logistics forces players to really think about how they set up their settlements. Having a warehouse at the one end of the village and a marketplace on the other side, isn't a very strategic choice. Market vendors need to collect their goods from the warehouse and then carry everything back to their market stall. 

This takes time. Not only that, a chronic lack of wheelbarrows means that vendors can only carry so much - which usually isn't a lot. They'll spend more time walking to and from the warehouse than actually selling things. 

It all makes sense, right? I mean, have you ever seen goods magically appear from seemingly out of nowhere?

Oh wait... I can name a few games where that happens... Have your gold mined on the one hand on the map, available to spend in barracks on the complete opposite side? No problem for Age of Empires, but a no-go for Manor Lords.

Brain booting in 3, 2, 1...

Earlier today, SlavicMagic took to the community, explaining that not everyone is on the same page regarding how goods are distributed. 

Players seem not to understand why for instance they have 1k firewood in the region but the firewood requirement is still unfilled when the bottleneck is the marketplace logistics.

Yes, Greg, players seem not to understand. Players have been spoiled by game developers over the years. You need to shake our strategic brains awake and it just takes a while to boot up. 

While we wait for those brain cells to be powered, the developer offers 4 solutions to the community. 

1. Just let the goods teleport from storehouses & granaries to the marketplace and erase the bottleneck.
2. Let goods teleport from storehouses & granaries but within a certain radius from the marketplace.
3. Keep it as is, those players just need to learn the game.
4. Keep it as is but you need to make the workers refill the stalls more efficiently.

He describes every option in detail and I encourage you to read the full post here.

The bottom line is: 

• Option A and B will cater to our lazy brains and means the game will be a lot easier to be played
• Option C and D will mean players still have to learn the core mechanics of marketplace logistics, with option D giving us a little boost in those logistics (by offering imaginary wheelbarrows). 

Community backs developer

The results of the poll are clear as day. Players - at least those in the Discord community - clearly back the way the developer meant the game to be played. 

Within a matter of hours, option D collected 10k votes. Together with C, these "we promise to better understand marketplace logistics"-options have 93% of votes. 

A mere 800 voters would want goods to be teleported between storehouses, granaries and marketplaces. 

There you have it Greg. We love you. We love the way you think. We love your game. We love how you challenge us to become better versions of ourselves. 

Please continue making us use our brains 🤯