Manor Lords: Battle System Gameplay Tips

Militia Limit
Don’t leave the estate until you have a full six squads of militia, as the estate’s followers ignore this limit and once you fail to bring out a full squad of militia from the estate, you’re done for – you will forever be missing one squad of militia. I’ve tried various methods to dismiss the followers, including dismantling the estate, but nothing worked. By the late game, you can usually open up 3-4 high-population lands, allowing for 8-9 squads of soldiers, which is generally enough to deal with bandits and rebellious barons.

Militia Equipment
From the moment you recruit militia, unless you demolish the house, the militia cannot be replaced because when militia die, replacements come in quickly. As long as there is at least one person in a household, there is no need to wait for immigrants – replacements come immediately, leading to the equipment issue for the militia. To enhance the equipment of the militia, such as better armor for melee troops, you need to upgrade the level of the house where melee troops are stationed (level one wears helmets, level two wears gambesons, level three wears chainmail – helmets and chainmail require technology and are produced in the blacksmith shop, while gambesons only require linen fabric and are produced in the tailor shop). Lastly, note that chainmail slightly affects movement speed, so upgrade accordingly.

Types of Units
Small axe and small shield militia can do everything but are not recommended for recruitment, or if you are not good at ambushes or flanking attacks. You can simply engage all small axe militia together. Great axe troops have high attack, some armor penetration, and charge ability, making them suitable for engaging in flanking attacks, but they are relatively fragile and should not be used for frontline combat. However, once great axe troops wear chainmail, the fragility issue is resolved, and they can counter unarmored opponents effectively. It is recommended to recruit two squads. Archers are not very effective but are the only units capable of kiting or dealing damage without being hit. It is still recommended to recruit at least one squad. The archers’ targeting mechanism only targets units that are not engaged in combat or are not blocked by friendly units during combat. This means that you cannot leave archers standing behind the front line forever; you must send them around the back. Additionally, shields provide cover, and archers cannot easily shoot through shields from the front. Spear troops are very sturdy but have low attack power. They are suited for resisting arrows. Activate defensive mode and let the great axe troops and archers flank and attack from behind. Spear troops have high base armor and defense against arrows because of their large shields, making them a recommended recruit.

Mercenaries
Mercenaries are essentially better-equipped militia, but shield-bearing mercenaries have additional shield wall skills, enhancing their defense. Therefore, mercenaries in shield wall defense mode should theoretically be the toughest. Also, when fighting rebellious barons, if you don’t recruit mercenaries when the baron declares war on you, the baron will take away your pool of mercenaries. It is advisable to recruit mercenaries anyway since you won’t lose money if they die.