Best Developments to unlock in Manor Lords

Updated on May 1, 2024 by Tom Bardwell

Posted in Guides

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Developments are Manor Lords take on upgrades and research – passive boons, perks, and bonuses that can make surviving as a feudal lord a whole lot more straightforward. Due to the way Manor Lords’ current Early Access build is set out, you can only accumulate a maximum of six Development Points per region on the map, meaning you’ll have to make some tough decisions when it comes to choosing Developments.

You simply can’t get them all, and Development Points are non-refundable, only awarded when you reach the next Settlement Level. To help you make the right choice, we’ve pulled together a list of what we consider the best Developments to unlock in Manor Lords, shaped by our many dozens of hours playing.

Best overall Developments in Manor Lords

In general, the ‘best’ Developments in the tech tree are the ones that benefit your settlement the most depending on whether you’re focused on farming, armormaking, trading, and so on. But, they are some that work well regardless:

Heavy Plow
Bakery
Charcoal Burning
Forest Management

Heavy Plow

As much as we’d like to tell you that you can thrive on hunting and gathering alone, growing your settlement relies on setting up a robust farming production chain. In other words, you’ll end up farming in every game of Manor Lords. The Heavy Plow Development adds a plowing station to every Farmhouse, allowing you to assign a dedicated ox to speed up plowing and harvesting, meaning a bigger yield when it comes to harvesting in September.

Bakeries

The Communal Oven is one of two ways to transform Flour into Bread to feed your villagers. It does the job, but can create a bottleneck. With the Bakery upgrade, you unlock the Bakeries extension for your burgage plots. There are two major benefits to this. Firstly, it means you no longer need to employ families at the Communal Oven, freeing them up for other work, including a larger work force at the Farmhouse. Secondly, Bakery extensions produce Bread twice as fast as the Communal Oven, useful when you’re raking in huge yields in the late game.

Charcoal Burning

Harvesting Firewood is no problem in Manor Lords, but actually distributing it to all your burgage plots can get complicated, especially as your village grows. With Charcoal Burning, you get access to the Charcoal Kiln, which converts x1 Firewood into x2 Charcoal, which makes refuelling burgage plots and production buildings twice as efficient. These buildings will require less Fuel, giving you more breathing room between deliveries. It helps massively to meet the Fuel Stall Supply requirements.

Forest Management

Every starting Berry Deposit grows a measly 64 Berries every year. At the start, this is more than enough and you’ll likely amass a decent stockpile of Berries. But as your village grows, arriving villagers will chew through Berries. To combat this, the Forest Management Development doubles the capacity of all Berry Deposits to 128 Berries.

Situationally best Developments in Manor Lords

As above, the best way to plan out your Developments is based on what natural resources are at your disposal in a particular region. For example, if you’re building in a region with a rich iron deposit, specialising in armor making, for both army and trading, makes the most sense.

Farming

For a Farming-focused settlement, Heavy Plow is a must-have. It allows you to hire an ox to plow and harvest fields far more efficiently than standard families. Throw in Bakeries and you’ll be producing Bread twice as fast. You’ll also want to sink a point into Fertilization, which allows you to fence up fields and use them as pastures when they are fallow, significantly improving fertility and, therefore, the next year’s yield.

It’s also worth getting Sheepbreeding, not just because it unlocks the next tier in the tech tree, but provides you with an infinite source of sheep and lambs as they multiply automatically in your pastures. You can then sell these at the Livestock Trading Post for a tidy profit. Orchardry is a decent Development, but only worth it to unlock Rye Cultivation. Rye is far more resilient to drought than Wheat, grows pretty much everywhere, and can also be processed into Flour to make Bread. Stack that with Fertilization, Heavy Plow, and Bakeries, and you’ll have more Bread than you’ll know what to do with.

Armormaking

Armormaking isn’t just useful to take on neighbouring feudal lords and fight off bandits, it’s also extremely profitable. Helmets, Mail Armor, and Plate Armor have some of the highest export prices in Manor Lords. To kick off your Armormaking production chain, invest a point in Basic Armormaking, allowing burgage plots with the Blackmith extension to produce Helmets. Advanced Armormaking comes next, adding Mail Armor to the Blacksmith’s production focus. Finally, Master Armormaking unlocks Plate Armor production for all Blacksmith extensions.

To help you make the most profit from your Armormaking, Trade Logistics cuts the cost of establishing trade routes (all armor types require one) at the Trading Post down to 25 Regional Wealth. Armormaking also relies on a steady source of Iron Ore, so sink a point into Charcoal Burning (a great all-round Development), then into Deep Mining, which allows you to mine resources at Rich Deposits indefinitely, guaranteeing an endless supply of Iron Ore.

Trading

If you’ve decided that the Trading Post will be central to your wealth and prosperity, then these two Developments are must-haves. They not only make importing much cheaper but allow you to open up trade routes at a fraction of the cost. First up, there is Trade Logistics, which trims down the cost of establishing a new trade route to a maximum of 25 Regional Wealth. With some commodities asking you to fork out hundreds of Regional Wealth, the benefit here is clear. Secondly, Better Deals axes the import tariffs on foreign goods, meaning all import prices are reduced by 10 Regional Wealth.