Manor Lords: List of All Difficulty Options, Templates & Scenarios

Here are all of the different ways in which you can tune your difficulty settings in Manor Lords!

Published Apr 27, 2024 6:14 PM by Ivan Valev

Manor Lords: List of All Difficulty Options & Templates — Slavic Magic

The Manor Lords early access is finally live, and as the most wishlisted game on Steam, it's no surprise that many players have already jumped in and started developing their settlements. With the game having a wide range of in-depth systems, from constructing buildings and development trees to conquering regions and real-time battles, it was important for the developer to add a ton of options when it comes to the difficulty of the game. Currently in Manor Lords, you can select a Scenario and choose from one of three difficulty templates, or you can make your own custom game setup and difficulty depending on what kind of playthrough you want to experience.

In this article, we are going to provide you with the full range of options that are available in the game, explaining how each Scenario works, the different victory conditions, as well as each individual available option and how it interacts with the game. Here is everything you need to know about the game setup and difficulty settings of Manor Lords!

Manor Lords Difficulty Settings — Slavic Magic

Manor Lords Scenario Templates

The first option you will be presented with is Scenarios, and you can currently choose between three different ones. Each of these Scenarios is going to have its own unique settings and victory conditions, but if you want to, you can also play around with the options and further customize them as well. 'Rise to Prosperity' is going to be your main choice if you want to focus purely on building and developing your settlement, but if you want to have some conflict and battles in your playthrough, you can choose 'Restoring the Peace' or 'On the Edge'.

Here are all three Scenarios that are currently available in Manor Lords, as well as their premise and victory conditions:

Name	Premise	Victory Conditions
Rise to Prosperity	Fulfill the requirements of your citizens, plan and rule your medieval town as you see fit, without worrying about combat.	Reach the "Large town" settlement level. After that, you may choose to continue in the endless mode.
Restoring the Peace	Two territories in the north are claimed by the illegitimate Baron whose castle is located on top of the map. Bandit camps reside in the other, unclaimed regions. Build and expand at your own pace. When ready, challenge the Baron for the northern territories.	Conquer every region.
On the Edge	Grow your city and raise forces as quickly as you can. The lands are pestered by raiders and undefended settlements will quickly perish.	Survive all the attacks and reach the "Large town" settlement level.

Manor Lords Game Setup & Difficulty Settings

Manor Lords currently has 3 main difficulty settings: Relaxing, Default, and Challenging. Each of these difficulties represents a certain set of options, which you are able to look at in the customizable menu below them. For example, the Relaxing option is going to make the game much more manageable, with little to no enemy raids and weather effects being purely cosmetic, while Challenging will have you deal with both of those factors quite regularly. All of these options can be tweaked to your liking, and the default difficulty settings are only there as a baseline.

Here is the full range of game setup and difficulty options in Manor Lords, as well as what each of these choices will do once you select them:

Option	Choices
End Goal	None: Endless Play Growth: Reach ''Large Town'' settlement level to win. Domination: Eliminate all other Lords by claiming their territory. Conquest: Claim all regions to win.
AI Opponents	Not Available in Early Access
Off Map Adversary	Absent: No Adversary Present: Adds an AI opponent located off map. He controls 2 regions and brings his soldiers to the main game when challenged.
AI Aggressiveness	Balanced: AI Lords may press a Claim towards the player's Regions after they run out of neutral regions to claim. Aggressive: AI Lords may press Claims towards the player Regions at will. Reactive: AI Lords don't press Claims towards the player's Regions, but they will protect their own.
Raider Frequency	None: No random raids. Medium: No more than a single raid every 2 years. Frequent: Possibly less than a year between each raid.
Raider Free Years	1: Raids start to appear after a year. 2: Two years before raids start happening. 3: Three years before raids start happening.
Initial Bandit Camps	None: No Bandit Camps present when the game begins. 1: One Bandit Camp present when the game begins. 2: Two Bandit Camps present when the game begins. 3: Three Bandit Camps present when the game begins. 4: Four Bandit Camps present when the game begins. 5: Five Bandit Camps present when the game begins.
Random Bandit Camp Spawn Limit	0: No Random Bandit Camps spawning during play. 3: Random Bandit Camps stop spawning if there are already 3 of them. 5: Random Bandit Camps stop spawning if there are already 5 of them.
Starting Season	Random: A random day of the year. Autumn: Challenging start with approaching winter, dwindling Seasonal Deposits and frequent rains. Summer: More difficult start with no time to start farming and average Seasonal Deposits, but less frequent rains. Spring: A Balanced start with available Seasonal Deposits, room to start farming early, but frequent rains. Winter: A challenging start with no Seasonal Deposits, risk of Freezing and decaying supplies due to snowfall.
Starting Supplies	Nothing: Just some barebones construction stuff. Standard: A balanced amount of starting supplies. Double: More starting supplies for a more relaxed experience.
Armament Delivery	No: No free weapon delivery. Yes: A free weapon delivery for militia as soon as the player builds a Storehouse and 5 Residential Plots.
Residential Requirements	Tolerant: Demanding: Requirements triggering loss of Approval are shifted by 1 level to be less demanding. Balanced: Town will not grow if requirements are unfilled. Demanding: Requirements triggering loss of Approval are shifted by 1 level to be more demanding.
Approval	Low Penalty: Approval factors have a low impact on population growth. Medium Penalty: Approval factors have an average impact on population growth. High Penalty: Approval factors have a significant impact on population growth.
Well Placement	Underground Water: Players may only place wells on top of Underground Water. Unconstrained: Players may place well everywhere without constraint.
Weather Effects	None: Weather is cosmetic only and won't do any harm. Balanced: Players get a warning if supplies are soaked, and when the next rain comes, they may get destroyed. A chance of random Droughts in the summers may kill crops. Rare fires caused by thunderstrikes. Difficult: Droughts may happen in the summers, thunderstrikes cause fires and rain instantly damages exposed supplies.

That is everything you need to know about the different Scenarios, game setup and difficulty options that are available in Manor Lords. Each of these choices can have a huge effect on your playthrough, so make sure to read what they do and make a plan on how you are going to deal with them. If you are interested in more Manor Lords news and guides, check out some of these articles: