May your economy prosper in Manor Lords. But without a brave army to defend your country, you can quickly lose everything again. In this guide you will find out how to build an army, recruit followers and hire mercenaries.
Build an army
If you have activated weapon delivery in the settings and reached the settlement level “Small Village”, you will receive a free weapon delivery and can immediately reform a militia. To do this, click on “Army” at the bottom of the screen and then on the large plus sign.
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Here you can see a selection of different militia troops. All troops carry different weapons into battle. You can find out which militia needs which equipment below:
Foot Soldier Militia: Sidearms and small shieldsSpearman Militia: Spears and large shieldsPolearm Militia: PolearmsArcher Militia: War bows
How many soldiers a troop consists of depends on various factors: the number of male residents, the amount of equipment available and the maximum troop size (36). You can see how many men and pieces of equipment are available to you in the army menu to the right of the recruitable militiamen.
Example: You want to form a spearmen militia and you have ten men, 15 spears and 20 large shields at your disposal. This means you can gather a maximum of ten spearmen in a squad.
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Keep happiness within the region high and build new farms to attract new families to move in. This way you will constantly receive more men who you can engage in combat.
Craft or purchase weapons and armor
In order to be able to craft weapons and armor, you must upgrade level 1 farms. You can then build a backyard extension for each farmstead (as long as it is large enough). These expansions create equipment for your militiamen:
Blacksmith: Sidearms, spears, polearmsCarpentry: Small shields, large shieldsBoggery workshop: War bows
All of these weapons are crafted using either planks, iron ingots, or both materials. boards You get it by first earning lumber in the lumber camp and then processing it into boards in the saw pit. iron ingot You get it by placing a mining pit on iron deposits and then processing the ice ore obtained from it into iron ingots in the racing furnace.
Alternatively, you can also import equipment via the trading post. However, this will cost you a lot of regional assets. If you have a surplus of goods, you can sell them to counteract the expensive import of goods. Or you can just import the raw materials you need and produce the rest yourself.
Recruit a retinue
You will receive the entourage automatically as soon as you enter Mansion have built in your region. This is a particularly strong troop that represents your leader's bodyguard, so to speak. Click on the entourage in the army menu. In addition to the command to gather, you can also customize the squad.
In this menu you can also see how you can recruit additional members. For 50 coins from the treasury you will receive another entourage member. Under “Armor Improvements” you can even replace the soldiers’ chain armor with plate armor. However, this will also cost you money from the treasury.
You can also choose to craft armor, a sidearm, and a polearm to recruit a follower for free. But for the armorer you need two developments: “Simple Arms Production” and “Improved Arms Production”. We recommend spending the valuable points on other developments and using the treasury money instead.
Hire mercenaries
If you want to save yourself the long journey of weapons and armor production, you can also hire mercenaries with a little money. You can also do this via the army menu. To the right of the militia troops and your equipment supply you will find the “hire mercenaries” option.
Here you always have the choice between several companies. Note that not only the troops of the companies differ, but also their location. If you need soldiers in your region quickly, it is quite possible that the mercenaries are too far away to be able to help you out in time.
You do not pay the mercenaries with regional assets, but with money from the treasury. You don't have to pay the money once, but rather monthly in advance. This may seem daunting at first, but you are sending foreign soldiers into battle. If they die, neither your equipment nor the lives of men from your region will be lost.