All trading posts and how trading works in Manor Lords, explained

In Manor Lords, you will rely of trading for a number of things. It isn’t as simple and streamlined as it is in other games, so allow me to explain exactly how it works.

How to trade goods in Manor Lords

Trading goods is something you’ll want to do get doing very soon in Manor Lords. In the early game, this allows you to get the funds to build Burgage Plot extensions, which will provide you with great passive incomes of food and hide.

To start trading goods, you’ll need to build the Trading Post. It costs 4 Timber, and once built, can employ four families.

The Trading Post will display every single good in Manor Lords, separated into their own categories in the “Trade” menu. Every good will be set to “no trade,” which means no one is coming to import or export those goods. Whenever you’re done trading something, you can always set it to “no trade” to stop the process.

If you want to import or export goods in Manor Lords, you’ll need to do a few things. Firstly, check the Export/Import price of the goods to make sure the selling or buying price is acceptable. Then, to the very left of that good, select import or export.

Next, you must set the desired surplus for both exporting and importing. If you’re exporting, set the desired surplus to the lowest number you’re willing to have of that good. If you’re importing, set the desired surplus to the highest number you’re willing to buy of that good. Upon reaching the desired surplus, the trading will stop until your stock deviates from that surplus.

The “full trade” option allows for the importing and exporting of that good, with the desired surplus in mind. This is good for food, where you can import it if you’re low and export if you’ve got too much.

Finally, when you’re happy with the trade, you must pay Regional Wealth to establish the trade route. This route will stay open, even if you change any of the logistics.

You will need to have a family assigned to stock up the Trading Post with goods. If the traveling merchant comes and there’s no food in the Trading Post, then no trade will commence.

Keep a close eye on your trading operations. I typically stick to selling firewood, as I always usually have enough to last for many months.

How to trade animals in Manor Lords

Animal trading works similarly to goods trading in Manor Lords, however there are a few caveats to be made aware of. The Livestock Trading Post handles the trade of animals, and can be built for 2 Timber.

The Livestock Trading Post allows you to trade for all the animal types in the game. They are rather expensive, but are worth it.

The Livestock Trading Post can hold two horses and oxen and four sheep and lambs. If you don’t have anywhere else for the imported animals to go, they’ll stay there. Also, animals you’re exporting will be taken here to wait.

Like with goods trading, set the trade type you want, and select the desired surplus. Strangely, it doesn’t cost you any money to set up this trade, no matter how many animals you’re dealing with.

As long as you have the spare Regional Wealth if importing animals, a family assigned to the Livestock Trading Post to accept or give away the animals, and somewhere for the animals to go if importing them, you’ll eventually commence trade.

In my experience, the frequency of animal trade is lower than goods trading, so make sure you’ve always got enough money or that the animals are in the trading post so you’re ready when the trade happens.

If exporting sheep or lambs, make sure to have both the Sheep Farm and Pasture built. It may be a bug, but my worker refused to escort the sheep to the Sheep Farm, despite it being empty. The moment I built a Pasture, the worker took the sheep right to the farm.

Make sure to have the Sheepbreeding Development unlocked, as multiplying sheep comes an infinite source of exporting income!

How to trade between owned regions in Manor Lords

To swap goods between regions you own in Manor Lords, you’ll need the third type of trading facility. The Packstation, found in the “logistics” construction menu.

Simply put, building this and hiring mules for it will allow you to swap materials with other regions that have a Packstation built. The mules will carry only up to 20 goods, so this will be a slow progress unless you want to purchase even more mules.

Unlike the other trading posts, you can’t set up trade routes or have numerous goods being transported through, as this is bartering, another form of trading. You will need to select your Barter Partner, which will be another region, and you will select the good you wish to send and the good you wish to receive. Note that both Packstations must be sending goods for the Barter to work, so make sure your new settlement has an export of something at least.

As each Packstation can only handle the export of one type of good, you may wish to build multiple to really speed things up. Although you will have to order a mule for every station, which costs 25 Regional Wealth.

Assigned families will stock up the mule of the selected good and will guide the mule to the selected Packstation. As longer travels can really bog down your logistics, I’d recommend building the Packstations close to each other’s borders and making sure to have families assigned to the Storehouses and Graineries to really speed up resource flow. Having assigned Oxen will help with this, too.

With these set up, you’ll be able to pump new settlements full of the right resources.

And there you have it! Everything to know about trading in Manor Lords. As long as you have enough Regional Wealth, you’ll be a trading maestro.