How to trade in Manor Lords

Want to know how to trade in Manor Lords? Trading is an essential part of Manor Lords, as it’s one of the only ways you can acquire goods and resources for vital upgrades to your settlement without leaving your starting region. Instead of conquering neighbouring lands, you can simply import instead. This could be due to having poor fertility for a specific crop, or just not having enough families in your settlement to produce everything you need.

The trouble is, trading isn’t entirely straightforward. You can’t trade from the very get-go, and when you do eventually set up trading, there are limits on what can be traded. So read on to find out exactly how trading works in Manor Lords and why it should be a priority when starting out.

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Manor Lords trading explained

To start trading in Manor Lords, you must first build a Trading Post, which costs four timber. Once you have a family assigned to work at the Trading Post, you can begin trading by clicking on the building and navigating to the Trade tab. Here you will see all the available products you can import and export.

To begin trading, click on the drop down where it says “No Trade”, and you’ll see three options:

• Import – you will only buy this product
• Export – you will only sell this product
• Full Trade – you will buy and sell this product

On the other side of the products in the list, the current Surplus Number indicates exactly that; how much of that resource you have available to trade with. The Desired Surplus, which is the number you can adjust, is the quantity you want to have in stock at all times.

For example, if you want to import barley because your region has poor fertility and you can’t grow it effectively, you will want to set barley to Import rather than Full Trade, and choose your desired amount. You’ll then buy it at the indicated price next to the surplus options – which for me costs 12 Regional Wealth.

For a much higher fee, you can also establish a trade route which essentially increases the frequency you acquire this item, as a traveling merchant will regularly visit with only that specific product.

How to trade livestock in Manor Lords

You can also trade livestock in Manor Lords, but this requires you to build a separate building: the Livestock Trading Post.

The Livestock Trading Post works in exactly the same way as the regular Trading Post, except rather than resources, you’re trading animals. You can quickly acquire oxen, mules, horses, sheep, and lambs this way, which can be useful for speeding up resource transportation, and for making additional goods to sell such as clothes.

Remember: when importing oxen, mules and horses, you’ll need enough Hitching Posts or Small Stables to accommodate them all, while Sheep and Lambs require you to build dedicated Sheep Farms. If you don’t have enough space for them, they’ll run away!

Manor Lords trading tips

To help ensure you have a steady supply of money – known as Regional Wealth – coming in, you should choose a product you have in high numbers that also has a relatively high selling price.

If your region has a rich clay deposit, for example, the best resource I’ve found for making money quickly is Rooftiles, as they export for 8 Regional Wealth apiece. It’s not the easiest resource to acquire, though, so read our guide on how to get Rooftiles for more information.

Alternatively, if your ground is fertile for barley, you can export Ale if you also have enough to supply your tavern. Berries and Eggs are also two solid options to export due to how easy they are to acquire, although their sale price isn’t quite as high. Just make sure you have enough food supplies to also last through the winter months, as this is when Berries stop growing in the wild.

When you can afford it, you should also purchase at least one Horse and assign it to your Trading Post. This will speed up your trades and allow you to import and export faster. Prioritise importing the products you need to increase your settlement level and level up your Burgage Plots, too, as this is what will allow you to grow the quickest and expand into more regions.

That wraps up what you need to know about trading in Manor Lords. For more help getting started in Manor Lords, find out what to do first in our beginner’s tips and tricks guide, as well as the best development points to unlock early to help bolster your settlement even further.