by theygamesNow that the Manor Lords Steam Early Access period is underway, we’re already looking at one of our first potential changes thanks to player feedback. It’s going to be a long road to the full launch for studio Slavic Magic, but one feature is already under the microscope: global trade and market supply.
Manor Lords solo developer Greg Styczeń is asking players of the city building game on Discord what they should do with the current global market supply mechanic, fearing that its penchant for dropping and raising prices might be too harsh right now.
Styczeń says that before launch, feedback indicated that trade was “OP” and “too cheesy/exploity to just sell one type of good and make your town uber-rich.” To fix this, Styczeń added an oversupply mechanic that sees the price of an item you constantly import rising and the sale value of an item you constantly sell dropping. Now they’re asking players if that should be changed or not.
“I was never quite sure about it since I thought specializing regions in producing certain goods is how the game should be played,” Styczeń explains. “There are other possible ways to make sure players have what to spend their fortunes on in future builds. But of course, there is a risk players just won’t have to build production chains at all if they can basically import everything without any consequence, possibly not having to interact with certain gameplay mechanics at all.”
To that end, Styczeń has put up a poll in the Manor Lords Discord that gives players three options for the global market supply mechanic:
- Keep it as is
- Keep it in the game but tune it down
- Remove it
As of writing, the option to keep it but tune it down is winning, with over 10,000 votes. Keep it as is has 1,700 and remove it has just over 300. It’s unclear how long the voting will last before a decision is made, but the option to tune it down is winning by such a wide margin that I expect it’ll come out on top.
If the early access state has you understandably trepidacious, the game’s publisher Hooded Horse says it’ll run Manor Lords sales often. “Your support of developer Greg and his game has already been huge, and so I want to say: please, don’t feel any pressure to buy the game if waiting is better for you,” Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender says.
On that note, PC Game Pass subscribers can play Manor Lords at no extra cost, so if you want to try it out before diving in on Steam you can do so with Microsoft’s subscription service. If you’re still unsure though, our Manor Lords early access review will tell you all you need to know about what to expect.
If you need a bit of help we’ve got you covered with our comprehensive Manor Lords guide, alongside exactly how to gain influence in Manor Lords and increase your Manor Lords population as well.
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