In Manor Lords, a smallholding is an upgrade from the Bamberg Smallholders origin perk: a family stays on its backyard garden or orchard full time instead of joining the general labour pool. Pelts come from hunting small game and are only a trade good right now. They are not the same as hides. Salt turns pork into sausages and milk into cheese, and in the beta it also turns fish into smoked fish. For your first year, put timber, housing, oxen and a marketplace first, then food and firewood, then early trade.
This Manor Lords guide is based on Slavic Magic’s Steam patch notes up to the October 24, 2026 beta (0.8.117). Community findings from the official Steam forums fill the gaps where the notes say nothing, and they are labelled as such. Checked October 30, 2026, 18:00 UTC.
Table of Contents
Manor Lords guide: quick answer
- Current version: the main branch is Major Update #8 (0.8.104, August 27, 2026). The public beta (0.8.117) adds the “Rural Foundations” perks, the Fishmonger and the Dunghill.
- Small holding: a burgage plot with a backyard extension, converted with the Bamberg Smallholders upgrade. Its family farms that backyard full time. Players measure roughly +20% output.
- Pelts: come from Small Game at a Hunting Camp. You can only sell them for now. Hides come from goats, cows and sheep and go to the Tannery.
- What salt is used for: Sausages (pork + salt), Cheese (milk + salt) and, in the beta, Smoked Fish (fish + salt). It also sells.
- First-year build order: Logging Camp, burgage plots, Hitching Post, Marketplace, Storehouse/Granary, food and firewood, Sawpit, then a Trading Post for pelts or firewood.
- Platforms: Windows PC (Steam, also GOG), $39.99, still in Early Access. There’s no multiplayer and no official cheat menu.
Burgage plots with backyard extensions: these are the plots the Bamberg Smallholders upgrade can turn into smallholdings. Image: Slavic Magic / Hooded Horse
Manor Lords version and patch status (October 2026)
| Branch | Version | What it added |
|---|---|---|
| Main (default) | 0.8.104, Major Update #8 (Aug 27, 2026) | Wide Valley map, cows and calves, oats and animal feed, cider and mead, Cheesemonger, Construction Yard, advanced construction |
| Beta (pre_release) | 0.8.110 (Sep 27) to 0.8.117 (Oct 24) | Rural Foundations perks (6, unlock at Settlement Level 3), Fishmonger, Dunghill and fertilizer, strict winter/spring crops, mandatory crop rotation |
To try the beta, right-click Manor Lords in Steam, open Properties, then Betas. Enter the password veryNiceBasket that Slavic Magic published and pick “pre_release”. The developer says to back up your saves first (Win+E, then %USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalManorLordsSavedSaveGames) and to remove all mods, which “will most likely crash the game”.
What is a small holding in Manor Lords?
Smallholdings only exist if you pick Bamberg Smallholders as your origin. Origins are the first of the game’s Development Perks: you pick one of nine, and players report you can’t change it later without loading an older save. The perk adds a Smallholding upgrade for burgage plots that have a backyard extension, such as a vegetable garden, an orchard or animal pens. Since Major Update #6, the game calls a person who works a Small Holding a “Smallholder” (0.8.065 notes).
Converting a plot is a trade-off, according to players on the official forums:
- The gain: the family works its backyard full time. In one side-by-side test, two identical double-extension carrot plots, planted on the same day, gave 169 carrots as a smallholding and 96 as a normal plot. Other players put the bonus at about 20%.
- The cost: those families leave the general labour pool, like artisans. That hurts in the first years, when you need every family for building and hauling.
- Where it pays: big vegetable gardens, which need work for most of the year. Orchards are only harvested in September, so a full-time orchard family sits idle for most of the year.
In a long February 2026 forum test, one player rates Bamberg as the most flexible origin because it doesn’t depend on the region’s resources. They used 300%+ cabbage and carrot plots on double burgage plots and exported the surplus vegetables. The same player lists the perk’s other bonus as +10% approval from food variety, which they say makes it easier to pass 80% approval, where population growth doubles.
What are pelts used for in Manor Lords?
Pelts arrived with Major Update #5 (December 2025), when deer were replaced by Small Game: “Small Game also yields Pelts, which is an early trade commodity.” For now, that is all they do. Players on the forum confirm there’s no current recipe for them and that they sell for about 2 each, or 3 with the Of the Vogtland origin, as a minor trade that doesn’t need a trade route.
| Pelts | Hides | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Hunting Camp on a Wild Animals (Small Game) node | Goats (backyard pens), cows and sheep (Butcher) |
| Use today | Export only | Tannery makes leather. 1 leather makes a pair of shoes |
| Bonus | With Hunting Hounds, a successful hunt returns 1+ small game and 1+ pelt (0.8.046 notes) | Cows also give milk and beef. Lambs and calves give half as much at the Butcher |
Two practical points. First, a Hunting Camp built without a Wild Animals node still traps some small game, but players report getting no pelts that way. Second, small game breeds by herd size and needs at least 2 animals, so don’t hunt a node to zero. The beta sets the camp’s default reserve to 90% of the herd’s maximum size, which the notes call “more optimal”. Slavic Magic’s own AI is told to “exploit pelts or firewood/charcoal for early game regional wealth”, which is a good hint for your first Trading Post.
Pasture sheep give wool and, at the Butcher, mutton and hides. Pelts only come from hunting small game. Image: Slavic Magic / Hooded Horse
What is salt used for in Manor Lords?
Every starting region gets either Iron or Salt, plus Clay, Stone and soil fertility, and two of the region’s resources are Rich. Salt is mined from a Salt deposit with a mine. The deep mine got its own salt and clay spots in 0.8.049. Salt was added in Update 3 to fight spoilage, and it now feeds three recipes:
| Product | Recipe (official notes) | Where | Branch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sausages | Pork + Salt (originally 1 meat + 1 salt = 2 sausages) | Butcher’s Shop | Main |
| Cheese | Milk + Salt, 1 + 1 makes 2 | Cheesemonger (unlocked at Burgage Plot Lv3) | Main (Update #8) |
| Smoked Fish | Fish + Salt | Fishmonger (artisan) | Beta 0.8.110+ |
| Trade | Salt can be exported. Its value has changed several times (4 to 5 in 0.8.050) | Trading Post | Both |
If your region rolled Iron instead of Salt, you can import salt or claim a neighbouring region that has it. The AI only considers far-off salt nodes once its population grows.
Manor Lords first-year build order
There isn’t one “correct” order, and players point out it mostly matters on the hardest settings. The order below follows the game’s rules from the patch notes. It also matches the priorities Slavic Magic gave its own AI lords: build the first Logging Camp early, put the Marketplace “right after Logging Camp and Hitching Posts”, get a Horse for the Trading Post before spending on artisans, and don’t buy a major trade route before you have a second ox and a horse.
| Step | Build | Why (from the notes) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Logging Camp | Timber gates everything. Only unassigned workers or Logging Camp workers can guide an ox to a building site. The camp holds up to 3 oxen |
| 2 | Burgage plots for the starting families | Homelessness only starts hurting approval after a 30-day grace period. Plan backyards now: planting cost scales with the extension’s area |
| 3 | Hitching Post | Keeps your oxen. The game hides the demolish button on your last one, so they can’t run off |
| 4 | Marketplace, Storehouse, Granary | Families get goods from market stalls. The Armament Delivery event needs 5 housed families and a storehouse |
| 5 | Forager Hut, Hunting Camp or Fishing Hut, Woodcutter’s Lodge | Food from your starting nodes and firewood for winter. Build the lodge before a Charcoal Kiln |
| 6 | Sawpit | Planks for most buildings. It takes 1 worker |
| 7 | Trading Post | First income from minor trades (pelts, firewood, planks), then a horse |
| 8 | Wooden Church, then the Manor | Each grants 100 Influence on completion. Settlement level milestones also grant 100 or more |
Once timber is flowing, a Construction Yard helps a lot. Its workers build 50% faster when it is maintained, and “Advanced Structures” can’t be finished without its professional builders. Remember that families drink 1 ale every 3 months, so plan barley and a brewery early in year two. In the beta, wheat and rye are winter crops that can also be sown in spring, for a quicker but smaller harvest. Flax, barley and oats are spring-only, and crop rotation is always on.
Since Update #8, pasture animals eat animal feed every winter month or die, so make oats before your first winter with livestock. Image: Slavic Magic / Hooded Horse
Which origin should a beginner pick?
Origins decide your economy more than your build order does. Forum consensus, not official balance advice:
- Bamberg Smallholders: the safe all-rounder in any region. Vegetable exports carry it.
- Of the Vogtland: the strongest trade origin, especially with a hunting ground (pelts sell for more). The cost is weaker farming. A beta fix in 0.8.117 stopped its penalty from being applied twice to fields.
- Regensburg Guildsmen: passive regional wealth from occupied burgage plots. Land tax upsets people more.
The other six (including Woodwright Journeymen, Nuremberg Prospectors, Smiths of Passau, Weiden Hinterlanders and Born of the Alps) lean on specific conditions such as rich iron, woodland, mining or high-elevation sheep. Pick one only if your region fits. The exact numbers are on the in-game perk cards and change between patches.
Planning a different kind of settlement? Our Frostpunk survival guide covers a harsher colony builder, and the Cities: Skylines 2 planning guide deals with modern zoning. If you like layout puzzles, see our Two Point Museum layout tips and the Planet Zoo 2 beginner guide.
FAQ
Are there cheats in Manor Lords?
Not officially. Slavic Magic’s patch notes mention no cheat menu or developer console. Trainers and mods are third-party (Nexus Mods hosts a Manor Lords section), and Slavic Magic warns that mods will most likely crash the game after an update.
Does Manor Lords have multiplayer, or is it on Xbox or PS5?
No multiplayer. Every mode is against AI lords, including Duel (1 vs 1) and Fractured Realm (4-lord free-for-all), both added in Update #5. Steam lists Windows only, and the developer’s Steam announcements don’t mention a console version.
Is Manor Lords on sale?
Not at 18:00 UTC on October 30: it’s $39.99 on Steam. It has dropped to 35% off in most recent publisher and seasonal sales, most recently in early October. See our Steam Black Friday guide for the next sale dates.
When does the beta come to the main branch?
Slavic Magic hasn’t given a date. Recent betas moved to main after about four to eleven weeks of fixes. Update #8 went from beta on August 1 to main on August 27.
Sources: Slavic Magic / Hooded Horse Steam announcements for 0.8.117, 0.8.110, Major Update #8, #6, #5, beta 0.8.046 and Update 3; the Steam store page; Manor Lords Steam forum threads on smallholdings, pelts and Bamberg Smallholders (linked above).
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Featured image: AI-generated illustration
