Monopoly requires a lot of investment, but it can pay off.
The January development diary of Manor Lords was recently presented, in which they talked about some of the developers' plans and current experiments.
Slavic Magic will continue to rework trade - they will introduce new bonuses, and also add more depth to this system by introducing "new levels of strategic decision-making."
They strive to create a trading system that:
- Allows for economic rivalry between Lords, not just military
- Clearly separates regional and foreign trade
- Simplifies interregional trade and barter
- Seems less predictable, with opportunities that vary from playthrough to playthrough
Over time, this system will allow "developing targeted economic strategies", for example, Manor Lords players can try to monopolize a resource by hiring all traders on their export routes:
This will be expensive, but it may leave a rival Lord without access to the resource, forcing him to adapt: pay inflated prices, expand in search of the resource, or negotiate directly with you. In some cases, this may lead to diplomatic deals where a rival exchanges surplus weapons or other goods for the needed resource, effectively paying you as an intermediary.
Also, the creators of Manor Lords are experimenting with workshops (they plan to introduce more specialized ones in the future) and are going to add a new level for buildings between 2 and 3 (it is tentatively called "2.5") in order to "more smoothly connect the version of the house in the early and late stages of the game."
