Band of Brothers Blu-Ray Is 50% Off At Amazon

Villagers are bound to have a medieval party time in Manor Lords. Once the beer is flowing, you’re bound to see some satisfied folks in your settlement. Here’s our guide on how to make ale in Manor Lords.

How to make ale in Manor Lords

The process of making ale in Manor Lords is somewhat complicated. That’s due to several resources and buildings that you need beforehand. These include barley, a Malthouse, a Brewery Extension, and a Tavern.

Fields: Barley

Go to the Construction -> Farming tab and select Field. Once you plop down a Field, get your workers to plant barley and wait for it to be harvested a few months later.

Note that you also have to build a Farmhouse, which requires 3x timber. Several families need to be assigned to the Farmhouse to ensure that there are enough workers tilling the soil and harvesting the crops. You can learn more about this concept in our farming/harvests guide.

Farm building: Malthouse

Next, go to the Construction -> Industry tab and build a Malthouse. It requires 4x timber. When you’re done, assign a family to the Malthouse so that they can turn barley into malt.

Burgage Plot: Brewery Extension

Apart from the above, you also need a Brewery Extension. Here’s what you need to do:

• Upgrade a Burgage Plot from level 1 to level 2. This requires several requirements, which we discuss in our town/housing upgrades guide.
• Choose the Brewery Extension. This requires 5x planks and 5x Regional Wealth.
• Ideally, the barley field, Malthouse, and Burgage Plot with the Brewery Extension should be near each other to shorten the travel time of workers.
• This whole process allows you to make ale in Manor Lords.

Finally, the Tavern

Finally, go to the Construction -> Residential tab and build a Tavern (it costs 5x timber). With a surplus of ale, the Tavern should have plenty of beer to go around. Make sure that roads connect the Tavern to various Burgage Plots, as this is a requirement for your housing to reach level 3.

That’s it: that’s how you make ale in Manor Lords. If you’re thinking about creating different types of goods, you might want to check our guides regarding clothing and food.

Manor Lords has you primarily focusing on growing your settlement into a prosperous village. Still, there are times when plowshares must turn into swords. Threats might await in nearby territories, and it’s up to you to meet them head-on. Here’s our Manor Lords army combat guide to help you with your militia, retinue, and mercenary units.

Manor Lords army and combat guide – Militia, retinue, and mercenaries

Depending on your game setup/difficulty options, you might not even experience a single battle despite hours of playing. However, if raiders, bandit camps, and/or AI adversaries are enabled, then you best be prepared to go to war. Our Manor Lords army combat guide discusses how each unit category is recruited and how they fare in battle.

Army recruitment panel

Press the “V” key or click on the Army icon in the bottom portion of your screen to open the panel. This shows active units that you have access to. Here’s a quick summary:

• Press the plus (+) symbol to create a new unit.
• You’ll see the “Form Militia” option that allows you to select troops of a particular type.
• The icon of the hand with coins is for the “Hire Mercenaries” option.
• Retinue units, meanwhile, become available once you’ve built a Manor.
• When selecting a unit, you can click on the rally point. Your troops will move to that location and you can give them orders.
• When a battle is over, you have to move your militia and retinue units back to any region that you own. That’s the only time that you can disband them.
• And it goes without saying that, prior to fighting battles, make sure you have enough of the Treasury resource to cover the costs.

Militia units

Your Manor Lords militia units form the backbone of your army. These soldiers are actually part of the male population of your settlement. Here’s what you need to know:

• There are various troop types, such as Militia Footmen, Spear Militia, Polearm Militia, and Archer Militia.
• Militia weapons come from those that have been crafted in your settlement. Basically, the Burgage Plots (i.e., houses) you build have room for backyard extensions. Certain backyard extensions allow artisans to craft equipment for villagers:
  • Fletcher’s Workshop – Creates warbows.
  • Blacksmith’s Workshop – Creates spears and sidearms (i.e. swords).
  • Joiner’s Workshop – Creates wooden parts and shields.
  • Armorer’s Workshop – Creates mail and plate armor upon unlocking the prerequisite development/tech.
• If you have enough of a particular equipment, then that militia troop type will have its full complement of fighters.
• Since your militia comprises male villagers, some of the work processes may take a while to finish due to a lack of manpower.

Retinue units

Your Manor Lords retinue becomes available upon constructing the Manor building. It requires you to have a Small Village (settlement level), as well as 5x timber, 20x planks, and 15x stone.

By default, you have five members of your retinue, but you can add more and even customize some of them. This is done by selecting the retinue unit card and clicking on the “Retinue Customization” button (i.e. paintbrush icon):

• Recruit Men-At-Arms – Adds another member of the retinue; costs 50 Treasury.
• Upgrade Armor – Import – Import an armor set for a soldier; costs a variable amount of Treasury.
• Upgrade Armor – Buy Locally – Purchase from local artisans; costs a variable amount of Treasury (cheaper than importing).
• Warriors in your retinue also come in different troop types.
• You can change the designs and color schemes of their equipment.

Mercenary units

The mercenaries in Manor Lords cost Treasury to recruit. This amount is paid upfront for each month of service. Note that mercenary groups consist of two or more units that are predetermined. It’s also worth noting that not all of them appear in your village immediately. Instead, some squads might spawn in other regions, so you must wait for them to arrive at the target location.

Battle commands

Once a force has been mustered, you can click on units to see the commands that are available. There are those that provide boosts, with some corresponding penalties:

• Balanced (default) – No bonuses or penalties.
• Give Ground – Slowly pushes the formation line backward, enticing the enemy to follow.
• Missile Alert – Doubles the chance of avoiding or blocking arrows, but halves melee defense.
• Stand Your Ground – Doubles defense stat but halves attack frequency.
• Push Forward – Soldiers will push forward with their full force.
• Shoot At Will (archers only) – Aims directly at enemies; increases accuracy when a target is nearby, but decreases accuracy when at half the maximum range or more.

That’s everything you need to know about mercenaries, retinues, and militia units in Manor Lords. We hope you achieve glory on the field of battle.

You amass dozens of materials and resources in Manor Lords. There might be times when you have plenty of a particular commodity, and instances when you’re in desperate need of an item. Here’s our guide on how to use Trading Posts in Manor Lords.

How to use Trading Posts in Manor Lords

There are two kinds of Trading Posts in Manor Lords. Both of these buildings can be found in the Construction -> Trade tab:

• Trading Post – This is your one-stop shop if you plan on buying and selling most types of goods (i.e. construction materials, crops, food, commodities, and military equipment). Construction requires 4x Timber.
• Livestock Trading Post – This is where you acquire animals like oxen, mules, horses, sheep, and lambs. Construction requires 2x Timber.

Trading Post: Imports, exports, surplus, full trade, and trade routes

Upon building a Trading Post in Manor Lords, make sure that at least one family is assigned. These assigned families will be the ones to deal with any traders that drop by your settlement.

Next, go to the Trade tab and click on the different categories of resources. You’ll notice some peculiarities: a drop-down list regarding trade rules, a value/amount that can be increased or decreased, and buttons that cause you to create a trade route.

Minor trades

The drop-down list pertains to periodic trades or minor trades:

• No trade – You will never import or export this good.
• Import – You will only buy this good up to the surplus value.
• Export – You will only sell this good up to the surplus value.
• Full trade – You will buy and sell this good up to the surplus value.

Surplus value

This is the value that can be set, increased, or decreased:

• Let’s say you have 999 firewood and you definitely don’t need that much. You can set a value of, say, 500, and the “Export” rule.
• Conversely, let’s say you’re in desperate need of at least 25 yarns. Set either “Import” or “Full Trade” with a value of around 25, to eventually end up with this amount.
• Note that importing and exporting affects your current Regional Wealth resource.

Major trades and trade routes

Lastly, certain commodities have higher value, or goods that you need to sell in bulk (i.e. dozens, if not hundreds, in one go). In these instances, it’s better to establish a trade route in Manor Lords:

• Establishing a trade route requires you to pay a cost upfront. This also uses up Regional Wealth.
• You still need to set a trade rule (i.e. Import, Export, or Full Trade).
• Once a trade route is up and running, a merchant will occasionally appear in your settlement. That merchant will only deal in this particular good.

Livestock Trading Post: Get your farm animals and beasts of burden

Livestock Trading Posts are solely for animals that can help with logistics and farming/harvesting. As mentioned earlier, these include oxen, mules, horses, sheep, and lambs. These are just minor trades, so you won’t need to establish a trade route at all.

Development/tech bonuses

Lastly, there are a couple of notable perks that you can unlock once you’ve obtained enough Development Points whenever you upgrade your town/settlement. These are:

• Trade Logistics – Establishing a new trade route costs a maximum of 25 Regional Wealth.
• Better Deals – Lowers all import prices by 10 Regional Wealth.

In any case, that’s everything you need to know about Trading Posts in Manor Lords. If you’re set on making a prosperous village, you can head over to our beginner’s guide.

Manor Lords is all about experiencing life in a medieval fiefdom. Naturally, that involves a lot of toiling in the fields while waiting for the harvest season. Here’s our Manor Lords farming guide to help you with various crops and resources.

Manor Lords farming guide – Everything you need to know about crops and harvests

The most important thing to consider when farming in Manor Lords is soil fertility. This can be seen when you go to the Construction -> Farming tab, and select the Field option. You should see the surrounding landscape color-coded to denote fertility. Basically, you’ll want to plop down your Fields in green areas, while avoiding orange and red sections.

Farming 101: Creating fields, selecting crops, and constructing buildings

Farming in Manor Lords involves creating four-sided Fields. These use “morgen” as a unit of measurement, with larger fields requiring more manpower to fully sow and cultivate. You can then select a particular crop that will be grown in that Field. Here are the options:

• Wheat – Used to make Flour and, eventually, Bread. You can learn more in our Food sources guide.
• Barley – Used to make Ale. You can learn more in our Ale and Taverns guide.
• Flax – Used as material for clothing/linen. You can learn more in our Clothes and Tailors guide.
• Rye – Requires the Rye Cultivation development/tech. Rye is similar to Wheat in that it’s used to make Flour, but it can be grown in places with lower fertility.

From here, you have to construct the all-important Farmhouse (costs 3x Timber). Once built, you can assign up to eight familiar to work in the farms that are connected to the Farmhouse. Likewise, you may build a couple of structures:

• Windmill (requires 4x Timber) – Converts Grain (i.e. Wheat) into Flour; must be placed in an open area without nearby trees to increase efficiency.
• Communal Oven (requires 2x Timber) – Workers use Flour to make Bread.

Crop rotation and waiting for harvest season

Soil fertility will decrease over time due to extensive farming. However, you may cultivate the soil by enabling the crop rotation option when selecting a Field. Here’s what you need to know:

• Crop rotation means that workers will initially plant a certain crop (i.e. Wheat, Barley, Flax, or Rye). You can also do this for the second year.
• Then, for the third year, you could pick the Fallow option. This increases soil fertility, but there will be no yields.
• Workers will plant the actual crops again come the fourth year.

Note that workers will harvest crops as late as November, though you may also click on the “Force Early Harvest” option. Naturally, there will be no harvests during winter, which means you have to ensure there’s a surplus of food for your settlement to prevent people from starving.

Livestock farms

You might be wondering why we’ve yet to talk about animals in our Manor Lords farming guide. Well, that’s because they’re part of a separate function/mechanic instead of being added to your Fields. For your livestock, you need to go to the Construction -> Farming tab to select the following:

• Sheep Farm (requires 1x Timber) – Assigns people that will manage the livestock.
• Pasture – Creates a small area that animals can use for grazing.

Note that you can only get sheep by building a Livestock Trading Post (requires 2x Timber). Once you have this structure, choose a type of farm animal and select “Import” from the drop-down menu. Increase the surplus number so that a traveling merchant drops by each month to sell you one.

This particular process requires Regional Wealth, so make sure you have enough of this resource. We also discuss this further in our Trading Posts guide.

Other notable development/tech options

Here are some farming-related upgrades that are available once you obtain Development Points when upgrading your settlement level:

• Sheepbreeding – Sheep grazing on pastures slowly multiply.
• Heavy Plow – Adds a Plowing Station; use oxen at the Farmhouse for faster plowing of fields and carrying of goods.
• Fertilization – Enables the Fence Up upgrade; use a Fallow field as pasture to increase fertility faster.
• Irrigation – Dramatically decreases the damage caused by droughts.
• Bakeries – Unlocks the Bakery Extension for Burgage Plots; produces Bread from Flour at a more efficient and faster rate compared to the Communal Oven.

That does it for our Manor Lords farming and crops guide. Be sure to visit our beginner’s guide to learn more about the basics of the game.

Manor Lords has you starting out in a near-empty field, surrounded by a handful of lowly villagers. Eventually, you’ll be able to advance with your forces to capture territories. Here’s our guide on how to increase Influence and claim regions in Manor Lords.

How to increase Influence and claim regions in Manor Lords

Amassing the Influence resource is important for the expansion of your domain. If you lack the necessary amount, you simply won’t be able to press a claim to begin with. Here are the factors that help increase Influence in Manor Lords:

• Defeating bandits and destroying bandit camps.
• Upgrading your Church and Manor buildings.
• Sending a percentage of surplus food as tithes to the Church.

How to destroy bandit camps

Depending on your game setup options, you might see icons that denote the locations of bandit camps in surrounding areas. The goal is to send out your army to ransack these camps. Apart from Influence, you may even gain Regional Wealth and Treasury. You can learn more about your militia and retinue units in our army and combat mechanics guide.

How to upgrade your Church and Manor

Both buildings require several resources. The Manor itself requires you to have a Small Village (settlement level), as well as 5x timber, 20x planks, and 15x stone for the actual construction process.

As for the Church, the level 1 version requires 5x timber, 20x planks, and 10x stone. You can then upgrade it into a Stone Church, which costs 5x timber, 10x planks, 10x rooftiles, and 20x stone.

How to send a tithe to the Church

You can also increase Influence in Manor Lords by sending a tithe to the Church:

• Make sure you have a Manor built.
• Click on the Manor and go to the Taxes tab.
• Increase the percentage of your tithe. This refers to a percentage of surplus food that’s given to the Church each month.

Claiming a region as your own

If you want to claim a region in Manor Lords, you need to amass at least 1,000 Influence. Once you have enough of this resource, zoom out completely until the world map can be seen. There, you’ll notice small icons denoting various materials and mineral deposits that can be found in adjacent areas.

Select an adjacent region and click on the “Claim with Influence” option. You’ll spend the required amount and a progress bar will appear in the left-hand side of the screen. Once the progress bar is filled, the region will be under your control.

More tips when you start fresh in a new region

Here are some additional tips as you try to capture nearby lands:

• If the off-map adversary option is enabled prior to starting your playthrough, an AI-controlled baron will have their own domains. Attempting to claim their lands will likely lead to war.
• When a region has just been captured, double check to see if there are bandit camps. Make sure you destroy these before sending out your settlers.
• Currently, it’s not possible to instantly move a segment of your population to a new territory. Instead, you have to go to the Construction -> Administration tab. You then need to build a Settlers Camp (which requires 250 Treasury) in the new region.
• Basically, this whole process is like repeating everything that you did in your initial region (which you still need to manage). You start with a Settlers Camp, then you slowly grow and upgrade your town.
• Note that it’s possible to have regions that specialize in a particular type of resource or industry. For instance, one region with fertile soil can just focus on farming.
• Go to the Construction -> Logistics tab and build a Pack Station. This sets up a Barter Connection so you can transfer resources to other regions.

That’s everything you need to know about how to increase Influence and claim regions in Manor Lords. If you’re just starting your adventure, we suggest heading to our beginner’s guide.

Paramount just launched its six-part Knuckles TV series last week on Paramount+, but fans interested in adding the Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off to their physical collection can already preorder the Blu-ray version of the animated cartoon. Three different editions of Knuckles are available to preorder now, including one that comes with a collectible steelbook case. Unfortunately, Knuckles preorders are limited to Blu-ray and DVD at this time. It’s unclear if Knuckles will be released on 4K Blu-ray at some point.

A release date is yet to be announced, but preorders are officially open at Amazon for $26.

Knuckles Special Features

Unfortunately, no special features have been revealed for the upcoming release. Of course, that’s to be expected, as it still doesn’t have a firm release date. We wouldn’t be surprised to see behind-the-scenes content or new shorts–but keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks for more details.

Idris Elba, who played Knuckles in the Sonic 2 film, reprised his role for the Knuckles TV show. The six-part live-action series follows the echidna as he trains his protégé, Wade, and teaches him how to fight and fend for himself on the battlefield. The show is earning mixed reviews from critics, with our Knuckles review saying it “works pretty well” as a family-friendly budget comedy.

If you want to bide your time while waiting for the Knuckles Blu-ray to launch, you can check out the Sonic the Hedgehog 2-Movie Collection (Steelbook Edition), which is currently discounted to just $29 (down from $48). The collection includes the first and second movie in the series, along with a steelbook, a new animated short, bloopers, deleted scenes, and more.

While Knuckles is the first live-action Sonic series, it’s not the first time the Blue Blur and friends have starred in TV shows. If you’re interested in revisiting Sonic’s animated TV origins, the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Complete Series is available on Blu-ray at Amazon. You can also pick up Sonic Boom’s complete series with a fancy steelbook case at a big discount. Anime fans should check out the complete Sonic X series on Blu-ray. It contains all 78 episodes and is dubbed in English.

All six episodes of Knuckles are available to stream on Paramount+ now.