How to Declare War in Manor Lords

Manor Lords is all about knowing the right time to strike at your enemies. Thankfully, the game helps you a bit with this by limiting when exactly you can spring an attack on your foes. So let’s prepare our troops and figure out how to declare war in Manor Lords.

Right now Manor Lords is currently in Early Access, so changes to this system might happen over time. But for the moment there are three scenario templates that players can choose from when starting their journey. Two of them focus on upgrading your settlement, however the middle one tasks you with conquering every region.

This is no simple task, and I knew I’d be in it for the long haul as soon as I started this campaign. After making sure my families weren’t homeless, I focused on building around my homes and church. That’s when I was alerted of Bandit camps and opposing military forces within the map. I was not in a position to start fighting either side off, but I began to wonder what I would do when I was ready.

When you’re ready, to declare war in Manor Lords, you must go to the map, and select the faction you want to face. This screen is where you can start rhetorics, negotiations, and declarations against them. Select the declaration tab, and you’ll see an option that should say “Surprise War.”

However, you can’t just do this whenever you so please. You need 500 Influence in order to start a Surprise War. Obviously, whatever faction you decide to surprise won’t take too kindly to it, and you’ll lose 100 standing with them. But if you have a decent amount of Regional Wealth, you should have no problem hiring the right mercenaries for the job.