Beginner's Guide
Norland begins with you arriving in a small village with the intention of turning it into the thriving capital of your future kingdom.
After starting a new game, the difficulty of the game will gradually increase during the first few days after starting the game. New mechanics will be introduced gradually, allowing players to adapt and develop their settlement peacefully. This behavior can be disabled by enabling Hardcore mode when starting a new game but this is not recommended for new players.
Every game will start with a king and a heir and a queen who is captured by bandits.
Population
Population is divided into 4 categories of people: Lords, Peasants, Warriors, and Slaves.
All characters age at a rate of one year per day.
If there are not enough living spaces people will become Homeless, which reduces their Mood by 14.
Needs, thoughts and mood
Every character has a Mood, which ranges from 0 to 100 and is the sum of all thoughts. Thoughts arise from events, desires and needs. If a need is fulfilled it will give a positive thought, while if it is unfulfilled it will give a negative thought. If Mood falls below 25 the character will become unhappy. The average mood of peasants affects the level of migration.
Needs generally decreases over time and they are fulfilled through specific actions character mostly perform on their own. The need for Rest is automatically replenished when not working. There are 5 needs:
- Sleep: If it becomes completely empty, the character will collapse and fall asleep regardless of what is happening. It is satisfied by sleeping.
- Food: If it becomes low it can lead to hunger and eventually starvation. It is satisfied by consuming food such as Flour, Meat or Rutabagas.
- Rest: It is replenished slowly by not working and quickly by consuming alcohol at a Tavern.
- Piety: It is satisfied slowly through praying and quicker at Temples or Altars.
- Care: Only available to children. Is it satisfied by actions between parents and their child.
- Sex: Only available to adults. Is it satisfied during dating.
Characters will pray between 8 and 9 AM.
Slaves
Slaves are paid directly in resources rather than Gold. By default they are only paid in food but they can be given alcohol as well from the Finance menu. They are housed in Slave Barn buildings. The buildings require a worker to give slaves their food and alcohol.
If a slave is unhappy and they still hold a desire for freedom they may attempt to escape. The chances of escape are higher if they are homeless. Alternatively, enough unhappy slaves can instigate a slave uprising.
Slaves can be purchased from the Holy Caravan, captured by defeating armies, or obtained by punishing criminals. Female slaves are more expensive.
Building management
Some buildings require workers and instructions to function and will display an icon above if they do not currently have any. Instructions are given by assigning a lord as a manager. The same lord can be appointed as manager to multiple buildings and will try to visit each building every day, starting with the buildings that require instructions the most. Failing that, the instructions given by them are valid for three days. Each lord gives a production bonus that scales with its Management skill.
Once the workers receive instructions from managers they will begin working. At 6 PM workers will carry the produced resources to the warehouse. After work they receive their salaries.
Buildings that produce basic resources will produce them continuously without any input from the player. But buildings that produce resources that require other resources need direct orders from the player in the Production menu, where you can either place a one-time order to produce a certain amount or set a continuous production until a set amount is reached.
Hovering over the Economic Summary will list buildings that do not have instructions, that have insufficient workers, that are broken or non-functioning, as well as fields on the verge of depletion.
Finance
The Finance menu is is where wages and the sale of resources can be adjusted. On the left side you can adjust the maximum amount of a certain resource that can be sold every day, as well as its cost. On the right side you can adjust the wages for the population. Peasants, Warriors and Unemployed are paid with Gold while slaves are paid with food and alcohol resources.
Every character consumes 1 food per day, so the amount of food produced should be at least equal to the population and the food price per unit should be lower than the workers' salary. Characters who work also need alcohol every few days and their mood can be regulated with the quantity and price of the sold alcohol. Slaves receive food (and alcohol if allowed) for free but require a functioning Slave Barns building for that. Markets open after 6 PM.
Holy Caravan
The Holy Caravan arrives every 2-3 days and is the primary source of Gold and Holy Rings. It's also a great source of books and slaves.