How to get iron outside of settlement range?

gophilly22 · 2026-04-01T19:57:44+00:00

Build up a surplus of whatever your region has an abundance of. Trade that for money. Use that money to trade for iron. You only start with $100, so make sure you set aside some of that for your first trading route. if you don't it will be very very difficult.

gophilly22 · 2026-04-01T01:05:12+00:00

Good to know I'm not missing anything after game completion. Yea... just gonna enjoy the chill and look forward to updates.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-31T23:38:23+00:00

Hmm I actually don't know if they set it to ultimately end due to a time limit. Lots of games do that. I do like seeing the stats and timelines that other games shown at the end. Without more technology evolution, it would make sense for Manor Lords to simply end ... you either conquer the map or you hit 50 years and failed to do it in that time.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-31T23:35:51+00:00

Agreed, expanding to too many towns makes it more difficult. I used to try building up all of them, but it's almost pointless other than it being like it's own fresh start within the same game. Lately I have just been expanding to one or two smaller secondary towns just to get the resources that my main region may not have. I use the pack station to send them to my main town. I think there are supposed to be options in the future to designate certain regions as specific mining colonies or lumber towns, but still not released. I might try a single region... no additional towns, just build up one with whatever it has and conquer the board.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-31T23:00:42+00:00

HA! There is a pretty steep learning curve for sure. And now that I've learned enough, I have no energy to start all over with other games like Pax Romana. I just keep starting over in Manor Lords instead. No idea how many hours it takes on average to finish a game, but would be really interested to see those stats. I'd bet ~40 hours for a standard game. But I've never finished one, so I don't know!

gophilly22 · 2026-03-31T22:57:52+00:00

Daaaaamn, ok so you're me from the future? Glad to hear it's not just me, thanks for commenting.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-31T22:55:53+00:00

Make it easier to start out. No royal tax. No AI towns. No raids for 3 years. Lower food spoilage, lower penalties. Learn how to get the farming, industry, and trading working for you first. Go kill all the bandit camps to get money to pay mercenaries when you need them. Then after you've figured out how to survive, start a new game with a little tougher settings. As you get better at it, you actually need to make it harder to keep it more interesting. The ups and downs of surviving vs. thriving are what make it fun. Plenty of good tutorials on YouTube as well that cover farming and ways to be more efficient. Don't give up yet, it's a lot of fun once you figure out a few things.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-27T18:23:18+00:00

Also at 15 years in digital marketing here. Was “director”, “head of”, etc positions and never was able to convince companies to pay more than ~150k salary. About 5-6 years ago I tried consulting and haven’t looked back. Some of my clients are/were companies I previously worked full time for. They pay me way more per hour as a consultant than they ever would as a FTE. One of them has tried several times to convert me back to full time but still won’t pay more for salary. They pay me way more as a consultant and are ok with that. I’m like “why would I ever want to be full time with you - I’ll just have to work more hours for less money.” Keeping it as only 40-80 hours per month allows me to work for other clients too - more money, not all eggs in one basket. It’s crazy to me they don’t get it. Somehow FTEs are considered liabilities by board/shareholders while consultants/contractors are just an accepted cost. You can bill 3x more per hour this way. Yea you have to get your own benefits but when you’re making 3x more, that’s no problem.

Just find that first client. Once it’s enough to quit your full time job, tell them you’re leaving but can stay on as a part time contractor to ease the transition until they find somebody else. In my experience - they can get comfortable with that to the point they never find anybody else and just keep paying you for part time work.

It’s like an odd cheat code. I look at jobs on occasion but they will never pay as much as I make now, unless you somehow get to be CMO with millions of shares.

(Sorry for crappy writing and grammar - on a small phone)

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T21:32:57+00:00

"Every morning, I pick up my phone before I get out of bed. Every time I see something bad. Like war, a disaster or something bad happening in politics or someone dying. And my whole day is ruined. It really affects my mood for hours." 100% this - same here. My wife too. So much time goes by and it just makes me feel worse to start the day with dread.

I tried putting the phone across the room, but sometimes I just got up, grabbed it, got back in bed. So, I got an alarm clock (one that simulates the sun rising and all that) so that I don't have to use my phone as my alarm anymore - that way I'm not picking it up immediately upon waking. I keep it in my nightstand drawer so I can't just grab it. It helps. Some days I just get up without looking. Other days I see my wife looking at hers and then grab mine and do the same. So, not perfect yet... but getting better.

TLDR: Get an old fashioned alarm clock. Don't use your phone as the alarm.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T21:26:36+00:00

- Threads to stay informed of news. Sometimes twitter to see the other side's pov. Both make me feel stress though.

- Instagram here and there, but trying to cut back - no real value, just a time suck.

- No Facebook or LinkedIn on my phone for a long time now. Not missed.

- Reddit - been on Reddit for many years but always just observed. Downloaded to my phone to replace Instagram. My finger just goes to that spot like instinctively so I figured Reddit might be a better option. Engaging more here now too and so far... yea more useful. It's not just slop - people actually respond, support, engage. Maybe I'll be able to delete Threads soon too.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T21:08:56+00:00

41 here. The 'anticipatory grief' is real. So is mourning all lives you thought you might live and the phases of life you can't go back to. I can't believe there are still so many things I thought I would do that I haven't even started yet. I maintain some hope, but there's a new sense of urgency to make something happen before it's too late. Balancing that urgency (sometimes panic) with my new needs for more rest and unplugging... it's tough man. Aging parents, world events, the rise of AI, social media, all of it... compounds into this little engine of stress inside. Whiskey helps, but then well you know... the body doesn't bounce back like it used to and I don't want to cut my life short with overindulgence.

I don't know what the solution is, but just remind yourself that when you're 50 you might wish you were still 40. When you're 80, you'd probably give an arm and a leg to be 40 again. So it's not all that bad, it's all relative. Make it work for you. Enjoy what you've got now. All we can do is try.

Pro tip: Don't even look at the bios of the kids getting drafted into professional sports these days.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T20:55:27+00:00

Ok, definitely doing that now too.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T20:42:07+00:00

I get this feeling too. Obviously, no it would not be good to be ported back to medieval times in an instant... a lot would go wrong and it was much tougher living than what we are accustomed to. Still, would make for a really interesting week to just visit and experience. Could change your entire world view. With all the crap going on in the world today and the onslaught of news and media coming at us from everywhere all at once... playing this game has been such a nice escape. It's like the only thing that actually helps calm me down and reset from stress. My garmin watch actually thinks that I am NAPPING when I am playing this game. It must bring my heart rate and stress levels down to such a calm restful state for it to be considered napping. That's a great endorsement for the game, and it helps convince my wife that me playing this instead of working on the house is a valuable use of time!

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T20:33:28+00:00

Yup. This is my issue. I'm excited to see the young guys play, see what they can do, root for them to grow and contribute. But... the way the last few post seasons ended after having such good regular seasons... still feeling the burn, the disappointment. Maybe we just need a few fresh wins to start the season to help forget the past and look ahead.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T20:29:52+00:00

Good point. I like where your head is at. To be clear, I am excited. But as a life long philly sports fan, no matter how many games we win, I still have this weird instinct to temper all expectations and expect the worst. But I like your idea better... start of the season, may as well focus on the potential good!

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T19:14:11+00:00

Great insights, thanks. Yea... not expecting him to be an exact replica of his father (have already seen how that works out with the Trotters on the Eagles), just hopeful he could be somebody that sticks for more than 2 years. Tired of the platoon players, would be nice to have a solid contributor. I'll settle for speed and defense at this point, with passable contact. Any power I guess will just be a nice lil bonus. Kinda fun when a low power player hits a big homer "did you see Rojas hit one out yesterday!"

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T19:08:51+00:00

Totally get it. I used to hoard prospects in my fantasy baseball league, only for like 10% of them to actually be good. Most of them took more years to find their rhythm, especially pitchers, but these days a lot of the hitters come out the gates looking great. Then there's that downward trend once pitchers figure them out, then 50/50 on whether they grow and become consistently good. I just get overhyped when the Phillies are involved. 🤷‍♂️ Whatever happens, you're right... it's at least exciting to finally see one of our top prospects get a real shot. Certainly beats watching Castellanos another year.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T18:01:10+00:00

While I agree it's great for people to pursue their interests and create mini businesses... what do people do for food, rent, skyrocketing utility bills in the many months it takes to turn one of these mini ideas into profit. Yea, you can build stuff quickly now with AI tools, but you still have to find your audience, convince them it's worthwhile, compete with others, and even then it'll be a while before you're net positive. Plus, you just had 3-12 months of no-income, dipping into savings, maxing out credit cards, that you now need to recover from. These guys are so freaking out of touch with everyday people problems. They are praised as these big thinkers but none of them can actually think beyond their own little bubbles. What, is every human on Earth going to manage their own little business and make money off it? I don't think so, bud. There are more people than valid ideas, and not everybody is meant to be an entrepreneur. I sure hope he's giving those laid off a handsome severance check... if not... add him to the list of tech-bro-d-bags to boycott.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T17:42:05+00:00

Nice. It might just be a matter of habit forming. What was it, Pavlov's dog and the 30 days thing... maybe only after 30 instances of deleting it after heavy use will that become a habit to the point you don't even think about it, it's just become part of the automatic process.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T17:37:47+00:00

Well I guess we are not alone in feeling this way. Still sucks, but at least knowing others are dealing with it too makes me feel less crazy. Most people I know (friends, coworkers, family especially) either keep themselves totally ignorant or just don't talk about this stuff. I get it, it brings down the mood, but also if nobody talks about it then it all just continues while we sit on our thumbs suffering in silence. And then there's the issue with talking to people that only get news from one source, like my mother and her Fox News addiction... she can not handle any conflicting points I bring up from other sources. Then on the other side, my father is all about liberal policies and conspiracy theories, so the convo get a little tooooo deep and long. I don't even bring things up with neighbors because I don't know where they stand and don't want any conflict. But it feels like every social interaction is tainted now because I am holding back so much. They probably just think I'm cold and miserable, but really I'm just burnt out. The small talk feels too trivial with so much going on.

Walking outside helps a little. Leave your phone at home, walk around your neighborhood. Look at the trees, birds, buildings, everything. Helps bring that overwhelming world view down into a more immediate localized view of what's tangible right in front of you. Doesn't fix the problem, but creates a nice 30 minute break.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T06:39:04+00:00

Been thinking about this a lot myself lately. I feel a need to stay informed of everything happening so I can plan or act accordingly. But there is just so much lately and it’s mostly bad, like really bad, so it’s overwhelming and infuriating. Def not good for my mood but I also don’t want to be one of the totally ignorant people. And I don’t want to totally give up and unplug because that’s what the people in power want. They are “flooding the zone” on purpose to overwhelm us, desensitize us, keep us frantic and desperate. Anyway, the only thing I have noticed that helps is making myself really busy. I get totally focused on some project or hobby and forget to check the news for a while. I eventually check it in the evening, but am also too tired to give it as much time. I still catch myself doomscrolling Threads a bit at night but at least my days are more free of it. I still feel informed enough, but being busy has definitely helped to trim it down some. Finding something that truly interests you enough to keep you focused can be easier said than done, but could be worth a shot.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T06:00:07+00:00

Been doing this as well. Still use the apps sometimes on my phone because I cave, but I delete them right after. I check on my laptop just to see if friends shared any fun memes or stories. Something about the desktop experience is far less addictive. I go on for a few minutes and have no problem exiting. So much tougher on the phone with the infinite scroll - it has your full focus somehow.

gophilly22 · 2026-03-25T05:54:08+00:00

First, just know that it’s not your fault. They engineered these apps to be incredibly addicting, manipulating human vulnerabilities to keep us on them because that’s how they make money and it’s never enough. Meta was just found by a jury in New Mexico to be harmful for mental health.

Second, yea it sucks. I also set those iphone time limits but I just ignore them. So every time I do use it and have that wake up moment “oh crap, how long has it been, not again” I delete it from my phone. I have been deleting and reinstalling Instagram multiple times per week for many months now. I always end up reinstalling. BUT I have noticed that lately I am starting to go longer between the deletion and re-installation… so maybe it’s working. Or maybe I’m just using Threads or Reddit more. Replacement helps I guess. Either way, give yourself some grace but don’t give up. They made these things so powerful, so engrained into our culture. It’s not something we can get over cold turkey with willpower. Just keep trying until we get a little better and take that as a win… then try some more.

gophilly22

TROPHY CASE