how to create a noble family of lords in norland

Speaking of the default settings (two brothers and a wife for one of them), the game tends to give the characters similar traits. For example, a leader with high command skill will also be a skilled fighter. His brother with high management skill is usually strong in trading.

The first two lords, however, are responsible for traveling the environment to establish friendly relations and make profitable deals. This is where the problem arises. A leader with low manners will not be able to make friends effectively, and a competent ruler will be torn between giving orders and traveling to negotiate trade deals, since his skills are likely to be higher than most of his fellow kings (the game usually only assigns warriors).

Therefore, when creating a noble family, you should choose traits that will free the starting characters from a double or triple workload. Let everyone do their main activity, and for this they will have enough time, and in between help with less busy issues. For example:

First brother (king): ‘Manners’ (with the ‘charismatic’ advantage), ‘Persuasion’ and a bit of ‘intelligence’, so that diplomacy is at the highest level and learning new knowledge is not delayed. The Empath trait will further help you win friends, while the Ugly trait is the most harmless of the negative traits.

Wife of the first brother: “Intelligence”, “Management”, “Teaching”. Initially, she will have to deal with internal politics and study new knowledge. As children appear over time, she will become involved in their upbringing and the Teaching skill (with the Perceptive advantage) will come in handy. Additional traits are “High Fertility” and “Unpleasant” to make it easier to tolerate the absence of a husband.

Second brother: “Trade” (with the “Forecaster” perk), a bit in “Combat” and “Intelligence”. His main task is to make profitable trade deals, and fight well (stronger than regular Smerd soldiers + equipment). This brother will often hang out in the outer lane, but will only occasionally be distracted by studying knowledge.

Remember that each point in a character’s skills is “bought” based on age: the more experience the lord has, the older he is, which is not always good. Creating a family with characters over 35 is still a matter of age and you should not get carried away with giving skills to her. Optimally 30 years.

Advice: You will recruit a good Lord Manager and Lord Warrior later. Don’t worry that your characters aren’t as good at control as you’d like at the start of the game. Each enterprise produces 100% of its resources, and the only thing the manager gives is a productivity bonus.

But in early access, this aspect was not yet properly set up, and even novice characters often have 110% control, while experienced characters have no more than 130%. In numbers, everything seems significant, but in reality, the bonus is revealed in the endgame. And at the beginning of the game, it is unlikely that your industry will produce more than 20-30 units of goods per day, and the bonus from a cool manager will be 1-2 extra units.

Creating a noble family requires a strategic approach to choosing lords and their responsibilities. And if your own people are not born, you can always strengthen your family with more venerable strangers!