Manor Lords Burgage Plot Calculator
Plan your Manor Lords settlement's food economy: enter your families and backyard extensions to see food surplus or deficit, families fed, food variety, and what each burgage plot level needs to upgrade.
Burgage plot planner
Feed your settlement and plan every burgage-plot upgrade.
Food balance
Feeds 51 families
2 food types
Supply 51
Demand 30
Settlement
families
Backyard extensions
plots
corpse pits
plots
coops
sheds
apiaries
food
food
food
food
food
food
Food production breakdown
| Source | Count | Size (morgen) | Food/month | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable gardensestimate | 4 | 0.75 | 45 | Vegetables |
| Chicken coops | 6 | — | 6 | Eggs |
| Total food/month | 51 | |||
| Demand (families) | 30 | |||
| Balance | +21 |
Burgage upgrade requirements
Settlement tier: Small Village
Requires at least 50% approval to start the upgrade.
Grants: +1 regional wealth per family per month
Approx. cost: 2 Timber + 8 Planks
0 of 5 requirements met — still needed: Well, Wooden Church, Marketplace with a Fuel stall, At least 2 different food types at the market, At least 1 clothing type (Linen, Leather or Yarn).
Level 1 is the starting build — it only needs a completed plot with a backyard for extensions. Upgrades begin at Level 2.Backyard extensions
| Extension | Produces | Size affects yield? | Per-unit yield | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable gardens | Vegetables | Yes | 15 food / morgen / mo | Estimate |
| Orchards | Fruit | Yes | 30 food / morgen / mo | Estimate |
| Chicken coops | Eggs | No | 1 egg / coop / mo | Well-corroborated |
| Goat sheds | Meat | No | 1 food / shed / mo | Estimate |
| Apiaries | Honey | No | 1 honey / apiary / mo | Estimate |
Food categories and how to get them
| Category | How you get it |
|---|---|
| Vegetables | Vegetable garden (backyard) |
| Fruit | Orchard (backyard) |
| Eggs | Chicken coop (backyard) |
| Meat | Goat shed (backyard); also hunting and the butcher |
| Honey | Apiary (backyard) |
| BreadNot a backyard extension | Bakery from flour (supply chain) |
| FishNot a backyard extension | Fishing hut at a pond or fish deposit |
| BerriesNot a backyard extension | Foraging from berry deposits |
Approval factors (directional, not a prediction)
| Factor | Direction | Rough magnitude / note | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food variety | Raises | Each extra distinct food category helps; also improves disease resistance. | Game-shown |
| Fuel supply (firewood / charcoal) | Raises | Running out chills families and applies a penalty. | Game-shown |
| Clothing variety | Raises | More clothing types make families happier. | Game-shown |
| Church access | Raises | Wooden church early, stone church as the town grows. | Game-shown |
| Tavern / Ale | Raises | Required for the higher burgage levels. | Game-shown |
| Tax rate | Lowers | The game shows a predicted loss per +10%; community estimate near −6 approval per +10%. | Community consensus |
| Homelessness | Lowers (largest) | The biggest single penalty; scales with count and duration, with a 30-day grace period. | Game-shown |
| Approval memory | — | Recent events are weighted; the memory fades over about 90 days. | Community consensus |
| Neutral point | — | Starts at 50%; range 0–100% across 7 tiers (3 penalty / 1 neutral / 3 bonus). | Game-shown |
Manor Lords burgage plot calculator. Monthly food surplus, families fed, and burgage upgrade requirements.
What is the Manor Lords burgage plot calculator?
How Manor Lords food and food variety actually work
How to use the Manor Lords burgage plot calculator
Backyard-extension food yields (editable defaults)
| Backyard extension | Food category | Size affects yield? | Default yield | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable garden | Vegetables | Yes (area) | 15 food / morgen / month | Estimate |
| Orchard | Fruit | Yes (area) | 30 food / morgen / month (mature) | Estimate |
| Chicken coop | Eggs | No | 1 egg / coop / month | Well-corroborated |
| Goat shed | Meat (chevon + milk) | No | 1 food / shed / month | Estimate |
| Apiary | Honey | No | 1 honey / apiary / month | Estimate (contested) |
Worked examples with the exact numbers
One 3-corpse-pit vegetable garden feeds about 11 families
A full one-morgen garden feeds 15
Three gardens cover 30 families — but still cannot upgrade
The default early-town mix: +21 surplus and 2 food types
Scaling to a large town: 60 families, 3 food types
Orchards trade time for density
Food and upgrade tips for Manor Lords
- Quantity is not variety — this is the number-one upgrade trap. A field of gardens feeds hundreds and is still one food type, and burgage upgrades gate on distinct categories, not total food. Pairing a vegetable garden with a single chicken coop jumps you from 1 to 2 categories instantly, which is what unlocks Level 2.
- Chicken coops are the cheapest food category you can buy. They lay 1 egg per month regardless of size or plot level, and they never pull a family off other work, so they are essentially free variety. The community's proven ratio is roughly one coop, one vegetable garden and one brewery per ~8 houses.
- Size your gardens in corpse pits. Players measure backyard area with the corpse pit (0.25 morgen): 3 pits (0.75 morgen) is about 11 food per month, and a full morgen is about 15. Bigger backyards only reach full yield when the resident family is free to tend them.
- Goat sheds and apiaries are mostly not food. A goat shed's headline output is hides for the clothing chain; only its chevon and milk count as food (default 1 per month, editable). Honey is contested and, in recent versions, is no longer eaten at all — the apiary instead boosts nearby farm and orchard yields through pollination. Set either to 0 in Advanced if your game does not count them as food.
- Do not forget fuel. Every burgage plot burns 1 firewood or charcoal per month, and that roughly doubles in winter. A glowing food surplus will not save a town that freezes, so match your woodcutter and charcoal supply to your plot count — the tool shows fuel demand next to food demand for exactly this reason.
- Match the Advanced yields to your own save. The per-morgen numbers are community estimates for Major Update 6, and Manor Lords rebalances often. If your in-game garden tooltip shows a different figure, type it into the Advanced panel and every result recomputes against your version — the plan stays accurate even after a patch.
- Approval is directional, not a number — this tool never predicts an approval percentage. Food variety, fuel, clothing variety, a church and a tavern serving ale all raise approval; heavy taxes and homelessness lower it. Above 50% approval draws about one new family per month, and above 75% about two, so treat rising food variety as a growth lever, not just an upgrade key.
- Plan for the requirement that blocks the upgrade, not the ones you already have. A single unmet condition — one missing food type, no fuel stall, no tavern ale — locks the entire burgage upgrade. Use the checker to find that one item instead of over-building food you do not need.
Manor Lords burgage plot calculator — frequently asked questions
How much food does each family eat per month in Manor Lords?
Each family consumes 1 food per month, regardless of the burgage plot's level or how many families share the plot. Fuel is different: every burgage plot burns 1 firewood or charcoal per month, and that roughly doubles in winter.
How many vegetable gardens do I need in Manor Lords?
It depends on garden size. A 3-corpse-pit garden (0.75 morgen) makes about 11 food per month, and a full-morgen garden about 15. For 30 families you would want roughly two full-morgen gardens plus a few chicken coops, or four 3-pit gardens and coops. Enter your family count above and the calculator sizes it exactly — and reminds you that you still need a second food type to upgrade.
How do I increase food variety for a burgage plot upgrade?
Build producers of different food categories. A vegetable garden (Vegetables) plus a chicken coop (Eggs) gives you 2 types; add a goat shed (Meat), an orchard (Fruit), a bakery (Bread), or foraged berries or hunted meat for a third. Level 2 needs 2 distinct food types; Level 3 and Level 4 need 3.
What are the burgage plot upgrade requirements in Update 6?
Level 2 needs a well, a wooden church, a fuel stall, at least 2 different food types and 1 clothing type. Level 3 adds a third food type, a second clothing type, and a tavern serving ale. Level 4 adds a stone church and a secondary clothing type and can house up to 4 families. Since Major Update 6 there are 4 levels — a new Level 3 was inserted and the old Level 3 became Level 4 — and settlement progression now tracks families living at each tier rather than plots built. Exact per-level costs are approximate and shown as "Approx." in the checker.
How many chicken coops do I need?
A chicken coop produces 1 egg per month, and size does not change that, so 10 coops make 10 eggs per month. Their real value is variety, not volume: a single coop adds the whole Eggs food category, which counts toward every burgage upgrade.
Does a bigger vegetable garden or chicken coop produce more food?
Only gardens and orchards scale with size — their yield is per morgen of backyard area, so a bigger plot grows more. Chicken coops, goat sheds and apiaries are size-independent: they produce the same fixed amount per month no matter how large the backyard is.
Is honey a food in Manor Lords?
It is contested and version-dependent. In recent versions honey is no longer consumed as food, and the apiary instead boosts nearby farm and orchard yields through pollination. The calculator includes an editable honey slot (default 1 per month) so it still works for older saves — set honey to 0 in the Advanced panel if your version does not count it as food.
Why can't I upgrade my burgage plot even though I have plenty of food?
Because a single unmet requirement locks the whole upgrade, and "plenty of food" usually means plenty of one food type. Upgrades check food variety, not volume, so a town swimming in vegetables still fails the 2-food-type bar for Level 2. You also need fuel, a clothing type, a church and a well — plus a tavern with ale for Level 3 and up. The checker shows which one is missing.
Does this calculator predict my approval rating?
No. Manor Lords publishes no approval formula — approval is calculated per plot, weighted by roughly 90 days of memory, and scaled by difficulty — so any exact percentage would be a guess. Instead of a fake number, the tool lists the directional factors (food variety, fuel, clothing, church, tavern, tax, homelessness) so you can see what is helping or hurting.
How accurate are the food yields in this calculator?
The stable facts — 1 food per family, 1 fuel per plot, 1 egg per coop, and food variety gating upgrades — are well corroborated across the community. The per-morgen garden and orchard yields, and the goat-shed and honey figures, are community estimates for Major Update 6 and can drift with balance patches, which is exactly why every one of them is editable. If your in-game tooltip shows a different number, type it in and the whole plan follows.
Is the Manor Lords burgage plot calculator free?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser with no sign-up and no download, and every result recomputes instantly as you change families, extensions or yields.
How many families can one burgage plot hold?
A Level 1 or Level 2 plot houses 1 family, plus a living-space expansion if the plot is wide enough. Level 3 houses 2 families, and Level 4 can hold up to 4. Since Major Update 6 the settlement tier tracks the number of families living at each level rather than the number of plots you have built.
Manor Lords food and burgage glossary
Burgage plot
A town-house plot with a backyard, the building block of a Manor Lords settlement. Each plot houses one or more families, burns 1 fuel per month, and can be upgraded through 4 levels as its market and settlement requirements are met.
Backyard extension
An add-on built on a burgage plot's backyard. The food producers are the vegetable garden, orchard, chicken coop, goat shed and apiary; other extensions (brewery, tailor, cobbler, blacksmith) make goods rather than food.
Food variety
The number of distinct food categories available at the market. Each category counts once regardless of quantity, and burgage upgrades gate on this count — 2 types for Level 2, 3 types for Level 3 and Level 4.
Food category
A distinct type of food: Vegetables, Fruit, Eggs, Meat and Honey come from backyard extensions, while Bread, Fish and Berries come from bakeries, ponds and forageable deposits.
Morgen
The historical Central-European land-area unit Manor Lords uses to size backyards and fields. Garden and orchard yields scale per morgen; the tool's default garden yield is about 15 food per morgen per month.
Corpse pit
A community measuring unit equal to 0.25 morgen, named after the grave-pit building whose footprint players use to gauge backyard size. The popular "3-pit" garden is 0.75 morgen.
Families fed
Total monthly food divided by 1 food per family — the number of families your passive production can support. It is the headline capacity number next to your surplus or deficit.
Approval
A settlement's satisfaction, from 0 to 100% and starting near 50%. It is raised by food variety, fuel, clothing, a church and a tavern with ale, and lowered by heavy tax and homelessness. Manor Lords publishes no formula, so this tool treats it as directional only and never predicts a percentage.