Development News (Burgage Plots and Trade Rework)

Hi everyone!

Tim here again, CEO of Hooded Horse. As promised a little over a month ago, checking in to let you know what's going on with development and give you a behind-the-scenes look at what's coming.

Now I originally intended to do a follow up post shortly after my first post, but then Greg and his team did awesome work pushing out a beta update a week later, another beta the following week, another the week after that, and then the update to main branch a few days later. So I was rendered useless, no real backstage insight to give you when the updates are rolling out like that, but today I saw my opportunity here just as everyone's coming back from holidays to jump in real quick while they're hard at work on the next update.

So I talked with the dev team, and they gave me some details on what's coming (special thanks to Darren on the dev team for helping put this together so well!).

A New Burgage Plot Level

This is the new Burgage Plot level planned for the next update.

This new level sits between the existing Levels 2 and 3 (internally we’ve been calling it 2.5), and its goal is to more smoothly bridge the gap between early and late-game housing.

What This Changes

Adding a new housing level naturally means tweaking some existing mechanics. One notable change is to the Burgage Plot Expansion upgrade. Rather than doubling the Living Space within a plot, it will now always add +1 Living Space, regardless of Plot Level.

At a base level:

• Burgage Plot (Level 3) provides 2 Living Space

• Burgage Plot (Level 4) provides 3 Living Space

This keeps housing progression more consistent as plots scale upward.

Adjusted Residential Requirements

We’ve also made Burgage Plot (Level 2) a bit more forgiving to upgrade.

The Small Stone Church is no longer required to reach Level 3. That said, constructing it still provides a substantial Influence bonus, so it remains worthwhile if you have the means.

Artisan Workshop Progression

Alongside housing changes, we’re also experimenting with more varied workshop progression.

While we intend on adding other specialized workshops in future, for this update, we’re considering moving the Baker extension to Burgage Plot (Level 3). This may encourage greater use of the Communal Oven early on, while also giving players an additional incentive to work toward Level 3 housing.

Similarly, the Cobbler extension may move to this level as well, since Shoes as an item aren’t strictly required until this stage of progression anyway.

As always, these changes are still being tested, and we’re keen to hear how they sound from a progression and pacing standpoint.

Trade Rework

We've seen the reaction to the new Development Perk system and lots of speculation and suggestions as to what's coming next for it. The next tier of perks will arrive after the Burgage Plot update and it will be focused on Trade Privileges, but before committing to Trade Focused Perks, we saw an opportunity to add more depth to the Trade system itself, introducing new layers of strategic decision-making.

What we’re aiming for is a Trade system that:

• Allows economic competition between rival Lords, not just military conflict

• Clearly separates Regional and Foreign Trade

• Streamlines inter-regional trade and bartering

• Feels less predictable, with opportunities that vary between playthroughs

One concept we’re currently exploring focuses on Merchants as the backbone of Foreign Trade.

Trade