Manor Lords won't let me get away with my usual survival city builder cheese strats, so I guess I'm actually gonna have to become a competent mayor

Playing a survival city builder is like a juggling act, except when you drop a ball 75 people starve to death. Everything needs to be carefully balanced. The population needs to steadily grow to provide more bodies for labor—but not grow so quickly that you wind up with too many mouths to feed. When citizens ascend to a higher status they can be taxed more, but they also require more amenities to be kept happy. 

Even something as simple as a tree can require the careful weighing of options...