say, for instance, I build a farm in Elyria, After a while, i can afford to buy more land to grow my crops. I keep on expanding, Is there a limit to my expansion?

No limit that I know of, but building too big might upset other farmers if you're selling your goods cheaper because you have more crops.

How do I attract NPCs to work on my farm?

Befriend them? Actually I have no idea.

After a while I talk a friend into bying into the game, he joins my farm, builds his own house adjacent to my plots of land. Can this grow into a town?

Yes, if you're not already in a town and you have the building required. Atleast that's how I've understood it.

i do not see any reason you cant, apparently nomadic towns can be considered (more like a huge caravan but none the less) you just must be aware who's land you would be on, considering you just popping up in someone's yard normally doesn't bode well with most :p but if you have the OK from them, then i do not see a reason that it'll pose much threat aside from being away from a town that would be closer for protection should you need and a easier route to the kingdom but that all depends on the count/mayor again but this is my speculation, the game is under DEVELOPMENT so I always expect changes. good luck with your farm town! and may your crops grow to be every season's best crop!

Above pretty much covers everything, but perhaps I can expand a little.

NPCs have needs just like players and will need to work to earn money to buy food and such, so they could come to you and offer you a contract to work the fields for you. You can find out more abotu NPCs and their behaviors here

Once a settlement has 25 parcels of land, 75 people and a town hall it will be classed as a town. You can find out more about the different settlement types and their requirements here.

Posted By Cerbus at

Is there a limit to my expansion?

Finite resources and other players: that may come as competitor farmers; aristocracy/nobility with land management laws; rival cities/nations and so on and so on...

Growing crops and expanding that growth sounds great but you need to be realistic, whats the point in growing more and more fields of crops if you don't find a market for them? if you can't find anyone new to sell them to then you're growing worthless crops and you will likely be paying more taxes the more land you own. There is no limit in growth other than population to acquire workers and the economy in the form of customers.

I presume this farm will be away from any main settlement meaning you're going to be competing with farmers who already have their foot in the door of a main settlement so you'll be competing, then there is logistics, how are you gonna keep delivering all that food? you'll probably find it's expensive trying to both compete with other farmers and having to ship long distance.

As for turning your farm into a settlement, you'll need to build a well and a tavern which costs money, time, resources and taxes.

Expansion has no limit, the limit as I said is economy and population and where you fit in the market and the costs of buying, building and maintaining everything.

"After a while I talk a friend into bying into the game, he joins my farm, builds his own house adjacent to my plots of land. Can this grow into a town?"

It would become a Hamlet first then a Town. Or, you could build next to a preexisting settlement, make it bigger and if you own the most land you could become leader of the larger settlement.

You can keep buying up all the land you need if it is available, but it might be wise not to plant on all of it. There might need to be a crop rotation to ensure a rich soil or you might be planting more than you sell which would be a waste of your time and effort.

Housing might be a little trickier. You as the owner of the land can build as many structures as you see fit on your property but having a friend build a house on your house might not be the wisest move. If he purchased land adjacent to yours that would be perfect since he can build on his own land and you can pull together your crops and sell them as a while, like a co-op.

I am like so man others that do not know the exact manner or speed of NPC recruitment. All I know if you offer a higher wage, perhaps breaking some of your land up in smaller parcels and offering those to the workers of the land as a whole, then perhaps that would entice NPCs to come work for you.

With enough time and resources I feel any settlement can be worked into a town (or a smaller hamlet). However I see a town as consuming land that can't be planted due to buildings and shops. But I feel there will be a few ways in which you can group together as a loose settlement as represented as the fourth image under concept art (2nd smaller image) or create a settlement in the middle of the lands for everyone (like a walled village) and everyone can work the lands outside the walls. And I am sure there will be other ways as well but rest assured, you can grow land from basically nothing into a town if you really wanted to.