Greetings Warriors of Calradia,
War Sails v1.2.5 and Bannerlord v1.4.5 are now live on PC, with the console release planned for early June, once the release process for them concludes.
Join us in watching the video below as we walk through the key highlights included in this update. Prefer reading instead? You can find the full text breakdown further below.
\ SEABORNE VILLAGE RAIDS
Your fleet can now make port in coastal villages to trade, recruit troops, and resupply. This not only makes long-distance naval travel far more practical, but also introduces an entirely new Viking-era activity — the Seaborne Village Raids.
Naval raids expand both the strategic and immersive layers of the game. On the campaign map, they act as a new way to disrupt the enemy economy, allowing you and nobles to strike coastal settlements directly from the sea or by navigating rivers. Additionally, they contribute to a stronger naval presence among lords, making the sea feel more active and contested.
These raids are not just limited to the campaign layer. Once underway, they transition into the mission in one of the new amphibious raid scenes. Your ships approach from the sea or river, landing on beaches and in shallow waters. From there, your warband disembarks and pushes inland to meet defenders scrambling to respond.
Seaborne raids also introduce new strategic considerations. Fleet composition is now of greater importance as naval raids require shallow-draft ships. At the same time, attacking from the sea allows you to more easily evade responding enemy lords - opening up new tactical opportunities and challenges.
\ INCREASED NAVAL ACTIVITY
In addition, we expanded on AI nobles’ behavior to increase purposeful activity on the water. During wartime, enemies now actively seek out town and village port locations to harass your noble parties, convoys, and fishing ships. Combined with seaborne village raids, this should increase the number of naval travels and meaningful encounters between factions.
Further, we’ve re-balanced AI assessments so nobles are more inclined to prefer naval travel as opposed to land for longer journeys. Together with other changes like longer naval battles and increased view distance at sea, the amount of naval activity and engagements have increased quite a bit.
\ NAVAL CAMPAIGN GAMEPLAY BALANCE & FEEL
The naval campaign gameplay balance and feel were also things we wanted to revisit.
Naval combat is inherently costly, so we adjusted the risk–reward balance. Experience gain for troops in naval encounters is up 50% to better offset the losses that come with fighting on the water. Further, party wages and food consumption have both been reduced at sea.
Additionally, river travel has been made faster, with a 50% speed increase for parties, improving the utility of inland voyages.
\ NAVAL BATTLE MISSION
Naval battles have seen major improvements, aimed at creating a more fun and tighter experience.
You can now delegate command of your ship, letting your crew take the helm while you move freely and fight.
Further, we’ve refined spawn distances, ship handling, and boarding for smoother engagements.
Finally, victory conditions have been reworked with battles now ending when all ships on one side are out of action - meaning sunk, burned, or critically undermanned - rather than when every troop was defeated.
\ NEW CONTENT
On the content side, two new ships have been added to the War Sails roster, giving Northern factions more options for ranged-focused naval gameplay.
The Battanian Barlinnger was built to hold the line in larger naval engagements. Sharing traits with the Birlinn, it is slower and less responsive, but its broad deck and raised mid castle make archers and skirmishers especially deadly in ranged combat.
The Nord Battle Knarr, on the other hand, is an oversized and reinforced knarr built to carry ballistae as well as a large crew. When a longship won't do, the Battle Knarr steps in.
We've also added two new body armors - the Reinforced Mail Coat and the Nordic Long Heavy Mail, alongside 9 new Nord helmets such as the Nordic Spectacle Helmet and the Brass Vendel Helmet. Finally, there are ten new armor variants, with seven in War Sails and three in Bannerlord, including the Heavy Mastercrafted Northern Armor, Reinforced Huscarl Armor, and the Reinforced Wolf Head.
[WS + BL] NEW NAVAL PARTY ROLES & PARTY ROLE UPDATE
Beyond the battles themselves, crew management now comes with more options. We've added two new naval party roles: the First Mate, which is tied to the Boatswain skill, and the Navigator, tied to the Shipmaster skill.
To support these roles, three new Nord wanderer types have been introduced: the Easterling, the Boatswain, and the Sea-Raider - bringing the total to 11 new wanderers in War Sails.
And across both the expansion and the base game, clan members can now hold up to two party roles at the same time, reducing the pressure of companion limits.
[WS + BL] ARMY CHANGES
Moving on with changes that apply to both War Sails and Bannerlord - let's talk about armies.
The AI army creation system has been reworked. Armies now require a more sizable force before they can be formed; the influence threshold to create one has been doubled, and AI nobles are willing to spend more when doing so. These changes should result in fewer but stronger armies on the map.
Further, AI army formation and disbanding have been reworked to reduce ineffective defensive behavior. Armies no longer form or persist purely for defense and will disband if too weak to go on the offensive, giving nobles time to recover.
Individual nobles respond faster and more efficiently to threats, which leads to a greater number of successful settlement defenses, reduces rapid settlement ownership changes, and frees up parties for mid-sized engagements.
Finally, auto-resolved sieges now take twice as long, giving additional time for reinforcements.
[WS + BL] DIPLOMACY
Staying on the strategic layer, diplomacy has likewise seen significant changes.
On the war front, kingdoms without shared borders will no longer go to war and are more likely to seek peace when conflict stalls. This should reduce wars that exist only on paper.
Building on that, alliances and trade agreements have been expanded beyond their initial foundations. Their creation now better reflects the state of the world, taking into account factors like inter-faction marriages, existing diplomatic ties, and, particularly for alliances, owning settlements of another faction’s culture. This is especially interesting in the case of the Empire’s factions. Furthermore, breaking either of the agreements by declaring war incurs honor and relationship penalties.
Moving to alliances, specifically - they are now formed with improved reasoning, which puts a greater focus on surrounding threats. Further, they conclude with a Renewal prompt that gives kingdoms the chance to extend their partnership, while helping prevent immediate wars between former allies.
Responding to your ally also comes with additional consequences - refusing a Call to War damages the relationship, while accepting one strengthens it.
Finally, trade agreements are now limited to neighboring kingdoms and provide tangible, ongoing value. Caravans and naval convoys of trading partners generate gold with each settlement visit, which is then distributed daily among vassals.
[WS + BL] HIDEOUTS
Shifting to the covert side of things, hideouts have seen meaningful improvements to create a more challenging and responsive experience that rewards stealth.
In the stealth mission, you're no longer required to eliminate sentries before approaching the campfire - and reaching it without killing or alerting anyone earns you a Roguery experience bonus.
We also added a skill-based success chance when sending troops to clear a hideout. Finally, Assault and Stealth approaches offer distinct rewards - Stealth grants access to the hideout stash, while Assault doesn’t.
[WS + BL] BATTLES & SIEGES
Back on the battlefield, encounters should now feel less punishing, with the medicine skill scaling better to provide a higher likelihood of troops being wounded rather than killed.
Combat has received further iteration as well. Melee units should commit to attacks more reliably, spear troops have improved aiming against cavalry, and cavalry is better at timing and choosing swing directions.
All two-handed maces can also knock enemies down.
Finally, the default cavalry bonus in auto-resolve has been removed, reducing the disproportionate advantage of horse-heavy factions.
That covers the highlights for War Sails v1.2.5 and Bannerlord v1.4.5. Here’s an image to recap the important changes as well.
Initial Beta Changelog:
War Sails Beta v1.2.0
The following changes are specific to the War Sails expansion and are not part of the base game.
Clan and Party
Changes
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Added a new AI party behavior for offensive naval patrols that seek to disrupt enemy forces and economy during war.
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These target town and village "port" locations to harass Lord Parties, Convoys, and Fishing Ships.
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This should contribute to lord sea presence, but, more importantly, to a greater number of naval engagements for lord parties.
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Increased AI nobles’ willingness to travel by sea.
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AI lords were overestimating how much damage they would take at sea. We adjusted that to make their calculations more reasonable.
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This should make longer naval travel more acceptable to nobles.
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Added New Naval Party Roles
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Players can now assign First Mate (Boatswain skill) and Navigator (Shipmaster skill) roles.
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Updated some perks to have First Mate and Navigator role-specific effects.
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Added 3 new Nord wanderer types: "the Easterling", "the Boatswain", and "the Sea-Raider".
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Mariner Skill Changes
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Added Mariner skill to all Mariner troops.
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Reworked how the Mariner skill affects combat performance during naval engagements.
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In Campaign/Sandbox mode and naval battles, heroes now use their Mariner skill to reduce combat penalties when fighting on ships. A Mariner skill of 200 fully cancels these penalties, while heroes with 0 Mariner skill receive the full penalties.
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Regular troops can only cancel these penalties if they have the “mariner” tag. Troops without this tag receive the full penalties during naval combat.
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Adjusted how Mariner skill behaves in Custom Naval Battles.
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All troops (including heroes) will cancel all Mariner penalties if their default Mariner skill is greater than 40.
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Troops with a value below 40 receive the full penalties.
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Adjusted how swimming duration scales with the Mariner skill.
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Maximum Mariner skill now grants up to +20 seconds of additional swimming time, allowing experienced mariner troops to survive longer if they fall into the sea.
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Fixed several agent stat calculation differences between Campaign/Sandbox and Custom Naval Battles. Both modes now use consistent calculations, with the exception of personal and captain perks, which are only applied in Campaign/Sandbox mode.
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Improved AI party behavior by enabling pirate parties to surrender when their relative strength is significantly lower than the opposing force.
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Increased experience gain for non-hero troops in naval encounters by 50%. This change applies to both missions and auto-resolution. It should help offset higher troop losses at sea.
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Added a 40% View Distance penalty when the player party is inside a storm.
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Increased the party View Distance at sea by 30%.
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Reduced party wages while at sea.
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Reduced food consumption while at sea.
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Increased the river party naval speed by 50%.
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Decreased the roaming range of fisher parties.
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Adjusted the armor pieces used by Sea Hound troops so they are consistent with their tier.
Fixes
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Fixed a bug that allowed parties to travel through the obstacles on the campaign map.
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Fixed a bug that prevented players from entering the raft state when released from captivity at sea.
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Fixed a bug that caused some naval parties to miscalculate enemy party strength and thus make ill-informed decisions whether to engage or flee.
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Fixed a bug that caused the player’s ships to be left behind after dying at sea and choosing an heir, resulting in a single ship stranded at a settlement instead of being transferred to the new party.
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Fixed a bug that prevented wanderers of Nord culture from spawning.
Naval Battles
Changes
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Added a system to handle campaign naval battles that do not fully exhaust at least one of the sides. The previous system allowed the player or AI to defeat the enemy as a whole, even if they had more remaining ships & troops that did not fight in the initial battle. Both sides now disengage from the encounter and consider their next move.
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Added the ability to delegate command of your ship.
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Using the "Delegate command" order, the crew takes control of the ship while the player freely moves and acts on deck.
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If the order is given while the player controls the ship, the control is automatically relieved. The order ends automatically if the player manually takes ship control, while disabling the order will stop the ship's movement.
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Improved mission victory logic for naval battles.
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Previously, all troops had to be down or in the water for a side to be defeated. A side is now considered defeated only when all of its ships are out of action (sunk, burnt, or critically undermanned). This doesn't apply to actively contested ship islands.
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The mission will not conclude while a player-controlled agent is alive and not until at least 20 seconds have passed since the last player-controlled agent’s death.
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Adjusted the way the spawning distance between teams is calculated in missions.
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The distance between teams in naval battles is now determined by ship count rather than total crew capacity. This change should result in shorter distances for engagements between a few ships and greater distances for larger fleets.
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Increased ship figurehead loot drop chances from defeated enemy nobles.
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Defeating a Kingdom Leader: Increased from 50% to 60%.
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Defeating a Clan Leader: Increased from 25% to 50%.
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Defeating a Clan Member: Increased from 10% to 40%.
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Added a boarding indicator to show which enemy ship is currently being boarded.
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Added the ability to cancel an active boarding order by holding the boarding key on the targeted ship.
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Added separating forces that apply when ships become tangled, helping them break apart.
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Improved boarding bridge connections so that they are harder to break.
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Made troop pathfinding improvements for moving on ships.
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Ships that were given the targeted Engage order on an enemy ship remained inactive after clearing it and any other attached enemy ships. Now, they will automatically detach and find new enemies to attack.
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Adjusted the speed threshold for oar-assisted turning to be more tolerant. Ships turn faster when using oars on both sides.
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Reduced the fire damage of a missile that passes through a sail before hitting a target.
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Adjusted ship ballista rotation and projectile type behavior so different ballista types feel more distinct.
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Improved ballista direct control mode visibility by enabling movement of the ballista during reload.
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Adjusted the ship ballista camera behavior so it automatically switches to a different camera view when the ballista is unmanned, making it clearer when the ballista is not being used by a troop.
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Ranged accuracy of troops now decreases with the ships' movement.
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Improved the efficiency of getting back onto the ship by enabling multiple troops to use climbing nets simultaneously.
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Increased auto resolution time for naval encounters.
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Increased mariner troop strength in naval battle simulations by 20%.
Fixes
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Fixed a bug that prevented AI ships with the Engage order from connecting with and assisting allied ships during naval battles. Ships given the Engage order will now correctly update their boarding targets, throw hooks, and board enemy ships as intended, including when multiple allied ships are engaging the same target.
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Fixed a bug that allowed the minimum troop count in Naval Custom Battle to go below the operable troop count, resulting in immediate battle end.
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Fixed a bug that caused figurehead drop chances to be lower than intended.
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Fixed a bug that caused the "Use oars at half power" command to trigger an incorrect number of oarsmen and improper ship steering behavior.
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Fixed a bug that prevented troops from being assigned to oars during initial battle deployment.
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Fixed a bug that caused collision issues inside Roundship and Dromon, causing units to get stuck.
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Fixed a bug that caused ship reinforcements to continue spawning while a ship is burning.
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Fixed a bug that caused burning sails to still apply wind forces.
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Fixed a bug that caused the default player character camera to be reset to third person when relinquishing control of the ship.
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Fixed a bug that caused troops to continue using ship interactables while they are in the water.
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Fixed a bug that caused troops to collide with boarding bridges when swimming underneath.
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Fixed a bug that caused troops to appear outside of a ship in Order of Battle, when switching ship selection.
War Sails Storyline
Changes
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Added a tooltip for the reasons the dialogue option to set sail with Purig is disabled during the naval storyline.
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Improved naval storyline progression clarity when Ostican is hostile to the player. Gunnar can now be accessed via town and port menus during the naval storyline, even if the player is at war with Ostican’s owner, ensuring the storyline can still be progressed without entering the settlement.
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Improved proximity detection for notifications and music cues during the “Defeat the Sea Hounds” naval storyline mission, ensuring banner messages and audio events trigger reliably as ships move into range.
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Increased food and gold given in naval storyline quests, to ensure reaching quest objectives with enough provision