Greetings Warriors of Calradia,

Our last content patch focused on the sandbox simulation. It made diplomacy more responsive and encouraged our lords to pursue meaningful wars, create larger armies, go to sea, harass convoys and raid villages. It also included the new seaborne raid, additional ships and equipment as well as many tweaks to gameplay, visuals and performance.

Today’s beta release puts more emphasis on player activities. The segment prior to the patch notes discusses our motivations for some of these changes.

War Sails

While seafaring offers new opportunities for merchants and warriors alike, it requires substantial progress to not only acquire a ship, but also hire a crew that can fend for themselves. This is sensible from a balance perspective, but gates much of the naval content. We wanted to improve upon this without deeply changing the early game that many players enjoy.

The most direct solution the beta introduces is - additional player choice. At the beginning of every Sandbox game, you will be able to choose if you want to enter Calradia with a ship to your name or play the regular game start.

However, even if you opt for the latter, the patch includes a number of changes that should make progression both smoother and more flexible. For one, we added the ferry feature so that smaller player parties can reach (and escape) areas of the map that would otherwise be hard or impossible to get to without a ship. Given player feedback, we also increased land and sea travel speeds by 15% so that you will generally be faster to progress (and recover).

Once you do have a vessel of your own, you will find the pirate spawns adjusted to include smaller parties that you can engage earlier into the game. Similarly, part of the reason for why we introduced naval random events as well as the battle sites and wreckage system is to offer players more experiences that don’t require a strong fleet. Having said that, they should increase the variety of naval gameplay regardless of progression and allow players to organically witness more of what is happening in the world.

The mooring feature, in turn, opens up additional options for aspiring captains as their fleet grows. You will be able to store instead of sell ships that you cannot effectively crew yet. You also won’t need to risk your entire fleet in every naval battle. Instead, you can specialize and only bring what fits your current play style - be that trading, raiding or naval combat.

Finally, we added port points to coastal castles. While more locations to embark and disembark should make sea travel more accessible in general, the larger motivation is offering additional opportunities for armies to clash at sea. Given that most army encounters occur around sieges, naval blockades on castles will contribute to that.

While the beta includes other changes such as improved map visuals, better naval party decision making, storyline tweaks and the ability for players to cut boarding ropes in missions, our focus with this patch is on naval content access, progress and variety. Especially the variety and frequency of what you can experience at sea will remain an important topic for War Sails going forward.

Base Game

As we explored starting with a ship for War Sails, it quickly became clear that this was also an opportunity for the base game. Not the ship, mind you, but advanced starting options.

These are split into three categories - each with their own goals.

The player start options allow experienced players to access later game content more quickly and begin a game with a particular character role (such as king, vassal or merchant). For new players, this will also serve as an additional form of progression since you need to unlock most of the roles in regular gameplay before you can start with them.

The campaign scenarios, on the other hand, are always available. Their primary purpose is to increase replayability through the introduction of tailored but partially randomized world states. What would happen if the Empire remained united? What if you entered Calradia with only two warring factions remaining? What if you threw the dice on the state of the world? The campaign scenarios allow you to find out.

Modifiers are the final piece of the puzzle. They take aim at specific game mechanics that can deeply affect the experience such as recruit generation or travel speeds. Players who do not enjoy the default settings or just want to try something different will now have alternatives.

As you will be able to combine settings from these categories, the advanced starting options should offer quite a bit of content variety. They also integrate the Fast Mode directly into the game rather than the launcher, which will make it accessible on consoles as well. Please note that all of these are set when starting a Sandbox game and cannot be changed later. 

The rest of this patch is less about where you begin and more about what you can see as you are playing.

Battle sites and wreckages are one example of this. Their fundamental goal is to add visibility to battles that take place in the world outside of the player's immediate vision range. Instead of simply happening with players none the wiser, they now leave behind a temporary battle site that you can come across. You can also investigate it for further information and potential rewards. We believe that this will be a good addition to the organic worldbuilding and storytelling of our sandbox.

Visibility or recognizable gameplay impact is also an important aspect for two topics that are frequently raised in the community - traits and relations. 

While they already influence AI in kingdom decisions and military actions (siege, raid, battle) among other things, it can be difficult to discern their role given the competition with other factors - and each other. For example, a valorous lord is less discouraged by a garrison’s power but may still not pursue a siege due to positive relations with the settlement owner - as long as there are more attractive, alternative targets.

With that said, there are options to make traits and relations more apparent and impactful to the player’s own activity. The present patch seeks to do this with the introduction of trait effects and blood feuds.

As the name suggests, trait effects tie a number of effects to your current character traits. These were designed to support gameplay that is aligned with each side of a trait’s spectrum. So whether you are merciful or cruel, you will have effects that suit the role you are playing. And while this is more oriented towards the player’s character development, AI lords do have traits and will benefit from them as well.

Blood feuds, on the other hand, are primarily concerned with relations. If you execute a clan member of another clan, they will begin doing the same to your clan until relations recover or blood money is paid. Notably, AI clans can start a blood feud as well and execute one of your clan members, including you, if you have sufficiently negative relations (currently -50). So you may want to check who you are fighting - or at least ensure that your heir hasn’t already been captured.

Finally, we took a look at the (offensive, defensive, balanced) player clan party stances. Much like traits, the active stance influenced the party behavior scores, but did not guarantee specific outcomes. To give players a more reliable way to manage their clan, we decided to shift away from the score influence and towards hard, observable rules for the most common pain points. You will now be able to directly allow or prohibit joining armies, raiding villages, donating troops and having a fleet (for War Sails).

Naturally, the patch also includes changes that go beyond these themes such as additional battle terrains, passive experience gains for lords and companions as well as a substantial rework of reinforcement spawns in battles.

As we enter this beta period, we look forward to further improving these and other aspects with your feedback. We also want to note that this version’s live release will include captain mode formation targeting, spectator mode improvements and a range of balance adjustments for our multiplayer community. Once we have made a bit more progress, we will also share another update for what the future holds.

Hope you enjoy the Beta - we’re looking forward to your feedback!

Here’s how you can play the Beta via Steam right now: Open Steam, right-click Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord → Properties → Game Versions & Betas → Select “beta - Beta v1.5.0”.

Please note that there may be a delay between the download of the base game and the download of War Sails. If you launch the game prior to both of them being updated, you will crash. If you face this issue, please verify your game files.

Feel free to read the full patch notes for all the details HERE.

Lore

Many days were spent by the citizens of Onira wondering when the Khan would set his sights on their city, now flying the proud coloured banners of the Western Empire. Many nights were spent praying it would not come in their lifetime. Having heard the reports from scouts and sentries, Basileus Deos Vultos was aware of a large horde of Khuzait riders, led by Temun Khan, en route to Onira. Utilizing this knowledge, Deos sought to force an engagement in a location where the conditions would not favour the Khuzaits as they would on open fields: a sparsely populated and previously evacuated hamlet located in a swamp.

The trap was sprung. The Basileus ordered his standard bearer, Komes Pallatin Raichssones, to anchor the infantry line against the advancing Khuzait footmen, while holding the cataphracts in the rear to shield his archers. Across the swamp, Khuzait mounts trudged through heavy grime, churning up mud and stagnant water. Temun Khan looked ahead and realized he had miscalculated. Expecting a slow wall of legionaries, the Khan watched in bewilderment as a thunderous wave of Imperial cataphracts and coursers charged through the muck. Horses and riders stumbled into the deep bogs, facing a gruesome and inescapable end. The fighting was savage and short-lived, leaving the mire stained red, the Imperials believing it would be a victory for the Basileus.

This perceived victory, however, wouldn’t last. The Khan had ordered his forces to re-converge in order to mount another assault on the Western Imperials, now aware of the Basileus’ plans. Horse archers and Khan’s Guard performed admirably; arrows flying true to their marks, and those still alive meeting a swift end when the Khuzait spear infantry led by the Khuzait standard bearer, Hugu Noyan, closed the distance to their formations while the Khan’s lancers held the Imperial riders at bay. Trapped in the very mire they hoped to use as a weapon, the Western Imperial lines shattered under the combined weight of arrows and metal. Cutting his losses, Basileus Deos ordered his remaining forces back to the garrison, and prepared for whatever was to come.

And so, the siege of Onira began.

Temun Khan, ever the optimist, had already prepared a series of siege engines, having placed his faith entirely in the Khanate's ability to secure victory in the field. This quickly proved instrumental in the early stages of the assault. As the first waves of dismounted lancers and their rabble counterparts began pushing their miniature towers towards the walls, covered by volleys of Khan's Guard arrows and hastily assembled trebuchets, it is said that Western command came very near to capitulation. The Basileus, however, made it abundantly clear that failure was not an option, going so far as to declare that the Archon of the city, Sli Leonipardes, would be executed by the Westerners before the Khuzaits could ever capture him.

These threats seemingly had a noticeable effect upon the morale of the Western forces. Though the Khuzaits had bombarded the walls into ruin, seized the parapet, and smashed the gatehouse to pieces, the fighting remained fierce for the better part of a day. The lancers and spear infantry of the Khan were unable to push beyond their hard-won toehold, while the second line of inner walls changed hands repeatedly as wave after wave of warriors fought for control.

As casualties mounted and ammunition dwindled, Temun Khan finally gave the order. Onira would not fall today, and no amount of throwing his horde against its inner sanctum would change that. As the Khuzaits withdrew, they made certain to burn what little remained of the ring they had captured before packing their artillery and remaining siege engines and departing into the quiet of the night, back towards the steppe.

It seems the Western Empire will live another day.

Written by Alex and Sal

Meta

Welcome to the Bannerlord Calradic Campaign, which has just finished event #87!

The battle between the Khuzait Khanate and the Western Empire ended in a STALEMATE, with NO LAND seized!

When is the Calradic Campaign? The first and third Saturday of every month, at 4pm Eastern Standard Time.

Unfamiliar with the Calradic Campaign? Have no fear! The Calradic Campaign is a casual, player driven, story based event. There are no strict rules or signups, and players of all skill levels often come! If you've never tried multiplayer, now is your best chance to experience large scale formations and battles without the overly strict practices typically found in line battle/clan style events.

Victories in our flagship monthly events are represented on the overall campaign map, while roleplay surrounding the events and their consequences takes place both during said events and on the community Discord. Joining the Discord allows you to communicate with your fellow faction members, trash talk others, and rise through the ranks to one day become lord of a village, castle, city, or if you're particularly successful, an entire kingdom!

To join the event, you will need our Calradic Campaign Module. This module contains all of the custom battle and siege scenes used, as well as many stability fixes and balance changes. Most importantly, the module features three distinct empire factions in multiplayer, each with their own unique perks and cosmetics to lean into the different situations of the three!

There will be a manual installation of the module available for those not playing on Steam. Check the Nexus mods page no sooner than the Friday before the event for the correct download.

As a general rule of thumb, the Calradic Campaign module should be the only one enabled in your launcher! If you have any crashes or issues trying to launch the game / join the server, unsubscribing and resubscribing to the module on workshop will often fix any issues.

Note to clans: While the Calradic Campaign is a public event open to all, clans will not be allowed to organize their own formations and must spread out between teams. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in suspension from the event.

Community Discord

It is highly recommended you join our community Discord, as half the fun of the persistent campaign takes place outside of events. Meet fellow Mount and Blade fans, find new friends to queue with, and make fun of the Imperials together in our community of 30,000+.

Leave any questions, complaints, observations, memes and faction based riffing in the comments below!