Patch Notes - WS v1.2.5 / BL v1.4.5
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.
https://youtu.be/IWviRtS7egs
[WS] 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.
[WS] 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.
[WS] 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.
[WS] 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.
[WS] 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.
Feel free to read the full patch notes for all the details HERE.