Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord Update 1.026 Patch Notes (v1.25)

Top Changes in This Update (Summary Highlights)

• War Sails introduces full naval warfare, a new northern region, and the Nord faction.

• Naval Battles & Fleet Building add 20 ships, boarding, ramming, and weather-driven combat.

• Patch v1.3.4 revamps alliances, stealth, AI, and settlement development.

• Fast Mode, Random Events, and new weapons like slings expand gameplay systems.

• Major AI, audio, and visual improvements across the entire game.

WAR SAILS — FEATURE EXPANSION PATCH NOTES

New Region & Faction – The Nords

• Introduces the Nord faction, a Viking-inspired Northern Kingdom.

• Adds a new northern region with jagged coasts, taiga forests, and frozen fjords.

• Settlements offer Nord trade, recruitment, clan interactions, and faction challenges.

Naval Warfare System

Naval Battles

• Adds full ship-to-ship combat with wind, waves, ramming, and boarding.

• Players can create floating fortresses, join ongoing engagements, or pin multiple enemies.

• Fire arrows and ballistae can ignite sails and damage enemy buoyancy.

World Expansion

• Northern seas, islands, coastal routes, and open waters now explorable.

• Weather and currents affect speed, attrition, and long-distance expeditions.

• Naval trade, piracy, and sea blockades now influence the campaign.

Fleet Building & Ship Systems

20 New Ships

• 15 warships, 4 trade ships, 1 fishing vessel, all with unique handling.

Fleet Management

• Ships support siege engines, cargo holds, upgraded sails, and rams.

• Ships and figureheads can be captured in battle.

• Shipyards produce vessels based on culture and development.

Custom Naval Battles

• Quick-start mode for standalone naval warfare.

• Full control over heroes, factions, fleet composition, randomized ship upgrades, crew setup, and wind/season/time.

Skills, Gear & Troops

• Adds Nord hairstyles, tattoos, and beards.

• Introduces three nautical skills for navigation, sea tactics, and stewardship.

• New Nord weapons, armor, and mariner troop lines specialized for naval combat.

• New companions with seafaring backgrounds.

War Sails Questline

• Guided introduction from basic ship handling to fleet command.

• Includes cinematics, scripted missions, and a campaign against a pirate confederacy.

Audio & Music

• Adds Nordic and Mediterranean-inspired music.

• Updated sea ambience: waves, wind, hull creaking, and boarding chaos.

PATCH V1.3.4 — GAME UPDATE NOTES

Kingdom Diplomacy

Alliances & Trade Agreements

• Kingdoms form alliances against shared enemies.

• Trade agreements increase caravan activity and economic ties.

War, Peace & Tribute Scoring

• Refined war progress scoring for more logical conflicts and fewer short wars.

Stealth & Disguise Overhaul

• Guards now detect light, movement, and sound.

• Enables stealth in hideouts, prison breaks, and hostile town infiltrations.

• Disguise allows scouting but triggers alarms from suspicious actions.

Fast Mode

• Optional PC module that accelerates years, aging, skill progression, and population turnover.

• Designed for multi-generation dynasties.

World Systems – Danger & Discovery

Deserters & Patrol Parties

• Fleeing troops can form stronger deserter bands.

• Guard Houses create patrols to defend villages and assist battles.

#### Random Events

• Short narrative encounters affecting traits, skills, items, or gold.

Campaign Interactions

Parley with Enemy

• Speak with nobles inside enemy settlements without triggering battle.

Caravan Movement Control

• Change caravan home town and avoid hostile kingdoms.

• Caravan AI prioritizes maximized profit and trade volume.

AI Overhauls

• Improved army and party decision-making regarding strength, food, wounded, and targets.

• Reduces bad marches and creates more realistic strategic behavior.

Settlement & Clan Development

Reworked Settlement Projects

• Balanced and more impactful development paths.

• New options to fine-tune town and castle management.

Recruiting Notables as Supporters

• Notables can be recruited to generate daily influence and boost loyalty.

• Support is lost if relations drop too low.

Weapons & Combat

New Weapon – Slings

• Fast ranged option with varied ammo for players and troops.

Post-Knockout Troop Takeover

• Take control of another soldier after being knocked out.

Crouched Range Combat

• Fire and reload short bows, light crossbows, throwing knives, and rocks while crouching.

Overhauled Spear Bracing

• Better spear use, animation, and targeting.

• AI bracing more effectively counters cavalry pushes.

AI Combat Improvements

• Melee: improved target selection, no fear of mounted enemies.

• Ranged: better projectile leading, avoids friendly fire, holds position.

• Cavalry: improved charge paths, less zig-zag, better formation cohesion.

Visual, Audio & Interface Additions

• New main menu videos for all cultures.

• New armor, weapons, shields (with major Sturgia upgrades), scabbards, and holsters.

• Improved lighting, skyboxes, atmospheres, and global illumination.

• New music and ambient sound for stealth missions.

Modding Enhancements

• FMOD audio event support.

• Moddable atmospheres and campaign time.

• New agent and weapon behavior settings.

• Expanded support for custom maps.

• New XML Editor.

Singleplayer

Kingdoms and Diplomacy

Changes

• Added Alliances
  • Depending on relations between rulers, shared or separate wars, existing tribute payments, ruler traits, and other factors, kingdoms can now decide to form an alliance through a kingdom decision.
  • Alliances are between 2 kingdoms. Every kingdom can have 2 alliances.
  • Alliances end after 1 in-game year (84 game days) or when one ally declares war on the other.
    • The duration is extended when there is an ongoing Call to War obligation.
  • Forming an alliance cancels any existing tribute payments between the kingdoms.
  • Allied kingdoms are less likely to declare war on each other and more likely to wage war against their ally’s enemies.
  • Kingdoms can request that their allies join their wars through Call to War agreements, which may include a gold payment to secure support.
    • This kingdom decision automatically occurs when an alliance is created and the members have an unshared war or when a new war begins for one of the allies.
      • It cannot be requested again during the war – but allies are incentivized to join the war themselves.
      • Players can call the ally to war through dialogue – but have to pay the required gold themselves in this case.
    • A kingdom that accepts a Call to War is bound to the conflict for a minimum of two in-game seasons (42 game days), after which it may return to its own diplomatic course.
• Added Trade Agreements
  • Depending on relations between kings, between clans and the opposing king, and on the number of bordering settlements, kingdoms can decide to improve trade relations through a kingdom decision.
  • Once a trade agreement is signed, the likelihood of caravans visiting the other kingdom is increased.
  • If war is declared, the trade agreement is immediately broken.
  • Kingdoms can hold up to two trade agreements at the same time.
  • Each trade agreement lasts for one in-game year.
  • It becomes harder for kingdoms to sign a new agreement after a recent war.
• Reworked War, Peace & Tribute Decision Scoring
  • We had 3 primary goals in mind:
    • prevent illogical war and peace declarations and tributes
    • limit the number of very short wars that are breaking the flow of the sandbox and the player experience
    • properly assess the current state of wars and use that to affect the peace decisions.
  • Kingdoms will now choose opponents more wisely, avoiding wars against overwhelmingly stronger factions. They will also be more resilient and less eager to declare peace once they are at war. This will result in fewer but more impactful wars.
  • Added a more precise war effort system in which successful sieges, raids, and casualties determine which side holds the upper hand. This system carries greater weight in how kingdoms decide when to offer or accept peace – and should stop losing kingdoms from demanding and winning kingdoms from paying tributes. It should also enable kingdoms to focus their peace pursuit on the wars that they are losing.
    • White Peace treaties, where no tribute is exchanged, will also take war efforts into account.

Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused clans from a destroyed kingdom to be removed from the game prematurely.
• Fixed a bug that caused peace proposal notifications to appear repeatedly.
• Fixed a bug that prevented successful raids from appearing on the kingdom’s diplomacy screen.

Stealth & Disguise

• Implemented the stealth system – used in prison breaks (from a dungeon) and hideouts.
  • Enemies detect the player through sight and sound, reacting to movement, noise, bodies, or their alarmed allies.
  • Their vision is influenced by
    • elevation — enemies see more clearly when looking down, but struggle to spot movement above them.
    • light exposure — shadows and night offer concealment while areas lit by torches make you stand out.
  • Natural hiding spots such as tall grass and dark corners provide concealment; crouching reduces visibility further.
  • Enemy alertness states: Neutral → Cautious → Searching → Fully Alarmed.
  • Added distraction mechanics with thrown objects and noise-making; some enemies resist being diverted.
  • Stealth attacks deal bonus damage to unaware targets with certain weapons allowing crouched melee and ranged strikes.
  • Players can drag bodies to conceal them and prevent raising alarms.
  • Your roguery skill will now also impact the damage dealt via stealth attacks as well as how fast you move and the noise you make while crouched.
  • Reworked the bandit hideout scenes and mission to accommodate stealth gameplay.
    • Instead of diving straight into the fight, you’ll need to clear out sentry camps surrounding the main hideout first. Once you’ve eliminated these outer threats, you’ll have the option to call for an all-out assault on the main camp, leading to the final boss fight.
  • Reworked dungeons and the prison break mission to accommodate stealth gameplay.
    • Breaking someone out won’t be as simple as waltzing in and cutting their shackles — you’ll now need to sneak your way in, locate the prisoner’s cell, and then escort them out without raising suspicion. You can’t fight your way in, but once you reach the cell, guards will start to sense that something is off and begin patrolling. At that point, you’ll have to decide—do you attempt a stealthy escape, or fight your way out?
    • 6 new dungeon scenes have been added designed for stealth gameplay.
  • Implemented a third equipment layout which will be utilized in stealth missions.
    • Certain armor pieces now modify your visibility and audibility, offering bonuses for stealth-oriented gear. This is indicated with a stealth bonus entry on the item tooltip.
    • Selected daggers now have an alternate backstabbing attack.
    • Daggers, certain swords, short bows, composite bows, light crossbows, and select throwing weapons will be usable in stealth missions.
      • The range of available weapons remains subject to change.
    • Added Bag of Rocks for creating distractions and diverting enemy attention.
• Implemented the disguise system – used when sneaking into hostile towns.
  • The first infiltration of a town requires setting up a contact inside the settlement. The town mission, however, now has increased guard presence and surveillance, requiring you to disguise yourself and find the contact person within the mission.
  • Disguise relies on inconspicuity — suspicious actions such as running, drawing weapons, or hiding will raise guard suspicion. High suspicion triggers guard investigation. If you break line of sight, they eventually return to their posts.
  • Being identified blows your cover, placing all guards on full alert and initiating pursuit. Escape requires leaving the settlement and capture results in imprisonment.
  • If you establish a contact successfully, you can then explore the town in disguise, including in any future entries.
  • If you prefer the campaign menu, you may still use the skill roll option to sneak into the settlement each time — but only after you’ve established a contact there.
• Implemented a tutorial quest for stealth that is added at the end of the campaign tutorial (also when skipping).
• Added a new difficulty option for stealth and disguise.
  • The selected difficulty option (normal, veteran, challenging) affects the sight and hearing abilities of enemies in both gameplays.

Clan and Party

• Added a new bandit faction called “Deserters”.
  • Deserter parties can be created after lord battles and roam around nearby villages. As a consequence, they will proliferate in war-torn regions but remain rare during peace time.
  • As these parties are made up of trained soldiers rather than bandits and looters, they can be a bit more of a challenge. They can also merge when certain conditions are met, creating larger and stronger forces that can threaten even clan parties.
• Added a new party type called “Patrol Parties”.
  • One patrol party is automatically generated in towns when the “Guard House” settlement project is built. Each Guard House level then enables the party to field stronger troops. Patrol parties do not incur wages.
  • While a Patrol Party is active, it provides a security bonus to the town.
  • Patrol Parties patrol their bound town and its bound villages, favoring hunting bandits and helping villages under raid.
  • If a patrol party has suffered losses, it can return to town for reinforcements. If it is defeated, it takes some time to create another one.
• Added Random Events.
  • You may now encounter up to 100 different events presented through pop-up menus as you play. These appear based on your actions — for example, entering a town or participating in a siege. Each event tells a different story and offers choices that can affect your character’s traits, skills, party, items, or gold.
• Added the ability to edit party and caravan leading clan members’ equipment and inventory through dialogue.
• Tweaked certain aspects of Sturgia to make them more distinct & in-line with their historical inspirations.
  • The first Sturgian culture bonus has been changed from “Recruiting and upgrading infantry troops is 25% cheaper.” to “Village grain production is increased by 10%.”
  • The second Sturgian culture bonus has been changed from “Armies lose 20% less daily cohesion.” to “Armies are gathered with 50% less influence.”.
  • Round shields have been removed from Sturgia troops, nobles, and tournament equipment. They have been replaced by 3 new shields (mentioned under Art). Kite shields have also been distributed among Vlandia, Empire, and Sturgia.
  • Removed certain Nord-inspired weapons and head armors from Sturgian troops.
  • Replaced certain Nord-inspired banner sigils used by Strugia with existing suitable icons.
• Wanderers now spawn younger. In addition, the age at which they leave the game due to aging has been increased, allowing them to remain in the game longer.
• Prisoner heroes and troops are now healed over time. Prisoner heroes’ health is capped at 20%, and one prisoner troop recovers daily.
• Party food consumption will now always be at minimum 0.01.
• Noble and companion parties from factions or clans without settlements (such as minor factions) will now patrol around towns, castles, and villages they are neutral with. Combined with increased enemy detection for patrolling parties, this makes it more difficult for bandit parties to roam and pillage freely near settlements.
• Party AI Movement Improvements & Fixes
  • Reduced the campaign map movement speed of all parties by 20%. As a result, the “Cavalry” and “Footmen on horses” campaign speed bonuses now also provide a smaller boost.
  • Adjusted party evasion behavior so that faster parties will circle around stronger enemies to reach their target location instead of fleeing in the opposite direction.
  • Parties will no longer try to flee to a settlement if the party they are fleeing from is also in that settlement.
  • Parties will now flee to a suitable point instead of trying to flee to a settlement if the party they are avoiding is static (in a map event, in a siege, etc.).
  • Modified engagement behavior so parties no longer target enemies unless they have higher movement speed and are within engagement radius.
  • Parties are now more likely to visit those settlements with sufficient food supplies when they need to replenish.
  • Parties now require at least 6 days of food to begin patrolling.
  • Parties will no longer have an immediate contributing factor to visit a settlement simply because some troops are wounded — this now only occurs if wounded troops exceed 20% of the party.
  • Adjusted the wounded score for visiting settlements so parties will not wait for 100% wounded recovery.
  • Fixed a bug that caused parties to flee from weaker enemies instead of the most powerful nearby enemy.
  • Fixed a flee behavior bug that caused some parties to stand still.
  • Fixed a bug in the party visit score calculation for garrison support, which caused parties to avoid settlements if they could not take troops from the garrison.
  • Fixed a bug that caused parties to attack stronger parties in certain scenarios.
  • Fixed a bug that caused nearby non-lord parties to override other possible lord targets.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented allied parties from joining nearby sally out events.
  • Fixed a bug that caused parties called to an army to immediately leave a settlement even if it was under siege.
  • Fixed an issue that caused some minor factions’ parties to become stuck on villages.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed an unrelated party to join a battle while the player was already engaged.
• Removed main hero’s parents in Sandbox mode.
• Fixed a bug that spawned the main hero’s parents alive in Campaign mode.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the player from selecting the main hero’s sister as an heir.
• Fixed several bugs that caused troop XP progress to reset, such as when opening the party screen or transferring troops.
• Fixed an issue where courtship failure displayed incorrect text while in an army.
• Fixed a bug that caused grown-up heroes to have negative skill points.
• Fixed a bug that caused AI parties to lose almost all their members after their leader died.
• Fixed inconsistencies in the home settlements of the player’s siblings immediately after character creation.
• Fixed a bug that removed alleys from the main hero after an heir was selected.
• Fixed a bug that teleported the hero to a target settlement or party while they were a prisoner.
• Fixed a bug that caused the player to pay wages for family members when they were part of their party.
• Fixed a bug that caused party wages to become a profit instead of a cost when using cheats.
• Fixed a bug that caused a new ruler’s clan to retain the player’s clan banner after the player left their own kingdom.
• Fixed a bug that caused enemies to refuse to release imprisoned companions after the player left the kingdom.

Previously, a big update added bug fixes and changes. Unfortunately, since the release, players are facing several issues. Mount and Blade Bannerlord patch 1.026 will fix a few of these issues.