Summary of everything TaleWorlds announced today, both DLC and base game
War Sails - Paid DLC releasing 17th of June, 2025
- The biggest of the additions is ships.
There are 18 ships and they can all be customized. You will be able to mount siege or sea combat weapons on them. The ships themselves have to be produced and this is supposedly quite lucrative.
There are three new skills that relate to seafaring.
There are new music tracks, which I assume will play during sea combat.
- Nords, a faction inspired by vikings.
Nords have custom troops with custom weapons and armor. The blog says some of these troops might be more effective in sea engagements.
You will also be able to use some new Nordic hair styles, tattoos, etc. Some customization stuff.
- An animatic inbetween the announcements also shows a new landmass.
The blog post doesn't say anything but it's definitely not a part of the Calradia we currently have, as it shows a castle settlement set on a cliff of an isolated island.
Base game news, no release date given
- TaleWorlds cut DLC.
The blog post mentions that TaleWorlds were working on a more story-focused DLC which they ultimately decided to scrap. They say, however, that a lot of the features developed for this DLC will be making their way into the base game.
They also claim this was the reason for their long era of silence.
- New stealth system.
I quote, ''...a robust stealth system that will allow you to infiltrate dungeons and hideouts, rescue prisoners, and dispatch enemies without ever raising alarms...''
The blog post mentions stuff like needing to hide corpses so I assume current 'stealth' segments will be significantly reworked.
- Random events.
Random events that happen as you play the game. Pretty self-explanatory, I think. The blog post says these events will play into the traits that the player character can have.
- Parleys.
You will be able to send out a parley to communicate with a lord from a distance.
- Slings.
New weapon type, very little is shown in the blog post besides a brief animatic showing the sling animation.
- Minor improvements.
The blog post says they're planning to improve the AI and open things up for modders. This one is a bit technical so I'll just paste the whole paragraph here.
''We’re likewise working on a number of adjustments to support our modders better. This includes allowing attack while crouched (looking at you - mods with guns), further opening up the AI agent attack and weapon selection decision-making processes, making the interpolated mission atmosphere moddable, providing audio modding support for FMOD Banks and Events, as well as opening up campaign time to customization. To make modding even more accessible, we’re creating an XML Editor, removing the need to manually edit XML files to add, remove, or modify items, heroes, factions, settlements, and more. Those that will prefer to continue doing it manually, will also see that process simplified, where using the XSLT system will no longer be necessary.''
Sources:
Announcing the War Sails Expansion & Base Game Plans!
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord - War Sails - Announcement Trailer