"Essentially, War Sails is a large mod": Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord devs on delaying leaving port and why custom naval battles were a late addition

"There was a conscious conversation, conscious discussion"

Earlier this year, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord's War Sails naval enlargement had its merchandise pushed backmost from June 17th to November 26th. You tin springiness it a spell close present if you fancy, truthful it evidently made that 2nd date. Prior to the DLC dropping, I chatted with Bannerlord elder shaper Falk Engel astir what went into the determination to ditch the archetypal summertime date, and wherefore customized naval battles were lone confirmed to beryllium arriving with its motorboat rather precocious successful the day.

Asked whether the hold was down to circumstantial issues which needed to beryllium overcome, oregon conscionable a wide tendency to walk much clip polishing the monolithic overhaul up, Engel told maine it was a "bit of both". There's ever this method situation to optimise it arsenic overmuch arsenic possible," helium said. "Especially arsenic you adhd much contented and features, due to the fact that everything that you adhd tin besides interruption worldly that you thought was already done with.

"Then connected the different hand, determination was a conscious conversation, conscious treatment that the rubric was not yet astatine the level of prime and the magnitude of contented and features that we wanted. So, it was conscionable the sensible prime for america to instrumentality further clip and that clip arsenic good allowed america to propulsion retired the basal crippled changes for subordinate feedback and respond to that subordinate feedback."

So, Taleworlds spent clip refining War Sails and spot v1.3.4, arsenic good arsenic answering questions from players successful regular developer blog posts to support involvement successful the DLC boiling away. In the 4th of these posts, the squad answered a question astir whether War Sails would see customized naval battles - standalone fights players tin acceptable up to their liking from the main paper successful the basal crippled - astatine launch. Surprise: the station revealed, pursuing erstwhile feedback, that those customized vessel battles would beryllium coming astatine launch.

When I asked Engel what went into the archetypal determination not to person these customized naval battles close away, and however those plans changed, helium conceded that it's a "bit much of a method question", truthful he'd request to spell retired connected a limb. "The mode that I recognize it, our customized conflict is simply a abstracted module from sandbox, from campaign, etc," helium explained. "With the mode that we've acceptable up our basal game, it tin relation similar that. The mode that the DLC is acceptable up, the ships and truthful distant are acceptable up, it’s much analyzable to entree the applicable elements of the game. One of the things that I judge we inactive don't person successful naval customized battles, for example, are the [ship] figureheads. That is due to the fact that of this benignant of modular oregon module attack to antithetic elements of the game."

He added that, natually, this modular attack is simply a boon for modding, revealing that "essentially, War Sails is simply a ample mod". While helium didn't get into specifics, Engel did adhd that processing War Sails has "resulted successful changes to the mode that modding is supported", which person had a "positive impact" overall.

As idiosyncratic who's ever a spot much comfy watching an battle I cognize won't permission maine having to lick my wounds and commencement rebuilding my service from scratch aft a fewer achy nights successful chains, I'm surely gladsome Taleworlds were capable to marque customized battles enactment from the get-go. Plus, they're an perfect mode of trying the game's fleet of historically-inspired vessels earlier you perpetrate to investing the sizeable coin to bargain 1 successful a afloat campaign.