Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord News

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is a rags to riches adventure that encourages players to forge their own path through Calradia to climb to the top of the social ladder. How, or even if, they get there is completely down to their own choices and actions within the game. In previous Mount & Blade games, this rise to power revolves around a single character, but with the introduction of permanent death and clans in Bannerlord – two new features that work hand in hand to create a deeper, more immersive experience – some of the focus needed to shift slightly away from the exploits of an individual character. This is where the topic of this week’s blog steps to the fore: renown.

Veterans of our previous games will already be familiar with renown, but for those of you that are unaware, please allow us to explain. Renown is a system that represents how famous or well-known someone is in Calradia. In Warband, it was a kind of score that kept track of players’ accomplishments and opened up new avenues of gameplay for them – once they had made a name for themselves.

With Bannerlord, the key difference is that renown is now attached to clans rather than characters. Clan members can earn renown for their clan by performing a number of actions, such as completing quests, winning battles, or competing in tournaments. By acting in the name of their clan, they are effectively increasing the fame of the clan as a whole.

Gaining renown in Bannerlord will see the player’s clan progress through different tiers, which opens up access to greater capabilities and additional parts of the game over time. For example, to act as a mercenary for a faction, the player’s clan needs to reach the second tier before their offers will be given any consideration. Likewise, renown is also key when it comes to pledging vassalage to a kingdom. It acts as proof of the player’s capabilities and shows that they are ready to be involved in the grander events that are unfolding around them.

But, as with everything we are trying to achieve with Bannerlord, we weren’t content with simply repurposing an existing system without taking a closer look at how it could be improved to bring more to the game. With each tier that the clan reaches, they are rewarded with an additional party slot, an increased companion limit, and additional caravans that can work under the clan’s tutelage. Additionally, the player will be treated differently depending on the renown of their clan, such as with the order of battle.

This progression gives players breathing room to explore the game and take some risks, even in the face of death, because an eligible heir will be able to continue his or her parents legacy with the clan’s reputation intact. And, just to be clear, renown isn’t something that players will need to chase after to progress. Simply by playing the game, players will naturally accumulate renown over time through the different actions they perform.



We think that these changes to renown make for a more engaging gameplay system which works alongside and compliments the other new systems that feature in Bannerlord while providing players with a real sense of progression as their clan rises from obscurity to being known throughout Calradia!

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Greetings warriors of Calradia!

With the closed beta underway, we thought it would be a good time to discuss some elements of the multiplayer side of the game in some more detail. In this week’s blog, we will take a look at the multiplayer class system.

So, what is the class system? To put it simply, the class system is a selection of predefined loadouts that you can choose from before spawning. In Bannerlord, these classes are divided into three distinct categories: infantry, ranged, and cavalry.



Our aim is to ensure that each class is a viable choice, allowing players to choose their preferred unit type while playing. Each of the classes has its own strengths and weaknesses, meaning no single class is particularly effective in every scenario. Some classes are clearly stronger and better equipped than others, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they will perform at a higher level in all instances, and of course, they also come at a much higher cost which limits your options when it comes to respawning. We feel that this approach puts a stronger emphasis on coordination, communication, and synergy in our team-based game modes, and encourages players to experiment and react to the events that unfold during a match.

Bannerlord also features a perk system that allows players to slightly change their loadout if they so desire, tailoring their class choice to their own particular playstyle or perhaps to counter the class selection of the opposing team. This change allows players to jump straight into the action, safe in the knowledge that they aren’t at a major disadvantage to their opponents in terms of equipment.

One connected system that has carried over from Warband’s multiplayer, but has been slightly reworked, is the money system. In Bannerlord, we refer to money as points. Instead of using points to purchase gear for your character, you spend these points on selecting a class. Some of our game modes feature a respawn system, so how you manage those points throughout the course of a round will determine which classes you have access to, and the number of respawns that you have available.



With these changes, the entire focus of the gameplay is put onto player skill and teamwork, rather than whoever has the superior equipment or loadout. We think these changes will go a long way in preventing a snowball effect, in which the winning team just gets stronger with each consecutive round win. In Bannerlord, every round starts on a somewhat level playing field, which should provide for a more exciting back and forth between the two teams throughout the course of a match.

While creating the class system, we decided that it was important that each class should reflect the faction they are from, not just in terms of their appearance, but also with the equipment they use and the roles they perform. And, as such, the strengths and weaknesses of the classes take into account the strengths and weaknesses of the faction as a whole. This design approach for our factions influences the kind of strategies and tactics that are effective, both for and against, each individual faction, leading to a more dynamic multiplayer experience where no two matches feel the same.

Overall, we think these changes to the multiplayer class system will make for a fairer, more accessible multiplayer experience that promotes teamwork and communication, and centres the gameplay on the skill-based directional combat system that is at the very core of Mount & Blade games. It ensures that, at a glance, you can see exactly who your opponent is, and what their abilities and limitations are while eliminating the possibility of obscure meta builds from becoming prominent and ensuring that the game remains somewhat balanced.

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Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Picture the scene. You find yourself deep in enemy territory. After seizing an enemy stronghold, you pause for a respite. The campaign has been long and costly, and supplies are running low... And then, on the horizon, you see your worst fears realised. At first, a low rumble and a blur of colour, but then, slowly, the standards and banners of the enemy army come into focus. Your army is ill-prepared for a field battle, and so, you dig in.

The situation seems hopeless. You are vastly outnumbered and time is not a commodity that you possess. Morale is wavering and your troops look to you to make a decisive decision. Do you hold your position and pray that reinforcements arrive before the walls are breached, or worse, you starve to death? Do you sally out to meet the attackers head-on in a brave, but ultimately, suicidal final charge?



While we have already talked about certain siege mechanics in previous blogs, we didn’t discuss the different ways and trade-offs that are involved in any amount of detail. So, in this week’s blog, we’ll try to present players’ options related to sieges in a more comprehensive manner.

Sieges in Bannerlord are dangerous affairs for both the besieged and the besiegers. If you are defending, you already may be facing bleak odds. The enemy may be bombarding your walls with trebuchets with the hope of creating a breach to exploit, or may be preparing an assault with siege towers and battering rams. You may be running out of food and losing your soldiers to starvation. But even in the direst situations, you have a number of options. You can keep waiting behind your walls, hoping that you will be able to beat off the assault or that a relief force will arrive soon and drive away the besiegers. Or alternatively, you may use your tactics skill to break out of the siege with relatively little loss and save yourself and the majority of your army from annihilation. Lastly, you may try to parley with the besiegers in the hope that they will allow you to pass through the siege lines unmolested in return for handing over the walls.



If you are outside and have come to the aid of a besieged castle, you again have options. You can attack the besiegers right away, and in general, the forces in the town will sally out to join the fight, and together, you may hopefully overwhelm the attackers. Another option is to stay mobile outside of the siege camp, harassing the enemy, attacking foragers and reinforcements in the hope that the enemy will run out of provisions before they can take the castle. If neither of those options has a good chance of success, you can also make use of your tactics skill and force your way through the siege, this time going into the castle rather than out, bringing much-needed supplies and troops as part of the relief effort!

All in all, understanding the available options in dealing with sieges is hugely important and may mean the difference between successfully defending and enlarging your domain, or sitting out the rest of the war in a cold and damp dungeon.

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Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Earlier in the year, we told you about our intention to hold a multiplayer beta for Bannerlord. This is something we have some experience with from our previous title, Mount & Blade: Warband, so we are fully aware of the value of including our community at this stage of development. Our preparations have been proceeding quite nicely and we thought it would be a good idea to share what we have been up to in this period.

The first stage of the beta preparation process was to set up things so that we as the developers could experience the game as players, downloading and playing it from our homes. This was quite exciting for us and many team members commented that playing the game felt very different when played from home, although of course, it was very much identical to the version in the office!

After making sure everything was working, we went on and invited some of our friends and family members. By inviting people close to us, we were able to ensure that both our game and servers were working as intended - without having to worry about providing a perfectly polished gameplay experience quite yet. Still, our intention with this was to lay the groundwork for inviting members of our community to play the game.

While doing all of this, we kept on polishing the game as well as developing the necessary infrastructure for a smooth multiplayer experience. We created a matchmaking system, as well as systems for deploying servers and monitoring their performance. We also started working on systems that would collect data from played matches so that we could analyze this information and make more informed decisions for future development. In addition to collecting data, we thought about the best ways to receive feedback from players and put it into use, creating questionnaires and special forum sections for this purpose.

And that leads us to where we are right now! This week, we started inviting members of our community to participate in a closed beta. We think that at this stage, this is the most productive route to take, as it allows us to draw from their collective knowledge, understanding, and experience of our previous games, as well as, allowing us to show some appreciation for the continued passion and support that they have shown for our games over the years.

Our friends from the clan Unity posing for a photo during a closed beta playtest

With this being the early stages of testing, we have decided to keep the player count rather small and manageable, allowing us to more directly engage testers and make better use of the feedback provided to refine Bannerlord’s multiplayer and make it the best that it can be. The game is far from feature and content complete, and these early tests are very much focused on testing the game’s systems and mechanics, as well as, stability before it’s ready for a more general audience.

After this stage of closed beta tests, our plan is to transition to an open beta, meaning a large number of players will be able to access the game and be involved in the testing process. When that time comes, we will make an announcement detailing how you can apply to take part. Until then, we hope you take heart from knowing that we have taken the first steps towards releasing the game and that after such a long wait, it’s finally almost harvesting season!

Skirmish - A 6vs6 Team-Based PvP Game Mode

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Greetings warriors of Calradia!

In Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, players are able to engage in a number of hostile and criminal activities. However, just as in real life, these actions have consequences. And while some of the more obvious actions may be engaging an enemy in a pitched battle or laying siege to a castle, in this week’s blog, we focus on some of the more unconventional options that players have at their disposal.

Raiding Villages
First on the list is something that Mount & Blade veterans will be familiar with: raiding. Raiding in Bannerlord is built on the mechanic from our previous games, but with various additions and improvements to how the system works.

Players are free to initiate raids on neutral or enemy villages to steal the assets of the villagers. After dispatching the local militia, the raid continues on the world map, with the inventory of the village being transferred to the player party over time. The player can choose to abandon the raid at any time, taking whatever goods they managed to gather with them. Once a village has been fully raided, it takes some time for it to recover and be fully operational again.

Forcefully Recruiting Villagers
Bannerlord sees the introduction of the ability to press gang villagers into your army. This is an act of coercion that takes some time to perform, but won’t necessarily lead to an encounter, providing there is a character with a high roguery skill in the player party. Villagers can choose to resist this coercion, at which point the player needs to decide if they should escalate to fighting the villagers, or back down and abandon their attempts to forcefully recruit troops. If the player decides to back down, then there are no penalties for their actions.

Forcefully Taking Supplies
Forcing supplies from villages is the least aggressive of the hostile actions, and villagers will only put up a fight if they believe you have absolutely no chance of taking on their numbers. Otherwise, they will allow you to take some supplies from the village’s stores while spending some time there. The yield from forcing supplies will be significantly smaller compared to a raid, but at the same time, you will create much less ill will against yourself.



Attacking or Coercing Villagers and Caravans
But of course, it isn’t just settlements that are subject to hostile actions. Caravans and villager parties moving on the campaign map can also be attacked, coerced to join the player or forced to hand over a portion of their items and gold. In addition to this, they can also be intimidated into surrendering, which gives the player full access to their inventory. Just like with hostile actions against settlements, the severity of the hostile action is taken into account to determine consequences. Forcefully taking a few items from a caravan can be regarded as relatively unimportant, whereas outright attacking it will be considered as a major provocation.

Consequences for Hostile Actions
If you are not at war with the kingdom of the target, hostile actions are considered to be criminal acts and thus increase your criminal rating in the region. However, if your criminal rating exceeds a certain point, the other kingdom will be provoked to declare war. Otherwise, you may be able to repair the damage and atone for your sins by paying compensation.
But apart from the threat of war, there are many other consequences to hostile actions. In all instances, the player will receive a relation hit with the owner of the targeted settlement and notables that reside there. Moreover, if the player is a vassal of a kingdom, they will receive a relation penalty with their liege and lose influence within their realm. Finally, if the player is the ruler of their faction, their influence within their realm will again be negatively impacted.

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