Now we can be stealthy in Bannerlord. Patch 1.3 has arrived with a lot of new features and changes

Back in March, TaleWorlds teased a new Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord DLC called War Sails, which was originally planned for June. The devs ended up pushing it back to “early autumn” and shared a long post explaining their decision. But the delay doesn’t mean all their attention is on the DLC. Just yesterday, they released the v1.3.0 patch notes in beta, and it’s a massive list of new features, gameplay refinements, and technical upgrades.

Patch 1.3 beta overview. Stealth, slings, diplomacy, and economy updates

Since it’s a beta, saves might not be compatible and we could run into bugs or crashes with the Bannerlord v1.3.0 update. The goal is to test stability and gather feedback before the full release alongside the War Sails DLC. We can stick to the stable Live version or opt into the Beta on Steam to try the changes early.

Alongside new sling weapons, armor pieces, and AI improvements, there’s a new stealth and disguise system that sounds really interesting. The patch is packed with fixes and player-requested features – so many, in fact, that some are wondering what there’s left to complain about.

Here’s a summary of all the patch notes:

• Stealth & Disguise
• Battles & Sieges
• Character Development Updates
• Clan & Party
• Armies
• Kingdoms & Diplomacy
• Economy & Trade
• Settlement Actions
• Multiplayer
• Modding
• Other

Stealth & Disguise

1. Fully implemented stealth system: enemy vision, sound detection, hiding spots, stealth attacks, distraction mechanics, and alertness states.
2. Prison breaks, bandit hideouts, and dungeons reworked for stealth gameplay.
3. Roguery skill affects movement, noise, and stealth attack damage.
4. Equipment now includes stealth bonuses; certain weapons optimized for stealth.
5. Disguise system added for infiltrating hostile towns; actions like running, drawing weapons, or hiding increase suspicion.
6. Stealth tutorial quest and difficulty levels added.

Battles & Sieges

1. New ranged weapon: Slings (varied types and ammo, usable with shields).
2. Battle simulations now include morale, retreat, and casualty calculations.
3. Siege AI improved: better engine usage, ladder behavior, and troop positioning.
4. Fixed multiple bugs related to siege mechanics, sally outs, battle rewards, and AI pathfinding.
5. Campaign sieges now consider troop counts accurately; defender advantage removed.

Character Development Updates

1. Added hero import/export cheats (save hero data as editable files).
2. Empire’s garrison wage bonus now depends on the owner’s culture, not the settlement’s.
3. Updated adolescence text options in character creation.
4. Fixed perk bugs (Leader of Masses, Moral Leader, Natural Leader).
5. Focus points no longer exceed 5 during child education.
6. Crime rating now increases when taking bribes.
7. Executing devious lords no longer reduces honor and has lighter relation penalties.

Clan & Party

1. Deserters: a new bandit faction of trained soldiers that spawn after lord battles, can merge into larger forces, and appear more in war-torn regions.
2. Patrol Parties: auto-generated town defense parties from Guard Houses; patrol towns and villages, hunt bandits, and provide security.
3. Random Events: up to 100 story-driven pop-ups affecting traits, skills, party, items, or gold.
4. Party and caravan leaders’ equipment can now be edited via dialogue.

Armies

1. AI armies avoid suicidal attacks; target only settlements they can capture.
2. Armies disband if too weak; non-attached parties ignore bandits while moving.
3. Food requirements increased for army participation; raiding disabled for strategic focus.
4. Fixed army assembly, cohesion, influence exploits, and siege participation bugs.

Kingdoms & Diplomacy

1. Kingdoms can form alliances based on relations, wars, tribute, and ruler traits (max 2 alliances per kingdom).
2. Alliances last 1 year or until one ally declares war; can be extended during ongoing Call to War obligations.
3. Call to War system allows kingdoms (or players) to request ally support in wars with gold payment; allies stay engaged for at least 42 game days.
4. Kingdoms can improve trade relations via kingdom decisions (max 2 agreements, 1-year duration).
5. Recent wars make new agreements harder to form.
6. Kingdoms choose opponents more logically, avoiding overwhelmingly strong enemies.

Economy & Trade

1. Player-owned caravans can now change home settlements and restrict trade with certain kingdoms; they are incentivized to return home over time.
2. New trade goods, felt and planks.
3. Town trade commissions increased 5×; village taxes +30%, town/castle taxes +130% to support AI garrisons and player income.
4. Caravans now return home more frequently and can trade in larger volumes, slowing distant market distribution and creating trade opportunities.

Settlement Actions

1. Parley Feature: Speak with nobles in enemy settlements from a distance (requires clan tier 3).
2. Town & Castle Projects: Rebalanced and updated projects; settlements now start with a military, economic, or balanced focus.
3. Recruit Notables as Supporters: Player can gain notable support through relations and payment, granting influence and loyalty bonuses.
4. AI Improvements: Nobles check food/wage before donating troops; civilian agents avoid each other better.

Multiplayer

1. Server now waits for reconnecting players during warmup.
2. Dedicated server improvements: horizontal map voting scroll, fixed AdminPassword login bug, and corrected “disable_map_voting” behavior.
3. Fixed multiple crashes in Captain Mode, party invites (PlayStation), lobby, and multiplayer voice chat.

Modding

1. FMOD Banks/Events supported; interpolated atmospheres moddable.
2. Campaign map, party positions, AI targets, and distance caches modifiable; auto-rebuild added.
3. Up to 10 RGL logs can be stored.
4. New XML merging system; campaign time, faction manager, trade, party strength, settlements, and hero locations moddable.

Other

1. Improved memory usage and localization performance.
2. Fixed crashes.
3. New tracks & sound sets for stealth missions, raids, weather events, and UI actions.
4. UI improvements like new heir selection popup and upgraded town management tools.
5. Improved readability across encyclopedia, clan, and troop screens.
6. Better animations and visual improvements.
7. Smarter crowd/audience reactions and more immersive ambient sounds.
8. Optimized performance for footsteps & balanced UI sound levels.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

October 25, 2022

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• patches and updates
• TaleWorlds
• Mount & Blade (franchise)