What Fast Mode is in Bannerlord and how to turn it on

It is not required for a game to have bleeding edge technology and graphics to gather fans and provide tons of fun. Sometimes all what it takes is a great idea set in a specific environment with satisfying gameplay. This is what lets Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord thrive. Thanks to the community of faithful players, developers from TaleWorlds are able to provide constant updates for their production. Just recently, we have seen a very successful launch of the first expansion pack for their title – War Sails. While its main attractions are naval battles and addition of Nord fraction, the update that goes alongside it features a very neat option for fans who don’t have too much time on their hands. Fast Mode allows for speed up passage of time, among other things, but turning it on can be quite tricky. Here you will learn all you need to know.

• How to turn on Fast Mode in Mount and Blade Bannerlord
• What is the Fast Mode in Bannerlord?

How to turn on Fast Mode in Mount and Blade Bannerlord

The debut of War Sails DLCs for Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord was a huge success, and a pretendent to the best expansion of this year, at least according to some fans. Despite a bit higher system requirements than the base game, it still does not need a NASA-grade PC to enjoy the thrill of naval battles. What is needed to fully immerse oneself in this production is time, and this is something that not everyone has at their disposal. That’s why TaleWorlds added on option of Fast Mode. Turning it on is a bit vague, though.

Regardless whether you’ve bought War Sails or not (or waiting for it to become available in Game Pass), Bannerlord got updated with a Fast Mode option. To enable it, however, you will need to turn it on from the launcher level. It means that when you start a game via Steam, instead of immediately clicking “Play”, you must navigate to the “Mods” tab and locate “Fast Mode” entry.

Despite its name, it’s not a modification, but rather a special option added by the developers. You can verify that by seeing “TW” logo instead of community icon next to the checkbox. All you need to do next is to make sure that the checkbox is selected and hit play. Bear in mind that in order to utilize this setting, you must start a new game, as your previous saves won’t be compatible with Fast Mode. It also goes the other way around – once you start a game with Fast Mode enabled, you can’t go back to “normal”.

If you would like to get back to creating a new save state without the Fast Mode, you must disable it from the launcher level. You can double check if it is enabled upon creation of a fresh campaign / sandbox during your character creation – when you are on “Difficulty” stage, you can verify if Fast Mode is enabled. You’d need to scroll down those options, as it’s right above “Enable Birth and Aging” checkbox. Notice that the “Fast Mode is Enabled” checkbox is grayed out in game, which means that it can be toggled only via the launcher!

What is the Fast Mode in Bannerlord?

Before enabling the Fast Mode, you might wonder what it actually does, to what extent and which things are accelerated. This is a very valid question to ask. There are two main aspects that get changed.

Time scale:

1. The time progresses around 3.5 times faster than in normal mode – years take 24 days instead of the regular 84. The same change is applied to seasons progression.
2. The accelerated passage of time also affects your characters in the same, hasted manner. Of course, unless you turn off the “Enable Birth and Aging” toggle in game.

Simulation:

1. If you have left birth and aging options enabled, the pregnancy duration will be halved in this mode.
2. Since your characters will get old faster, their XP requirements per level are reduced by 66%, which means that they will level up 3 times as fast as in the default mode.

Thanks to this change of pacing, the main focus of the title shifts towards dynasty gameplay, allowing genealogy, generations, heirs and successions to be brought to the forefront. For more information you can check patch notes presented on Tale Worlds forum. Have fun!

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

October 25, 2022

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• action games
• sandbox
• TaleWorlds
• Middle Ages
• Mount & Blade (franchise)
• RPG games
• simulator games