Bannerlord beta adds ship starts and ferries

The Bannerlord beta for War Sails 1.3.0 and base game 1.5.0 gives Sandbox players a choice between starting with a ship and using the regular opening. TaleWorlds designed the option to expose naval play earlier without rewriting the familiar land-based start.

Bannerlord beta: confirmed details

A new ferry feature helps smaller parties reach or escape areas that otherwise require a vessel. Land and sea travel speeds rise by 15%, and pirate spawns gain smaller parties that can be challenged earlier in a campaign.

What changes for players

Starting with a ship removes the largest initial cost barrier for players who specifically want naval play. Ferries preserve map access for ordinary starts, while faster travel reduces recovery time after losses and makes distant objectives less restrictive.

Timing and wider context

These values are on a beta branch and may change before stable release. Players should back up saves and verify mod compatibility for both the War Sails and base-game version numbers.

The feature list and timing above reflect the developer’s announcement published on August 19, 2026. Future hotfixes can adjust balance or availability, so live values should be checked against the current client.

For Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, the practical checkpoint is the live client: confirm the installed version, platform notes and regional rollout before relying on a scheduled feature. Store availability, maintenance windows and certification can create timing differences even when the developer announces one date for the wider release.

Source: official announcement. All release dates, named features and numerical values in this report come from that primary source; the analysis is our own.

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