War Sails Q&A #2
Greetings Warriors of Calradia!
Thank you all for your understanding and support following last week’s announcement about the delay of War Sails. Today, we want to answer some of the questions you had since our last Q&A with many more details to come in the following weeks.
Got something else you’re curious about? Drop your questions below — we’ll be picking some for the next Q&A!
General
Will there be swimming and drowning?
- Yes. Characters can swim, dive, climb back on board, and they’ll drown under certain conditions.
Will we be able to put horses on ships (keep them in inventory while sailing the world map)?
- Yes, you will be able to keep mounts in inventory on ships, but unlike on land, they will take up ship inventory space instead of providing it. They also won’t provide a speed bonus.
Will you be able to travel through river systems?
- Yes, you will be able to sail on rivers in War Sails, allowing you to reach certain towns and strategic points. Combat on rivers will also be supported, with scenes designed to reflect the narrow, terrain-restricted nature of river warfare.
Will you be able to run Merchant vessels like caravans?
- Yes! You’ll be able to buy trade convoys from coastal town merchants. You will also have the option of going for the standard or armed convoys, with the latter having more troops to protect against pirates. These convoys will travel from one coastal town to another, trading goods and generating profit, but they will be vulnerable to various threats along the way, so protection matters.
Will there be a new Nord voice for character creation to go with the new hairstyles and tattoos?
- Characters from the new Nord faction will have distinct Scandinavian-inspired accents in campaign conversations (similar to the current unique voice-over content per culture). New voice presets will also be added to character creation, and they will be available to all cultures.
With Nords being added, will Sturgian troops be modified further to be closer to Vaegirs, avoiding overlap in style?
- We’re making some visual and characteristic tweaks to Sturgia so that they will stand apart from the Nords, but we don’t want to make the changes so drastic that they feel alien to players who’ve gotten used to their current design. For example, one of the Sturgian cultural bonuses, as well as some Nordic-inspired Sturgian banner icons will be changed. Likewise, various Nordic items previously used by Sturgian troops and nobles (shields, weapons, armor, and helmets…) will be redistributed, and new shields will be added.
Is there going to be a new attribute and 3 new skills, and can we know the names of the attribute/skills?
- We’re not introducing a new attribute, but War Sails will add three new naval-oriented skills, each bound to already existing attributes. Please bear in mind that some of these details may still change:
- “Mariner” - Enhances your personal combat prowess during naval engagements and bolsters your effectiveness in leading troops and employing tactics in sea battles - bound to Vigor and Endurance.
- “Boatswain” - Governs the well-being and discipline of your ship's crew, as well as the vessel's overall combat readiness, including rigging and supplies - bound to Social and Intelligence.
- “Shipmaster” - Improves your navigational abilities, the effectiveness of naval siege engines under your command, and the speed and quality of ship repairs and upgrades - bound to Control and Cunning.
Will inland water bodies get covered with ice during winter so that they can be crossed?
- No. There won’t be pathfinding or traversability changes due to seasons on the world map.
Will both Campaign and Sandbox modes be supported in War Sails?
- Yes. The Campaign mode will support both the base game's main storyline as well as the new naval questline.
Will you start a new campaign with a free ship?
- You won’t get a free ship from the start, but you will find that smaller ones are quite affordable.
Did you rework the city scenes to make docks or are these separate scenes?
- Ports are separate scenes accessible both through the settlement menu and from within the town scenes, much like the tavern scenes.
Any chance we know how many ships we will be able to own?
- Technically, there will be no limit to the number of ships you can own on the campaign side, but each ship will require a certain number of troops to operate. Falling short of that number will proportionally slow down the party’s sailing speed. Additionally, as you go above a certain number of ships, you will start to incur naval campaign speed penalties
Will we have the ability to have multiple fleets?
- You will be able to own a single fleet consisting of multiple ships. Parties in your clan and kingdom can likewise have their own, allowing you to maintain a strong presence across the seas.
Will there be a Tattoo Artist in towns where we can change our tattoos, or will it be at the same place we change our hair?
- It’s planned to be only accessible via the initial character creation screen.
Can the player gain every Personality Trait from the new Random Events mechanic?
- Yes! The system will make a broader variety of traits easier to acquire during gameplay.
Modding
Will the stealth addition be accessible to modders?
- Yes, modders should be able to activate and control it in many cases, though what’s possible may still depend on the specific use case.
Will the new system remove XSLT support, or will it still be possible to use XSLT for XML modifications (will existing XSLT mods continue working)?
- Existing XSLT-based mods should remain functional, though, as with any content patch - mods may require a version compatibility update not related to the XSLT system / XML editor. Should compatibility issues arise, players can use the Steam Betas system to roll back to a previous game version and keep their current modded playthroughs running.
Will the XSLT system still be necessary for certain tweaks?
- For most modding cases, no. The new XML editor will allow you to override or extend base game XMLs by simply writing standard XML. It will merge entries based on unique attributes (like id or type) defined in the schema. This will work for items, skins, actions, etc. XSLT will still be supported and may be needed for more complex operations like removing elements or structural transformations not handled by the merge system.
