War Sails Q&A #4

Greetings Warriors of Calradia!

Less than 2 weeks to go before War Sails launches across PC and Consoles (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S) - on the 26th of November, 2025! Following the Gameplay Showcase, we’ve rounded up your most asked questions and tackled them below.

If your question isn’t covered here, reply below and we’ll tackle follow-ups in the comments.

Wishlist now to stay updated and be ready to set sail on launch day!

• Steam
• Xbox

General

• When will War Sails release on the 26th of November?

  • We’re aiming to release the expansion on all platforms at 9:00 CET / 3:00 AM EST / 12:00 AM PST.

• What hardware specs will be required to run War Sails?

  • You will be able to find the system requirements on the Steam Store page. Note that they will likely still change leading up to the release, as we determine the profiles based on the latest tests.

• Will the War Sails expansion be on Game Pass?

  • It won't be on Game Pass at or around release. It's not yet determined if it will come to Game Pass in the future.

• Will it be possible to pre-order or pre-load the expansion?

  • No.

• How much disk storage will War Sails require?

  • Our current PC development build sits at ~33GB. While this may change slightly as we prepare for launch, we expect it to remain close to that size. Console builds run a little smaller, and download sizes may vary depending on platform compression and packaging.

• Will we be able to play War Sails on Steam Deck?

  • War Sails won’t be Steam Deck verified at launch, but you’ll still be able to play on it on Day 1 - just like any other Steam game. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord has a “Playable” status on Steam Deck.

• Will the expansion have a launch discount?

  • Yes - War Sails will be 10% off on all platforms for the first 2 weeks to celebrate the launch.

• “War Sails will be arriving on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, and GoG)" - What about the Xbox app on PC?

  • It will be arriving on the Xbox PC app on Windows as well.

• Will there be a launch stream?

  • Yes. We’ll be partnering with many of the content creators you already know to kick things off on release day. More details on this will follow.

Gameplay

• How much will it cost to acquire ships?

  • Ship prices will range from 12.000 denars for light ships to 150.000 denars for heavy hulls, depending on any existing upgrades applied to the ship at the time of purchase. Certain perks can also reduce the final purchase price. These are subject to change based on ongoing balancing efforts.

• Will there be a way to travel between ports without having your own ship?

  • No.

• Will soldiers be able to escape while at sea due to no food or morale, or will soldiers die instead? 

  • Troops won’t desert due to low morale at sea (until you reach and spend time on land again), but will get wounded if there’s not enough food.

• Could you explain further if the player character can swim indefinitely, and if NPCs can climb back on board if they're quick enough?

  • Yes, your character can swim without a time limit. Other troops, however, have limited endurance in the water based on their tier, whether they have a mariner background, and how heavily they're armoured. If their ship sinks or they end up overboard, they'll try to swim to the nearest friendly vessel and climb aboard - assuming they reach it in time.

• What happens if I board and take over an enemy ship, but my original ship sinks? Do I lose the battle?

  • You won’t lose the battle - it’ll still count as a victory. However, since your original ship is gone, you’ll find yourself without a vessel once the mission ends. Unless you then capture an enemy ship in the loot screen, your party will be left rafting toward the nearest shore.

• If one of my ships is destroyed, and I have more than eight in my fleet, will another one join the battle? Or do reinforcements only come from the troops on the starting ships?

  • There are no ship reinforcements during the battle — only the eight deployed ships participate. However, some vessels can reinforce their own decks with additional troops if their maximum crew size exceeds their deck capacity.

• Will using the ballista improve the Engineering skill, like in sieges?

  • Yes - operating the ballista in naval battles will increase your Engineering skill, just like in sieges. It will also contribute to levelling the new Mariner skill.

• If you name a ship in the port, will that name be displayed in OoB?

  • Yes.

• Will there be War Sails-specific cheats on PC?

  • Yes, you’ll be able to conjure some epic-looking ships by giving yourself any hull you want and unlocking any figurehead you like.

• Will naval custom battles be part of War Sails?

• Yes! Following your feedback from a previous community Q&A, we’ve decided to add naval custom battles — and they’ll be available from day one! The custom battle setup will let you choose factions, select ships, randomize upgrades, pick troop types and numbers, and more.

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