Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord Patch 1.2.0 – A Major Update With Mixed Reviews
Patch 1.2.0 for Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord rolled out in late 2020, introducing an array of tweaks and additions that touch on multiple aspects of the expansive medieval RPG. As a long-time M&B player with countless hours across Warband and the early access Bannerlord release, I was eager to dive into the changes. But reactions from the community have been mixed.
While some fans praised the visible improvements to combat and clan dynamics, criticism remains around the patch‘s inability to address lingering balance and economy issues. Nonetheless, let‘s break down exactly what‘s new across the key gameplay pillars and assess how impactful Patch 1.2.0 really proves for Bannerlord’s present and future.
New Bandit Hideouts and Weather Increase Immersion
Starting off with two visual upgrades, patch 1.2.0 brings more diversity to bandit camps previously restricted to a singular template. Now seven unique hideout scenes reflect the various faction outposts, adding regional flair through subtle environmental cues like debris and cave formations matching territory styles.
As a Steppes bandit convering the Vlandia hinterlands, the little visual touches make my raiding parties feel more embedded in the world. It might seem minor, but this level of detail feeds right into the game‘s engrossing sense of adventure and place.
The second aesthetic boon comes via dynamic weather implemented on both the campaign map and battlefields. The sight of soldiers marching through muddy rains or across snow-covered meadows adds to Bannerlord‘s atmosphere in spades. One of my favorite stories arose when a freak snowstorm forced my Khuzait warband to take shelter, only to emerge and find ourselves behind enemy lines.
But beyond looks, inclement weather impacts supply lines, damage rates, and preparation times. It also finally gives speed and accuracy debuffs that reflect trudging through slush or shooting arrows in gusty winds. I’ve seen even elite Legionnaire crossbowmen struggle hitting shots in the midst of a thunderstorm.
The random chance makes for more interesting decision-making regarding army movement and battle tactics. Do I wait out this snowstorm at the risk of dwindling supplies? Or press on to catch a weakened city before they recover? Dynamic conditions force you to think on your feet.
Clan Management and Marriage Get Helpful Upgrades
Shifting to more mechanical changes, patch 1.2.0 puts some nice upgrades into Bannerlord‘s clan management system. Players striving to build prosperous families will appreciate the detailed income and upkeep reports introduced for fiefs and workshops. It provides the hard numbers on profitability crucial for planning upgrades and expansions.
As my clan grew, keeping track of all the finances proved daunting until I could directly compare workshop outputs across towns. Pinpointing my most profitable Smithy then determined which castle received my next upgrade focus, ensuring I could equip my swelling armies.
The encyclopedia also now surfaces future spouse skills, eliminating the guessing game around a betrothed‘s capabilities. Arranged marriages always proved frustrating when a newcomer wasn’t suited to govern towns or command troops. Now I check skills ahead of time while browsing potential wives for my clan heirs.
Speaking of marriage, the patch adds a dedicated screen for picking suitors and sending proposals. It‘s a small quality of life change, but centralizing the courtship process into one dialog box reduces clicks across various clan tabs.
As an aging Khagan, negotiating multiple marriage alliances with vassals requires ruthless efficiency. The streamlined system let me broker deals and secure bloodlines in half the time. Lastly, for players invested in intrigue, intelligence requests got cheaper, letting you peek at a rival clan‘s roster and holdings for less influence. It encourages more strategic reconnaissance when targeting hostile nobles.
Better Control and Combat For Ranged Troops
Now we move into Mount & Blade‘s bread and butter – combat and command mechanics. Patch 1.2.0 takes aim at improving ranged unit control by letting players designate specific infantry targets instead of the usual "fire at will" approach. Archers and crossbowmen will now coordinate volleys against marked enemies.
I found this incredibly useful when needing to focus fire dangerous Sturgian Ulfhednar axesmen or heavily shielded Vlandia sergeants closing in on our frontline. That said, the system isn‘t perfect, and you‘ll still see wayward bolts flying elsewhere. But it‘s a start and a welcome one.
The targeting change coincides with an added priority toggle for troops in battle. Marked hostiles become the number one attack priority, which also provides clearer feedback showing current combantant matchups. Moreover, the patch bakes in damage bonuses for archer units positioned in forests.
Fighting in Woods +10% damage
Fighting in Forest +15% damage
Fighting in Thick Forest + 20% damage
It‘s a simple yet logical nod that finally gives cover-using ranged fighters their historical edge. Too often my Rangers got routed in open engagements, but now forests become death traps for invading forces. The devs rounded things out with accuracy, reload, and movement buffs/nerfs applied appropriately across soldier types based on their battlefield roles.
Sturgia/Vlandia Infantry +5% damage in Hills
Aserai Mamlukes +10% speed in Desert
Khuzait Horse Archers -3% speed in Forest
Little tweaks like that bring so much more balance and diversity during largescale conflicts.
Kingdoms and Clans Become More Dynamic
While players worry about keeping their troops and nobles alive, the patch programming ensures entire kingdoms now face mortality as well. Now if a faction loses all its land assets and furnishings, that kingdom ceases to exist, removing them from the map.
In one campaign, Western Empire got reduced to Count Claudius’ lone castle while I cleaned up Battania and Sturgia. Suddenly they blipped out existence once his last fief fell. Additionally, independent clans now get put on a four-week timer to either join a kingdom or disappear.
This injects more urgency around alliance decisions and forces aggressive acts like conquest to maintain vassal counts. In the late game scenarios where you control 75% of the map, previously you could stall, holding territory to prevent defeat while slowly picking off clans. That tactic no longer remains viable.
The clan disappearance mechanic itself seems intended to curb stalemates and push players towards establishing at least some stability. But it could use adjusting to be less punishing for those aiming to unite all Calradia through pure domination.
Still, the changes make keeping lands, expanding borders, and managing loyal supporters more challenging in the end game. Even peace comes at a price now if you miss the narrow window to absorb wandering clans. Rulers must stay vigilant until all remaining nobles bend the knee.
Workshop and Caravan Improvements Fall Short
New warehouse buildings got introduced in patch 1.2.0 to link up production from workshops and caravans into more advanced supply chains. They enable centralized storage for produced goods that you can manually collect versus relying on direct sales. It adds more depth on paper.
But in practice, even with tweaked price ratios, the warehouse delivery gameplay proves tedious with not enough profit payoff to justify the management headache. Many note how the single automatic sale approach of Warband‘s enterprises just worked better all-around.
Indeed, while fans appreciate attempts at deepening the economic strategy layers, the outcomes need balancing and tuning to make logistical decisions actually meaningful. Case in point, the latest iron trade tariffs aimed at stopping exploits had the opposite effect.
Iron ore trade got nerfed into utter unprofitability given the inflated input costs. Yet the player-facing Smithing skill retains insane wealth generation from artisan goods worth ten times their metal value. Fixing this lopsided dynamic should have taken priority. There‘s potential in the supply chain ideas, but the economy needs major reworking.
AI and Combat Improvements Start Showing
Let‘s end on a high note with Patch 1.2.0‘s adjustments to troop behavior and large battle enhancements. Cavalry charges now build momentum for more smash-through impact, while mounted archers keep distance like real nomadic horsemen. Previously, Khuzait clans swarmed like angry bees. Now I witness beautiful hit and run tactics with swirling riders unleashing volley after volley.
Speaking of archery, melee troops now display proper survival instincts when outmatched. Units getting surrounded will pull back rather than blindly fighting to the last man. The patch also adds defensive maneuvers like shield raising when advancing on prepared enemy bowmen.
Small touches, but they demonstrate intelligent battlefield reactions – like Imperial Legionnaires locking shields overhead against a volley while Sturgian shock infantry sprint behind moving cover. Troops act less recklessly thanks to across-the-board behavior reworks in the new patch. Battles feel more authentic as soldiers display self-preservation instincts true to their roles.
Lastly, Mount & Blade sometimes struggles when rendering vast army sizes, especially on forest or desert terrain with complex textures. But Patch 1.2.0 also bakes in some performance enhancements leading to smoother engagements during 200 vs 200 fights. There‘s still occasional slow down on busy landscapes, but optimizing battles this large is an impressive feat.
When commanding huge hosts, I’ll take a few framerate hits in exchange for truly epic clashes. Smoother large-scale combat opens more strategic options for domination.
The Bottom Line on Patch 1.2.0
As a longtime Mount & Blade fan, I find Patch 1.2.0 brings a healthy mixture of fresh content and long-requested tweaks across most aspects I care about – immersion, combat mechanics, clan management. The new hideouts and dynamic weather recreate Bannerlord’s medieval atmosphere beautifully while injecting environmental challenge into key decisions.
Meaningful quality of life upgrades around clan finances, marriages, and ranged troop control give players better tools for building their domain. And the alloy of tactical combat tweaks make skirmishes feel smarter and deadlier while actually optimizing battlefield performance. When coupled with more aggressive kingdom expansion driving the late game, these changes trigger new conquest dynamics without compromising core M&B strengths.
However, the lackluster trade and economy changes continue plaguing the game, drawing ire from fans. The dev team seems intent on improving foundational areas like combat systems before addressing lingering balance issues and exploits warping wealth progression. For now, players yearning for perfectly balanced sandbox conquest need to tolerate uneven crafting vs reward ratios.
Overall, Patch 1.2.0‘s breadth and depth outweigh its shortcomings, delivering tangible improvements across essential areas like immersion, combat, progression. In my eyes, the update pushes Bannerlord closer towards fulfilling its promise as the rightful standard bearer for the franchise. There’s certainly more I’d change, but the current direction looks promising and has me excited to lead my empire into the future.