TaleWorlds Entertainment has announced a modding competition for Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord's War Sails expansion, offering players a chance to win a share of €30,000 by creating new add-ons. The contest aims to invigorize the expansion and showcase its modding tools, which were recently released.
The competition is divided into three distinct categories. The Conversion Mod contest challenges players to develop total or partial conversions of the War Sails expansion, reimagining its ship battles and naval campaign. This category offers the largest prize pool, with €12,000 for first place, €6,000 for second, and €3,000 for third. Historically, conversion mods have been a significant aspect of the Mount & Blade modding community, with titles like Shokuho and Eagle Rising offering entirely new settings.
For those seeking a less ambitious project, there are also contests for 3D art and scene design. The 3D art contest focuses on creating new ship types for War Sails, while the scene design contest tasks modders with developing "Seaborne Village Raid scenes" by placing navigation meshes, spawn points, and environmental details. The winners of each of these two contests will receive €2,000 for first place, €1,000 for second, and €500 for third.
The submission deadline for all contests is November 22, with winners to be announced in January of the following year. The competition appears to be a strategic move by TaleWorlds to boost engagement with the War Sails expansion, which has faced criticism since its release. The expansion currently holds a "Mixed" review rating on Steam, with many players citing bugs, technical difficulties, and issues with the integration of naval features into the core Bannerlord experience. Some reviews suggest that War Sails might have been better suited as a standalone game rather than an expansion, as its features often exist apart from the main campaign's focus.
Furthermore, the significant code rewrites required for War Sails' naval mechanics have rendered many existing Mount & Blade 2 mods incompatible. While some modders have worked to address these compatibility issues, it has created a barrier for players deeply invested in the game's modding scene. By incentivizing the creation of new mods specifically for War Sails, TaleWorlds hopes to bridge this divide and foster a more robust modding ecosystem around the expansion.