The Elder Scrolls XV: This is my Thu'um Stick

[Kareeah_Indaga]

If that's the message, wouldn't it be more to the point for her to be applying this treatment to Summerset?

Given that Summerset regularly fends of the storm-causing Maormer they probably wouldn't notice.

[DigoDragon]

Given that Summerset regularly fends of the storm-causing Maormer they probably wouldn't notice.

I mean, happens all the time in Florida and we don't really notice.


Dunno if this is the Ordinator Perk system or I'm just neglecting the forge, but seems like my Smithing skill is lagging really badly behind my other skills. Might have to go around collecting cheap materials and forging stuff to train up the skill.

[Triaxx]

Smithing is just like that post 1.5. Best I can suggest is raid Dwemer ruins and make Battleaxes.

[Keltest]

Smithing is just like that post 1.5. Best I can suggest is raid Dwemer ruins and make Battleaxes.

If you have access to that transmutation spell and a decent magicka pool, you can also turn iron ingots into silver and gold ingots and smith jewelry for relatively little investment as well.

[Rynjin]

You could also just player.advskill to the desired level. Grinding crafting skills is meaningless busy work, none more so than Smithing since most of what you make isn't usable for yourself. Consoling the skill up is the same effective task with the same reward, only taking less time.

[veti]

Provided you have enough skill to make dwemer gear, then dwemer ruins are the place to go to beef up your smithing. Sure you can't use all the output, but that's true of everything you collect in the game.

[DigoDragon]

Smithing is just like that post 1.5. Best I can suggest is raid Dwemer ruins and make Battleaxes.

If you have access to that transmutation spell and a decent magicka pool, you can also turn iron ingots into silver and gold ingots and smith jewelry for relatively little investment as well.

Currently I'm sitting on a pile of some 100+ iron ores, so I did get the Transmutation spell to start spinning gold rings (bonus is having a necromancer robe that gives a 75% boost to Magika regen). This method has the added benefit of increasing my speech skill, which I want because the new Ordinator perks for Speech have a few interesting options for shouts I'd like to try out. But it is a slow, grindy process overall, I admit that. I been taking some ores with me when I travel and transmuting them on the go to save some time.

Oh, and adding gems to the crafted jewelry helps as I believe your exp is still based on the value of the object created?

You could also just player.advskill to the desired level. Grinding crafting skills is meaningless busy work, none more so than Smithing since most of what you make isn't usable for yourself. Consoling the skill up is the same effective task with the same reward, only taking less time.

I could cheat, yeah. I just didn't want to this time. I haven't even Fast Traveled yet, which I'm amazed at myself for having the willpower to avoid it (not counting carriage rides, those are fair game).

Provided you have enough skill to make dwemer gear, then dwemer ruins are the place to go to beef up your smithing. Sure you can't use all the output, but that's true of everything you collect in the game.

My skill is not that good just yet, but it is definitely the thing to do once I level up my skill to that point. Should be soonish?

[Ogremindes]

Dunno if this is the Ordinator Perk system or I'm just neglecting the forge, but seems like my Smithing skill is lagging really badly behind my other skills. Might have to go around collecting cheap materials and forging stuff to train up the skill.

Since your running modded, perhaps pick up Arthmoor's Ars Metallica. It's a bit late now, but it does help smithing keep pace by making mining advance the skill.

[DigoDragon]

Since your running modded, perhaps pick up Arthmoor's Ars Metallica. It's a bit late now, but it does help smithing keep pace by making mining advance the skill.

Thanks for the tip. I've gotten Smithing up to 32 skill by way of forging jewelry. Ideally I'd like to hit 40 so I can deal with enchanting gear and still be able to improve it that second step later.



I was on a Companion quest to go kill some wolves at Shor's Stone. I took a carriage to Riften and then jogged on foot toward the village. Fort Greenwall got in my way however, a small detail I had forgotten. A detail loaded with bandits. Well, I figure I could sneak up on them and take them out for easy profits. Thus, I snuck up close to the fort wall, nice and silent-like. The sun was going down, so the cover of darkness was perfect. I got up close enough to line up my first arrow with a bandit standing up on the rampart.

*Dragon power-lands right in front of me outta nowhere*

Blood Dragon: "SURPRISE, DRAGONDORK!!"


So now I'm on fire and all the bandits collectively wet themselves, firing arrows at the dragon. I drink a potion of invisibility and run for cover, trying to heal my wounds. The dragon sets fire to Everything! Bandits? On fire! Random deer in the area? On fire! My khajiit partner Shiira? On fire! My plan to take this fort by stealth for easy profits? Kicked over. Stomped on. Then Set On fire!

I don't know who got the final blow on the dragon. It died halfway through the fight and I was too busy trying to see past my absorbing-it's-soul effect while blocking a bandit trying to cave in my skull with a warhammer. And the bandit decided to stop swinging for a moment to admire the amazement of dragon-soul-absorption.

Bandit: "That's incredible!"
Me: "Come here, your kidneys need a pointy friend!" XD


So that happened. I did take the fort, but I spent way more arrows and potions than I planned on. Ah well, at least the dragon gave me three scales. That's where the real loot is once my Smithing skill is high enough to craft dragon armor. I will say though--when that dragon landed right in my face, I actually jumped in my chair because there was *NO* warning for that. No roar, no music shift, nothing. I guess this dragon was part troll.

[LibraryOgre]

So, I've been having an urge to complete Oblivion.

What mods would y'all suggest?

[Balmas]

So, I've been having an urge to complete Oblivion.

What mods would y'all suggest?

Are you starting a new character, or would the mods be added to an existing save file? Most of the overhaul mods require a new game to work properly, I think.

[LibraryOgre]

Are you starting a new character, or would the mods be added to an existing save file? Most of the overhaul mods require a new game to work properly, I think.

I'd start new. I know my most recent attempt is in the Shivering Isles, but I can't remember what she's doing, and usually like to start fresh, anyway.

[veti]

I was on a Companion quest to go kill some wolves at Shor's Stone. I took a carriage to Riften and then jogged on foot toward the village. Fort Greenwall got in my way however, a small detail I had forgotten.

Suggestion: Complete Fast Travel Overhaul would let you tell the carriage driver to drop you off in Shor's Stone. (He must have driven you straight through it, and Fort Greenwall.) Saves quite a lot of walking, when you're avoiding fast travel.

You'd still get to loot, sorry I mean "encounter", the fort on your way back, since CFTO annoyingly doesn't put carts in the small settlements.

Love the story, but what happened to your feline pack mule?

[Ailurus]

So, I've been having an urge to complete Oblivion.

What mods would y'all suggest?

Been a while since I played Oblivion, but the three ones I recall the most are:

Francescos Creatures and Items - dramatically changes (improves IMO) the whole everything "levels with player" aspect of the game
OblivionXP - swaps out the usual elder scrolls leveling system for an XP-based one. Purely a matter of taste, obviously, but I found it helpful in Oblivion because it ensures you don't have to worry about running and jumping too much leveling you up.
Midas Magic - adds a lot of new and very different spells.

[Caelestion]

I always play with Oscuro's oblivion Overhaul, AlienSlof's Better Vampires and Enhanced Economy. Other highlights include various mods by Arthmoor and of course the Unofficial Patches and the Refurbished DLC patches.

[Triaxx]

Not sure if you can still get it, but I really liked the Abecan Lighthouse mod. Was good for letting non-mage characters make spells without faffing around in the guild.

[Rynjin]

Not sure if you can still get it, but I really liked the Abecan Lighthouse mod. Was good for letting non-mage characters make spells without faffing around in the guild.

I mean the official DLC provides plenty of that.

[The Jack]

See, I feel like my TES problem at the moment is that you just need too many damn mods for skyrim/oblivion (I haven't conquered most of morrowind yet, so it can last)


Why can't they just release a good game
with in-built gambling
and nudity

I've matured a bit, but when I was younger, I really wanted them to do TES's base with more sex; a bit more than fallout, a lot less than most mods. Of course, that'd be a financial mess, but there's a pit of quality around that kind of modding and I'd rather something more official.

Skyrim, to play it, I feel like you need to mod out the skyrimness of it all; replace the UI, replace the perks, replace the crafting, the models, questlines, homes, spells... it's literally hours of un-****ifying skyrim. I can do that once or twice when I'm fresh to the game and want to change a few things as they appear, but when you've played a while you've got an almost mandatory list you need to install.

[Triaxx]

To be honest Rynjin, I haven't actually played with the official DLC before. So I know nothing about it.

The Jack... Steam is already full of games like that. If you want that, Witcher is a thing that exists. Bethesda wouldn't get it right.

[Spore]

I've matured a bit, but when I was younger, I really wanted them to do TES's base with more sex; a bit more than fallout, a lot less than most mods. Of course, that'd be a financial mess, but there's a pit of quality around that kind of modding and I'd rather something more official.

Skyrim, to play it, I feel like you need to mod out the skyrimness of it all; replace the UI, replace the perks, replace the crafting, the models, questlines, homes, spells... it's literally hours of un-****ifying skyrim. I can do that once or twice when I'm fresh to the game and want to change a few things as they appear, but when you've played a while you've got an almost mandatory list you need to install.

I am of the opinion that if you can lob someone's head off (or in Fallout games dismember their lifeless corpse) you should be able to display graphic nudity. But TES was always about heroic fantasy. To be fair, sexuality is strictly not necessary for the game to work.

But personally I would prefer a few more involving companions that have side quests and a few that are romancable. I really liked Benor and married him in one game, because he is a no nonsense guy even though he is basically one of the worst choices statwise for a follower. He had so much potential. He is from the backwater hold Morthal (I always felt the hold was the dumpster of Skyrim imho), he dislikes the jarl (which could have been twisted into a cool quest) he is straight up and he is daddy a strong man.

[Vinyadan]

Skyrim, to play it, I feel like you need to mod out the skyrimness of it all; replace the UI, replace the perks, replace the crafting, the models, questlines, homes, spells... it's literally hours of un-****ifying skyrim. I can do that once or twice when I'm fresh to the game and want to change a few things as they appear, but when you've played a while you've got an almost mandatory list you need to install.

Daggfall did have nudity, IIRC... and Morrowind had gambling, maybe in the Solstheim expansion (it wasn't native. You could play the three shells game with an Argonian, I believe).

About the Skyrim UI, it's incredibly bad. I have no idea of why they couldn't put some more effort into it. The Morrowind interface was also quite bad, but it was saved by being meant to be used with a mouse. Skyrim, instead of letting you interact directly with your body slots (as in, choose from a list of items that you get by clicking on a certain slot), went for showing a 3d portrait of the items in your inventory, which probably was only useful for the dragon claws.

The monochrome style didn't help, either.

[The Jack]

Daggerfall had full nudity or near enough. Maybe not genitals.
Morrowind had dancers
Oblivion had...
Skyrim has revealing outfits.
They've all had a few references,stories and such.

I too am of the opinion that, if you can decapitate someone, you can see people ****. I imagine this whole cultural aversion to nudity was spearheaded by some very insecure people and everyone else is just following suit. But hey, I don't have the proudest body in the world, I'm lazy and unlikely to work on it very seriously; Maybe I benefit from this sheltering. Unless the dutch get really into game development or the indies go mad with it we're unlikely to see the goods soon. (also, bethesda are kinda cowardly)

[LibraryOgre]

Morrowind, I played happily with DLC and one, very simple, mod (it set Cliff Racers to 0 aggression, so they left me alone unless I bothered them).

Oblivion, I'm looking at mods before I start it again, though I could play it vanilla (though I'd have to work around the leveling issue by simply never sleeping).

Skyrim? The PC UI is so awful that I stopped playing until someone suggested SkyUI, which made it tolerable.

[Resileaf]

Every single game has the Lusty Argonian Maid.

Morrowind, I played happily with DLC and one, very simple, mod (it set Cliff Racers to 0 aggression, so they left me alone unless I bothered them).

THIS IS THE BEST MOD EVER!!!

[factotum]

I think switching off Cliff Racers entirely is a bit extreme--pretty sure I remember a mod which made regular ones leave you alone, with only the corrupted ones chasing you down, which makes a lot more sense to me.

[halfeye]

I am of the opinion that if you can lob someone's head off (or in Fallout games dismember their lifeless corpse) you should be able to display graphic nudity. But TES was always about heroic fantasy. To be fair, sexuality is strictly not necessary for the game to work.

This comes from film censorship. People can be killed in kids films, but not messily, or at least it used to be that way. Sex was totally out for kids films, all the way up to the 18 years old age limit. But once they were 18, then Psycho was allowed (barely, it got cut). So extreme violence is equal to mild sex, in terms of film censorship, and that carries over into games.

[veti]

Morrowind, I played happily with DLC and one, very simple, mod (it set Cliff Racers to 0 aggression, so they left me alone unless I bothered them).

Oblivion, I'm looking at mods before I start it again, though I could play it vanilla (though I'd have to work around the leveling issue by simply never sleeping).

Skyrim? The PC UI is so awful that I stopped playing until someone suggested SkyUI, which made it tolerable.

For Morrowind, I don't think I'd play it again without the graphics enhancement overhaul, whatever it's called.

Oblivion - yeah. I've tried replaying that unmodded, and barely made it through tutorial before adding mods. It's just awful.

Skyrim - I played quite contentedly with the vanilla UI for many weeks before realising I could change it. Granted, the change is a huge improvement. But in Skyrim - it's the first time I've really enjoyed modding, rather than seeing it as a rather tedious chore to make the gameplay fun.

[halfeye]

I play games unmodded. Haven't modded one yet.

[DigoDragon]

Suggestion: Complete Fast Travel Overhaul would let you tell the carriage driver to drop you off in Shor's Stone. (He must have driven you straight through it, and Fort Greenwall.) Saves quite a lot of walking, when you're avoiding fast travel.
You'd still get to loot, sorry I mean "encounter", the fort on your way back, since CFTO annoyingly doesn't put carts in the small settlements.

Eh, if I'm encountering the fort either way, then I'm fine just assaulting it now than later. The dragon was an unexpected twist, however, and taking a carriage to Shor's might of meant I'd have to fight the dragon there. They always pick the worst timing possible.

Love the story, but what happened to your feline pack mule?

Shiira? I caught up with her after the last of the bandits were taken care of. She was inside the fort grounds running against a wall trying to path-find back to me.

[Caelestion]

For Morrowind, I don't think I'd play it again without the graphics enhancement overhaul, whatever it's called.

MGSO is now massively outdated. The MGG is what people should use these days.