Improving Skyrim / Recommended Mods thread (Mostly about Requiem)

[Thal]

My advice is to adjust the settings if you hit a wall. You're new and playing hardest character type in Requiem. And don't worry about dying, it's normal to have your ass handed to you if you're low level. Heavy armor types will fare best I think in the beginning. But you need the perks and moderate skill level.
If you're a thief type now, I'd say just drop the heavy armor and go light. Play like a thief and you'll do well. You're squishy, but if you have a bow and can sneak, you can do well in some situations. Also backstab when you can. I'd say early game in Requiem is about making some money to get your character started. Once you gain levels, it'll become more manageable.

Also, don't be afraid to use trainers to raise light armor skill, or other skills for that matter. Kill some bandits and sell the loot for training and you're soon past the early levels. Unfortunately, the way armor skills are raised makes it hard to level it otherwise. Whenever you get hit, your armor skill levels. But lightly armored charcters can be killed with one hit. Hence, you don't want to get hit at all, and then your armor skill doesn't raise. There is a passive levelling rate, but at least few version numbers back it wasn't nearly enough to reach even moderate levels by the time I was done with the game. Heavy armor OTOH can the a bit of punishment, and so it levels normally.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yeah, do use the trainers.

 

[Turisas]

Also backstab when you can.

Is that even feasible, early on? Do the first perks you get make such a big difference?

 

[Cerulean]

To the Codexian who recommended Inigo, thank you! Work is getting stressful, and Skyrim is like an old pair of jeans by this point, so I'm dusting the game off after a couple of years. I've never used a deliberate companion mod before (too many of them are just waifus, tbh), but Inigo is so entertaining that I couldn't imagine any other traveling companion at this point. I wish all the companions responses were as detailed as his.

 

[DraQ]

To the Codexian who recommended Inigo

That would be me.

Inigo is a bro.
Crazy skoomacat bro, but bro nevertheless.

Make sure to sit down with him sometimes in a safe place (like home or tavern) - he has a lot more dialogue this way.
Also he will react appropriately if you summon him (once you get the spell) into situations where you aren't supposed to have company.

 

[Cerulean]

To the Codexian who recommended Inigo

Make sure to sit down with him sometimes in a safe place (like home or tavern) - he has a lot more dialogue this way.
Also he will react appropriately if you summon him (once you get the spell) into situations where you aren't supposed to have company.

Well definitely thanks then.

And as for the situations where I'm not supposed to have company, even better. Sounds like the mod writer thought of damn near everything.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Crazy skoomacat

Is there any other kind?

 

[DraQ]

And as for the situations where I'm not supposed to have company, even better. Sounds like the mod writer thought of damn near everything.

Inigo is generally very reactive. He will react to NPCs, quests, locations and in-game situations. He will react to stuff like teleporting him to you while you're doing that Thalmor embassy quest, he will taunt M'Aiq The Liar, he will express pure glee when smashing giant spiders in the face and pun while shooting enemies with a crossbow. More interestingly, he will remember stuff he reacted to and done, and will mention it in subsequent conversations, so for example his random taunt might make him reflect upon something resulting in a conversation somewhere down the line.

Overall, while there is a lot of comic relief to Inigo, he is hardly just comic relief - he might be witty, often silly and borderline crazy, but he might as well suddenly* want to discuss some serious topic.
It seems you can influence the shape of his post-addiction personality as well with dialogue and your actions.

*) By "suddenly" I don't mean "right in the middle of a dangerous crawl with a horde of angry draugr and a dragonpriest unbreathing right in your face", at most he might signal his desire to talk about something next time you're at an inn or at home by the way of you interacting with him in a dungeon.

 

[taxalot]

I would like to thank everyone for the good and worthy tips with the Requiem mod.

Turns out that Requiem has a very extensively adjustable difficulty setting option too. I've been able to unstuck myself from a couple of fights after giving me a 25% bonus to damage. Set it back to normal afterwards.
Also, I took the liberty to re-enable fast traveling, because I have an actual life and most of my gameplay sessions so far have been about walking from one town to the other while dodging the fauna (BEARS!!!) that could gang-rape me Di Caprio style. I know it's cheating, in a way, because they removed the level-scaling and some places are supposed to be hard to access, but it's a minor enough concession.

I'd like to say that I really, really enjoy the game so far thanks to this mod. The writing is still shit (is there even a mod to fix that?), but that's clearly some quality modding there.

 

[Turisas]

There was that one mod where carriages could leave you into the smaller settlements as well, but it was a one-way trip so if for example you travelled to Riverwood, you'd have to walk back to Whiterun to get another carriage. That felt like a nice compromise for still having to do some walking and yet save some time. Conjuration also had some basic teleportation capability (mark & recall style spell).

Edit: Ah it was Better Fast Travel - you can actually choose where the carriages are via MCM, I just disabled them from the smaller places where it wouldn't make much sense to have a carriage service on call 24/7.

 

[Gord]

I've played a while like that, but honestly, eventually I just concluded that I have better things to do with my time than spending it just walking around scenery in a game (and Skyrim is enough of a time-waster already, albeit one that can be fun enough with the right mods).

I use the carts when they are available and occasionally I take some trip to see where it leads me, or just because I'm in the mood for some hiking, but other than that I just fast travel.

 

[DraQ]

My main reason to not use FT is that it makes an awful lot of gameplay mechanics rather pointless - horses, boats, carriages, teleportation spells,

Spoiler

awaking on the wrong end of Solstheim

.
Lack of FT also alters the pacing dramatically - it's no longer a nearly continuous combatfest and questline progression isn't nearly as jarring.

Oh, BTW, I recently obtained Aetherial crown with my lizard battlemage. I'm dithering between going full retard with raw magicka pool (Mage on self + Atronach on the Crown) or trying to prioritize magicka regen with Apprentice supported by either Mage or incredibly OP in a fun way Ritual.

Also, the Forgemaster was one mean MOTHER

 

[Mexi]

And as for the situations where I'm not supposed to have company, even better. Sounds like the mod writer thought of damn near everything.

Inigo is generally very reactive. He will react to NPCs, quests, locations and in-game situations. He will react to stuff like teleporting him to you while you're doing that Thalmor embassy quest, he will taunt M'Aiq The Liar, he will express pure glee when smashing giant spiders in the face and pun while shooting enemies with a crossbow. More interestingly, he will remember stuff he reacted to and done, and will mention it in subsequent conversations, so for example his random taunt might make him reflect upon something resulting in a conversation somewhere down the line.

Overall, while there is a lot of comic relief to Inigo, he is hardly just comic relief - he might be witty, often silly and borderline crazy, but he might as well suddenly* want to discuss some serious topic.
It seems you can influence the shape of his post-addiction personality as well with dialogue and your actions.

*) By "suddenly" I don't mean "right in the middle of a dangerous crawl with a horde of angry draugr and a dragonpriest unbreathing right in your face", at most he might signal his desire to talk about something next time you're at an inn or at home by the way of you interacting with him in a dungeon.

Have you tried out Arissa? I played with her for a while, but she's rather boring. I just downloaded Inigo and will try him out. I had to make a new game, though. Actually, changing masters to USLEEP wasn't too hard. One thing I did hear is that iNeed is a lot better than Needs and Diseases. I'm trying out iNeed right now. Doesn't seem to bad.

 

[Gord]

My main reason to not use FT is that it makes an awful lot of gameplay mechanics rather pointless - horses, boats, carriages, teleportation spells,

Spoiler

awaking on the wrong end of Solstheim

.

For some of it (esp. the latter) you can always just LARP where it makes sense (this is what I'm doing in such cases). But walking/riding between two PoI which I've already visited, likely traveled in between, too? Personally I've just lost interest in doing that too often.

 

[DraQ]

My main reason to not use FT is that it makes an awful lot of gameplay mechanics rather pointless - horses, boats, carriages, teleportation spells,

Spoiler

awaking on the wrong end of Solstheim

.

For some of it (esp. the latter) you can always just LARP where it makes sense (this is what I'm doing in such cases). But walking/riding between two PoI which I've already visited, likely traveled in between, too? Personally I've just lost interest in doing that too often.

Thankfully horses are really fast in Requiem so uninterrupted trip from a city to another location doesn't take long, sadly the keyword here is "uninterrupted" - if only there weren't so many fucking wolves...

Edit: illustrated

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

First thing I did with my Thief character (an Argonian) was jump into the river, swim past all of Riverwood's introductory stuff and then steal a horse outside Whiterun. Rode all the way to Riften. The close calls I had on the way...

 

[skaraher]

What are good mods to use with Perkus Maximus ?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

My main reason to not use FT is that it makes an awful lot of gameplay mechanics rather pointless - horses, boats, carriages, teleportation spells,

Spoiler

awaking on the wrong end of Solstheim

.

For some of it (esp. the latter) you can always just LARP where it makes sense (this is what I'm doing in such cases). But walking/riding between two PoI which I've already visited, likely traveled in between, too? Personally I've just lost interest in doing that too often.

I pick different routes. There's stuff you wouldn't ever notice if you stick to the roads or optimal fastest path. So many people miss the chickenmancer near Ivarstead because he's a little way to the side of the crossroads.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Oh, BTW, I recently obtained Aetherial crown with my lizard battlemage. I'm dithering between going full retard with raw magicka pool (Mage on self + Atronach on the Crown) or trying to prioritize magicka regen with Apprentice supported by either Mage or incredibly OP in a fun way Ritual.

Consider trying some of the tricks from this character. I'm not sure it's viable in Requiem (does Equilibrium even exist?) but it sounds dangerously cheesy.

http://tamrielvault.com/m/group/discussion?id=6452022:Topic:143341

 

[DraQ]

Consider trying some of the tricks from this character. I'm not sure it's viable in Requiem (does Equilibrium even exist?) but it sounds dangerously cheesy.

It's called "Transmute Blood" in Requiem IIRC. Shouldn't be that cheesy, but would definitely broaden some options.

Also, decided to go for Atronach and Ritual.
I'm aiming for a badass Battlemage/Sorcerer archetype.

 

[DraQ]

So many people miss the chickenmancer near Ivarstead because he's a little way to the side of the crossroads.

I've seen him once. One of the reasons I threw SkyRe away in disgust as it imposed arbitrary restrictions that would make chickenmancy, among other things, mechanically impossible.

 

[pakoito]

When's Nehrim 2?

 

[Excidium II]

So many people miss the chickenmancer near Ivarstead because he's a little way to the side of the crossroads.

I've seen him once. One of the reasons I threw SkyRe away in disgust as it imposed arbitrary restrictions that would make chickenmancy, among other things, mechanically impossible.

wot's that about?

 

[Utgard-Loki]

skyre made necromancy dumb by limiting what you could raise (only lower level humanoids until a certain high level perk if i remember correctly).

 

[DraQ]

Meanwhile in Requiem you can pretty much raise anything organic as long as you're powerful enough for whatever you're raising.

For example my current lvl27 lizard battlemage can already raise giants (though of course there is seldom opportunity to do so and since a few versions you cannot re-raise the same body indefinitely without a high-level Dark Infusion perk, so no romping around entire Skyrim with your pet giant anymore).