Improving Skyrim / Recommended Mods thread (Mostly about Requiem)

[Carrion]

Not sure about Frostfall, but Realistic Needs & Diseases becomes kind of pointless when the world is so tightly-packed overall. It'd be cool if you actually had to hunt for food to survive when out in the wilds, but as it is, it's more of a nuisance than a challenge of any kind when the nearest town is always within a five-minute walk. Food is an alright early-game money sink, though, and sleeping at least serves some function now.

 

[DeepOcean]

Not sure about Frostfall, but Realistic Needs & Diseases becomes kind of pointless when the world is so tightly-packed overall. It'd be cool if you actually had to hunt for food to survive when out in the wilds, but as it is, it's more of a nuisance than a challenge of any kind when the nearest town is always within a five-minute walk. Food is an alright early-game money sink, though, and sleeping at least serves some function now.

Yep, needing food and water to survive makes sense on a post apocalyptic setting or if you are exploring an area far away from any settlement, the land mass of Skyrim is too small, you are always nearby a village or city where you can buy food and Skyrim has alot of rivers to guarantee ever needing water. If the money was very limited to the point of you don't even having money for food, okay, but why I don't have money to eat if I have a fucking glass sword that costs a fortune? If skyrim only had a city surrounded by endless desert, ice or jungle and you had to be careful on how much food you are going to take to survive the trip and return, okay, but when you can buy and carry 100 cabbages and there is always a settlement nearby what is the point? Even with weight limit, I can only carry one cabbage now, okay, but why am I starving to death after just a short walk? That is a fucking fast metabolism. Needs and weather mods in this case are just LARPING made obligatory, so the LARPING feels justified. It is like if the LARPER thought:" Doing this shit, requires alot of work and is boring as fuck and the game don't even notice, what is the point?" then after the LARPING mod: Finally my needs are met, I can continue to do this boring as fuck, repetitive and unchallenging shit but now I have a purpose, I'm gonna die if I don't do it.

 

[hell bovine]

I'm wondering about this too, I started a necromancer, and the path-finding is just shit.

That's the annoying part of playing a necromancer in Requiem. But overall I still find it a lot of fun, as in "find the right volunteer to pay raise for this job".

 

[Turisas]

Skyrim has alot of rivers to guarantee ever needing water.

Don't you still need to boil it or risk getting sick? The nords piss in that water.

 

[Night Goat]

I use atronachs instead of undead so the pathfinding isn't a problem for me, but I still need to position them so that one isn't shooting the other in the back. I really wish developers would put more effort into the AI, but I guess AI isn't what sells games to consoletards.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I'm wondering about this too, I started a necromancer, and the path-finding is just shit.

That's the annoying part of playing a necromancer in Requiem. But overall I still find it a lot of fun, as in "find the right volunteer to pay raise for this job".

Isn't it? Fuck loot, I collect people. I had to change the limit of summons though, because playing a necromancer with only one minion (which dies if you dare to summon another thing unless you have a high level perk) is just sad. I already "recruited" one retardedly strong bandit boss and that guy that was stuck in the spider web from Bleak Falls Barrow (who is kind of a weakling, but he'll do for now). I even engaged in a dance raise-battle with another necromancer, one killing and converting the minions of the other.

 

[Borelli]

Traveller's tent and bedroll in Requiem, how do you use them?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I believe you have to drop them, then activate them. You might have to hold sneak to do that.

 

[hell bovine]

I'm wondering about this too, I started a necromancer, and the path-finding is just shit.

That's the annoying part of playing a necromancer in Requiem. But overall I still find it a lot of fun, as in "find the right volunteer to pay raise for this job".

Isn't it? Fuck loot, I collect people. I had to change the limit of summons though, because playing a necromancer with only one minion (which dies if you dare to summon another thing unless you have a high level perk) is just sad. I already "recruited" one retardedly strong bandit boss and that guy that was stuck in the spider web from Bleak Falls Barrow (who is kind of a weakling, but he'll do for now). I even engaged in a dance raise-battle with another necromancer, one killing and converting the minions of the other.

Draugrs (sp?) make for very good melee zombies, especially the shouting ones; the fights between them tend to be hilarious. This is also how the battle for Whiterun was won: one necromancer hiding his shapely - but very vulnerable to arrows - ass behind an undead one.
Try an electromancer, though, it's like having a portable Tesla coil. :D (they might be actually better then companion mages, since it looks like the enemy wizards have a cheated magicka pool and/or regeneration)

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Anyone tried Locational Damage with Requiem? Requiem's readme says it's compatible, but may cause "balancing issues".
Good / bad / glitchy?

 

[RK47]

Skyrim has alot of rivers to guarantee ever needing water.

Don't you still need to boil it or risk getting sick? The nords piss in that water.

You summon icebolt, then firespark it till it boils slurping it off the wall.
In other words, fuck that realistic needy shit.
When a game lets your cast firespark at level 1, don't talk to me about getting warm or managing your temperature.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

It's magical fire. It is therefore incapable of warming the wizard that created it, because that would violate the laws of thermodynamics. I think.

Anyone tried Locational Damage with Requiem? Requiem's readme says it's compatible, but may cause "balancing issues".
Good / bad / glitchy?

While I haven't tried it, I imagine the "balancing issues" means Requiem's equipment and skill progression is relatively useless since you don't need flaming swords made by an extinct race when a banal iron sword is perfectly capable of one-hitting most enemies if you hit them in the face. That might be good depending on your mood, I dunno. It sounds like it could be fun with a mod that removes the more "fantasy" loot, such as Secret of Steel.

 

[Turisas]

You summon icebolt, then firespark it till it boils slurping it off the wall.
In other words, fuck that realistic needy shit.
When a game lets your cast firespark at level 1, don't talk to me about getting warm or managing your temperature.

I wasn't advocating the mod, don't much care for the survival mods, either (usually they're fun for a short period and then it just devolves into an annoyance). Especially since you can't do it in a cool way and cut open a giant's corpse for a makeshift shelter against the winterstorms. And I thought they smelled bad... on the outside!

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

If you want to get anal about it aren't there references in at least one in-game book about magic users conjuring up food? I know I've heard mention of water before, so all you need after that is to carry a blanket and basic needs are set. But then if the game was modeled after all the references in the books someone could study Alteration for a month and then heft barns over their head. Literary characters in Elder Scrolls' in-game novels get up to some crazy shit.

 

[RK47]

It's magical fire. It is therefore incapable of warming the wizard that created it, because that would violate the laws of thermodynamics. I think.

Or you know, you can set fire to a pile of bodies your just butchered, or maybe strip their clothes and just burn it for warming effect? It's magical!

While I haven't tried it, I imagine the "balancing issues" means Requiem's equipment and skill progression is relatively useless since you don't need flaming swords made by an extinct race when a banal iron sword is perfectly capable of one-hitting most enemies if you hit them in the face. That might be good depending on your mood, I dunno. It sounds like it could be fun with a mod that removes the more "fantasy" loot, such as Secret of Steel.

Locational damage on Dragons can actually improve the gameplay.
Hit it on the head till it's crippled, it can no longer lock on target, it'll just spin around desperately when fire-breathing to hit anything.
Hit it on the wing , slow it down, cripple the wings, and it can't fly.
PS: I never tried the mod either. Just bring wishy washy.
Edit: Just read through - no dragons. Disappointing.

 

[Night Goat]

Especially since you can't do it in a cool way and cut open a giant's corpse for a makeshift shelter against the winterstorms.

It'd be even better if you could then reanimate the giant's corpse and ride around in it like a mech.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

That sounds pretty rapey!

Locational damage on Dragons can actually improve the gameplay.
Hit it on the head till it's crippled, it can no longer lock on target, it'll just spin around desperately when fire-breathing to hit anything.
Hit it on the wing , slow it down, cripple the wings, and it can't fly.
PS: I never tried the mod either. Just bring wishy washy.
Edit: Just read through - no dragons. Disappointing.

Problem is that with highly damaging weapons introduced by Requiem, locational damage probably turns the game into a headshot simulator like Fallout. Since dragons have huge heads...well.

 

[RK47]

Still want a 'quick but fair' option.
You'd think the dragon's eyes is the weakest part of its body.

 

[Lhynn]

You summon icebolt, then firespark it till it boils slurping it off the wall.
In other words, fuck that realistic needy shit.
When a game lets your cast firespark at level 1, don't talk to me about getting warm or managing your temperature.

isnt that one of the big problems of the game? it trivializes one of the best parts of a hiking sim.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Not quite, since firespark is pretty weak and any adventurer should know a basic spell or two. The point is that the "survival" aspect doesn't really work in a high-magic setting unless you play as one of the poor hunter NPCs who only has access to a wooden bow and an iron dagger.

 

[Delterius]

I wouldn't know about that. There's High magic and then there's HIGH MAGIC. Let's not forget that we once had to rest for hours in order to recover Magicka. And with the way Requiem handles things, I'd rather not rely on my Magicka pool in order to keep myself alive against the cold. Especially if I'm a spellcaster and it doubles for everything else I can do.

But, yes, staying away from the cold is a trivial gameplay concern that appeals to a larpy mind. I also happen to use to mod.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Taking a nap (or a quickie sippy of a magicka potion, made with common plants) to recover your ability to throw fireballs or teleport around is pretty high magic, to me. Also, "the local Mages Guild s recruiting!" is a thing (they also sell said fireball spell for a few dozen coins, of course), as are street merchants that greet you with "I received a new shipment of enchanted weapons that summon demons from another dimension, take a look".

If that's not HIGH MAGIC, then I'm downright scared of what actual HIGH MAGIC is.

 

[hell bovine]

Well, all you would need in that case is to change the destruction school of magic, so that it isn't the - very boring - fire/ice/lightning anymore. You could change it for example into: damaging health spells (self explanatory)/ damaging metal (for weapons, armor and constructs, of course) etc. That would leave you with no magic to keep you warm or create water, except for maybe if you sucked on your frost atronach for all those pervy mages out there.

 

[Delterius]

Taking a nap (or a quickie sippy of a magicka potion, made with common plants) to recover your ability to throw fireballs or teleport around is pretty high magic, to me. Also, "the local Mages Guild s recruiting!" is a thing (they also sell said fireball spell for a few dozen coins, of course).

The point is that there's a difference in how different games portray, or rather limit, your resources. For an adept Mage whose Magicka pool serves for everything and is limited per rest (in the case of Morrowind) or, in the case he can't maintain a spell indefinitely (in the case of Skyrim + Requiem), there's practicity in simply wearing some warm clothes. And no issue with traveling with gear that makes sleeping a more comfortable exercise. Also, I doubt you'd take a nap in the cold or that you can do so while keeping a spell working.

Of course, this is still easily circumvented with a conveniently enchanted item. But there's also the issue of character development: transcending the limitations that concern the common man or even the novice adventurer is a consistent theme in RPGs.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Wet and Cold (+DB Addon) seems to be a better alternative for climate make-believe: NPCs wear hoods/cloaks (has its own, doesn't need optional downloads) according to weather and suffer detection penalties in blizzards (same as you). Adds to the immurshun without making you the single damned soul in the universe suffering from bad weather.
Been playing with it for a bit - seems to work flawlessly and doesn't affect performance at all.