Improving Skyrim / Recommended Mods thread (Mostly about Requiem)

[Turisas]

My character can't get any blessings since he's a filthy thief.

Garrett would just steal the blessings, your character ought be more like him.

 

[Borelli]

Does anyone know if maces have inherent ignore armor rating or do they only get it with perks?

 

[Lancehead]

My character can't get any blessings since he's a filthy thief.

Garrett would just steal the blessings, your character ought be more like him.

Spoiler

I know, not very imaginative.

 

[felipepepe]

Playing as a furry Garrett in Skyrim.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Shrines of the Divines

- Shrines now only grant bonuses if you do not have commited too much crime during your adventure in Skyrim - for criminals aren't favored by the divines! Also, the duration of the blessing has been increased greatly. Also, if you do certain deeds, some gods might grant you even more power - for instance, Mara's blessing enhances your health if you've completed her temple quest. On the other hand, some god's might also refuse to bless you - for instance, if you join the imperial Legion, Talos will refuse to bless you for this blashpemy. *

Moders who shat on the Lore and implement their own rules taken from only Daedras know where should not call their mods ''rebalancing'' but Total Overhauls. I am sure author must be one of Net wannabie Stormcocks but He just proved Thalmor point that Talos is not a real god. In fact many other changes like removing ''Voice of Emperor'' power makes the game not TES at all. Moreover some of his more ''creative changes'' could inspire Todd&Pete how to tastefully enrich the setting some more.

 

[sea]

I decided to reinstall Requiem and have been playing it a bit the last few days.

I'm starting to appreciate it a lot more than I used to. Although I still think the challenge level early on might be a bit high to the point where it slows down the game unnecessarily (fucking wolves etc.), it's actually not that hard to get to a decent level of capability. For instance, once you reach Whiterun you can use the target dummies with all combat techniques to level up a bit and get to the point where the basic wildlife doesn't cause problems. Once I managed to take out my first nest of bandits, it was incredibly satisfying because I had to work for it.

I will say there's a few things that are off. I am not sure if the spawns were adjusted at all, but I am finding tons of sabre cats all around Whiterun who instantly destroy me, for one. And, it'd be nice if there was an easier way to look up certain information without relying on metagame knowledge (like a book of spells that tells you all that's available, so I can learn if my mage needs to invest in the lockpick skill or if there is a spell for that). And, Requiem can't really answer to the issue that Skyrim was built with one style of gameplay in mind and its changes kind of contradict that, especially in terms of overall world and quest design, which requires the player basically have pre-existing knowledge of what's safe and what's not, where to find specific NPCs, equipment, spells, opportunities, etc.

But overall, it has made Skyrim more enjoyable for me, even though I certainly would not recommend this for "most" people.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

I decided to reinstall Requiem and have been playing it a bit the last few days.

I'm starting to appreciate it a lot more than I used to. Although I still think the challenge level early on might be a bit high to the point where it slows down the game unnecessarily (fucking wolves etc.), it's actually not that hard to get to a decent level of capability. For instance, once you reach Whiterun you can use the target dummies with all combat techniques to level up a bit and get to the point where the basic wildlife doesn't cause problems. Once I managed to take out my first nest of bandits, it was incredibly satisfying because I had to work for it.

I will say there's a few things that are off. I am not sure if the spawns were adjusted at all, but I am finding tons of sabre cats all around Whiterun who instantly destroy me, for one. And, it'd be nice if there was an easier way to look up certain information without relying on metagame knowledge (like a book of spells that tells you all that's available, so I can learn if my mage needs to invest in the lockpick skill or if there is a spell for that). And, Requiem can't really answer to the issue that Skyrim was built with one style of gameplay in mind and its changes kind of contradict that, especially in terms of overall world and quest design, which requires the player basically have pre-existing knowledge of what's safe and what's not, where to find specific NPCs, equipment, spells, opportunities, etc.

But overall, it has made Skyrim more enjoyable for me, even though I certainly would not recommend this for "most" people.

What do you think about SkyRe in comparison to Requiem? Imo it doesn't have such huge learning curve and difficulty spikes in the beginning, but I'd lie if I said many fights are easy and/or easy to tackle on without "savescumming".

 

[sea]

What do you think about SkyRe in comparison to Requiem? Imo it doesn't have such huge learning curve and difficulty spikes in the beginning, but I'd lie if I said many fights are easy and/or easy to tackle on without "savescumming".

I had to save-scum like a madman in Requiem to tackle those bandits. But I don't really see that as a fault of the game or its balance. It was a learning experience. Instantly deadly combat has its place just as much as more slow-paced, attrition-based MMO-style (for lack of a better term) combat.

If the penalty for failure is high (i.e. got shot by a stray arrow for running out into the open) then you learn much more quickly what you are doing wrong. Skyrim is like the anti-Requiem by default because it trains you to play like a lunatic.

I haven't played SkyRe so I can't comment on it. Seems like it'd be a bit of a hassle to go setting up yet another total conversion without conflicts, and it would probably screw up my saves too, so I doubt I'll touch it for a while.

 

[Broseph]

Requiem is fucking awesome. It makes playing as a stealthy character actually challenging because if you get spotted you're fucked. I'm playing as a Khajiit bowman assassin right now. I found it to be ludicrously hard in the beginning but I'm at level 11 now and I can faceroll most enemies unless I get hit. Even then I can usually take one or two hits before death.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=16345

Anybody played those?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I will say there's a few things that are off. I am not sure if the spawns were adjusted at all, but I am finding tons of sabre cats all around Whiterun who instantly destroy me, for one.

I figure they are added to the spawn points sprawled through the fields. When I keep to the roads, I'm usually safe from them.

And yeah, it's really satisfying to kill your first bandit group. Even one bandit is an achievement, if you're a frail magic user.

 

[DraQ]

DraQ, how well does Requiem accommodate "broad" characters? The mod is clearly designed to encourage specialisation, but it seems, upon inspection of perk trees, that broad characters should also be able to deal with many challenges since perks are, for the most part, not designed in such a way that the ones higher up the tree simply displace the lower ones.

Maxed out character will probably be able to invest into about half of perks, and a lot of skills synergize with each other (not all of them, for example - heavy armor and sneak don't work together that well).
OTOH you will have to specialize at the beginning and battlemaging is major PITA because before you get your heavy armor to appreciable level and invest a point into appropriate perk it's either armor or spells, never both.

 

[sea]

DraQ, how well does Requiem accommodate "broad" characters? The mod is clearly designed to encourage specialisation, but it seems, upon inspection of perk trees, that broad characters should also be able to deal with many challenges since perks are, for the most part, not designed in such a way that the ones higher up the tree simply displace the lower ones.

Maxed out character will probably be able to invest into about half of perks, and a lot of skills synergize with each other (not all of them, for example - heavy armor and sneak don't work together that well).
OTOH you will have to specialize at the beginning and battlemaging is major PITA because before you get your heavy armor to appreciable level and invest a point into appropriate perk it's either armor or spells, never both.

At the same time, that kinda makes it more fun. I don't mind playing as a glass cannon a bit, and stomping around in armor while throwing spells feels stupid to me.

 

[DraQ]

DraQ, how well does Requiem accommodate "broad" characters? The mod is clearly designed to encourage specialisation, but it seems, upon inspection of perk trees, that broad characters should also be able to deal with many challenges since perks are, for the most part, not designed in such a way that the ones higher up the tree simply displace the lower ones.

Maxed out character will probably be able to invest into about half of perks, and a lot of skills synergize with each other (not all of them, for example - heavy armor and sneak don't work together that well).
OTOH you will have to specialize at the beginning and battlemaging is major PITA because before you get your heavy armor to appreciable level and invest a point into appropriate perk it's either armor or spells, never both.

At the same time, that kinda makes it more fun. I don't mind playing as a glass cannon a bit, and stomping around in armor while throwing spells feels stupid to me.

Well, I like hybrids, and I think they are the main point of classless systems.
Plus, I guess that actual combat oriented wizard would probably wear the best armour available because he'd effectively have bullseye painted on his chest the moment he started to do anything wizardly.

Battlemages are overall handled well in Requiem, as it requires perk allocation to make heavy armour an option for a caster. The problem is that the required perks are unavailable initially so it's a form of catch-22. You can't develop heavy armor skill if you develop your casting skills, and if you develop your heavy armor skill you'll probably be really good at some sort of melee before you even start using spells and then the piddling novice spells cast low level will be grossly inadequate for actual combat so you will keep swinging instead.

 

[Lancehead]

Another hurdle is the attributes leveling. As a battlemage you'd want investment in all the attributes, and attribute points are at a premium.

Edit: To go back to the topic of blessings in Requiem, I presume my character is way over the crime threshold for blessings. Is there any way to get blessings now by, you know, repenting sins? Not that I want to, mind you, just curious.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Battlemages are supposed to use blades and spells as they're basically legionaries first trained as heavy legion infantry then send to Battlespire/Imperial University to be trained as mages. So you should train your blade and heavy armor skill first as Compagion then join the College and train your magic. Shame that Legion is not real guild like in Morrowind where between them, Fighter Guild and House Redoran you could raise all your skill presto and cheaply. Don't use requiem but between Overhualed Dragon Combat and Duelist while playing on Expert my 80 level Battlemage with 850 armor and full magic and poison warded dies a lot especially against Falmer Scum.

 

[Lancehead]

Updated to the latest Requiem. My character took a 30 point penalty to carry weight. On the plus side, he's got significant bonuses to 1h and ranged weapons and projectiles damage and movement speed. The new mass effect system looks pretty neat, but overall the changes further encourage specialisation.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Sweet. I found fixes for the biggest Skyrim problem. That is, pitiful cities.

That's the thing I loved about modded Oblivion, that I could fuck around in Better Cities and Imperial City.

OTOH Skyrim has 9 small villages, 5 of which are generic. It is virtually impossible to play as thief/pickpocket, because there are no houses to break in, nor people to pick pockets of.

Now you can fuck around in Skyrim as well.

Whiterun:

-Ultimate Whiterun:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/37874/
(Around 40% bigger city)

-Immersive Settlements Whiterun plugin for outdoor buildings

Windhelm:

-Better Cities Windhelm:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/30046/

-Factions: Pit Fighters:
aforementioned mod for Windhelm Pit

Solitude:

-Real Cities: Solitude:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/31788//?

-Solitude Docks District:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/22821//?

-Solitude - Capital City Overhaul:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/14946//?

Riften:

-Riften - Thief Edition:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/31669/

No Markarth though, and as for the rest, Immersive Settlements.

 

[Broseph]

Morrowloot adds a lot of static loot which also makes thievery worthwhile.

 

[Lancehead]

OTOH Skyrim has 9 small villages, 5 of which are generic. It is virtually impossible to play as thief/pickpocket, because there are no houses to break in, nor people to pick pockets of.

Are you serious? Lockpicking and Pickpocket are the first skills I maxed.

 

[Borelli]

Ok so Requiem added these "invisible entities" and they are killing me. As in, i'm wearing full ebony and they 2 shot me. Apparently they have 100% ignore armor, i am now in Soul Cairn in Dawnguard questline and it's getting too much for me. Do they have a specific weakness or something?

 

[Garmik]

Ok so Requiem added these "invisible entities" and they are killing me. As in, i'm wearing full ebony and they 2 shot me. Apparently they have 100% ignore armor, i am now in Soul Cairn in Dawnguard questline and it's getting too much for me. Do they have a specific weakness or something?

Invisible Entities are ugh...

The best way I managed to fight them is with ice spells to slow 'em down. If you have no magic, you'll have to rely on Shouts while trying to block their punches (Try freeze breath and/or ice breath). If you have done Dragonborn, they become quite easy one on one, you can use the empowered ice breath to keep them freezed all day long.

DraQ, how well does Requiem accommodate "broad" characters? The mod is clearly designed to encourage specialisation, but it seems, upon inspection of perk trees, that broad characters should also be able to deal with many challenges since perks are, for the most part, not designed in such a way that the ones higher up the tree simply displace the lower ones.

Maxed out character will probably be able to invest into about half of perks, and a lot of skills synergize with each other (not all of them, for example - heavy armor and sneak don't work together that well).
OTOH you will have to specialize at the beginning and battlemaging is major PITA because before you get your heavy armor to appreciable level and invest a point into appropriate perk it's either armor or spells, never both.

At the same time, that kinda makes it more fun. I don't mind playing as a glass cannon a bit, and stomping around in armor while throwing spells feels stupid to me.

Well, I like hybrids, and I think they are the main point of classless systems.
Plus, I guess that actual combat oriented wizard would probably wear the best armour available because he'd effectively have bullseye painted on his chest the moment he started to do anything wizardly.

Battlemages are overall handled well in Requiem, as it requires perk allocation to make heavy armour an option for a caster. The problem is that the required perks are unavailable initially so it's a form of catch-22. You can't develop heavy armor skill if you develop your casting skills, and if you develop your heavy armor skill you'll probably be really good at some sort of melee before you even start using spells and then the piddling novice spells cast low level will be grossly inadequate for actual combat so you will keep swinging instead.

My best character in Requiem is a battlemage (well, not much in offensive spells yet, so more like a paladin or something), master Restoration and Alteration with Heavy Armor and I feel like nothing can kill me now...

Anyways, I started it mostly as I would a heavy-armor + one-handed + shield fighter type of dude. And as I gained the heavy armor perk for reduced magic cost on a respective level of magic I would take the respective perks for a school of magic ( i.e when I got reduced cost for apprentice on HA, I got some spells for that, and started progressing those together)

 

[Turisas]

Sweet. I found fixes for the biggest Skyrim problem. That is, pitiful cities.

I'll read them all later, but did you notice any listed incompatibilities with other mods you had?


Morrowloot's good for minimalistic mod lists, but the hand placed loot kinda loses its point if you add any mods that add new items to leveled lists.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Sweet. I found fixes for the biggest Skyrim problem. That is, pitiful cities.

I'll read them all later, but did you notice any listed incompatibilities with other mods you had?


Morrowloot's good for minimalistic mod lists, but the hand placed loot kinda loses its point if you add any mods that add new items to leveled lists.

Unfortunately many new buildings in Solitude and Windhelm are unaccessible, it adds mostly to the climate and townsfolk thievery wise. Not so much in Whitrrun and Riften. I guess custom merchants and the like are appropriately adjusted, the only "dirtiness" would be many clipping issues in Real Cities Solitude, but there's nothing better, and it at least makes it feel like a capital. The only mod that seems to add hand-placed goodies is the Riften one, but I didn't check it out yet, so I can't comment on how overpowered it is.

 

[Garmik]

I just updated to last Requiem, and damn, it seems like Battlemages got a serious kick in the face. Even with Master HA and respective schools of magic, magicka cost of spells are seriously high.
And my movement speed is ridiculously slow.


And my thief (with 1140 stamina) sprints faster than a horse OHGODWHAT. And his illusion spells cost too much for him to cast now. Hmm