Improving Skyrim / Recommended Mods thread (Mostly about Requiem)

[AW8]

Would have to scale a bit though - one of the few cases when scaled encounters make sense, imho.

Seriously, removal of level scaling is one of the primary reasons the mod is great. In fact, the creature design overhaul--i.e., actual strengths and weaknesses--wouldn't work without static levels. Consequently the perk overhaul will also suffer.

I agree that world-spanning level-scaling should go. But I also don't think level-scaled assassins/thugs are that dumb, it's one of the only scenarios where it makes sense.

Some petty nobody angers you? You send a stable boy with a pitchfork after him.

A master warrior angers you? You send an elite assassin to exact vengeance.

 

[Lancehead]

And how does a barkeep find means to employ an elite assassin? If anything, the level of thugs sent after pc should reflect the npc who hired them.

 

[sea]

An archer has a much harder time hitting you than a guy who gets up close (and doesn't have to deal with aiming, cover, annoying wolf summon, etc), if they don't get the damage to justify it they become minor annoyances (like in vanilla). Archers don't kill me nearly as often as melee d00ds who managed to get close.

Basically, if I see an archer I put something between us. If he's smart enough not to spend all his arrows (forcing him to come after me with a dagger or something), he gets a fireball to the face after his melee buddies are taken care of. The wolf familiar is also great for keeping him busy while they're still up, as well.

That'd be true if it's one archer. But in Skyrim you typically go up against 3-4 at once, or more, and as such I find they tend to be exceptionally accurate unless they are firing from very long distances. Sure, you can use cover and try to doge, but a lot of the time my fights will be ended immediately by 1-2 stray arrows. It's a good argument for using the environment and other advantages you might have but at the same time it can feel a bit abusive of the AI. Balancing ranged attacks in a game like this is hard, either they do lots of damage and are a serious threat, or they don't and they aren't - and if you make shields too powerful then that simply negates their damage entirely, which isn't especially ideal either since it's just a hard counter.

Overall I think Requiem gets the balance pretty good without just trivializing archers or making them too deadly, but I feel like the accuracy of most enemies (especially bandits) could be toned down a bit to avoid pressuring the player into cheese tactics or save-scumming.

 

[AW8]

And how does a barkeep find means to employ an elite assassin? If anything, the level of thugs sent after pc should reflect the npc who hired them.

My head was in the Fallout universe so I was thinking more of the NCR/Legionnairy assassins from New Vegas, who are level-scaled (think of low-level assassins as recruit soldiers and high-level assassins as elite soldiers).

That would still work if the Legion/Stormcloaks were to send assassins after you, since Ulfric and Titus II both have the capacity to send the stable boy and an elite mercenary. Sadly, they do not send assassins after you.

Back to the barkeep case, what if there was a roof for scaling? So that the strongest thug she can send after you was a cheap mercenary?

 

[Commissar Draco]

Don't steal than or install one of R-47 kun mods; one time enrichment from them should work as enough deterrent. When we talk about law enforcment Requiem made guards/stormcloacks/legion troopers into badasses taking even bears solo they're only reason my low level robbed by bandits PC got into first city; Protect and to serve As to weight I use better ins mod and rent rooms which come with secure chest. It is expensive which prevents from Vanila I have 5000 gold after two days of play syndrome. Mages also play as entire diferent game now; you don't even need furs to keep you warm and you can even play without all this clunky gear Warrior has to carry with him. Commissar was hesitetent to try this mode but it turns Skyrim into proper, hard but fun RPG/Survival Sim.

 

[Lancehead]

And how does a barkeep find means to employ an elite assassin? If anything, the level of thugs sent after pc should reflect the npc who hired them.

My head was in the Fallout universe so I was thinking more of the NCR/Legionnairy assassins from New Vegas, who are level-scaled (think of low-level assassins as recruit soldiers and high-level assassins as elite soldiers).

That would still work if the Legion/Stormcloaks were to send assassins after you, since Ulfric and Titus II both have the capacity to send the stable boy and an elite mercenary. Sadly, they do not send assassins after you.

Back to the barkeep case, what if there was a roof for scaling? So that the strongest thug she can send after you was a cheap mercenary?

Well, a barkeep will likely only have enough gold and connections to hire some cheap sell-swords. Whereas a rich person may be able hire professional bounty hunters. He can also hire cheap sell-swords depending on the pc and the crime committed, but I'd think he'd hire professionals in any case if he wants to get the job done cleanly and in the exact manner he wishes. Unless the rich person is a miser but that'd be a special case.

It's better to just scale the thugs to the npc who hires them; that way it not only makes sense but also gives the thief a pause before cleaning out the Jarl's personal quarters.

 

[Commissar Draco]

We're talking about realism in game where PC gots from criminal scum noob into the Divine Hero in a few weaks time? And where PC is only consumer of goods in whole province? Some level scaling has sense for in game balance purpose. Any Mod which would turn maybe not Guards since they're sworn to uphold the law and High King Peace but vigilante groups like VoS on your ass if your reputation go down? With letter of warning after the first deadric obtained artifact? Beatings after the 3rd and being hunted down by Inquisiton after 6th? Would give the choice to not obtain some artifacts some added pros.

 

[Zewp]

At least you sometimes get a bunch of hired goons as delayed consequence.

I imagine having to face them frontally would be problematic for a *pure* thief.

Facing them frontally was a problem for me on a pure warrior in Requiem. I simply had to run away because they kept pushing my shit in while the guards just start around gawking at me while I'm being assaulted in the middle of the street.

 

[Gord]

And how does a barkeep find means to employ an elite assassin? If anything, the level of thugs sent after pc should reflect the npc who hired them.

My head was in the Fallout universe so I was thinking more of the NCR/Legionnairy assassins from New Vegas, who are level-scaled (think of low-level assassins as recruit soldiers and high-level assassins as elite soldiers).

That would still work if the Legion/Stormcloaks were to send assassins after you, since Ulfric and Titus II both have the capacity to send the stable boy and an elite mercenary. Sadly, they do not send assassins after you.

Back to the barkeep case, what if there was a roof for scaling? So that the strongest thug she can send after you was a cheap mercenary?

Well, a barkeep will likely only have enough gold and connections to hire some cheap sell-swords. Whereas a rich person may be able hire professional bounty hunters. He can also hire cheap sell-swords depending on the pc and the crime committed, but I'd think he'd hire professionals in any case if he wants to get the job done cleanly and in the exact manner he wishes. Unless the rich person is a miser but that'd be a special case.

It's better to just scale the thugs to the npc who hires them; that way it not only makes sense but also gives the thief a pause before cleaning out the Jarl's personal quarters.

I'm not saying that they have to be scaled completely to the player's level.
As you say, it should be tied to the person who hired them, as well. But let's say I'm low level (i.e. an unknown and weak nobody) but steal from a very rich person - he will still not directly hire the best assassin in Skyrim (not worth spending so much money over it), but rather a few thugs (should be able to deal with him just fine).
Anyway, I just wanted to throw it in that "hired thugs/assassins sent after the player" is a scenario where leveled encounters can make sense (but don't necessarily have to).

 

[hell bovine]

I also disabled weight for coins. Carry weight is low enough as is.

It gives a reason to mine and buy/sell gems.

My problem with the gold weight option is that it exaggerates Skyrim's insane economy, where prices routinely reach thousands; gold would have to be a very common metal to be able to craft that many coins. I prefer systems like in Drakensang, where you had more than one type of coin and the prices (selling and buying) remained quite low throughout the game.

 

[Gord]

That'd be true if it's one archer. But in Skyrim you typically go up against 3-4 at once, or more, and as such I find they tend to be exceptionally accurate unless they are firing from very long distances. Sure, you can use cover and try to doge, but a lot of the time my fights will be ended immediately by 1-2 stray arrows. It's a good argument for using the environment and other advantages you might have but at the same time it can feel a bit abusive of the AI.

Yes. I'm not even saying that archery should be nerfed to the point of being merely an inconvenience again.
However, my unarmored mage is able to survive one or two (non-power) attacks by most melee wielding mooks, but is one-shoted by archers.
I think that balance-wise it would be better to reduce damage from archers to a point where being hit by an arrow might almost kill you most of the time (when on full health obviously), but not one-shot you. It would still be dangerous (and you need to expend resources to recover), but not the lol-you-die experience it is right now.

My problem with the gold weight option is that it exaggerates Skyrim's insane economy, where prices routinely reach thousands; gold would have to be a very common metal to be able to craft that many coins. I prefer systems like in Drakensang, where you had more than one type of coin and the prices (selling and buying) remained quite low throughout the game.

Since they call it Septims now, it might of course be minted from alloys that contain more than pure gold...
But the large sums of money you find and need are indeed the reason I disabled gold-weight. I have a max. carry-weight of 90 units (probably pounds?), one coin weights 0.01 - even with the perk from the speech tree, interesting stuff will still cost several hundreds to thousands of coins usually. My equipment, potions and some alchemy ingredients already make up a lot of the weight allowance. 10-20 weight units of coins on top of that seem exaggerated and that isn't even enough coins to buy a horse.
Of course, until I can afford a horse or a house, I could just leave the coins in one of the barrels in Whiterun - very realistic/plausible...

 

[you know what time it is]

is there a readme for this requiem mod, cant find any proper info for some reason (prob packed into mod archive, but im too lazy to download the whole thing) ? is it worth reinstalling skyrim ?

 

[Gord]

is there a readme for this requiem mod, cant find any proper info for some reason (prob packed into mod archive, but im too lazy to download the whole thing) ? is it worth reinstalling skyrim ?

If you go to the mod page, there's a readme tab, I think. In it are some links to the manual and the changelog.
Is it worth reinstalling Skyrim for it? That depends on why you uninstalled it. It makes Skyrim more challenging, overhauls the system to a point where your choices how you level the char matter more, de-levels it almost completely and many parts there make more sense.
It's still Skyrim though. Same quests, same world. If you didn't like that before, I doubt you will like it now.

 

[Akratus]

Requiem basically makes Skyrim a nice action adventure game, depending on your standards it's great, or just good for what it is.

 

[Lhynn]

An archer has a much harder time hitting you than a guy who gets up close (and doesn't have to deal with aiming, cover, annoying wolf summon, etc), if they don't get the damage to justify it they become minor annoyances (like in vanilla). Archers don't kill me nearly as often as melee d00ds who managed to get close.

An archer can hit you from far away, that is the advantage of range, that is why they sacrifice damage, accuracy and attack speed. This is how it should work, you get to snipe people safe at a distance, adding utra damage to that is a retarded notion. If people survive your arrows and get close, then you get close and unsheat your sword.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Gold has been hacked by transmution spell and thus the Septims suffer massive inflation... Gold is Cheap in Tamariel to almost the point the paper currency would be all better... This game needs Bank of Vanderfell mod and letters of credit.... or cutting the prizes by attest 10; Soup costs 30 Gold Coins.

 

[Lhynn]

Uh, look at this featured mod, looks p. good and should go with requiem/skyre feel

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/45894//?

 

[Garmik]

So, first time against Alduin on requiem. And uuh, I thought my character was OP already (Paladin/Battlemage), and after clearing Labyrinthian I wasn't expecting much more challenges with this one, but damn, he's a though bitch, and when he summons 50~ undeads it gets interesting, and he does it fairly often too, I think it's time to get my destruction a bit higher, and maybe try to lower my shouts cooldown, since as long as you keep him dragonrended, should be easy.

edit: Bah, just with a small tweak of strategy I beat him, was coo' though.

Uh, look at this featured mod, looks p. good and should go with requiem/skyre feel

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/45894//?

I was looking for a good death-mod, this might be one interesting to try.

 

[Akratus]

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/46420/

Smallest, most inconsequential mod ever? Maybe.
But I just really wanted those ugly spikes gone which I don't feel the wraiths should be able to cast.
Call it an immersion thing.

Perhaps you'd rather see my other mod, unless you like to see more cleavage/skin:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/28897/

 

[Clockwork Knight]

An archer has a much harder time hitting you than a guy who gets up close (and doesn't have to deal with aiming, cover, annoying wolf summon, etc), if they don't get the damage to justify it they become minor annoyances (like in vanilla). Archers don't kill me nearly as often as melee d00ds who managed to get close.

An archer can hit you from far away, that is the advantage of range, that is why they sacrifice damage, accuracy and attack speed. This is how it should work, you get to snipe people safe at a distance, adding utra damage to that is a retarded notion. If people survive your arrows and get close, then you get close and unsheat your sword.

You'd think it works that way, but range is not a big advantage here, not worth giving up on damage, accuracy and attack speed. You can always easily reach an archer in a few seconds, and if he's on his own it's not hard to just dodge the three or four arrows he'll manage to fire at you on the way there. And then they're fucked, with their daggers and leather armor.

Unless they have the potential to cause serious damage, they become just a minor annoyance that you can tank while focusing on the "real" enemies. Just put something between you and them.

Then again, play however you want. I just find it more interesting when ranged enemies are a priority.

 

[Akratus]

Requiem archers are perfectly fine. I've played as a heavy armor sword and shield character and thus have always been able to deal with them even out in the open against skilled archers, whilst I was at low levels.

Sure, if you only use two handed weapons for instance, you should expect more trouble from archers unless you armor it up. It's just a logical trade-off.

 

[Esquilax]

Requiem archers are perfectly fine. I've played as a heavy armor sword and shield character and thus have always been able to deal with them even out in the open against skilled archers, whilst I was at low levels.

Sure, if you only use two handed weapons for instance, you should expect more trouble from archers unless you armor it up. It's just a logical trade-off.

By that logic though, you'll get torn up if you go for a fast, light-armoured berserker type with a two-hander, right? I suppose you could go all and dart between cover, but even then it's tricky. The posts from DraQ have gotten me really interested in giving Requiem a shot once I get a new PC in a couple of weeks.

 

[DraQ]

An archer can hit you from far away, that is the advantage of range, that is why they sacrifice damage, accuracy and attack speed. This is how it should work, you get to snipe people safe at a distance, adding utra damage to that is a retarded notion. If people survive your arrows and get close, then you get close and unsheat your sword.

That's how the usual backpedal-while-shooting gameplay arises and it's immensely shit.

 

[Lhynn]

An archer can hit you from far away, that is the advantage of range, that is why they sacrifice damage, accuracy and attack speed. This is how it should work, you get to snipe people safe at a distance, adding utra damage to that is a retarded notion. If people survive your arrows and get close, then you get close and unsheat your sword.

That's how the usual backpedal-while-shooting gameplay arises and it's immensely shit.

Yeah... its called slow move backwards speed, then voila, this stuff dont happen anymore!

 

[DraQ]

An archer can hit you from far away, that is the advantage of range, that is why they sacrifice damage, accuracy and attack speed. This is how it should work, you get to snipe people safe at a distance, adding utra damage to that is a retarded notion. If people survive your arrows and get close, then you get close and unsheat your sword.

That's how the usual backpedal-while-shooting gameplay arises and it's immensely shit.

Yeah... its called slow move backwards speed, then voila, this stuff dont happen anymore!

Congratulations - you have upgraded backpedal-while-shooting to ranged-weapons-just-suck.