Improving Skyrim / Recommended Mods thread (Mostly about Requiem)

[Gord]

So guise, I'm using only Requiem, and I keep getting insta-muchied by dragons if I get close to them, even if I'm beside or behind them. Bug or feature?
Other than that, lev 15, two-handed + heavy, pretty far into the game, finished civil war, and then at that point where you gotta read out an Elder Scroll or something.

Only four dragons killed so far, though.

Pretty much the same here. Level 15 fighter + Requiem + dragons don't go together well.
I've tried a few times to kill the "wounded" dragon at the western watchtower without success, even with the help from the NPCs there.
And even if I would be able to simply duck and hide until the NPCs kill him (which they don't), it's obvious that my char doesn't really have a chance against dragons yet.
Hm, although I haven't tried poison so far. That's something I could try. Anyone knows if they are resistant to poison?

On the one hand it's great that dragons are dangerous and more difficult, on the other hand it just completely stops the progression through the main quest at an early point (and therefore blocks access to shouts).
I had a mage previously (albeit under 1.7) and I think it was somewhat easier with that char as you don't need to get close and personal with dragons and do relatively high damage at range, too.
Basically, depending on your character, main quest (and accompanying features) might be out of question for a long time.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Pretty much the same here. Level 15 fighter + Requiem + dragons don't go together well.
I've tried a few times to kill the "wounded" dragon at the western watchtower without success, even with the help from the NPCs there.
And even if I would be able to simply duck and hide until the NPCs kill him (which they don't), it's obvious that my char doesn't really have a chance against dragons yet.
Hm, although I haven't tried poison so far. That's something I could try. Anyone knows if they are resistant to poison?

On the one hand it's great that dragons are dangerous and more difficult, on the other hand it just completely stops the progression through the main quest at an early point (and therefore blocks access to shouts).
I had a mage previously (albeit under 1.7) and I think it was somewhat easier with that char as you don't need to get close and personal with dragons and do relatively high damage at range, too.
Basically, depending on your character, main quest (and accompanying features) might be out of question for a long time.

I mostly managed to kill them by a) hit and run on horseback and b) leading them to mammoths and giants. Extremely tedious though.

 

[DraQ]

I can't really say much about dragon fights because I opt to use Mighty Dragons + DCO to override Requiem's ones.
And at max difficulty (nightmare, unleveled) they are just fucking scary - they heal up quickly, so you can't just wear them down gradually, you need some shit to keep their regen in check and then they have a whole lot of interesting abilities, spells and whatnot they use to push your shit in if they don't feel like just nomming your head off (starting with FusRoDah they use liberally with the sort of cold malice you'd expect from a dragon - especially fun in mountainous areas).

Basically 20-ish, IF you have good followers and good planning and preparation, not to mention the fire support from guards and that Balgruuf's housecarl Dunmer chick game provides by default, is about the right level to barely beat Mirmulnir (note that they *won't* manage to do so alone, without you finding a way to block the dragon's regen) and Mirmulnir is a pushover compared to most other dragons, so you've got to prepare for a lot of Brave Sir Robin moments with "Dovahkiin! Dovahkiin!" epically playing in the background.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I can't really say much about dragon fights because I opt to use Mighty Dragons + DCO to override Requiem's ones.
And at max difficulty (nightmare, unleveled) they are just fucking scary - they heal up quickly, so you can't just wear them down gradually, you need some shit to keep their regen in check and then they have a whole lot of interesting abilities, spells and whatnot they use to push your shit in if they don't feel like just nomming your head off.

Basically 20-ish, IF you have good followers and good planning and preparation, not to mention the fire support from guards and that Balgruuf's housecarl Dunmer chick game provides by default, is about the right level to barely beat Mirmulnir (note that they *won't* manage to do so alone, without you finding a way to block the dragon's regen) and Mirmulnir is a pushover compared to most other dragons, so you've got to prepare for a lot of Brave Sir Robin moments with "Dovahkiin! Dovahkiin!" epically playing in the background.

Yeah, Requiem's Dragons don't sound so bad compared to that. I kept hearing how you had to be 20+ to beat Dragons, but it is doable at lower levels if you exploit take advantage of your environment.

 

[DraQ]

I can't really say much about dragon fights because I opt to use Mighty Dragons + DCO to override Requiem's ones.
And at max difficulty (nightmare, unleveled) they are just fucking scary - they heal up quickly, so you can't just wear them down gradually, you need some shit to keep their regen in check and then they have a whole lot of interesting abilities, spells and whatnot they use to push your shit in if they don't feel like just nomming your head off.

Basically 20-ish, IF you have good followers and good planning and preparation, not to mention the fire support from guards and that Balgruuf's housecarl Dunmer chick game provides by default, is about the right level to barely beat Mirmulnir (note that they *won't* manage to do so alone, without you finding a way to block the dragon's regen) and Mirmulnir is a pushover compared to most other dragons, so you've got to prepare for a lot of Brave Sir Robin moments with "Dovahkiin! Dovahkiin!" epically playing in the background.

Yeah, Requiem's Dragons don't sound so bad compared to that. I kept hearing how you had to be 20+ to beat Dragons, but it is doable at lower levels if you exploit take advantage of your environment.

Blocking regen isn't that hard, at least in Mirmulnir's case, for example that Lightning Jolt DOT spell can do that, the problem is that you need to keep it going without gaps, while inflicting damage and managing your own reserves, while the dragon just flies around and has his way with everyone involved, burninating, flinging people around with FusRoDah and nomming heads like it was a fucking snack buffet.

I'm not sure if it's DCO or MD component, but they also seem to heal by nomming people (performing killmoves), which can be disheartening.

Overall they *might* be less deadly than in basic Requiem, but they are pretty much uncheeseable.

 

[Gord]

Yeah. Other than writing it would be my chief complaint. BTW: someone should make a C&C mod concentrating on consequences of doing stuff like taking a break from particular urgent quest due to derp or necessity.
For example, have that dunmer in BFB replaced by a desiccated corpse (with his inventory) if you run...

Yeah, something like this would be cool.
There should also be some more break-points as in Morrowind: Thanks for doing X, now I recommend you train a bit and find some better gear before returning for the next thing I'd like you to do, noob.
Would also help with Requiem.
Along the way some stages should be added e.g. after delivering the dragon tablet with Requiem. Right now you get thrown directly into the dragon fight once you deliver the tablet, but once you have the tablet (not that difficult to do), Baalgruf and Farengar are pretty much tied up with the next stage, so doing other stuff that involves them seems a bit iffy.
It could also be used to improve difficulty scaling between BFB (relatively easy once you have gained a few levels and possess the right tools) and the 1st dragon fight (orders of magnitude more difficult esp. when you are a melee fighter).

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Is there any questline in Skyrim that is just endless slaughter, aside from Companions and Civil War? Thinking of just doing some wholesale slaughter to level up a bit.
Maybe I should undertake some crafting stuff too..

 

[DraQ]

There should also be some more break-points as in Morrowind: Thanks for doing X, now I recommend you train a bit and find some better gear before returning for the next thing I'd like you to do, noob.

With guild questlines it would be easy - just add some radiant(TM) quests as filler.

The MQ would be harder as the early stage is set-up and voice-acted pretty rigidly.

It could also be used to improve difficulty scaling between BFB (relatively easy once you have gained a few levels and possess the right tools) and the 1st dragon fight (orders of magnitude more difficult esp. when you are a melee fighter).

The contrast is pretty stark, especially with the right build. Sword+Board tincan build can pretty much roll through BFB fresh out of Helgen with that silver katana if the player is good and uses the two fireball scrolls that can be found in BFB in a smart manner. Then back/onwards to Whiterun and suddenly DRAGON RAEP!!!1

 

[Grathanich]

Bethesda has this way of confronting players with something humonguous that should be way out of the reach of low levels. They give you a behemoth mutant in Fallout 3 in the first hour of the game and this dragon when you are at the beginning of your journey. I think it is meant to win the favor of rookies and casual players who cannot be bothered to play the game even for a few days to see end game stuff.
However, this is not Bethesda tradition. As a matter of fact SSI had the player characters face two (albeit young) white dragons at the same time around the level of 6-7 in Champions of Krynn (questing is linear in the game).

 

[DraQ]

Bethesda has this way of confronting players with something humonguous that should be way out of the reach of low levels. They give you a behemoth mutant in Fallout 3 in the first hour of the game and this dragon when you are at the beginning of your journey. I think it is meant to win the favor of rookies and casual players who cannot be bothered to play the game even for a few days to see end game stuff.
However, this is not Bethesda tradition. As a matter of fact SSI had the player characters face two (albeit young) white dragons at the same time around the level of 6-7 in Champions of Krynn (questing is linear in the game).

To be fair, you have pretty hefty assistance when fighting that first dragon in Skyrim. To the point where they might as well just be carting you around in a cage as passive soul sponge and handling the combat on their own.

 

[hell bovine]

I can't really say much about dragon fights because I opt to use Mighty Dragons + DCO to override Requiem's ones.
And at max difficulty (nightmare, unleveled) they are just fucking scary - they heal up quickly, so you can't just wear them down gradually, you need some shit to keep their regen in check and then they have a whole lot of interesting abilities, spells and whatnot they use to push your shit in if they don't feel like just nomming your head off (starting with FusRoDah they use liberally with the sort of cold malice you'd expect from a dragon - especially fun in mountainous areas).

Basically 20-ish, IF you have good followers and good planning and preparation, not to mention the fire support from guards and that Balgruuf's housecarl Dunmer chick game provides by default, is about the right level to barely beat Mirmulnir (note that they *won't* manage to do so alone, without you finding a way to block the dragon's regen) and Mirmulnir is a pushover compared to most other dragons, so you've got to prepare for a lot of Brave Sir Robin moments with "Dovahkiin! Dovahkiin!" epically playing in the background.

Try adding Fire and Ice Overhaul to that mix. I've had an ice-breathing lizard trap my poor mage in an ice block by cutting off all the escape routes. :D
But I think the Barrows in Requiem are overdone; you can get through with a character incapable of dealing with dragons, so there is no point in trying to make them a show-stopper.

 

[Gord]

But I think the Barrows in Requiem are overdone; you can get through with a character incapable of dealing with dragons, so there is no point in trying to make them a show-stopper.

Yes, I think there's not much point in increasing the difficulty inside BFB.
Maybe they should instead increase the difficulty outside the Barrows. Put the "wounded dragon" from the watchtower on top of BFB and replace the bandits with dead ones (or just let the dragon do it). If you manage to overcome the dragon there, you're good to go. Otherwise, don't bother.
It would still mean that the MQ is out of question for quite some time for most characters, but it might feel better as right now.
Alternatively, make the wounded dragon encounter at the watchtower easier but make it so that dragons appear a bit later in the MQ (e.g. when you travel with Delphine to that ressurection scene with Alduin and that other dragon).

 

[DraQ]

But I think the Barrows in Requiem are overdone; you can get through with a character incapable of dealing with dragons, so there is no point in trying to make them a show-stopper.

They still filter out characters incapable of dealing with shoelaces.

 

[NotAGolfer]

Fuck this, Perkus Maximus is buggy like hell. Lots of abilities and spells that just don't work.
And since I can't find any non retarded perk overhaul (Requiem is too Vanilla, hence too boring, SPERG is insanely overpowered and SkyRe is like PerMa, just even more crammed with nonsensical perk additions), I'll rather start playing Geneforge which I bought just a couple of weeks ago.
Will touch this game again when Enderal is released.

 

[mastroego]

Ace Combat + Stealth Skills Rebalanced + Smithing Perks Overhaul Remade (of which I use the least invasive version).

No need for a single overhaul.
As I keep saying

 

[NotAGolfer]

I already use that Trade&Barter mod, didn't even know the author rebalanced some other stuff as well.
Thanks, will try that out some time. But you still need some magic mod like Apocalypse or Midas to use along with ACE, right?

 

[Gord]

Hm, is there another method for lockpicking in Requiem aside from learning the skill or learning the spell (which needs quicksilver ore, I think)? Scrolls maybe? Brute force?
Can be expensive, too, but I'm getting a bit tired of inconsequential sidequests being impossible to complete because yet another quest item is locked in a fucking adept level chest.
I have lockpicking at 27, it will still take half eternity to reach 50...

 

[DraQ]

Hm, is there another method for lockpicking in Requiem aside from learning the skill or learning the spell (which needs quicksilver ore, I think)? Scrolls maybe? Brute force?
Can be expensive, too, but I'm getting a bit tired of inconsequential sidequests being impossible to complete because yet another quest item is locked in a fucking adept level chest.
I have lockpicking at 27, it will still take half eternity to reach 50...

Attack the lock.

Won't work with metal doors/bars, metal chests and anything locked with master level lock. Otherwise a check is made using sum of current HP and stamina (meaning fortify pots and enchants can be used to buff yourself out before hulksmashing shit).

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Bethesda has this way of confronting players with something humonguous that should be way out of the reach of low levels. They give you a behemoth mutant in Fallout 3 in the first hour of the game and this dragon when you are at the beginning of your journey. I think it is meant to win the favor of rookies and casual players who cannot be bothered to play the game even for a few days to see end game stuff.
However, this is not Bethesda tradition. As a matter of fact SSI had the player characters face two (albeit young) white dragons at the same time around the level of 6-7 in Champions of Krynn (questing is linear in the game).

To be fair, you have pretty hefty assistance when fighting that first dragon in Skyrim. To the point where they might as well just be carting you around in a cage as passive soul sponge and handling the combat on their own.

And in FO3 you have the BoS and one of the dead guys will be carrying a weapon strong enough to vaporize said behemoth. (though what I did instead was climbing one of the nearby buildings to get at eye level with the behemoth and unloading a minigun at his face)

But I think the Barrows in Requiem are overdone; you can get through with a character incapable of dealing with dragons, so there is no point in trying to make them a show-stopper.

You can, but it's hard as balls. It's supposed to be a "MAIN QUEST IS HIGH LEVEL CONTENT" warning sign for players, who due to force of habit will likely rush there right out of Riverwood as in the vanilla game. I like the idea of moving the dragon from the watchtower to BFB, though it would probably require some scripting magic (skip the quest stages straight to where Balgruuf is thanking you for killing it, maybe?) and Requiem's maintainer is scared of doing that sort of thing because he's not the original author and thinks he will break something.

 

[RK47]

Hm, is there another method for lockpicking in Requiem aside from learning the skill or learning the spell (which needs quicksilver ore, I think)? Scrolls maybe? Brute force?
Can be expensive, too, but I'm getting a bit tired of inconsequential sidequests being impossible to complete because yet another quest item is locked in a fucking adept level chest.
I have lockpicking at 27, it will still take half eternity to reach 50...

Attack the lock.

Won't work with metal doors/bars, metal chests and anything locked with master level lock. Otherwise a check is made using sum of current HP and stamina (meaning fortify pots and enchants can be used to buff yourself out before hulksmashing shit).

Try doing the thieves guild main quest.
IIRC, Nightingale Gloves allow lockpicking up to 50 without the required skill.

 

[hell bovine]

But I think the Barrows in Requiem are overdone; you can get through with a character incapable of dealing with dragons, so there is no point in trying to make them a show-stopper.

You can, but it's hard as balls. It's supposed to be a "MAIN QUEST IS HIGH LEVEL CONTENT" warning sign for players, who due to force of habit will likely rush there right out of Riverwood as in the vanilla game. I like the idea of moving the dragon from the watchtower to BFB, though it would probably require some scripting magic (skip the quest stages straight to where Balgruuf is thanking you for killing it, maybe?) and Requiem's maintainer is scared of doing that sort of thing because he's not the original author and thinks he will break something.

But that' the funny thing: the first time I've played it, my character was really low level and made it only through the power of traps and summon spamming, because I didn't know the barrows are supposed to keep too weak characters out. I just thought all the dungeons in Requiem would be like this.

 

[DraQ]

I like the idea of moving the dragon from the watchtower to BFB, though it would probably require some scripting magic (skip the quest stages straight to where Balgruuf is thanking you for killing it, maybe?) and Requiem's maintainer is scared of doing that sort of thing because he's not the original author and thinks he will break something.

It's a bad idea for countless reasons.

Here's a good one - replace that boss draugr that holds the stone with a dragon priest. Boom, solved.
Doesn't mess with the narrative, doesn't fuck the vanilla content, adds a perfectly legitimate reason to "live to fight another day", makes more sense for a DP to hold such an important item than for some random durrgr.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

It doesn't really solve anything...the boss draugr is already horribly overpowered for a first boss and people still defeat it just cheesing the AI around the stairs. A priest has defensive measures that would probably keep a weakling from killing it but this sort of thing sounds too JRPG-like. I dunno. "Polishing a turd" comes to mind. There's not much you can do.

It's not like the narrative isn't knocked aside by Requiem's mechanics as it currently is, anyway ("dude, we need that dragonplate right now." " 'K, see you in six months")

 

[DraQ]

It doesn't really solve anything...the boss draugr is already horribly overpowered for a first boss and people still defeat it just cheesing the AI around the stairs.

Well, first, you can cheese him.
Second, it's still a draugr, as long as don't get overly fucked up by his thu'um you should be able to smack him down eventually (as long as you can keep some sort of stamina regen going).
Third:

the final Draugr is bugged, depending on your fortune, he might either be a good Requiem boss or some crippled boss without proper perks and stats.

This seems to apply to pretty much all the miniboss draugr in game. At least in this case a DP is a completely valid and obvious workaround.

A priest has defensive measures that would probably keep a weakling from killing it but this sort of thing sounds too JRPG-like.

I don't see anything JPGish about an enemy that can't be cheesed by lvl1 peasant.

It's not like the narrative isn't knocked aside by Requiem's mechanics as it currently is, anyway ("dude, we need that dragonplate right now." " 'K, see you in six months")

There is still a massive qualitative difference between urgency as in "noticing your ass is uncovered" and urgency resulting from this ass being actively raped.
Being able to beat BFB without being able to handle dragon(s) results in violating the latter, whereas going NOPE in BFB would only violate the former and for a good objective reason (like being permanently unable to fetch it when dead being more of a setback than being temporarily unable to fetch it when fleeing).

The only other solution I can think of is having someone (Thalmor?) yoink the tablet from you allowing for arbitrary length questline about trying to reclaim it to be inserted between Mirmulnir and BFB.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

There's a dragon in Bleak Falls Barrow?