Skyrim

I have a few small mods for Skyrim up on the Nexus.

But the big one I'm working on is a greater extension of the follower mod based on my main character that will expand upon the Stormcloak questline and make them a fully functioning proper faction, like the Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood.  But bigger, and hopefully better.  Pics in spoiler.

Spoiler:

...and I totally missed that there was a whole other page of posts after Feral's. Oops.

Stormcloaks as a faction? An interesting idea, to say the least. I don't digest Ulfric's racism very well and see the Stormcloaks as Thalmor pawns useful to break the Empire (SPOILER ALERT read Ulfric's dossier in the Thalmor Embassy), but such a mod could be really cool.

I don't get this "ewww racism" claims to the Stormcloaks. Nigga there are hundreds different races in Tamriel, some with fur, some with scales, some being obese ugly necromancers, and you want everyone to be "What matters is the inside!! Let's love and hug each other!!".

Besides, the people who are "Imma go with the Empire cuz it's not racist" forget the Empire has to openly accept the Thalmor, whose elf supremacist views are know to everyone.

Also, I cannot believe people think Ulfric is a willing pawn or something. He is an "asset" for the Thalmor so long as he continues to cause the civil war that weakens the Empire, but a Stormcloak victory would be a worse loss for the Thalmor than an Empire victory.

Ya'll need to remember that the Thalmor desire not only do kill all of mankind, but to destroy the fucking world (That's TES Lore).

ThePhilosopher wrote:

... but a Stormcloak victory would be a worse loss for the Thalmor than an Empire victory.

How so?
Seems logical, that the Thalmor are happiest when there's the civil war. But the second best option is the Stormcloak victory: The Empire divided, with the new faction being hostile to it - divide and conquer, and the conquest would only be a matter of timing (one nation against three, and Nords are idiots).
The worst option being the Empire vitory - united we stand.

Discuss.

How is the worst outcome for the Thalmor going to be a victory by the team that already surrendered? When people look at the lore of the game, I've noticed that they tend to conveniently ignore the holes in the story that would sink their ships the fastest. The Empire was winning the Great War when they decided to give up and sign the exact same list of Thalmor demands that initially started the war. I've been running a fanpage dedicated to the Stormcloaks for almost three years now - I know the details, and you're Goddamn right I'm a Stormcloak Soldier!

The Empire got a weak Emperor... He will pass to Sithis soon... And yes: creating a mosh pit of a ton of petty states works for the Thalmor. Let them bleed one another white. Then extermination aka conquest will be much easier.

Empire licks wounds and bids it time. What is isn't peace, but armistice between wars. Even general Tullius admits that in one conversation.

My heart may be with the Stormcloaks here (Talos and all), but my head leans towards the Empire. Stormcloaks are the Brujah or Gangrel here: fiery and easy to manipulate. Empire is like the Keepers: evil bastards, but effective in the long run.

Feral wrote:

a mosh pit of a ton of petty states

That's basically what the Empire is, though.  Especially in places like Cyrodiil and High Rock.  Hammerfell was abandoned by the Empire, and chose to continue fighting the Thalmor and violated the White-Gold Concordat.  Their reward?  Independence from both.  Skyrim wants to do the same, and suddenly the Empire cares?  All the Empire cares for is septims (and I mean the coin, not the rightful dynasty).  Even before Skyrim, though, the Empire wasn't exactly a good thing.  All of the previous games are littered with examples of imperialism gone wrong in Tamriel.  Then with Skyrim, you find out that during the Oblivion Crisis, the Legion completely abandoned everything but Cyrodiil.  The Empire brought this on themselves, they allowed the Thalmor to build power, despite all the warnings they received from the Blades - speaking of which, look what happened to them for trying to do their duty and protect the Empire.  I have absolutely zero respect for the Empire of Tamriel.  It was originally created with incredible intentions (you know, unifying the people against the Daedra, and keeping the outsiders from invading Nirn) but with the death of Martin and the breaking of the Amulet of Kings, the Empire is no longer needed.  And what it's done since is reprehensible.  The Empire is supposed to be an extension of Akatosh, but it hasn't been that in quite some time.  People like to say Ulfric and his Stormcloaks are racist, and sure there certainly is a fringe element of that (every bunch has a few bad apples), but point out one clear example of Ulfric's racism, please.  I've been asking people on Facebook and Tumblr to do this for years, and I've yet to see anything convincing.  The Empire stood against the Thalmor and gave up.  Hammerfell stood against the Thalmor and succeeded.  Skyrim wants to stand against the Thalmor, and the Empire does the fighting for them?  Yeah, the Empire is totally the best option to stand against the Thalmor.  Totally...

But, I digress.  I can get very heated in Stormcloak debates, and I tend to come at them from my character's perspective.  As for my mod, my ultimate goal is actually to develop quite a few options for the player.  If you want to play a Stormcloak who actually is a Thalmor agent, I want that to be an option in my mod.  My mod, starting with the Stormcloaks, is going to expand on the civil war and make it more...  Just more, if that makes sense.

Maybe a shock, but I mostly agree with you. But...

To address Ulfrick: as is said in the in game dialogue: when a Nord village is threatened, Ulfric sends troops. A Khajit caravan is under attack? So what? To add to this, compare the position of Dunmer in Windhelm and Riften. Not to mention the Argonians. There is even a book in the game on that. I am not by my laptop to check the title.

As far as the Empire may be in a sorry state, any long lasting organization has a list of mess ups. (like USA invading Iraq instead of Iran... What a difference? ) It needs to be reformed and brought to former glory, not brought down. People like Tullius or Rikke could do that. Problem is the Emperor, who lacks balls. Even the Council agrees. They even hired someone to address the issue (if you do the Dark Brotherhood quests, that is).

There is also a strategic problem: Skyrim provides for communication between Cyrodil and High Rock. If the Stormclocks cut the communication, there is no Empire. Whole Empire including Hammerfel had a huge problem to recapture the Imperial City and sign really harsh peace. Even that was possible only because the Thalmor knew nothing of the fact the Empire had no reserves left at all. Hammerfell's resistance was possible due to the fact of Thalmor's losses and very favorable terrain. Hammerfel is like Afghanistan combined with Somalia: load of deserts, mountains and a shore with a ton of natural harbors for pirate bases. Have fun finding water and food, then think about fighting bands of Redguard guerrillas. And try to have fun, hey, you are racially better Mer...Cyrodil in comparison looks like Belgium: come and occupy. Wine, sweet fruits and docile population to exterminate. Skyrim and High Rock alone may have a moment of independence after Cyrodill gets Aylid again, but a brief one. Anciend Nords understood it well and helped their Alessian brothers, even they considered them more decadent ad Bretons.

To sum up, I think Empire is flawed, but lacks a viable alternative. And for a wholsale massacre of the Thalmor, when the Epmire comes round to this, even the Dunmer of Morrowind may join in. Little wonder in that: Dunmer love their Altmer cousins like the Jews loved Germans. They know they are the Master's Race and knew it since Prophet Veloth. Where two races of masters meet...

Vivec should just come back and CHIM the fuck out of everyone

ThePhilosopher wrote:

Vivec should just come back and CHIM the fuck out of everyone

This.

Or Tiber Septim.

Oh, this will be good. Or not. We will see.

Started another Khajiit character last night. Just installed iNeed. Usually I wouldn't, but I figured why not.

Overall I'm not sure what I want to do with the character, as I'm going to leave a few things to chance. But at least the MQ and Dawnguard(Yep, Cat with the Soul of a Dragon who can turn into a bat...ish creature) are assured. Plus I have the Wrymstooth quest mod all ready to go, though I haven't activated that yet.

Also, I'm just saying this, and along with that hoping it doesn't become some large discussion(eh, maybe a civil one), I don't have any problem with the MQ. Well, one, but I have a mod to fix that. Yeah, I don't see any reason, gameplay or story-wise that Paarthurnax needs to die. None.

Voraxith wrote:

If you want to play a Stormcloak who actually is a Thalmor agent, I want that to be an option in my mod.  

Now you've piqued my curiosity.


As for the Empire vs Stormcloaks debate, my opinion is that if the Thalmor are to be stopped humanity needs to stand united against them. That can be either a single Empire or an alliance of smaller kingdoms, but the humans need to stick together. Starting a war is not how I'd recommend doing that, so I'm not a fan of Ulfric. But now that the war has started the most important thing is to end it quickly. And if that means a Stormcloak victory then so be it.

Then again if the Thalmor wanted to conquer the world rather than end it I'd probably be a fan of the Aldmeri Dominion. Altmer are my favourite race. I've always loved playing mages and you get to literally look down on everybody else.

ThePhilosopher wrote:

Vivec should just come back and CHIM the fuck out of everyone

That raises a question that no one ever asks anymore - what the fuck happened to Vivec?  Is he still off in Akavir fuckVEHKing anything that moves?

Vivec went to Akaviir? I thought that was the Nerevarine. Or did they both go?

Feral wrote:

lots

And I laughed. He shoulda said 'Stormcocks'.

Am I asking again, any mod to boost mages and make them playable?

Jad.3 wrote:

Am I asking again, any mod to boost mages and make them playable?

Not sure what mods like SkyRe, PerMa or Requiem might do for Mages, but I've been using SPERG, which is similar in that it changes every perk tree, most of them relating to others. Not entirely sure how much it changes the magic trees, but it does change a few of the vanilla perks, like "Mage Armor", which makes the vanilla armor spells last until the spell is recast to toggle the effect off(Though this can be an issue with the Dragonhide spell, which due to the way the vanilla game works, makes all armor have a 0 rating since you hit the damage resistance cap, while the spell is active). It does a few other things, like being able to learn the spells of unique staves(like for the Staff of Magnus - use it enough and you get the "Will Of Magnus" spell) - though this is optional in the mod's MCM menu, along with a few other options. Such as what animal spawns when you take the "Best Friend" Speechcraft perk, which gives you an animal companion.

I've also use Apocalypse spells(it has a patch for SPERG if used with that), along with the Lost Grimore. There are also things like the Immersive College Of Winterhold mod which makes the College a lot more useful, and like a real College, especially if you use one of the Npc improvement addons(makes most of the mages train in the Hall of the Elements, along with a few other changes).

For a second there I also thought that Feral had written "stormcocks", I was about to throw some holy water on him but he has proven immune to it so far. But it was only stormclocks

VEHK is doing some VEHK shit, he returns at C0DA though.
I liked the way he attacked Azura with his spear before getting the fuck out

Jad.3 wrote:

Feral wrote:

lots

And I laughed. He shoulda said 'Stormcocks'.

Am I asking again, any mod to boost mages and make them playable?

What makes you consider mages unplayable in vanilla?

Picked a lock on a chest today only to find a potion of lockpicking inside. It was good fora chuckle.

Dragatus wrote:

Picked a lock on a chest today only to find a potion of lockpicking inside. It was good fora  chuckle.

You reminded me of when I dived into the Trench of... er... NW from Winterhold... You know what I mean. The loot in a chest was 2 potions of waterbreathing... Too bad I had an enchanted circlet ror that.

"Be careful, Dovahkiin. The way to Paarthunax is dangerous to all except those with a strong Voice. It shall be a true test of your mettle and skill."

Goats are fucking Thu'um masters.

ThePhilosopher wrote:

"Be careful, Dovahkiin. The way to Paarthunax is dangerous to all except those with a strong Voice. It shall be a true test of your mettle and skill."

Goats are fucking Thu'um masters.

This. And Ice Wraiths.

Personally, I think that this is the worst bug in the game. Surely it has other problems, but this one is...too obvious, and not random at all. Okay, so maybe it isn't exactly a vanilla game bug, but close enough.

Redwater Den

Explanation:
The Vampire Lord form uses a different skeleton than the usual male/female skeletons. Due to it's height, it doesn't allow the form to fit through small spaces, like in Redwater Den. Which is interesting, because that is the FIRST quest location when playing the Volkihar side, and you cannot go through it completely in VL form, unless you keep transforming and reverting form in order to do so. Well, unless you have a mod that fixes the problem.

Which I do(Better Vampires), only because I also have another skeleton mod that overwrites it, the problem still exists. While the version from the skeleton mod is scalable(i.e it scales with the height and weight of your character, set with the RaceMenu mod), it still has the issue, even with a shorter character than usual.

I.e Hall Of The Vigilant.

So you're basically saying you fucked up your mods, and now you bitch about it?