The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Radii]

I've had a lot of success bringing someone along, sneaking through most of the dungeons and thinning the herds with archery sneak attack bonuses, and then letting my follower tank a little so I am not facing the entire brunt of whatever damage is coming. I do zero magic damage though so the only danger I present is if I start my full dual wield power attack and am not lined up correctly.

However, the follower makes it nearly impossible to sneak close enough for melee sneak attacks. In a couple levels I'm going to get the perk for 15x damage from dagger sneak attacks and at that point I'm going to be telling my buddy to stay at the entrance and will be playing around with that a lot.

[tyketime]

This is awesome (and there's already Part 2 linked at the end of the first one):

[Radii]

that's great. Part 2, the Rare House Khajit. I lol'd.

[Buccaneer]

That was awesome, thanks for posting it.

[Thomkal]

that was pretty freaking awesome

[JonInMiddleGA]

Great find Tyketime, thanks for the linkage

[JPhillips]

I like the guy walking on the table.

[BYU 14]

That video is awesome..

[Eaglesfan27]

I only got this game at Christmas and time has been scarce but I love it. A question, I have noticed in two different dungeons, chests behind debris/partial walls. I haven't been able to get either chest. Does the push power of the voice eventually allow you to blast through those walls or is there another way to get to those chests? I currently have the second level of that voice power.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I only got this game at Christmas and time has been scarce but I love it. A question, I have noticed in two different dungeons, chests behind debris/partial walls. I haven't been able to get either chest. Does the push power of the voice eventually allow you to blast through those walls or is there another way to get to those chests? I currently have the second level of that voice power.

Brian, there could be a chain, a switch or a level somewhere in the vicinity. In some cases, you would need to pick the lock (if it's a door). Hadn't thought about shouting a door down, though.

[Buccaneer]

I was reading this wiki page on the various types of mages and got confused. The Mage (Skyrim - The Elder Scrolls Wiki) Why would you need to weaken yourself with Restoration or Alteration or Illusion spells when the firepower of a dual caster (e.g., incinerator and flames) would work better in nearly all cases? It's almost as they are advocating a more passive approach to playing.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Brian, there could be a chain, a switch or a level somewhere in the vicinity. In some cases, you would need to pick the lock (if it's a door). Hadn't thought about shouting a door down, though.

Not a door in site. Two spots - one where debris blocks the path and a second one where a forge like item blocks the path with a crack in it. I have looked all around and can't find any other path to these two chests.

But, maybe I am missing some lever to move the wall? Thanks for the reply.

[Buccaneer]

I do recall early on having to use flames to get through a wall, I think.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I do recall early on having to use flames to get through a wall, I think.

I will try that. Thanks.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I only got this game at Christmas and time has been scarce but I love it. A question, I have noticed in two different dungeons, chests behind debris/partial walls. I haven't been able to get either chest. Does the push power of the voice eventually allow you to blast through those walls or is there another way to get to those chests? I currently have the second level of that voice power.

There's a spot like that in the dungeon where you learn about werewolves. I haven't found any way to get to that chest.

[JonInMiddleGA]

There's at least one wall that needs flame to get through IIRC, but the most common instance of that would be spider webs that have to be flamed through.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

There's a spot like that in the dungeon where you learn about werewolves. I haven't found any way to get to that chest.

Yes, that was the first instance I can remember.

[Radii]

I got my levels today to completely max out the Smithing tree. Full Dragonscale armor, dual wielding Daedric daggers and using a Daedric bow. I even remembered to use fortify smithing potions for all of the upgrades. I'm quite pleased.

I also got one additional level and got the sneaking perk that causes sneak attacks with daggers to do 15x damage. Giants may not be quite the unbeatable menaces at level 38 that they once were... but really I don't think that sneaking up behind one and one shotting it will ever get old


I ditched my heavy armor wearing companion at this point. The first bandit camp I found where I aggroed 3+ guys was quite the challenge without a friend to help. We'll see how future quests go before I decide whether to pick up another companion or not, but if I do it'll be a light armor/archer/mage type or something and not some loud clunky heavy armor type to wake everyone up.

[SackAttack]

Radii, did you craft the bow, or merely find it? I haven't been able to figure out how to craft bows at all.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Radii, did you craft the bow, or merely find it? I haven't been able to figure out how to craft bows at all.

I crafted it. It looks like the lower levels of smithing metals don't have bows. I assume I have access to everything at this point since I've opened up every smithing perk.

Spoilering the list in case people want to figure it out for themselves:

Spoiler

Iron, Imperial, and Steel have other weapon types but no bows.

Dwarven, Elven, Glass, Orcish, Ebony and Daedric have crafted bows

I did install a couple mods that mckerney had recommended, but I am pretty sure everything I installed was just cosmetic/UI changing. I didn't install the one that lets you craft arrows, for example.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Radii

I crafted it. It looks like the lower levels of smithing metals don't have bows. I assume I have access to everything at this point since I've opened up every smithing perk.

Spoilering the list in case people want to figure it out for themselves:

Spoiler

Iron, Imperial, and Steel have other weapon types but no bows.

Dwarven, Elven, Glass, Orcish, Ebony and Daedric have crafted bows

I did install a couple mods that mckerney had recommended, but I am pretty sure everything I installed was just cosmetic/UI changing. I didn't install the one that lets you craft arrows, for example.

I'm on the Xbox 360, so mods aren't going to be that applicable to me. From context, it sounds like the game allows you to craft certain bows, but you have to scavenge arrows, unless you're a PC user and use that mod?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

I'm on the Xbox 360, so mods aren't going to be that applicable to me. From context, it sounds like the game allows you to craft certain bows, but you have to scavenge arrows, unless you're a PC user and use that mod?

that's what i've found yes.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

but you have to scavenge arrows, unless you're a PC user and use that mod?

Kill some bandits, early-level arrow problem seems to be solved that way fairly easily.

By level 43 they're so common (at least for tertiary archers) that feel like the tins cans in Fallout 3.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Kill some bandits, early-level arrow problem seems to be solved that way fairly easily.

By level 43 they're so common (at least for tertiary archers) that feel like the tins cans in Fallout 3.

I use a lot of arrows and am never concerned about running out. I only have like 10 glass arrows though, nothing better than that, and only ~30 elvish ones. 100+ dwarven with ~400 Steel to fall back on. I haven't been buying them though, only using what I find. In the past couple days I've been breaking 10k gold with some frequency, so its time to add trips to the fletcher in Solitudue to my craft/shop rotation to buy out all the high quality arrows every time I'm back in town.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Kill some bandits, early-level arrow problem seems to be solved that way fairly easily.

By level 43 they're so common (at least for tertiary archers) that feel like the tins cans in Fallout 3.

Oh, I have no problem with arrows. I find more than I ever, ever use (especially since I recover about half of what I use). I was just making sure I understood what he was saying about crafting.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Oh, I have no problem with arrows. I find more than I ever, ever use (especially since I recover about half of what I use). I was just making sure I understood what he was saying about crafting.

My bad, I read more into that than there was actually there I guess. Ah well, maybe it'll be useful for a newcomer who gets into the game later or something.

Meanwhile ...

Originally Posted by Radii

I use a lot of arrows and am never concerned about running out. I only have like 10 glass arrows though, nothing better than that, and only ~30 elvish ones. 100+ dwarven with ~400 Steel to fall back on. I haven't been buying them though, only using what I find. In the past couple days I've been breaking 10k gold with some frequency, so its time to add trips to the fletcher in Solitudue to my craft/shop rotation to buy out all the high quality arrows every time I'm back in town.

Sounds similar to me, except that I've been actively buying ebony & glass arrows for a while now (usually since I'm carrying heavier stuff to sell that the merchants can't afford, so it feels more like I'm just straight bartering them moreso than "buying" them). Ebony is for when I absolutely positively want something dead a.s.a.p., lesser arrows are for when I'm not feeling any particular sense of urgency about the kill.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

My bad, I read more into that than there was actually there I guess. Ah well, maybe it'll be useful for a newcomer who gets into the game later or something.

Meanwhile ...


Sounds similar to me, except that I've been actively buying ebony & glass arrows for a while now (usually since I'm carrying heavier stuff to sell that the merchants can't afford, so it feels more like I'm just straight bartering them moreso than "buying" them). Ebony is for when I absolutely positively want something dead a.s.a.p., lesser arrows are for when I'm not feeling any particular sense of urgency about the kill.

Yup. I have so much to sell, I look at it as a swap (ie, my 35 weight steel armor costs 400, and I've bankrupted them already - how much can I get in return for that?). Also, you always pick up arrows from bandits / falmers / draugr's because they have no weight - easy money. I'm sure I've sold 2K of falmer / Ancient Nord arrows alone.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I think I've finally reached the point where I'm getting more comfortable about money. I've got about 50k gold on hand at the moment & my current smithing skill + enhancements produces ebony bows worth 3600 each and Lvl 100 alchemy + enchancements routinely produces potions that sell for 800-1400 each. My speechcraft + enhancements + perks is getting a lot more for items than I used to, it all combines to make cash a lot easier than it was even ten levels ago.

On the downside, with smithing & alchemy both maxxed to 100 already, getting my overall level up is a good bit slower than it used to be.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I think I've finally reached the point where I'm getting more comfortable about money. I've got about 50k gold on hand at the moment & my current smithing skill + enhancements produces ebony bows worth 3600 each and Lvl 100 alchemy + enchancements routinely produces potions that sell for 800-1400 each. My speechcraft + enhancements + perks is getting a lot more for items than I used to, it all combines to make cash a lot easier than it was even ten levels ago.

Damn, I am impressed. I have 10k gold and thought I was doing fairly well... except I just got to the point where I can buy a house in Solitude and become a thane, but for quite a bit more than 10k. Guess I'm working towards that. Even if I don't really need the house, becoming a thane in every city is one of the goals I want to accomplish before I'm done.

I think my alchemy is in the upper 50s and enchanting in the upper 70s. I've just been doing daggers and whatever I already know to level alchemy though, I make money doing both but haven't been trying to maximize profits or anything.

On the downside, with smithing & alchemy both maxxed to 100 already, getting my overall level up is a good bit slower than it used to be.

I just started working (slowly) on pickpocketing as another means to help levell, I'm still debating whether I want to just abuse quicksave/load to get this done or if I want to be sneaky and only pickpocket in spots where I can kill everyone if I get caught (or go to jail but that's not really my style).


I also wish I'd understood the "can buy 5 skills per level" rule better. early on when I had extra coin I was buying skills that I was using, and skipped over many levels without buying any skills at all. I wish I had been more meticulous about making sure I buy skill points every level once I had any money at all, and only bought skills I never plan on leveling up with use.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Radii

I also wish I'd understood the "can buy 5 skills per level" rule better. early on when I had extra coin I was buying skills that I was using, and skipped over many levels without buying any skills at all. I wish I had been more meticulous about making sure I buy skill points every level once I had any money at all, and only bought skills I never plan on leveling up with use.

I understand it well enough, I'm just usually caught up in what I'm doing enough so that I hardly ever remember to actually buy them at each level unless I happen to be standing near a trainer when I level up.

[bhlloy]

Yeah, if I play this through again I am going to pay way more attention to the training aspect of the game. The only time I even think of that is if I happen to be talking to one and have some free gold on me. I pretty much put all my cash into houses just for the hell of it. Definitely not the most efficient way to play the game

[Drake]

On my PC version, the guy in Riverwood with the golden claw ends up with 11k gold every 48 hours in his inventory (after investing in his store -- he's just a standard merchant before that). He's my go to.

After 247 hours (so the game tells me), I've accumulated 757k gold. Aela still won't sleep with me. Bitch.

[Buccaneer]

Yeah, once I reached 60+k gold, I stopped picking up anything and after I bought each of the Masters spells (around 9k total), there wasn't anything I would spend gold on. I had originally wanted to have lots of gold so I could buy 5 levels but then I found out that the trainers had stopped being able to do that a long time ago. I guess I could buy into something else but nothing really caught my interest.

[BigPapi]

Originally Posted by Radii

I use a lot of arrows and am never concerned about running out. I only have like 10 glass arrows though, nothing better than that, and only ~30 elvish ones. 100+ dwarven with ~400 Steel to fall back on. I haven't been buying them though, only using what I find. In the past couple days I've been breaking 10k gold with some frequency, so its time to add trips to the fletcher in Solitudue to my craft/shop rotation to buy out all the high quality arrows every time I'm back in town.

....My favorite thing: Pumping an enemy full of arrows, and then retreiving them back off his dead carcass.....hehehehe.

[Radii]

Hooooly crap I have a new favorite shout... spoilers for those avoiding such things

Name:

Spoiler

Elemental Fury

Effect:

Spoiler

With the first word, increases attack speed 50% for 15 seconds, 30 second cooldown. By the 3rd word it'll increase attack speed 100% for 15 seconds, 50 second cooldown. You have to have an unenchanted weapon for it to work so I made a new Daedric dagger for my mainhand, this is AWESOME. By far the most excited I've been by any sort of find in the game so far

[Crapshoot]

So I had this random encounter with Imperial Troops (see details below): anyone seen anything like it?

Spoiler

A bunch of troops stopped me when they saw me, and there were naked bodies around them. They tried to shake me down, I said "tut, tut", and cleaned up their dead bodies. Interestingly, the naked bodies around them were other imperial troops - almost as if these guys were troops that had rebelled or started a bandit clan. That was interesting.

[Radii]

Weird Crapshoot, I have not seen that.

[mckerney]

[SackAttack]

It turns out Fus Ro Dah doesn't have much effect on mammoth, except to really, REALLY piss them off.

Who knew?

[mckerney]

That's why I always stab them with my dagger, doing it quietly works best.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Radii

Hooooly crap I have a new favorite shout... spoilers for those avoiding such things

Name:

Spoiler

Elemental Fury

Effect:

Spoiler

With the first word, increases attack speed 50% for 15 seconds, 30 second cooldown. By the 3rd word it'll increase attack speed 100% for 15 seconds, 50 second cooldown. You have to have an unenchanted weapon for it to work so I made a new Daedric dagger for my mainhand, this is AWESOME. By far the most excited I've been by any sort of find in the game so far

It finally dawned on me while I was reading this of how most people have approached these RPG-type games (and that has been foreign to me). The approach seems to be to try new and different things (items) to see how fun it could be. It doesn't have to be a better item, just something different.

I played Skyrim the same way I play strategy and sports text games - to win or to accomplish the quests in the best way possible within the parameters that I have set for myself. In other words, for me to try something new or different, it must be better or quicker or more effective or more efficient. Otherwise, it gets sold. I can't tell you how many hundreds of good items I had picked up or received and were either sold or dropped (swords, armor, robes, masks, potions, etc.). If it didn't help me do a quest better, then what's the point? To me, it was all about seeing places and numbers (i.e., how much damage I can do and how much magic I got). That's not much different than maximizing how much food, gold and hammers I get in Civ5.

[StLee]

I went about the "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine" quest the entirely wrong way, but still came out alive, barely, thanks to an early-game decision

Spoiler

to join the Companions.

Instead of ever talking to Borkul the Beast, I just did a sneak shiv, which barely damaged him. Then the whole damn prison went into attack mode on me, some with fire magic. That's when I converted to werewolf form (which takes really, really long while getting blasted with fire) and took out everyone to make my escape.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I played Skyrim the same way I play strategy and sports text games - to win or to accomplish the quests in the best way possible within the parameters that I have set for myself. In other words, for me to try something new or different, it must be better or quicker or more effective or more efficient. Otherwise, it gets sold.

Hm, what about my post about that shout made you think on this? I ask because that's the same way I tend to play these games, and the way I'm playing this one (without the experience of past elder scrolls games, this is my first one). If it looks like I found something fun but not the most efficient and decided to use it, then I wonder what I'm missing out on

To clarify, my character is a mix of archery/1 handed weapons, specifically dual wielding daggers. The only spell I ever cast is heal. All the other shouts at my disposal have felt like "oh neat ok here is a little fire damage if I remember to use it, I guess that's nice". This shout is the only one I have that actually enhances the way my character is built, which is the reason I was so excited to find it.

[Groundhog]

Outside of one area where I had to use the whirlwind shout to proceed, I am still yet to really use a shout for anything useful, although I keep meaning to try knock bandits off of walls/roof with it...

[Buccaneer]

Radii, it was just a culmunation of several posts leading up to your's that made me put some thoughts together. I guess it was just a reaction to my recent playing that not only stopped picking up anything (i.e., too much gold, nothing to spend it on), but not really finding anything better than the fire spells and arch-mage robes (plus one of those masks) that I have had for a very long time. I'm going to read some more of the wiki and get back into it to see if there is something significant I can do now that I have reached Master level destruction.

[Buccaneer]

One more thing, I think I agree with both of you regarding Shouts. I have probably 20-25 shouts but except for an occassional force thing to push a group back (to get my spells warmed up), I find the choices bewildering and effectiveness questionable. I already one-shot a lot of things so I don't need a shout that can do the same thing (if such a thing exist).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

It finally dawned on me while I was reading this of how most people have approached these RPG-type games (and that has been foreign to me). The approach seems to be to try new and different things (items) to see how fun it could be. It doesn't have to be a better item, just something different.

And I represent a third option of "having fun" -- I pretty much keep one of everything in storage somewhere, only duplicates get sold. If they're inferior to what I'm currently carrying I never use them, but I enjoy seeing just how much variety of items I can accumulate. Played Oblivion that way, played both (console) Fallouts that way. Drives me batty to ever lose a unique item.

That extends beyond weapons & armor, I try to grab at least one of every non-functional item as well, finally remembered to pick up a quill & inkwell last night in fact. Food items, ingredients, you name it, if I've seen it & it wasn't nailed down then there's at least in one of my houses somewhere.

That's part of the fun for me, just seeing what exists in this world.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

And I represent a third option of "having fun" -- I pretty much keep one of everything in storage somewhere, only duplicates get sold. If they're inferior to what I'm currently carrying I never use them, but I enjoy seeing just how much variety of items I can accumulate. Played Oblivion that way, played both (console) Fallouts that way. Drives me batty to ever lose a unique item.

That extends beyond weapons & armor, I try to grab at least one of every non-functional item as well, finally remembered to pick up a quill & inkwell last night in fact. Food items, ingredients, you name it, if I've seen it & it wasn't nailed down then there's at least in one of my houses somewhere.

That's part of the fun for me, just seeing what exists in this world.

Sounds more like OCD to me.

FWIW I've never been like this before, but I've started doing much the same as you in Skyrim. I bought my own place and I've been stocking it with pretty much one of everything I see.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Radii, it was just a culmunation of several posts leading up to your's that made me put some thoughts together. I guess it was just a reaction to my recent playing that not only stopped picking up anything (i.e., too much gold, nothing to spend it on), but not really finding anything better than the fire spells and arch-mage robes (plus one of those masks) that I have had for a very long time. I'm going to read some more of the wiki and get back into it to see if there is something significant I can do now that I have reached Master level destruction.

Gotcha, thanks. I read that and wondered if I was doing something that made you think "wow he's really just goofing around w/ abilities" and was missing something really powerful

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

That extends beyond weapons & armor, I try to grab at least one of every non-functional item as well, finally remembered to pick up a quill & inkwell last night in fact. Food items, ingredients, you name it, if I've seen it & it wasn't nailed down then there's at least in one of my houses somewhere.

This is awesome. I would go insane if I tried to do anything like that myself, but the idea and the end result if you stick with it, is awesome. Would love to see screenshots of your houses when you're done!

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Sounds more like OCD to me.

As long as I'm into a game like this, I OCD about 100%'ing it. I want every quest line completed and my quest log empty when I hit the end... Until I don't, that is. I typically start a game like this very meticulously, slowly working through the main quest line and trying to make sure I systematically complete everything else. At some point I tend to get a little bored with that and will just all of a sudden stop completely on side quests and only work on the main quest line just to see the end of the game play out. I'm not there yet with Skyrim... but I do worry about it happening once I'm out of skills to improve for myself. Max level would be neat but I'm not going to randomly start using a shield or using destruction spells just to get skill points. Once I have crafting maxxed and my main skills that are core to my character maxxed, I could see making a beeline to the conclusion.

[Groundhog]

On my first play through with Skyrim (and also how I played Oblivion and FO3) I was the same re: playing out the side quests, etc. With Oblivion it was to my detriment and I've never actually finished it. I think it was because the main quest itself bores me at the same place each time I've tried to play through it - 4 attempts so far - so I distract myself completing the side quests but grow bored as soon as I try and finish the game.

Wasn't an issue in FO3 because I dug the game a hell of a lot, but I've already started Skyrim twice because the first time I got overwhelmed with side quests and found that I'd forgotten key points to the main quest because I'd done so much stuff inbetween... This time I'm taking a different approach and, by and large, I'm following the main quest till I finish it, then I want to go back and do all the side quests.