The OFFICIAL Anandtech Forums TeS V: Skyrim Thread

[cytoSiN]

I hadn't read this, but I might actually try a companion again with my sneak/archery/restoration build now that I know they won't reveal me (in theory) every time I go to sneak shot something. Anyone try this since the patch?

 

[zinfamous]

She still does that to me, pretty much every time I walk in the house. I don't think she can see very well.

lol.

she's probably gonna die, then. :/

 

[zinfamous]

I hadn't read this, but I might actually try a companion again with my sneak/archery/restoration build now that I know they won't reveal me (in theory) every time I go to sneak shot something. Anyone try this since the patch?

hmm, I've never had them "reveal me" like that. Either they will be seen at the initiation of fighting and we are all fucked, or the companion will be seen while I can sneak behind the NPC and cut them. Never happens when I am about to run a sneak attack.

then again....I guess it did happen, a lot. :hmm:

Oh yeah, I would tell Lydia to wait at the end of the room...then the end of the hallway, then the previous dungeon, just so she would stop instigating shit. The worst was when she would pick fights with targets that were not yet on the minimap

:\

At a certain point, though, with enough in sneaking and the proper gear, Lydia could run in commando as she is want to do, while I could still easily sneak up behind everyone and cut them bad, throughout the entire engagement. I can even sneak up to their faces, lol.

 

[Skott]

That first follower Farendal is much more useless than Lydia IMO. Lydia can be a pain at times but Farendal, man, that guy just sucks. For an archer he can't even hit things most times with his bow and he still gets in the way! Lydia and her big bone club will push past you but at least she'll clean house. Lately with my followers I'm having them stay far back so I can do the killing myself unless I really need their help on a tough group.

 

[zinfamous]

That first follower Farendal is much more useless than Lydia IMO. Lydia can be a pain at times but Farendal, man, that guy just sucks. For an archer he can't even hit things most times with his bow and he still gets in the way! Lydia and her big bone club will push past you but at least she'll clean house. Lately with my followers I'm having them stay far back so I can do the killing myself unless I really need their help on a tough group.

I wouldn't necessarily call him useless--he can level you up to 50 archery, for free, at the beginning of the game--the benefit of trainer followers, and the 'ol "I need to trade some things with you" command.



And after that, he is great fodder for Boethiah or the Ebony Blade.

 

[cytoSiN]

hmm, I've never had them "reveal me" like that. Either they will be seen at the initiation of fighting and we are all fucked, or the companion will be seen while I can sneak behind the NPC and cut them. Never happens when I am about to run a sneak attack.

then again....I guess it did happen, a lot. :hmm:

Oh yeah, I would tell Lydia to wait at the end of the room...then the end of the hallway, then the previous dungeon, just so she would stop instigating shit. The worst was when she would pick fights with targets that were not yet on the minimap

:\

At a certain point, though, with enough in sneaking and the proper gear, Lydia could run in commando as she is want to do, while I could still easily sneak up behind everyone and cut them bad, throughout the entire engagement. I can even sneak up to their faces, lol.

I can't be bothered to tell her to wait EVERY time I enter a new area. My entire play style is to sneak everywhere (quickly, of course, with all of the sneak and light armor perks that you run/roll while still sneaking) and to fire triple-damage arrows while sneaking. I can 1 or 2 shot almost anything like that, even on master difficulty. The problem that I've experienced is that if one of your companions is seen, you're automatically "seen" too. I put that in quotes because I'm not exactly sure what's happening, but I know that the "---.---" symbol that shows that I'm hidden becomes an open eye, meaning I'm exposed, as soon as any companion becomes visible. It's possible that the game is still applying my triple-damage bonus, but I wouldn't know it until after I shoot. That kind of breaks the game from a sneak/archery standpoint. It's amazing how much I have to rely on that "---.---" symbol to be sure I'm doing it right. I haven't had any time to play recently, but I'm hoping that the patch fixed it so that companions will stay out of sight as long as I'm sneaking. Then again, I'm level 54 and have very little left to do on this playthrough, and I did it all solo precisely because companions broke my play style.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

My first playthrough, I didn't use companions at all; literally, not one single time did I use a companion unless it was required by the mission. On my second playthrough, I'm dragging Lydia with me everywhere I go. Less for utility in battle, more to be a pack mule and meat shield. If I was playing a sneaky character, I'm not bringing a companion (except Aela who seems to do OK with the sneaky archery). As a mage, I didn't use companions (to easy to kill them with chain lightning or fire). Outside of a warrior class, I would think companions are more likely to get in the way then be useful.

 

[coloumb]

What really has been bugging me lately about this game - most npc's just don't seem to care if you snoop around opening up unlocked [or picking locks] doors - more so in the pubs, castles, etc - any place that doesn't have a locked door. There have been a few instances where the shop keeper follows me around or the owners of a house will tell me "You're not suppose to be here"... and somehow the local authorities "know" if I've been stealing items... but it just seems most people don't care what I do - as if I have carte blanche to do whatever I want. It's just a minor gripe that I feel would add a bit more challenge/realism to the game.

 

[Markbnj]

but it just seems most people don't care what I do - as if I have carte blanche to do whatever I want. It's just a minor gripe that I feel would add a bit more challenge/realism to the game

Yeah, they could use a lot of work on NPCs. They're really dumb now, and it does detract from the immersion. When I've completed the hard work of shaking the Jarl's hand and been promoted to Thegn, the last thing I want is some guard saying "You're the new companion. So, what? You fetch the mead?"

 

[Fenixgoon]

hey what's the best way to level up blacksmithing? i've been making leather gauntlets, as they seem to provide the best ratio of materials usage to amount of XP gained. there's no benefit to crafting better items (most of my armor is already better than what i can craft)

 

[Atomic Playboy]

hey what's the best way to level up blacksmithing? i've been making leather gauntlets, as they seem to provide the best ratio of materials usage to amount of XP gained. there's no benefit to crafting better items (most of my armor is already better than what i can craft)

Powerleveling smithing is super easy by crafting either leather bracers or iron daggers en masse. You can powerlevel enchanting at the same time by putting enchantments on those items. For smithing, make sure you have the warrior stone activated (20% bonus to XP gain for smithing). Enchanting gets the bonus from the mage stone. It's worth it to spend time collecting materials in the wild rather than just paying for lots of leather and hides (you should be able to get a lot of ore this way as well, hence making iron daggers).

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah, I think daggers/bracers give you more experience for item.

best profitable way to do it, is 2x gold rings per gold ingot. You are slower to level smithing by itself, but as I mentioned a few times before, you can do this:

iron ore > transmute > silver ore > transmute gold ore
2x gold ore > gold ingot
gold ingot > 2x gold rings.

iron ore is cheap to buy, and more than plentiful to mine. But just purchasing ore and selling the rings, even with minimum speech perks (though i always use bartering enchants when selling/buying, even if minimum), you make decent cash.

also, of course, you enchant each ring before selling--2x gold rings destruction is generally best. but banishing or panic daggers make the most money...but unless you have a merchant gold mod installed, they will rarely have enough coin to purchase your items.

smithing gold rings levels up an additional skill (alteration from transmute) and all but smithing will level up more, since you have to sell more items per smith (speech), and enchant more per smith.

...and don't forget conjuration leveling to fill all those petty gems.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Powerleveling smithing is super easy by crafting either leather bracers or iron daggers en masse. You can powerlevel enchanting at the same time by putting enchantments on those items. For smithing, make sure you have the warrior stone activated (20% bonus to XP gain for smithing). Enchanting gets the bonus from the mage stone. It's worth it to spend time collecting materials in the wild rather than just paying for lots of leather and hides (you should be able to get a lot of ore this way as well, hence making iron daggers).

Or alternatively once you get transmute you can buy iron ore and transmute it into gold and make gold rings. You can still enchant them, and even with out enchanting you can still make a profit from it.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Powerleveling smithing is super easy by crafting either leather bracers or iron daggers en masse. You can powerlevel enchanting at the same time by putting enchantments on those items. For smithing, make sure you have the warrior stone activated (20% bonus to XP gain for smithing). Enchanting gets the bonus from the mage stone. It's worth it to spend time collecting materials in the wild rather than just paying for lots of leather and hides (you should be able to get a lot of ore this way as well, hence making iron daggers).

dont think i've found the warrior stone, but i'll keep that in mind.

guess i should put all my petty soul gems to use. just found a necromancer hideout and scored a few black soul gems to boot.

 

[zinfamous]

dont think i've found the warrior stone, but i'll keep that in mind.

guess i should put all my petty soul gems to use. just found a necromancer hideout and scored a few black soul gems to boot.

If you follow the path outside of Helgen at the very start of the game, straight to Riverwood, you will walk by the warrior stone. It is one of the 3 stones with the Mage and Thief stone.

Alternatively, you can activate the Lover's stone relatively close to Markarth, which gives 15% leveling increase to all skills.

And Dwemer ruins are also a great place to score soul gems--tone of common and lesser gems off the spiders, with many of them already filled.

I think you have to find those necromancer, vampire, and caster hideouts to get the black gems, though.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

If you follow the path outside of Helgen at the very start of the game, straight to Riverwood, you will walk by the warrior stone. It is one of the 3 stones with the Mage and Thief stone.

Alternatively, you can activate the Lover's stone relatively close to Markarth, which gives 15% leveling increase to all skills.

And Dwemer ruins are also a great place to score soul gems--tone of common and lesser gems off the spiders, with many of them already filled.

I think you have to find those necromancer, vampire, and caster hideouts to get the black gems, though.

The nice thing about using the Warrior Stone (or Thieft or Mage stones) is that the effect stacks with the "well rested" bonus you get from sleeping in a bed you own (or the lover's comfort bonus you get when you're married). The practical upshot of which is that you can level skills 30% or 35% faster (vs. 15% with the Lover's Stone activated). This won't work if you're a vampire or a werewolf though.

As far as soul gems go, as you progress through the game you'll discover an area called Blackreach which has soul gem veins that you mine like any other ore. That's a great source of soul gems, although most of them are going to be common or lesser. Black soul gems are awesome; don't waste them on any souls but grand. You can drop a soul gem from your inventory and pick it back up to empty any soul that's in it. It's tempting to hoard Grand souls that you've captured since they provide the strongest level of enchantment, and you'll want to use those for any gear you make for yourself. But early on, it's worth it to use every soul gem you get and level enchanting fairly high before you start enchanting your own stuff. A 5% bonus to a skill probably won't help much; 40% definitely will.

 

[dust]

I never got the lover's comfort, I never married any character from the preset list. I found Alva once sleeping in the main bedroom at Solitude, but ran away before getting some. I think Dovahkiin stinksD:

 

[Skott]

I wouldn't necessarily call him useless--he can level you up to 50 archery, for free, at the beginning of the game--the benefit of trainer followers, and the 'ol "I need to trade some things with you" command.



And after that, he is great fodder for Boethiah or the Ebony Blade.

Well, I should have said I felt he is more useless in fights. Yeah, I know he can train you and act as pack mule. Aela for example hits her targets more often than Farendal.

 

[Skott]

From what I hear If you want to play a thief/assassin then Cicero makes the best follower because he has the highest thief/sneak skills of the followers and he cannot die. He says some crazy funny things though at times. Some might find that irritating. J'zargo is supposedly about the best of all the followers because he can level up with you all the way to level 81 and cannot die. I haven't tried J'zargo yet. I'm going to pair him up with my Paladin at some point and see how he does. I figure they'd make a good match up.

 

[cytoSiN]

From what I hear If you want to play a thief/assassin then Cicero makes the best follower because he has the highest thief/sneak skills of the followers and he cannot die. He says some crazy funny things though at times. Some might find that irritating. J'zargo is supposedly about the best of all the followers because he can level up with you all the way to level 81 and cannot die. I haven't tried J'zargo yet. I'm going to pair him up with my Paladin at some point and see how he does. I figure they'd make a good match up.

Oh really? I sacrificed him to Boethiah as soon as possible after he tried to kill me with those combustion scrolls. If I had known he couldn't die in regular combat I might have let him live...

 

[Skott]

Oh really? I sacrificed him to Boethiah as soon as possible after he tried to kill me with those combustion scrolls. If I had known he couldn't die in regular combat I might have let him live...

I heard he couldn't die. Guess the info was wrong. I haven't tried him yet myself to see how he does.

 

[Markbnj]

Oh really? I sacrificed him to Boethiah as soon as possible after he tried to kill me with those combustion scrolls. If I had known he couldn't die in regular combat I might have let him live...

All the followers I've used resist death in combat to some extent. They'll go down on one knee and say stuff like "No, not like this!" and then if you keep the enemy off them eventually they get back up and back into the brawl. But I know they can be killed because I got Lydia killed by a named. I think if something keeps beating on them when they're down, or they get hit by enough powerful attacks, they're done.

 

[Rakewell]

I heard he couldn't die. Guess the info was wrong. I haven't tried him yet myself to see how he does.

Nah,

I've had him in my party a couple of times, and he definitely dies.

 

[zinfamous]

All the followers I've used resist death in combat to some extent. They'll go down on one knee and say stuff like "No, not like this!" and then if you keep the enemy off them eventually they get back up and back into the brawl. But I know they can be killed because I got Lydia killed by a named. I think if something keeps beating on them when they're down, or they get hit by enough powerful attacks, they're done.

I think NPC's will leave your follower once they go down on knee. In my experience, the only way that they die is if you attack them while they are down, or they stumble off of a cliff.

I remember very early on, one of my first dragon fights which took quite a long time at a low level, Lydia never came running back after the fight. I went searching for her all over and after about 10 minutes, found her lifeless body at the bottom of a cliff, floating at the bank of a river. Either she fell off, the dragon pushed her off, or I managed to zap her instead of the dragon when she was nearby.

 

[SMOGZINN]

All the followers I've used resist death in combat to some extent. They'll go down on one knee and say stuff like "No, not like this!" and then if you keep the enemy off them eventually they get back up and back into the brawl. But I know they can be killed because I got Lydia killed by a named. I think if something keeps beating on them when they're down, or they get hit by enough powerful attacks, they're done.

I'm pretty sure that NPC followers can only be killed by you (or maybe from falling damage.) I've watched Lydia take a knee while fighting a dragon, and then have the dragon breath on us both for enough damage to make me chug potions like a frat boy at a kegger, and she still got up a second later and attacked again.