The OFFICIAL Anandtech Forums TeS V: Skyrim Thread

[NoSoup4You]

Anyone find that the Jarl's No.1 (can't remember his name) no longer offer's house upgrades after a while? I'd like to purchase some furnishings for my house in whiterun but he is no longer offering it as an option. Broken quest?

Make sure you speak to him while he's inside Dragonreach. If he's outside or even on one of the Dragonreach balconies overlooking Whiterun, he won't offer the upgrades. Wait for him to go back inside.

 

[zinfamous]

Brilliant! I'm getting Lydia some gems and a bow tonight.

I tried this last night, but she seems to refuse to use the bow. I removed everything else from her (I had just picked up a dwarven bow of watchamacallit--has ~12 sec soul casting), and she chooses to run up and fight unarmed. god damn it, lol.

I notice that she only draws the bow if I draw the bow and generally, will only use the bow if I'm using it. She has been pretty epic with a two-handed sword, though. I upgraded her to an ebony great sword after it dropped (Still haven't improved it b/c I don't have ebony smithing).

Not sure if she's bugged, or it's a hard programming for each companion/follower/house carl. I'm thinking an obvious hunter or archer would be best used for a bow. Lydia likes to aggro the fuck out of everything, no matter what I tell her to do, so I'm guessing she has the mind of a tank and just wants to get in front of everything. Or, it could be that House Carls tend to act like that (She's the only one that I have). Maybe they're "I will protect you with my life" programming lends them to aggro and damage absorption. Are there other House Carls? I have no idea...

I kill her enough as it is with shield bashing and shouting when she likes to insinuate herself between myself and my target. I can only imagine how many times I would fry her if I was a mage primary.

 

[zinfamous]

I wish there were other uses for Dragon Souls. Maybe there aren't as many dragons as I think there are, or far more shouts than I imagine (but 3 words each, so, that's a lot of souls). Anyway, seems like too many dragons, no?

I also think that several of the shouts aren't terribly useful, for certain players at least. Why not use a Dragon soul to unlock a perk? Too OP?

 

[ArchAngel777]

First, it's been in the game for a long time. Exploring underwater environments was a blast in Morrowind and Oblivion. In order to make those environments scary and interesting they had to have enemies, and that meant you had to be able to fight the enemies. Second, it's not that unrealistic. Divers have used knives to discourage or fight off predatory sea life in the real world. Fire and shock spells? Long blades? Yeah, not so realistic... but then this is an RPG with supernatural elements, so I am not so tied to realism. Lastly, it's just one more dimension of the game that has been boiled away to make it more streamlined, I guess, for a new generation. I liked exploring underwater. I liked the fact that the coastal areas out to a certain depth were another extension of the game world, full of dangerous creatures and hidden areas. I'm just sad that didn't make it into Skyrim.

A slash or swinging motion might not work underwater, but a thrusting motion would. So, combat underwater should exist via thrusting movements.

 

[Merad]

I tried this last night, but she seems to refuse to use the bow. I removed everything else from her (I had just picked up a dwarven bow of watchamacallit--has ~12 sec soul casting), and she chooses to run up and fight unarmed. god damn it, lol.

Gave her arrows too, right? She doesn't seem to ever actually run out once she gets some, but she needs at least one in her inventory.

 

[Powermoloch]

me and my lil bro invested 88 hrs on skyrim together. My character is at lvl 42 and I just barely scratch the content (HOLY SHHHH). I'm close on getting my enchanting to 100%...but man the game is fun, better than oblivion imo. OH yeah got to see my fav. mad god again haha.

The game is beautiful with ultra settings, bethesda did again.

/goes on playing

 

[Visaoni]

A slash or swinging motion might not work underwater, but a thrusting motion would. So, combat underwater should exist via thrusting movements.

You still need to get the weapon out, and frankly, you could make slashing motions as well. There would just be no power behind it. It isn't that you can't make the motions, it is that you would exert a ton of energy just trying to get the weapon ready, and then moving it in any sort of attack would take even more energy. And all motions would be extremely slow, and lack any sort of power. Any underwater mob would just swim circles around you while you looked like an idiot.

 

[ManBearPig]

whats the strongest spell that allows you to raise people/things from the dead to fight for you? revenant?

 

[Matthiasa]

i made a full set of Dragon Plate and dual-enchanted it with Mana-Regeneration (70% with potion of enchanting) and Fortify Destruction (reduce 27-30% of spell cost with same potion) on helmet, armor,necklace and ring,and now i'm running around like freaking Zeus with dual-cast chain lightning that costs me 11 mana! (for single cast)


next up i'm going to start using more Conjuration for complete epicness! mwahahahaha.

/coolstorybro-thx4sharing

That spell should cost 0 to cast unless you left something out.

Oh and if you go for conjuring, try to get a those ridiculous forsworn Briarhearts before you level up to much causing them to out level the dead thrall spell. I know I lost the ability to at around lvl 40...

whats the strongest spell that allows you to raise people/things from the dead to fight for you? revenant?

Dead Thrall. There is level cap on what it can raise though, well unless you add mods.

 

[thespyder]

I am curious if anyone has had this experience. I have a Dark Elf Mage (which is less material) who has been adventuring long enough to reach 27th level. I am using Expert level Alteration and Destruction magic (skill in the 70s for both). Been completing missions pretty handily. I have reasonable equipment, though mostly mage stuff including the robe of the Arch Mage and magically enchanted non-armor items.

I set on one quest that took me to this one dungeon. After totally decimating everything in my path, I turned the corner to face a Draugr Overlord with a bow. The Overlord hit me with a shout which I was pretty much expecting, but then he shot me with an arrow. The arrow was an instant Kill for my character who has faced and easily defeated Dragons among other creatures. So I reloaded and went back in. Every single encounter ends in a single hit kill on the part of the Overlord.

First question is, any solutions on how to get around him? Second is, does anyone find it unusual that, given nothing else has come close to being this much of a threat and that Overlords are not necessarily that powerful, that I should be encountering it at all with this level of difficulty?

 

[shortylickens]

- = ] NEED QUEST HELP! [ = -

In Missing in Action I managed to convince the grey-mane to let me try diplomacy or subterfuge in rescuing Thorald. But when I get to the fortress I dont see any way of getting in safely, as soon as I click on anything like a door, I lose my invisibility and the whole place goes hostile (I miss my Chinese Stealth Suit). And no one wants to talk about letting him go.

The wikia only shows a violent solution with a mass attack. Anybody solved this one peacefully. I dont particularly care about killing but I like it when I can be sneaky.


http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Missing_in_Action

 

[IGemini]

<snip>
First question is, any solutions on how to get around him? Second is, does anyone find it unusual that, given nothing else has come close to being this much of a threat and that Overlords are not necessarily that powerful, that I should be encountering it at all with this level of difficulty?

Not knowing where you are, it's hard to say whether you can get around the Overlord. But I've had this situation and keeping him off-balance as much as possible is the best way to do it. Dodge and cover.

- = ] NEED QUEST HELP! [ = -

In Missing in Action I managed to convince the grey-mane to let me try diplomacy or subterfuge in rescuing Thorald. But when I get to the fortress I dont see any way of getting in safely, as soon as I click on anything like a door, I lose my invisibility and the whole place goes hostile (I miss my Chinese Stealth Suit). And no one wants to talk about letting him go.

The wikia only shows a violent solution with a mass attack. Anybody solved this one peacefully. I dont particularly care about killing but I like it when I can be sneaky.


http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Missing_in_Action

It's apparently a bug. They say the Legion will allow his release but it won't take, even if you become a Legate. This is assuming that you haven't attacked any Thalmor, with the exception of

Spoiler

Ancano at the College, I did that before this mission

. Even if you can sneak in the Keep you'll be fighting your way out, I ended up storming the place anyway.

 

[Molondo]

Ugh, I really don't want to become a werewolf but I enjoy the quests im getting from that faction. Has anyone become a werewolf? is it a big impact? I plan on joining the legion. Any negatives?

 

[Powermoloch]

I already got dual enchanting...oh wow. it's very overpowered, I accidentally killed lydia with one swing

 

[Qbah]

Ugh, I really don't want to become a werewolf but I enjoy the quests im getting from that faction. Has anyone become a werewolf? is it a big impact? I plan on joining the legion. Any negatives?

You'll be able to lift the curse off you at the end of the quest chain. The only negative side is no resting bonus. Also, turning into one makes everyone around you hostile. On a positive side, you get to turn into a big werewolf and rip stuff to pieces! Also you're immune to disease all the time.

Has zero impact on anything else.

 

[Markbnj]

You still need to get the weapon out, and frankly, you could make slashing motions as well. There would just be no power behind it. It isn't that you can't make the motions, it is that you would exert a ton of energy just trying to get the weapon ready, and then moving it in any sort of attack would take even more energy. And all motions would be extremely slow, and lack any sort of power. Any underwater mob would just swim circles around you while you looked like an idiot.

I had my NAUI certification for years, and spent a fair bit of time underwater, both playing and working. I've used tools underwater to clean ship's hulls and repair leaks. I've watched other guys use tools to do much more. The medium is much denser, but you can do useful work, and you can put useful energy behind motions. If you we were both diving and I chose to stick you with a knife, I expect you'd end up agreeing with me.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Personally, I wish you could electrocute the enemies by casting lighting spells into the water.

 

[Matthiasa]

snip?

Given that level of destruction you should be able to just keep him stunned the whole time so he can't attack.
Since it's killing you before that point though, if you have found the slow time or ethereal shout use that before going around the corner.

 

[Visaoni]

I had my NAUI certification for years, and spent a fair bit of time underwater, both playing and working. I've used tools underwater to clean ship's hulls and repair leaks. I've watched other guys use tools to do much more. The medium is much denser, but you can do useful work, and you can put useful energy behind motions. If you we were both diving and I chose to stick you with a knife, I expect you'd end up agreeing with me.

Yeah? That is pretty cool.

I suppose I may have overstated my case a bit. Small weapons are probably a valid underwater weapon option. I was mostly thinking of larger weapons, although a one handed sword might be arguable. Anything larger seems unlikely to be useful in a fight. It may be possible to get a decent bit of energy behind it, but you need to be able to do so quick enough that you have time to react to your opponent, and quick enough that they don't just avoid the blow entirely.

And don't get me started on armor, or the amount of weight we are carrying around while swimming easily.

 

[coldmeat]

I had my NAUI certification for years, and spent a fair bit of time underwater, both playing and working. I've used tools underwater to clean ship's hulls and repair leaks. I've watched other guys use tools to do much more. The medium is much denser, but you can do useful work, and you can put useful energy behind motions. If you we were both diving and I chose to stick you with a knife, I expect you'd end up agreeing with me.

You think you would be able to stab a fish?

 

[oldpaths]

Where can I store stuff? I'm level 13 and have about 12k gold. Do I need to buy a house? By this time in Oblivion I would have found a place, but I haven't come across any opportunities to snag a hideout lawfully.

By helping a Jarl and some people in their Reach you will be able to buy a house and also be able to furnish it. I have 3 houses. one in Whiterun, which was the least expensive, one in Riftin and one in Markath (spellin?) the old exDwarf city. You can buy an alchemy lab and enchanters lab for some of them. Whiterun only has the alchemy lab but the others have both.

Then you can store your stuff and experiment with potions and enchanting. As a side benefit you also get ptions and ingredients lying around the lab and a couple manequins for hanging armor and weapons on.

You don't need to buy a house but I think it's better to have one, or two or three or maybe everywhere.

 

[oldpaths]

Whiterun house cost 5,000, Riftin I think was 8,000. I don't remember the other. The you add the other stuff about 250 to 1,000 per room. I think the house in Solitude costs 25,000.

 

[Markbnj]

You think you would be able to stab a fish?

A big fish, possibly. A dreaugh or some other mythical monster as large as I am... sure. People have been spearing fish in the water for a few thousand years or so.

 

[zinfamous]

Gave her arrows too, right? She doesn't seem to ever actually run out once she gets some, but she needs at least one in her inventory.

you know, I realized last night that I never have given her arrows, but she has always used a bow at certain times. I forgot to try giving her some of my thousands of ancient Nord Arrows.

 

[zinfamous]

First question is, any solutions on how to get around him? Second is, does anyone find it unusual that, given nothing else has come close to being this much of a threat and that Overlords are not necessarily that powerful, that I should be encountering it at all with this level of difficulty?

I've run into that same problem, too, with various Overlords and their nasty shouts. As IGemini said, the best solution for me is to always keep them off-balance and/or stunned with Unrelenting Force or Shield Bashing. That latter isn't really an option for you--but I've certainly come to depend on it to interrupt all sorts of actions. If you have a follower, maybe have them aggro the Overlord and take all of his attention?

It's apparently a bug. They say the Legion will allow his release but it won't take, even if you become a Legate. This is assuming that you haven't attacked any Thalmor, with the exception of

Spoiler

Ancano at the College, I did that before this mission

. Even if you can sneak in the Keep you'll be fighting your way out, I ended up storming the place anyway.

I always assumed that once I finally get to that castle to release the guy I would end up storming in, anyway. I find the Battle-Borns to be a bunch of c*nts.