Surviving Skyrim

I'm NOT starting this thread to discuss how Skyrim plays (if you don't know what Skyrim is, what's wrong with you?!). I intend to teach other travelers how to survive the wilds of the North kingdom. Heed my words!

#1 - I don't care if you're level 6, a healing spell in one hand and a sword that does fire damage in the other... you are NOT ready to go toe-to-toe with a Skyrim bear.

5-1-15 NECROEDIT!!!! #skyrim

#2 - Forget what you saw in Morrowind. Dwemer ruins are NOT well-lit, fun places to explore. Dwemer mechanical automatons are NOT push-overs. Skyrim Dwemer enjoyed designing and employing traps. You do not get a peaceful, easy feeling inside Dwemer ruins!


5-1-15 NECROEDIT!!!! #skyrim

Ahh, but would Hitler approve of it?

Yes, I know this is your video (or rather, something you posted), but I like it, and it does relate to this...

Hitler was right and wrong... I'll get into that some other time. For now...

#3 - Horses are strong and fast. They are now actually a really good choice for cross country travel. They can also swim through deep water faster than you can swim. Horses do not have health, stamina, or oxygen meters. They CAN and WILL tire!!! If you're on horseback in the middle of a big lake, and the horse gets winded, dismount or ride your horse to the cold dark depths! Remember this well!!!


5-1-15 NECROEDIT!!!! #skyrim

I want to know... can one get a Skyrim job? You know, a way to earn some money? (gots to bring home da money anywayz I can). If I have to get a Skyrim job to do so, then fine.

(I will delete this post later in the week. just bored right at the moment)

Hell it would be nice for Shadowcrunch just to give up the PS3 so I could have a try at Skyrim or for that matter any game!

LadyLiterature wrote:

Hell it would be nice for Shadowcrunch just to give up the PS3 so I could have a try at Skyrim or for that matter any game!

Sorry, but that's kind of funny!... (sorry again)

Well I may get to play this weekend as he is FINALLY off of his 7 days and has to go back to work on nights!!! Yipeee for me I may actually get to try Skyrim and Alice: Madness Returns.

Okay, less of a survival point, more of a question answered. For those who asked, those who MAY be getting ready to try the game, and those who seem to be getting somewhere based on facebook trophy announcements... the question was about jobs in Skyrim. This will not get a number as it is a quick guide with quick info just to sum up: YES, you technically can!

Like any other RPG out there, most of your gold will come from quests and loot. List most recent RPGs, there is one hell of a crafting system, which is entirely optional! Sure, you can do mini side-quests for the blacksmith in Riverwood in which each stage of the quest involves a new step of smithing, and maybe there's more, but here's what I know so far: (keeping in mind I have no idea how this compares to crafting in MMORPGs like WOW as I've never tried it, but I keep reading how in depth the crafting systems are...)

I have come across several crafting techniques in the game so far. With Smithing, which also has its own skill set, you can make leather and leather strips for armor, forge weapons, and refine weapons to a higher quality. Each of these steps require raw materials found in the world. Making leather requires 'harvesting' pelts and furs, tanning them on tanning racks...slicing them if you want strips. Forging and honing require ore, which can be found in various places, purchased, or mined from veins IF you carry a 10 pound pick axe with you. Oh, the ore must be smelted into bars or ingots.

There is also enchanting, which entails destroying an enchanted item to learn its enchantment, then using a filled soul gem to place that enchantment on a new piece of weaponry or apparel. This is done at an enchanting station/bench/table. When you destroy the old item, you will always have the enchantment, like learning a recipe. The magic 'school' of enchanting, which governs your abilities with enchantment spells, determines the quality of the newly enchanted item.

Alchemy, which also has a skill set associated, involves taking raw materials from plants, animals, and monsters, and mixing the ingredients to make potions and poisons. Again, the higher your skill, the stronger the brew. This is a bit nicer than previous games, as they have removed the percent chance that you will fail to pick a flower or mushroom!

Cooking is much like alchemy, but there is no skill with it. Basically, certain items that can be considered alchemy ingredients can be combined in a cooking apparatus (pots, cauldrons, dutch oven looking things...) based on discovered or known recipes to create FOOD from ingredients. Some are as simple as cooking salmon meat into salmon steaks. Some require a little meat, a few tomatoes, some leeks, a pinch of this, a dollop of that.... a little more complex.

Lastly (that I know of), is woodcutting, which only happens at wood piles IF you decide to carry a 10 pound woodcutter's axe. Basically you chop wood, and someone in the near vicinity will come and pay you for it. YAY! Not much, but it's gold.

Now, Since none of this is required... WHY?! For the sake of role-playing...and gold. Why gold? Refined items are worth more (sometimes quite a bit more) than raw materials. You can sell the 2 ingredients in a potion to a shopkeeper for maybe 2 gold, or sell the potion for 20! Salmon meat might fetch a gold or two, while salmon steaks (depending on the shopkeeper) can get around 5. Not much of a profit, but you do enough crafting and you can make quite a bit of cash on the side, especially since there's always raw materials to be found no matter what quest you're on! At any rate, it's actually a bit of fun for something different to do while trying to decide if you're really ready to take on a den of vampires or not....

#4 - A den of Vampires can kick your ass with ranged attacks or up close and personal. Taking them out one at a time seems like a good tactic. Except... a Master Vampire apparently didn't just get that title by some programmer typing it in. How does one kill a master vampire? I will get back to you as soon as I figure out how...without getting infected...

5-1-15 NECROEDIT!!!! #skyrim

This isn't really a survival thing, but it is Skyrim, and it is a perfect blend of mind-blowing and breathtaking. (((WHOA!!! Should mention this post is about Skyrim for the PC...not that we have it, but you gotta see what I'm showing...) Was reading some articles on Skyrim mods out there already...read about a guy who's using a couple texture mods, and some game files he hacked himself...lemme explain cuz I just learned this. Apparently all Bethesda games are coded to only use 2Gb of ram, no matter how much is in your system. To handle this, Bethesda compressed the hell out of their textures...sigh.

So this guy decompresses his textures. He hacks his files so the game robs all of his ram. He does a tweak here and there for his graphic ram...no idea... but the article says he pushes his computer right to the limit to bring the best screenshots he can. So I went and looked. What I'm about to show you aren't screenshots, they are works of art. Awe-inspiring, professional photographer jealous-making, crisp, clean, beautiful, art screenshots worthy of a frickin gallery (all my opinion...oh and the opinion of the first 50 or so comments on the article I was reading)...

Anyway, here's the link to his site... http://www.deadendthrills.com/

Ohhhhh do I have a post for this thread.... Stay tuned

I'm getting a bit jealous. I STILL haven't been able to play!

Oh yeah, in light of more people playing the game, I should point out I am hoping to avoid graphical or skyrim-exclusive plot twists and spoilers. I mean, so far I've just added simple insight behind things we already knew are in-game....like horses, vampires, Dwemer...ETC. My purpose is vague tactics, not exact sciences of crafting this or slaying that.

I am planning to skip over things that could be considered 'shock and awe' or serious thinking parts of the game for newer players. One example would be saying "Oooh, for surviving your first dragon attack you should..." I will NOT do that. Dragons are skyrim exclusive, and must be dealt with YOUR way. And speaking of doing it your way, I will also NOT be dropping clues to the more puzzling puzzles, or explaining how to actually avoid this trap or that....there's a save feature...you should be using it as often as I am!!! (Rather, I'm using the load feature like friggin crazy...)

Or perhaps "In Unnamedobscure cavern they have this light show that you HAVE to see!!! Exact coordinates are...." I won't do that either. I have kept myself from telling my wife about many of the latest graphical OOOOHs and AAAAHs, because if I'm traveling through the far north and I see a scene with a rock cliff, and a fortress with a light.....heheh....and I just have to sit and stare for a while cuz WOW.... I don't want to spoil that initial OOOH for anyone else! A game this perty, the scenery has the potential to be just as awesome as any quest.

Oh, and #4 (cont'd) - slaying a Master Vampire. Sucks...just sucks...

It isn't that he is sitting staring at any scene it is more that he has fallen asleep because he is trying to stay up till 2 in the morning playing Skyrim and the music has put him asleep!

LadyLiterature wrote:

It isn't that he is sitting staring at any scene it is more that he has fallen asleep because he is trying to stay up till 2 in the morning playing Skyrim and the music has put him asleep!

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! 'ZzzZZZzzzzzZzzzzzz....'

Shadowcrunch wrote:

I'm NOT starting this thread to discuss how Skyrim plays (if you don't know what Skyrim is, what's wrong with you?!). I intend to teach other travelers how to survive the wilds of the North kingdom. Heed my words!

#1 - I don't care if you're level 6, a healing spell in one hand and a sword that does fire damage in the other... you are NOT ready to go toe-to-toe with a Skyrim bear.

I would like to add a little here... I don't know what 'class'/level you're playing but my character which is of the assassin archetype level 8-9 took out a bear with 2 bow shots... It's them sabertooth things which bugger me all up...

Giants SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here batter batter batter *SWING* (followed by my character flying 20-30 yards in a bloody pulpy mess of goo and gore)

Giants...bears...sabertooth thingies??? Man I must be missing a lot. My worst thing so far is mummies. But then again I've only played for maybe 5 hours so far and I haven't explored too much.

I of course realize now that post about bears was a bit premature. I could have handled it several ways that did not involve losing half my health bar in one bear swipe, turning, and running fast as can be towards the nearest waterfall whilst saying "no,no,no,no,no..." Hell, I keep forgetting I probably could have used my race power to befriend the bear! I haven't used that power once yet!

Giants...they are big. However, I've walked right up on several giants and haven't had a single one take a swing at me. I figure if they don't attack me I will leave them alone, so I tried it. Nothing. They stand there, watch me, and growl. The only time they made any menacing gestures was when I got to close to their mammoths...hmmmm.... Did you perhaps initiate combat? Or do they like different races and not others?

Oh, and....level 24 Bosmer (yeah! Morrowind history time! Back when elves were 'Mer!)... don't remember archtypes at creation time, so no clue there, but my most boosted skills are bow and sneak. I have enchanted boots of lifting, gauntlets of accuracy, a Dwemer helmet (oh yeah!), a Dwarven Bow of Animus, a Drainheart sword, Drainspell bow, a great Nordic sword of set-yo-ass-ablaze, and the Jarl gave me a Carl for my hizzarl! Thing I'm most proud of with my character so far? I've managed to keep the same horse alive through sabers, wolves, spiders, bandits, elves, bears, and dragons. Yay horsey!!! I wish I could name my horsey....

When dealing with giants, remember that being squashed by the petrified heart of an air whale will... ahh, screw that. Run. Run run run.

Role-playing in an electronic role-playing game?! Inconceivable! And yet, Vader made me realize something about Skyrim the other day: the optional tidbits thrown into the game can make it VERY possible to actually role-play your character, more than just handling stats and equipment. Throw in the multiple ways to get through quests, and the various ways to handle non-player interaction... IMO by pulling farther away from traditional stat-based RPGs, they have made it far easier to actually handle your character the way you FEEL like handling him/her. Here's what I mean...

Vader mentioned in an earlier post that he's going for an assassin archetype. I didn't remember any archetypes during character creation (like they used to have) but just based on my play style, I was getting a nice blend of Ezio and Garret (assassin and thief). There was talk of gaining tons of skill at enchanting, and dual-wielding enchanted daggers in an assassin role. Now, previous games gave this option, but it was a just a matter of playing the stats and equipment. Anybody with a big enough soul gem could pay to enchant whatever they wanted. In Skyrim I have not yet found a pay-for enchanter, but have found a lot of tables for DIY. With the new skill-based system, one has to use the particular skill they want to excel with, in order to upgrade said skill, which means you HAVE to play your character the way you want him/her to be! Amazing, isn't it?! So I was thinking about the enchanting skills (as I really want to boost mine as well for the purpose of some Health-restoring Dwemer armor!!!) and the other issues that arise... new paragraph, I think...

First, the soul gems. If you want to enchant a weapon with high power magicks and include a lot of uses between recharge, you need big (EXPENSIVE) soul gems. Then, to recharge the weapon, you need more big soul gems. With the new enchant system, you don't just stick a spell you know into the weapon. You have to take an enchanted item and break it down (item go bye-bye) to learn the secret of its enchantment, which then becomes something like a recipe you will always have. Of course, the stronger the enchantment, the higher your skill must be...and the skill is raised by using soul gems, filling soul gems, and doing lower level enchanting (which could probably make good coin). Sounds like a pain in the butt for an assassin.

Thought that arose for an assassin (which nobody has to follow!!! Just a neat idea possible because of this awesome skill system)... alchemy. No soul gems, no baking down good enchanted equipment, no cost! You gather ingredients from plants and animals, chew on the raw ingredients to learn some of the effects, then make potions! The chewing and brewing (heh...trademarked!!! ) boosts your skill, and even low level potions that won't do squat for your character will bank more coin than selling the ingredients! Boost your skill, your potions become stronger...and so do your poisons. Poisons are used on your weapon for one attack (same as Oblivion, but I only used that option ONCE during the tutorial...Skyrim I've been doing it quite a bit!). I've happened upon poisons that do 10 damage per second for 10 seconds, and based on the price, they are NOT that powerful. Imagine dual-wielding daggers (with the 15x dagger damage sneak skill!) AND dripping each blade with a master level poison....oh yes. Or a nice paralysis poison on an arrow...you're sneaking and shooting, they can't come look for you if they can't move!

Finally, there are actually a ton of options available for role-playing your character....YAY!!!

LadyLiterature wrote:

Giants...bears...sabertooth thingies??? Man I must be missing a lot. My worst thing so far is mummies. But then again I've only played for maybe 5 hours so far and I haven't explored too much.

I've played for many many hours and I have yet to see a mummy... Maybe I should stop some quests and go underground for a while..

This just in! TWO special helpful things to know and learn!!! Hopefully I remember the second one before I finish typing the first!

I noticed something my second day of playing, and yes it could, but I couldn't remember exactly where. Huh? I was asked if there was an easy way to get to one of the big big cities in a fast-travel style before visiting said city. I said NOPE...fastest way is to buy a horse. Couple days ago I remembered...right next to the stables in Whiterun is a horse-drawn carriage with a dude. My second day playing I talked to him, and he offered to give paid rides, but I canceled right away.

Tonight I finally tested the theory! There's one outside Whiterun, another outside Solitude...both by the stables (which at Solitude is actually a farm). So I assume there's one of these wagons at every major city cuz when I chatted with the gent, he offered to take me to any of the capital towns of each hold (province) for anywhere from 20 to 80 gold. I tried one I haven't been to yet, and sure enough he whisked me away! SO, if you want a fast, safe way to get from a major city to another you haven't found yet, use the wagon!

Nope...don't remember the other one. Sigh....where's my 'sorry for my old guy memory' smiley?

Okay, remembered the other one, and decided to drop a warning...not related to skyrim survival, but I feel it needs telling to ensure a playable game. This is IMPORTANT for anyone playing Skyrim on a console!!!

First, before I forget again...I spent a LOT of wasted time decorating my castle in Oblivion. It's really pointless, but after a certain point you just decide you want your shelves and tables cluttered with stuff YOU want...maybe a nice looking Daedric weapon you'll never use, but it's too cool to sell. Maybe your favorite piece of obsolete armor. I scoured the forums looking for the 'move' buttons (used to be called drag?)...the buttons used for moving bodies and such. Every forum I checked said the feature was disabled for the consoles in Skyrim. I accidentally found it. An object you are NOT carrying, when you hover over it and you get the 'press X to pick up', hold X and move the sticks (it MIGHT work by just holding X for a count of 2...not 100% sure though). You can then use the sticks to move the object around the space, stack objects, stick objects on shelves...ETC. Now, start decorating your homes!

On to the IMPORTANT stuff. This is a spoiler. This is me recommending cheating even on a first play through. The game has glitches, bugs, and flaws. SOME of them can become game stoppers! I will post warnings about them as I find them. So far I'm only aware of one major one. When you encounter these, I recommend going to the WIKI (will link later, but I find by googling 'skyrim quests') and following step by step to avoid errors! I wish I would have done this when I first noticed issues....sigh...

In the city of Markarth, there's some wicked shit going on politically. Then your character witnesses a murder. Guards will walk up to you and tell you to keep your nose out of it...there is no talk option, they start the talk...so you have no way to avoid this quest. A guy comes up and starts the talk and asks you to look into the murder. You are now stuck in what could be a permanent loop. I'm calling this the 'Markarth murder quest' for future reference. Here's the scoop to watch out for though:

You will have to return to the temple to speak with this guy after you have it all figured out. He's dead, and there's guards. They want to take you to jail. You have been framed for multiple murders. Only options are fighting or jail. This is where the wiki will come in handy. I don't know what happens if you choose jail right away (I chose to run cuz I was innocent). Jail is the next step in the quest, so just go quietly! If you do this wrong, and these guards stay inside the temple, when you finally get out of jail and are pardoned, when you go back in the temple those three guards will start the loop all over again. Except this time they will automatically attack you, and if you run or fight back, all the city guards will be after you. It's a long story, with many facets of how screwed it can get. Since you can't avoid this quest if you spend any time in Markarth, follow the WIKI!!! I currently have 1 quest I can't do at all cuz I can't go in the temple, and all the city guards yell at me to stand down even though they aren't actually pursuing me...which isn't horrible, just damn annoying!