Skyrim for the Unwashed Console Masses

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

So can I just say how awesome it is that the weapons don't degrade when you use them? At least I hope not. There's no status bar telling me my mace is about to break, or that my armor is losing effectiveness.

If I don't have to carry 50 of everything I use a lot of, or a million tiny hammers, that's more room for loot! Thanks Bethesda!

I guess that balances the fact that it's not possible to level up your carrying capacity anymore. At least not that I've found yet.

It rises with your stamina, unless I'm mistaken. I know I have 220 base stamina and 350 carrying capacity, and I think I started the game with 100 and 300 respectively.

Indeed. Stamina increases carrying capacity permanently. Fortify Stamina, Fortify Strength, and Fortify Carrying Capacity (or something similar) all do so temporarily.

Don't forget, you can also use your companion as a pack mule. A mouthy one in Lydia's case, but a pack mule nonetheless.

I joined the inner circle of the Companions. My new Power is pretty wicked. My Orc is turning out to be a serious bad ass.

heavyfeul wrote:

I joined the inner circle of the Companions. My new Power is pretty wicked. My Orc is turning out to be a serious bad ass.

Since I'm playing a pretty straight up Mage Build, I'm thinking about ignoring all of the Companion Quests so I can have even more reason to replay the game as Conan mark 2.

heavyfeul wrote:

I joined the inner circle of the Companions. My new Power is pretty wicked. My Orc is turning out to be a serious bad ass.

Pretty sweet, right? Nothing cooler than unleashing that in a cave full of bandits.

The mage college questline turned out to be pretty epic, with sweet rewards.

Just started over the weekend and had enough time to get to Riverwood. So far, so good but as always, I'm trapped by my desire to do everything.

Two questions:

#1. I thought I would try out a dual wield build with a bow and basically ignore magic. As I understand it, while dual wielding two weapons, there's basically no way to block, making this a tactical trade-off. Can I dodge? And if I went sword+shield or with a two-hander, I'd be able to block in combat, right?

#2. Is there any way to quick swap weapon sets? I'd prefer to start encounters from afar with a bow and then whip out Mr. Stabby when the baddies get close. Is there a way to do this without pausing the action in the Favorites menu (accessed by hitting up on the D-Pad)?

Edit: more browsing the dregs of the IGN forums found a note that indicates hitting left or right while in the menu (it isn't clear if it means the Items menu or the Favorites menu) allows you to set two weapon sets. This can include magic. I'll have to give it a shot tonight.

Trashie wrote:

Just started over the weekend and had enough time to get to Riverwood. So far, so good but as always, I'm trapped by my desire to do everything.

Two questions:

#1. I thought I would try out a dual wield build with a bow and basically ignore magic. As I understand it, while dual wielding two weapons, there's basically no way to block, making this a tactical trade-off. Can I dodge? And if I went sword+shield or with a two-hander, I'd be able to block in combat, right?

#2. Is there any way to quick swap weapon sets? I'd prefer to start encounters from afar with a bow and then whip out Mr. Stabby when the baddies get close. Is there a way to do this without pausing the action in the Favorites menu (accessed by hitting up on the D-Pad)?

Edit: more browsing the dregs of the IGN forums found a note that indicates hitting left or right while in the menu (it isn't clear if it means the Items menu or the Favorites menu) allows you to set two weapon sets. This can include magic. I'll have to give it a shot tonight.

Sword and board or two handed both have block. I haven't tried dual wield, but I am not aware or any dodge beyond circle strafe.

Thanks for the dpad tip, I'll definitely give that a go. I'm sword and board switching to bow, but have found my Flamethrowing Hand Of Doom very useful too. Or the Healing Hand Of Saving My Ass. I have won a few fights I shouldn't have by blindly swinging a sword whilst spamming heal!

Has anyone else found

Spoiler:

the Red Eagle quest? It's in a book in the Companions hall. Read a book, hour long quest results! I love that this kind of thing can happen.

spider_j wrote:

Has anyone else found

Spoiler:

the Red Eagle quest? It's in a book in the Companions hall. Read a book, hour long quest results! I love that this kind of thing can happen.

Yes, I've found it. It is just buried in my quest log with 30 other things. Too much time running with elk.

spider_j wrote:

Has anyone else found

Spoiler:

the Red Eagle quest? It's in a book in the Companions hall. Read a book, hour long quest results! I love that this kind of thing can happen.

Found it, completed it, and ran into an annoying bug afterward. If you go back to the place where you got the first sword and kill the Briarheart again, you can get another sword. However, the sword is flagged as a quest item so you can't drop it, sell it, or disenchant it. And I've done the quest already so I have no way of getting rid of this stupid sword. The damn thing weighs 12 pounds!

Trashie wrote:

Just started over the weekend and had enough time to get to Riverwood. So far, so good but as always, I'm trapped by my desire to do everything.

Two questions:

#1. I thought I would try out a dual wield build with a bow and basically ignore magic. As I understand it, while dual wielding two weapons, there's basically no way to block, making this a tactical trade-off. Can I dodge? And if I went sword+shield or with a two-hander, I'd be able to block in combat, right?

#2. Is there any way to quick swap weapon sets? I'd prefer to start encounters from afar with a bow and then whip out Mr. Stabby when the baddies get close. Is there a way to do this without pausing the action in the Favorites menu (accessed by hitting up on the D-Pad)?

Edit: more browsing the dregs of the IGN forums found a note that indicates hitting left or right while in the menu (it isn't clear if it means the Items menu or the Favorites menu) allows you to set two weapon sets. This can include magic. I'll have to give it a shot tonight.

I'm also an archery/dual-wielding guy and have found out that dual wielding doesn't work too well with the quick swap, as it only switches your right hand. I've found a way to sort of fix this if you follow these directions.

1. Equip your dual wielding weapons.
2. Set your bow to a quick swap d-pad, let's say right.
3. Press right on the d-pad to switch to your bow.
4. Pressing right again switches the weapon to whatever was previously equipped, in this case the dual wielding weapons.

This also works if you have a second bow on the left. Press left to switch to your other bow, then press left again to switch back to the dual weapons. I use two bows, one with a fire enchantment, and one with a soul trap enchantment which I have named the Trapper Keeper

Teneman wrote:

Indeed. Stamina increases carrying capacity permanently. Fortify Stamina, Fortify Strength, and Fortify Carrying Capacity (or something similar) all do so temporarily.

Don't forget, you can also use your companion as a pack mule. A mouthy one in Lydia's case, but a pack mule nonetheless.

There is also a perk half-way up the Pickpocketing tree which gives you another 100 carrying capacity.

ahrezmendi wrote:
Teneman wrote:

Indeed. Stamina increases carrying capacity permanently. Fortify Stamina, Fortify Strength, and Fortify Carrying Capacity (or something similar) all do so temporarily.

Don't forget, you can also use your companion as a pack mule. A mouthy one in Lydia's case, but a pack mule nonetheless.

There is also a perk half-way up the Pickpocketing tree which gives you another 100 carrying capacity.

And the Steed Stone increases it by another 100

ahrezmendi wrote:

There is also a perk half-way up the Pickpocketing tree which gives you another 100 carrying capacity.

Well I guess it is time to invest in this skill a bit. Damnit I'm going to need more perks than 50.

Rykin wrote:
ahrezmendi wrote:

There is also a perk half-way up the Pickpocketing tree which gives you another 100 carrying capacity.

Well I guess it is time to invest in this skill a bit. Damnit I'm going to need more perks than 50.

Why only 50? The level cap is at least 70, just gotta get trained up in those skills you aren't using yet.

ahrezmendi wrote:
Rykin wrote:
ahrezmendi wrote:

There is also a perk half-way up the Pickpocketing tree which gives you another 100 carrying capacity.

Well I guess it is time to invest in this skill a bit. Damnit I'm going to need more perks than 50.

Why only 50? The level cap is at least 70, just gotta get trained up in those skills you aren't using yet.

Can anyone verify this? I am fairly sure that while the mathematical cap is in the 70s, there is an actual hard cap at 50.

Teneman wrote:

Can anyone verify this? I am fairly sure that while the mathematical cap is in the 70s, there is an actual hard cap at 50.

My Google-fu says the levels go higher than fifty, no cap.

DrJekl wrote:
Teneman wrote:

Can anyone verify this? I am fairly sure that while the mathematical cap is in the 70s, there is an actual hard cap at 50.

My Google-fu says the levels go higher than fifty, no cap.

Sorta... via Reddit:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Xj5Mr.jpg)

So basically you stop leveling when you max out every Skill.

There is no hard level cap but you stop earning perks at 50. Not sure if/when you stop earning upgrades for the three stats though.

Rykin wrote:

There is no hard level cap but you stop earning perks at 50. Not sure if/when you stop earning upgrades for the three stats though.

Can you verify that? The only association I've heard with regards to "Level 50" is it being the general point in the game where a player will be "done playing", at least according to Todd Howard. What I take that to mean is that you've maxed your primary Skills. It wouldn't make much sense to set a cap for earning perks if you can still level up.

Yeah, I've read nothing about not gaining perks past 50, so I'd like confirmation of this too.

According to the guide (image posted 4 comments up) you gain 1 perk at each level. Maxing every skill to 100 gets you to about level 80.

You cannot get skills above 100, so that's basically the cap.

ahrezmendi wrote:

Yeah, I've read nothing about not gaining perks past 50, so I'd like confirmation of this too.

I believe this was mentioned by Todd Howard in just about every interview he did near the launch of the game.

Couldn't one of us brave the wilds of the Skyrim Catch-all and see about a PC guy testing it via console commands?

muttonchop wrote:
spider_j wrote:

Has anyone else found

Spoiler:

the Red Eagle quest? It's in a book in the Companions hall. Read a book, hour long quest results! I love that this kind of thing can happen.

Found it, completed it, and ran into an annoying bug afterward. If you go back to the place where you got the first sword and kill the Briarheart again, you can get another sword. However, the sword is flagged as a quest item so you can't drop it, sell it, or disenchant it. And I've done the quest already so I have no way of getting rid of this stupid sword. The damn thing weighs 12 pounds!

There is a second quest involving that sword, maybe that's what you're running into? If you check on the game tips section of XBox live there is a video on how to complete it.

muttonchop wrote:
spider_j wrote:

Has anyone else found

Spoiler:

the Red Eagle quest? It's in a book in the Companions hall. Read a book, hour long quest results! I love that this kind of thing can happen.

Found it, completed it, and ran into an annoying bug afterward. If you go back to the place where you got the first sword and kill the Briarheart again, you can get another sword. However, the sword is flagged as a quest item so you can't drop it, sell it, or disenchant it. And I've done the quest already so I have no way of getting rid of this stupid sword. The damn thing weighs 12 pounds!

There is a second quest involving that sword, maybe that's what you're running into? If you check on the game tips section of XBox live there is a video on how to complete it.

Though I did get two identical staffs for the end of the Mage's Guild quest so it could certainly be a bug.

From the UESP Wiki:

Past level 50, leveling happens much more slowly. The actual maximum level is 81, by maxing every skill using console commands. No mention of perks stopping at 50 though.

I guess we'll just have to find out on our own. The reason I don't entirely believe what Todd Howard said is that he said a lot of things which turned out to not be true, or not entirely true. He might have said there was a soft cap, but not said what that meant in terms of perks.

Ballotechnic wrote:
muttonchop wrote:
spider_j wrote:

Has anyone else found

Spoiler:

the Red Eagle quest? It's in a book in the Companions hall. Read a book, hour long quest results! I love that this kind of thing can happen.

Found it, completed it, and ran into an annoying bug afterward. If you go back to the place where you got the first sword and kill the Briarheart again, you can get another sword. However, the sword is flagged as a quest item so you can't drop it, sell it, or disenchant it. And I've done the quest already so I have no way of getting rid of this stupid sword. The damn thing weighs 12 pounds!

There is a second quest involving that sword, maybe that's what you're running into? If you check on the game tips section of XBox live there is a video on how to complete it.

Though I did get two identical staffs for the end of the Mage's Guild quest so it could certainly be a bug.

I got the first sword, put it in the pedestal for the second part of the quest line, beat the boss, got a new sword from him, picked up the first sword from the pedestal, and it had upgraded. I'm using the second sword as my main weapon, and the first is now living in a box in my house.

If the game glitched so you got the first sword twice, try putting it in the pedestal again. That should remove the quest item status, and maybe you'll get the second sword again too!

So while trying to do a story mission, I encountered some dark elf mage who immediately pulled aggro on me and started throwing icicles at me. He killed me twice before my wife reminded me I didn't have to kill everything that attacked me. While I was running my level three arse away from him, I ran smack dab into a dragon, who proceeded to destroy me several times before my wife explained to me that just because the first dragon died after six arrows, that didn't mean all the dragons in the game are going to be that easy.

Note to self: Don't be overconfident just because you can take out bandits without breaking a sweat using fireball spells in one hand and a mace in the other.

Further note to self: Once you hit level ten, fast travel back to that elf's house and turn his face into a lumpy pudding.

Question for the group: Does walking into a persons house when the door is open and the "enter ****" text is white cause the inhabitants to turn violent on you? Even though I have every intention of destroying that elf mage

From the Journal of Disgraced Father, Harlen Peters: Part Six

Just as my God has forsaken me, so to have I turned my back on my God; I have now taken more than a few steps towards my rightful place in hell, and I wonder at what cost will come my redemption? If it comes at all. My blood burns with the fire of a beast, I am being tempted down a path fraught with cannibalism, and I have succumbed to that cursed spirit in that house of the devil.

And all for what? Power? This wretched mace?

The Daedric spirits are strong, much stronger than I. And I would be lying to say that I have not enjoyed my decent into madness. But for how long will I enjoy it, and how deep will I go?