Oblivion [warning: contains some spoilers]

[Lantzen]

One question. How do i raise my luck? And not throgh items.

[Darth333]

The only way to raise luck is to invest a point in there when you level up.

[Lantzen]

I know that, but how to i gain more point at the level. I only get one point per level, when max is 5 point on one attribute. How to i increase the 1 point to 5 in luck?

[Darth333]

Not possible. You can only put one point at a time in luck.

[stingerhs]

^^^^

i'm still not even aware as to what it does. does it give you bonuses to various things??

[stoffe]

I am not sure I remember well but unless you make the change before becoming a vampire, you may have to feed before it takes effect. You'll keep the red eyes and the fangs but it should remove all the wrinkles. If you want only the red eyes you can combine it with setting Vampirism to 1 in the Vampirism25 ability : it will allow you to feed but your other vampiric features (such as the mouth area modification) will be less visible. If you still find that your PC looks too old with iVampiricageoffset set at -69, try it at -75. (I set it at -69 as I found that -75 was giving my pc a "babyface" but it's just a matter of taste )

 

Hmm, I still can't seem to get it to work... I tried with Age Offset -75 and Vampirism 1, but I still can't see any real difference in my character's appearance. She still looks like this with pale wrinkled skin and faded facial features. Looks exactly like before to me. Seems like I can't get my babyfaced Breton to look like she should with even the tiniest shred of Vampirism. Too bad.

 

I guess I'll be stuck with using my level 0 Vampirism hack with a "Ring of Feeding" to allow the character to feed and maintain the first tier vampire stage. Hardcoded things are annoying. I just wanted some fangs and odd-looking eyes with the rest of the normal appearance intact...

 

There is nothing that restricts magic. Playing a mage really gives you an advantage when you are in jail: the easiest way to escape is to steal your jailor's key and then blast him with a spell like the Wizard's fury, get your stuff from the evidence chest and escape without any problem (note that if your bounty is too high you'll be immediately chased down by guards depending on where you are...of course, you can use invisibility to avoid this ).

 

So if you are an evil criminal already you can just give the jailor The Finger, step over his smoking corpse and walk out of there? I guess the Guard isn't used to locking up an Arch-Mage in their jail dungeon, or the life expectancy of your average jailor has to be quite low. I had guessed they used something like the slave bracers in Morrowind that drained the magicka pool of the wearer, but perhaps that would have been a bit unfair.

 

Hopefully my character won't have reason to try that out any time soon, since she's managed to maintain an untarnished criminal record without a single gold in bounty logged.

 

 

The thing that bugs me the most in this game is that no one reacts to my bad actions, no matter how high my infamy is. The only difference so far is that I cannot cure myslef in the Churches and the guards dialogue has slightly changed when they catch me. Other than that I can speak to any npc and even walk in freely in Cloud ruler temple and chat with the blades with a bounty of 20K on my head and they like me just as much.

 

If it's any consolation nobody gives a damn about you having no Infamy and a Fame rating in the hundreds either, so it goes both ways. The only deeds NPCs occasionally seem to react to are those done during some major quests.

 

NPCs in general seems to suffer too obviously from non-context sensitive dialog. An all too common occurence:

Generic guard #200: All hail the Champion of Cyrodiil!

CoC: Hi, what's the latest rumors?

Generic guard #200: Have you not heard? The Oblivion Crisis is over...

CoC: *Sigh* No ****, I believe you just called me the Champ of Cyrodiil, that would kind of imply I was there.

 

The Blades defending you might be because you are a member of their Order, which does not belong to the government of the Empire, unlike the guards and legions. Still, you'd think they would expel some murderous psychopath rather than protect them from the Law. But I guess people who enjoys playing evildoers would get miffed if they were unable to do the main quest of the game.

 

As for commoner NPCs that's probably more explainable. If some known serial killer walked up to me and asked for directions I probably wouldn't bug them about their reputation either.

 

 

The mages guild should also have a few different dialogue options when you become arch-mage (scholars still call me apprentice and after checking the CS there is no other option available...)

 

That annoyed me too. Becoming Arch-Mage seem to have absolutely no impact at all in the game, besides being able to enter the Arch-Mage's chambers in the tower without trespassing. Everyone in the University and Guild Halls treat you like they always have. Those scholars in the courtyard are the worst... "Get lost, I'm too important to waste time speaking to the likes of you... Arch-Mage.". I'd expel their sorry butts from the guild, but unfortunately the role of Arch-Mage became entirely ceremonial with Traven's passing so I can't even do that.

 

(I was half-expecting you'd be named the powerless next Emperor at the end of the main quest as part of their drive to pointlessly allow the player to rise to the top rank of any organization you join, but apparently they didn't go that far.)

 

or when you do the quests as a vampire such as [one of the mage's guild quests]. I also noticed that the few vampire hunters you meet during certain quests are very bad at what they do: I did all their quests as a vampire and no one noticed it, no matter at which stage of hunger I was.

 

That quest annoyed me too since it's so ultra-linear. Apparently it didn't account for the possibility that you had already defeated the Necromancers by the time your "contact" showed up, so I had to pretend that this stranger I had already talked to earlier had rescued me from them.

 

When it comes to dialog and options the Elder Scrolls games are still lightyears behind the Bioware/Obsidian games, that's for sure. Some quests seems to allow for multiple approaches to solve them, but most I've done so far are very linear.

 

As a well-fed Vampire the condition should be essentially undetectable, as told in several books in-game, as well as proven by the Seridur/Roland Jenserric quest where you can't really see who's the real vampire when they both claim the other is the one. I'd have no problem with vampire hunters being none the wiser if you are in that stage, if your look in-game actually reflected that, rather than turn you into a walking corpse immediately. But I agree higher levels of vampirism should make Hunters pretty much attack you on sight if you aren't in a town, unless they have a very good reason not to.

 

 

i'm still not even aware as to what it [luck] does. does it give you bonuses to various things??

 

It's probably the most powerful attribute, thus why you can only boost it one point at a time. It affects pretty much everything in a small but quite noticable way. Your spells do more damage and cost less mana to cast. You take less damage in combat, and can deal more damage with weapons. You have less chance of being knocked down or staggered in battle, etc.

 

* * *

 

Another question for those who are better at finding these things than me: Is there a way (a game setting?) where you can set how quickly time in-game progresses? IMHO time is currently passing way to fast, you barely have time to do anything before a whole day has passed.

[Darth333]

Hmm, I still can't seem to get it to work... I tried with Age Offset -75 and Vampirism 1, but I still can't see any real difference in my character's appearance. She still looks like this with pale wrinkled skin and faded facial features. Looks exactly like before to me. Seems like I can't get my babyfaced Breton to look like she should with even the tiniest shred of Vampirism. Too bad.

 

That's weird. My vampire face changes completely when I do this I'll try to post some screenies tomorrow.

 

Another question for those who are better at finding these things than me: Is there a way (a game setting?) where you can set how quickly time in-game progresses? IMHO time is currently passing way to fast, you barely have time to do anything before a whole day has passed.

I've never tried it but according to this guide, changing the fGlobalTimeMultiplier value in the ini file should do it ( I think)... let us know how it turns out

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

That sanguine quest was cool, but I'd better get something reaaally good for completing the shrines, I went back at least 50 saves and some levels to do it again.

I was dissapointed with the result though, everybody was just screaming for a minute and then went back to normal, I thought there would actually be some sort of inhibition loosening effect and they'd get all freaky.

 

What are you supposed to use azura's star for anyway, I can't soultrap anything?

[stingerhs]

What are you supposed to use azura's star for anyway, I can't soultrap anything?

to soul trap, first, you have to have the soul trap spell. be aware if the spell is targeted (ie, you aim it like a bow) or if its by touch (you have to stand directly next to the target. once that's complete, just finish killing off the target, and their soul is yours!!!

 

just keep in mind that to capture a person's soul (ie, anybody that isn't a monster or animal), you'll need black soul gems which are quite rare, at least as far as i know. that and its also considered to be necromancy. i don't know if you're penalized for doing it, but it does net you a Grand soul which is worth 1600 echantment points to use for recharging enchanted weapons.

 

the advantage of the Azura's Star is that it can hold up to a Greater Soul (1200 points), but unlike the other soul gems in your inventory which are one use items, the Azura's Star can be reused over and over again. quite handy if you use an enchanted weapon very often.

 

edit:

****Beta Patch Released!!!****

[T7nowhere]

What are you supposed to use azura's star for anyway, I can't soultrap anything?

 

Azura's Star can be used to full fill a small part of the MQ(Though you don't have to use it that way) Its far better to keep it though and use it to trap High level souls in order to keep your Enchanted weapons charged. When used to recharge a weapon the star is only emptied. I think it can also be used to enchant an item, But I haven't tried that yet.

 

Also if you don't have the ability to cast soul trap, you will eventually find sigil stones that have soul trap on strike(to enchant weapons). I didn't bother with that though, I just made some silver soul trapping arrows and added them to a merchant in Anvil.

[stoffe]

I've never tried it but according to this guide, changing the fGlobalTimeMultiplier value in the ini file should do it ( I think)... let us know how it turns out

 

Figures a setting would be in the only place I forgot to look for it. Thanks.

 

Edit: That was interesting. While that did indeed slow down the passage of time in-game, it was a bit too global since it had other, less desirable side effects as well. It made the whole game run slower, with everything moving in slow motion, and even the "fade effect" when menus and boxes open was slowed, making it take 5 seconds for the main menu to fade in when I changed the fGlobalTimeMultiplier to 0.1.

 

 

That sanguine quest was cool, but I'd better get something reaaally good for completing the shrines, I went back at least 50 saves and some levels to do it again.

I was dissapointed with the result though, everybody was just screaming for a minute and then went back to normal, I thought there would actually be some sort of inhibition loosening effect and they'd get all freaky.

 

Heh, it might be a bit much too hope for that a bunch of stuffy, puritan nobles would lose their inhibitions along with their clothes. At least the Black Horse Courier about the incident was pretty funny, make sure to read it. I think there'll be one at one of the local taverns.

 

I don't know what the "final" Daedric Shrine quest rewards you with since I haven't done it yet, and probably won't unless my character finds some way to morally justify the more unjustifiable acts required of you by some of the shrine quests. Seeing as the requirements for even getting that quest is rather high though I'd assume the payoff is enough to make it worthwhile.

 

 

RJM: What are you supposed to use azura's star for anyway, I can't soultrap anything?

stingerhs: to capture a person's soul (ie, anybody that isn't a monster or animal), you'll need black soul gems which are quite rare, at least as far as i know. that and its also considered to be necromancy.

(snip)

the advantage of the Azura's Star is that it can hold up to a Greater Soul (1200 points), but unlike the other soul gems in your inventory which are one use items, the Azura's Star can be reused over and over again. quite handy if you use an enchanted weapon very often.

T7: Its far better to keep it though and use it to trap High level souls in order to keep your Enchanted weapons charged. When used to recharge a weapon the star is only emptied. I think it can also be used to enchant an item, But I haven't tried that yet. (snip) Also if you don't have the ability to cast soul trap, you will eventually find sigil stones that have soul trap on strike(to enchant weapons).

 

Azura's Star prevents you from ever running out of Grand Soul Gems to recharge your enchanted weapons, or enchant new ones, since it can be used over and over. I'm fairly certain Azura's Star can hold 1600 soul points though, and not 1200 as mentioned above. I agree that giving it away during the main quest is a waste, since it's one of the more useful Daedric artifacts you can acquire.

 

If your character isn't a spellcaster there's also an artifact sword, Umbra, that you can get as part of another Daedric Shrine quest. This sword will (in addition to being the longsword with the highest base damage in the game) affect the target with a very long duration Soul Trap when struck.

 

As for black soul gems, they are described to be evil things of necromancy in the books you can read in game. Thus I only use them against Necromancers (Mannimarco included), since I find it pretty fitting that they who would trap others will get a taste of their own medicine. I've never gotten penalized or noticed any bad side effects for doing this, and there are plenty of Necromancers to go around.

 

Black soul gems are pretty rare if your character is morally opposed to creating them yourself, since you'll only very occasionally be able to loot them off the bodies of fallen Necromancers. If you don't mind making them yourself though they are in as good supply as regular Grand Soul Gems are.

 

There are white marble altars with a red banner with the Necromancy logo draped over them located outside 4(that I've found so far at least) Necromancer-infested caves and ruins scattered throughout Cyrodiil. Once a week during the night a pillar of light will start to shine down on those Altars from the sky, which will last for 24 hours or so. When this happens, you can place an empty Grand Soul Gem on the Altar and then cast a Soul Trap spell on the Altar. Your Grand Soul Gem will then be converted into a black soul gem. The easiest one to access is the Fort ruins south of the road roughly southwest of Skingrad, about halfway towards Kvatch.

 

(It's only a shame the soul gems no longer display what they contain, like they did in Morrowind. In that game I had a chest where my character collected grand soul gems with every single named Dagoth I ran across in the game, to prevent them from being revived by their master. )

 

****Beta Patch Released!!!****

 

Seeing as even the release version of patches tend to include their share of new bugs it seems pretty risky to install a beta patch. I would not be happy if it messed up my savegames in some way, that's for sure. If they've released a beta the full version can't be more than a few weeks off anyway.

[stingerhs]

^^^^

well, given the stability issues the game will randomly have at some points, this patch is a welcome addition.

[Darth333]

I'll wait for the final version of the patch. I can live without it for now. Apart a few quest issues which I can easily fix with the console, the only stability problem I had with Oblivion is the crash on exit issue. Not a big deal as I am quitting the game when it occurs

 

Edit: btw, I just found this about the patch: http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=417598 It seems that it causes issues with mods and texture packs due to the load order.

 

 

@ stoffe: I didn't checked what values those mods change exactly as I don't have the game with me but they modify the timescale in Oblivion:

 

http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1819

 

and

 

http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1858

 

I guess you already know that but if you don't like them, you can always click on "details" in the CS to see what was changed exactly

[ChAiNz.2da]

Hmm, I still can't seem to get it to work... I tried with Age Offset -75 and Vampirism 1, but I still can't see any real difference in my character's appearance.

I know it may sound an ungodly amount, but set the value to -3000.. this gives you the age appearance that Vinciente <sp?> has (Dark Brotherhood Vampire though, so you probably haven't seen him)...

 

Your appearance will change, but it's a much smoother appearance to the face even at Stage 4. Stage 1 isn't noticeable other than the eyes

 

One downfall is, as Darth333 stated.. it can give you a "babyface" if your character's age was young to begin with, that and your cheeks are rather "rosy" at higher Stages..

[stoffe]

I didn't checked what those mods change as I don't have the game with me but they change the timescale in Oblivion:

(snip)

I guess you already know that but if you don't like them, you can always click on "details" in the CS to see what was changed exactly

 

Didn't know about those, I haven't seriously started to look for Mods, or the places to find them, yet since I'm still on my first playthrough of the game. I've mostly done a whole load of tweaks and adjustments to bugs and things I didn't like, as I found them.

 

That seems to have done it. In their infinite wisdom, Bethesda apparenty decided that the TimeScale setting would be better to set up as a Global Variable rather than a Game Setting. Another place I didn't think of to look in.

 

Apparently the short TimeScale global is set to the number of in-game minutes that passes during one minute of real-time. Changing the default value (and then the in-game value with a script or the console since apparently the default values are only used when you start a new game) to 20 seems to have had the effect I was looking for. Thanks.

 

I know it may sound an ungodly amount, but set the value to -3000.. this gives you the age appearance that Vinciente <sp?> has (Dark Brotherhood Vampire though, so you probably haven't seen him)...

 

Your appearance will change, but it's a much smoother appearance to the face even at Stage 4. Stage 1 isn't noticeable other than the eyes

 

One downfall is, as Darth333 stated.. it can give you a "babyface" if your character's age was young to begin with, that and your cheeks are rather "rosy" at higher Stages..

 

Well, that seems to actually have made a change to the appearance of my character, finally. With that change she looks like this (but should look like this except for the eyes and fangs) for comparison, with Vampirism 1 and AgeOffset -3000.

 

Unfortunately as seen she's still has washed out facial features and skin pale as an albino Nord rather than Reguardish brown. It also makes her look even more baby-faceish as you said. More like 10 years old rather than 20-25 like I was aiming for. Even worse, that childish face stucture seems to stick now even after I un-Vamp the character, which it didn't do at lower settings as far as I could see. Apparently getting cured of vampirism is all too rejuvenating (or more likely it's a bug).

 

Seems like it's impossible to do what I want, so I think I'll have to settle for my current hack solution, unfortunately. Thanks for trying to help at any rate.

 

The Vampirism effect only seems to affect your appearance and ability to feed, everything else associated with Vampirsm seems to be handled through separate effects and globals from what I can see. As such the only drawback I've noticed so far from having a Vampirism 0 all the time except when feeding is that the "Days as a vampire" record on the stats screen don't seem to update. I've been able to do the Cure quest so far (gathering ingredients currently) without any problems at least.

 

The only problem I can forsee with doing things like this would be if the game uses the GetVampire function rather than the PCVampire global somewhere to check if you are a vampire, since it returns 0 both when you are no vampire and when you have a Vampirism effect with magnitude 0 as far as I can see.

 

(If would have been fun if the feeding could be changed not only to allow magnitude 0 vampires to feed, but also so you could feed on enemies during combat at well. Sucking them dry was my favourite way of killing non-Kindred enemies in VtM:Bloodlines, almost to the point that I didn't use weapons against them. But I guess feeding is hardcoded just like character appearance changes. Nasty. )

[stoffe]

I have a few questions regarding melee combat I can't seem find an answer to in the manual or in the wiki. Do anyone here know...

1. ...if the Weight of your weapon has any effect on combat, other than using up more fatigue when swinging it? I suspected it may affect how easily you can knock someone down or stagger them, but can't see any clear evidence of it. I assume it has some effect, why else would anyone want to pick a Daedric Warhammer instead of a Daedric Claymore, when the Claymore weighs 30+ less than the hammer, does more damage and swings faster?
    
    
   
2. ...what affects your chances of knocking an opponent down when you power attack them? It seems enemies manage to knock me down a lot more often than I can knock them down, even though I have more than 100 Agility, and they usually have lower agility.
    
    
   
3. ... in what way Strength affects the damage you do with weapons? How many Strength points do you need to raise weapon damage one point?
    
    
   
4. ...if there is a point in raising the Blade skill higher than 100? Does it increase weapon damage further, or is it capped at 100?
    
    
   
5. ...if the weapon range field in the construction set has any effect, or if there is some kind of collision mesh on the weapon model that determines if it hits something or not? I tried to adjust it on a few weapons but didn't notice much of a difference in-game.
    
    
   
6. ...if there is some debug printout mode or similar that lets you see how much damage you really deal when you hit someone with your weapon and where that damage comes from? Some random testing has shown that the actual damage dealt is significantly higher than the damage value displayed for the sword at the inventory screen.
   

[SpaceAlex]

If i become a vampire my character totaly changes the apperance after i exit the game and load a save game (saved when i already was a vampire). And i don't mean just different skin color or different age, but the whole face looks different. The nose becomes much wider than it was before. It actually looks pretty scary.

 

I don't suppose anyone has experianced that?

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

@Stinger, I know how to soulcap, it just doesn't seem to work with Azura's Star. It fills the best available soulgem, right? Instead it just fills my Black or Grand soul gems.

FYI: Grand souls totally PWN greater souls;)

 

@Stoffe, MY WANT UMBRA!!! TELL HOW GET, NOW!!!!

 

Your combat may be affected by your skill in blade or blunt, I think each mastery level has added attack bonuses or modifiers (knocking opponent down). I've only made it far enough through Blade to earn the "disarm" move (sadly they're usually dead by the time the disarm move activates:D)

[stoffe]

I know how to soulcap, it just doesn't seem to work with Azura's Star. It fills the best available soulgem, right? Instead it just fills my Black or Grand soul gems.

 

@Stoffe, MY WANT UMBRA!!! TELL HOW GET, NOW!!!!

 

It seems like it doesn't use Azura's star unless there are no other soul gems available that the soul you trap would fit in. I.e. it will use up any applicable regular soulgems first. I usually stash my extra soul gems that I want to save for some special occasion back at my house and only take a few with me along with the Star.

 

As for Umbra the Sword, it's wielded by Umbra the Wood Elf who's camping out inside Vin Diesel, an Ayleid ruin to the southwest of the Imperial city, just by the ring road around the lake. There are usually a pair of Daedra or conjurers just outside the entrance. Watch out for the gas and spike traps on your way inside. And watch out for Umbra the Elf herself, she's a level 50 character with maxed combat skills, wearing a full suit of Ebony armor and wielding Umbra the Sword, no matter what level your character is. (I love the console commands where you can examine NPCs before you decide what to do with them. )

 

If you just want the sword I suppose you can just go in there and attack her and rob the sword from her. She won't attack on sight though, so you'll either need to land the first blow or Frenzy her. But as mentioned, the sword is part of the Shrine of Clavicus Vile quest, so you may want to pick that quest up first. That shrine is the forrest in the center of the U-bend of the road towards Skingrad from the Imperial City, not too far away from the Vin Diesel ruins.

 

Your combat may be affected by your skill in blade or blunt, I think each mastery level has added attack bonuses or modifiers (knocking opponent down). I've only made it far enough through Blade to earn the "disarm" move (sadly they're usually dead by the time the disarm move activates:D)

 

I've managed to get Mastery (skill lvl 100) in Blade, and have thus gotten the backwards Knockdown power attack, and the Forwards Paralyze power attack. Unfortunately the backward power attack with the knockdown effect is very hard to pull off since you'll have to back away from the enemy, which usually means they're outside the reach of the sword by the time my character is finished swinging. Seems to have a decent knockdown success rate when I do manage to hit though, even if the enemies seem to succeed a lot more often against me.

 

The Forward one by contrast is easy to do and very handy when charging, but unfortunately it very rarely seems to paralyze the opponent. I've only seen it happen a handful of times. I don't know how successful enemies would be with using it though since my character still is a vampire, and thus immune to paralysis.

 

If i become a vampire my character totaly changes the apperance after i exit the game. And i don't mean just different skin color or different age, but the whole face looks different. The nose becomes much wider than it was before. It actually looks pretty scary.

I don't suppose anyone has experianced that?

 

Not that way, but it sounds a bit like what happened when I used the showracemenu console command in a futile attempt to get rid of the distinct vampiric appearance of my character. Things seemed fine on that menu, but as soon as I saved and reloaded (to make the appearance change stick without resetting all my skills etc) the face became a lot more freakish-looking, making the Hackdirt crew beauty contest winners by comparison.

[ChAiNz.2da]

I have a few questions regarding melee combat I can't seem find an answer to in the manual or in the wiki. Do anyone here know...

 

~ snip ~

I've looked for this info as well, but haven't found anything noteworthy..

 

I do know that weapon weight seems to have no affect as to Fatigue dropping, so I'm almost doubting that Strength will do much (even if the game says it does)... Best thing if you're worried about Fatigue drain is just equip the most damaging weapon you can comfortably carry...

 

I seem to have better, noticeable, visual effectiveness raising my Luck better than anything else... (go figure)..

 

I'm finally able to enchant my own items, and one of the first things I did was enchant an amulet with Luck... by donning it I definitely see damage scores and such change right before my eyes..

 

I might try this trick with some of the Fortify Strength items (or an alchemic potion)..

 

As far as collision meshes/weapon range affecting "to hit".. not sure in Oblivion but I know it DID have an effect in Morrowind.. I had made a dagger with a spear's range and it worked beautifully.. strike fast from a distance.. hehehe

 

I wouldn't doubt there's an integer or variable to change in the Game Settings seeing as ranged (bows) have an effectiveness distance (1,000 or 2,000 units.. can't remember at the moment)..

[stoffe]

I do know that weapon weight seems to have no affect as to Fatigue dropping, so I'm almost doubting that Strength will do much (even if the game says it does)... Best thing if you're worried about Fatigue drain is just equip the most damaging weapon you can comfortably carry...

 

Hmm, maybe I was imagining things, but it seemed like swinging a dagger drained less Fatigue than swinging a warhammer did when I was playing with different kinds of weapons to see what made them unique.

 

Seems like Strength damage bonus isn't displayed in the weapon damage readout, but I assume it's there since I do much more damage than is listed for the weapon when I whack something. When testing I summoned a Bound Daedric Claymore and sneaked up on a Minotaur Lord and whacked him. Checking his health with the console before and after the attack it seems like I did roughly 55 damage to him, while the damage display of the claymore says it deals 29 damage. Maybe Luck is factored in there as well.

 

I seem to have better, noticeable, visual effectiveness raising my Luck better than anything else... (go figure)..

 

On the weapon info in the inventory display, or where can you check this? Seems to me like the inventory screen just shows the same base damage value the Construction Set displays (plus any bonus from repairing the weapon above 100%).

 

As far as collision meshes/weapon range affecting "to hit".. not sure in Oblivion but I know it DID have an effect in Morrowind.. I had made a dagger with a spear's range and it worked beautifully.. strike fast from a distance.. hehehe

 

I tried to change the different types of longswords to have somewhat different reach. Since visually a Daedric Longsword, an Akaviri Katana, an Akaviri Dai-Katana and those Wakizashi type weapons (Ebony Blade, Goldbrand) have blades of different lengths but have the same reach value set in the Construction Set. Didn't notice any real difference in the hit range when I tweaked those values though, but maybe my changes were too small to have any obviously noticably effect.

 

* * *

 

A few more questions, this time about sneaking, for those Settings gurus here. Is there any way to adjust how easily you can be detected while sneaking outdoors? My character has no problems remaining undetected even when sneaking right up to someone looking her way while in a dark ruin. Outside is another matter entirely though. Despite her level 100 Sneak skill enemies seem to spot her 50 meters away with their backs turned even in the dead of night. I'd rather they stopped doing that.

 

Related, does tall grass, bushes and other plants offer any concealment at all if you crouch behind them? Doesn't seem to do much difference to the NPCs super perception outdoors so it's hard to tell.

 

Further, is there a way to adjust how easily detected you are while swimming? Seems pretty stupid to me that a whole cave population instantly become aware of your presence if you swim underwater (with Water Breathing gear) through in a deep underground stream.

 

Someone swimming underwater really shouldn't make much noise, and should be harder to detect in a dark cave than someone just walking around, not easier like it seems to work now. (I bet special ops teams would love it if the whole coastline became aware of their presence the instant they entered the water during some clandestine sea insertion...)

[ChAiNz.2da]

Hmm, maybe I was imagining things, but it seemed like swinging a dagger drained less Fatigue than swinging a warhammer did when I was playing with different kinds of weapons to see what made them unique.

oops.. my bad, I was a bit incomplete in my thoughts. The weapon weight isn't what affects it... rather it's the weapon class. Yeah, Daggers will drain less fatigue.. but if you're sweating over choosing that 30lb warhammer that does 10 dmg.. or the Claymore that does 10 dmg but weights only 15 lbs... best bet is to use the claymore as the fatigue drain is going to be the exact same, but you'll have more weight allowance for loot. That is of course unless you like warhammers better

 

On the weapon info in the inventory display, or where can you check this? Seems to me like the inventory screen just shows the same base damage value the Construction Set displays (plus any bonus from repairing the weapon above 100%).

Inventory display screen.. but you'll need to be on the "fringe" of when the base damage changes (seems Luck adds it's modifiers to "base" rather than as an additional bonus per se.. )

 

A few more questions, this time about sneaking, for those Settings gurus here. Is there any way to adjust how easily you can be detected while sneaking outdoors?

Aww crap, I just had it then it escaped me.. I'll try to get back to you on the setting(s) you'll want... though I do know that torches and light spells are sneak killers.. NightEye or Life Detect only when attempting to snipe or burgle (just don't cast it in view or you'll get spotted as well)

 

Related, does tall grass, bushes and other plants offer any concealment at all if you crouch behind them? Doesn't seem to do much difference to the NPCs super perception outdoors so it's hard to tell.

Hiding behind structures (trees, statues, etc.) tends to make a difference (at least during lower levels).. same with dark corners.. however I don't think grass will affect your hiding ability. I've tested this usually with Imperial Guards. Go into sneak mode when you know you're detected, preferably near a tree.. now strafe slowly until your view is obstructed by the tree.. you'll notice your sneak icon is now showing you hidden... strafe a little farther however, and you'll be spotted again. Seems the Imp. Guards have "Ostrich" syndrome.. that or they blink real sloooooow... hehehe

 

Further, is there a way to adjust how easily detected you are while swimming?

hmm.. I've never thought to look for a setting for that.. though I'd love it myself... I'll take a peek over the weekend and try to uncover something. If you find out, please let me know.. I'd love to change that setting, seeing as I'm usually trying to pull a "Rambo" and get spotted instantly.. *sigh*

[Tupac Amaru]

[*]...if the Weight of your weapon has any effect on combat, other than using up more fatigue when swinging it? I suspected it may affect how easily you can knock someone down or stagger them, but can't see any clear evidence of it. I assume it has some effect, why else would anyone want to pick a Daedric Warhammer instead of a Daedric Claymore, when the Claymore weighs 30+ less than the hammer, does more damage and swings faster?

Are you sure the damage difference isn't due to a higher blade level? At maxed strength, blade and blunt, a daedric claymore does 28 damage and a warhammer 30. Still wouldn't use either of those things. Heavy, slow, drain fatigue quickly and don't allow a shield. Using heavier weapons also reduces your walking/running speed outside of combat. No thanks.

 

[*]...what affects your chances of knocking an opponent down when you power attack them? It seems enemies manage to knock me down a lot more often than I can knock them down, even though I have more than 100 Agility, and they usually have lower agility.

I also have 100 agility and get knocked down rarely. It only happens regularly when fighting Daedra Spiders. Knocking down enemies myself has been no problem so far. They land on their back once or twice during combat. The level of my character is 25, agility and speed were maxed out rather early in the game, luck is 94, strength still prettly low with 65.

 

[*]... in what way Strength affects the damage you do with weapons? How many Strength points do you need to raise weapon damage one point?

After some quick tests, the difference seems to be significant. Trying out several weapons (daedric shortsword, warhammer and Umbra) the game showed roughly a 25% damage gain in the inventory screen. Raising strength further to 200 gave no more damage boost, but you can carry a lot.

 

Character level was 25, blade skill 75, blunt 40, luck 100.

A Daedric shortsword showed 21 damage with 100 strength, 20 with 80, 19 with 70, 17 with 50, 15 with 30 and 13 with 10 strength. Seems to be a pretty linear increase.

 

Having 100 strength and only 80 luck yielded 20 damage, 70 luck 19, 50 luck 17 damage, 30 luck still 16.

 

These numbers are all from the inventory screen. Just for fun I have killed Rashada in Chorrol a few times with the daedra shortsword using only standard attacks.

strength 100/luck 100: always took 7 hits to kill her

strength 50/luck 100: 8 hits

strength 100/luck 50: 8 hits

strength 50/luck 50: 10 hits

 

I would say ChAiNz was right on with luck. It seems to give an equivalent damage bonus as strength (or agility for bows). I always had doubts about investing so much in luck, but maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.

 

Using absurd values like 200 strength didn't change anything compared to 100.

 

[*]...if there is a point in raising the Blade skill higher than 100? Does it increase weapon damage further, or is it capped at 100?

Don't think so. I observed only petty damage gains when going over 80 already.

[Darth333]

A few more questions, this time about sneaking, for those Settings gurus here. Is there any way to adjust how easily you can be detected while sneaking outdoors? [...]

 

Related, does tall grass, bushes and other plants offer any concealment at all if you crouch behind them?

Grass has no effect on sneaking at all. It's just there because it looks nice. You can turn it off in your Graphic options and it will have no effect on gameplay (but visually forests will look like a golf course). From what I,ve heard (I didn't had much time to explore with the cs), the game checks your sneaking skill vs the creature sneaking skill, the presence of shadows and depending on your skill your boots and if you are moving or not.

 

strength 100/luck 100: always took 7 hits to kill her

strength 50/luck 100: 8 hits

strength 100/luck 50: 8 hits

strength 50/luck 50: 10 hits

 

I should definitely start investing more in luck. I never thought I had a real effect on combat. I thought it was mainly affecting things such as the loot you find in the crates, your chances to win when betting at the arena, your chances to get a disease, etc.

[stoffe]

Are you sure the damage difference isn't due to a higher blade level? At maxed strength, blade and blunt, a daedric claymore does 28 damage and a warhammer 30.

 

Hmm, you are correct, don't know where I got those numbers from. I probably checked the Daedric Claymore you get from the Bound Sword spell by mistake, which is more powerful than the regular one.

 

Still, compare a Daedric Claymore and Battle Axe. They do the same amount of damage, the Claymore is lighter and has better reach. Why would anyone pick a Battle Axe instead? There must be some difference, something the Axe does better than the sword?

 

My character usually uses Longswords, though since their weight varies a lot between the different types (Silver, Glass, Ebony Daedric etc) I was curious if the weight of the weapon had some practical use, besides encumbering you more to balance against the power of the weapon?

 

I also have 100 agility and get knocked down rarely. It only happens regularly when fighting Daedra Spiders. Knocking down enemies myself has been no problem so far. They land on their back once or twice during combat. The level of my character is 25, agility and speed were maxed out rather early in the game, luck is 94, strength still prettly low with 65.

 

Hmm, if the Spider Daedra are better at knocking down than other opponents there must be something they have or do that the other NPCs/Creatures don't. Perhaps worth investigating further. Though I'm not encountering any Spider Daedra in the game any more so it may be hard to test, since I made a mod to remove them entirely. I'm suffering from arachnophobia and anything even remotely spider-like creeps me out.

 

Anyway, is there some way to perform the backwards power attack, which I think is the only way to knock enemies down, without your character actually moving backwards? My character has maxed speed and athletics so she has trouble to actually hit the enemy before they get too far away, even when in walk-mode. I guess it's an advantage to be slow if you want to use that particular attack.

 

After some quick tests, the difference seems to be significant. Trying out several weapons (daedric shortsword, warhammer and Umbra) the game showed roughly a 25% damage gain in the inventory screen. Raising strength further to 200 gave no more damage boost, but you can carry a lot.

 

Hmm, I cant seem to get those changes to show on the inventory screen when testing to modify my ability scores with the ModPCAttribute. It seems to be stuck at the value seen in the TES:CS, plus the 25% bonus for "repairing" the weapon up to 125% durability.

 

Is the damage value set for the weapon in the TES:CS the maximum possible damage a weapon can do with optimal strength and luck? Or is it the base damage of the weapon at Blade/Blunt skill level 100, to which Strength and Luck bonuses are added on top?

 

As far as I can tell the Blade/Blunt skill seems to be a percentage of the weapon base damage value that is used at least, so at Blade level 100 the weapon does 100% of the damage the template says in the construction set.

 

 

Aww crap, I just had it then it escaped me.. I'll try to get back to you on the setting(s) you'll want... though I do know that torches and light spells are sneak killers.. NightEye or Life Detect only when attempting to snipe or burgle (just don't cast it in view or you'll get spotted as well)

 

The problem I have is with the huge difference in ability to hide when outdoors compared to indoors. Indoors enemies rarely ever detect me even at pointblank range unless I move near a light source. Outdoors they always spot me even on the darkest night before I get anywhere near them.

 

For my dungeon crawling I never use torches or light spells. I use a hotkeyed "Night Vision Goggles" Amulet that has constant night eye and detect life. Extremely useful when sneaking around since you are hardly ever surprised by enemies. They don't seem to notice when you equip or unequip the amulet either, even if it emits a magic glow on the character.

 

Hiding behind structures (trees, statues, etc.) tends to make a difference (at least during lower levels).. same with dark corners..

 

It should be dark enough in the middle of the night that you should be able to hide, I would think, even if there are no dark corners to hide in. Solid objects seem to grant concealment, though I'm more uncertain about semi-solid plants like large bushes, that you can pass through but not look through.

 

It's especially noticable around those bandit camps out in the wilderness. Any time I try to sneak up on them I never get any closer to the camp than 10 meters or so before they unfailingly detect me.

 

 

Grass has no effect on sneaking at all. It's just there because it looks nice. You can turn it off in your Graphic options and it will have no effect on gameplay (but visually forests will look like a golf course). From what I,ve heard, the game checks your sneaking skill vs the creature sneaking skill, the presence of shadows and depending on your skill your boots and if you are moving or not.

 

When speaking of shadows in outdoor environments, does the game keep track of where they should be even if you disable shadows in the graphic settings to gain decent framerate with a slow computer and graphics card? If not, maybe that's my problem why my character is so easy to detect outdoors even with maxed Sneak skill and no boots. Though logically there shouldn't be much shadows outside during the night anyway, the moonlight doesn't seem to be that strong even if there's two of them.

 

The grass is pretty, but annoying when you try to find something a fallen enemy has dropped. Luckily the tg console command is pretty handy for quickly switching it on and off in those cases. Still a bit unfair that the grass makes it harder for you to spot things, but enemies treat it like it's not there. But that again I guess it compensates for the fact that enemies never try to sneak attack you. As far as I've noticed thus far at least, though I don't know how they could since the game can't know if you know they are there or not.