General Discussion

@Ankokou @Ruck

Adding you both! Welcome to the nerd gang :)

@Tharatira
I think the most popular needs mod I know of is iNeed, by isoku. I don't use any needs mods myself, so I can't tell you how it works or anything.

I mod my Skyrim pretty heavily though, so if you're looking for anything in particular or just want some general suggestions feel free to hmu!

Edit: oh yes if you haven't picked them up yet I consider the Unofficial Skyrim Patches to be necessary for the game, they fix a ton of bugs!!

@Tharatira
Funny story, but to make that fancy 11-11-11 release date Bethesda basically gutted the civil war. Modders looking at what was left behind in the code were amazed at how much had been lost and abandoned. It was probably meant to be even more significant than the main quest at some point.
A real shame, I was hoping they'd learned from their mistakes and would just take all the time they need to make something really great but then... Fallout 4 left me not very hopeful for the next TES. :/

I'm impressed, I don't achievement hunt. Still, it can make a game feel like a chore so I understand.

Anyway, what sort of mods do you like?

I personally use iNeed for hunger, thirst, and rest. It's pretty robust and compatible with any other mods that tend to add food and such. I don't know about the updated version of Skyrim yet, but the old version uses SkyUI to let you configure how often you need to eat/drink/rest so you can make it as intrusive as you want.

And regardless of what you like, Deadly Dragons is just one of those mods I feel is necessary to the game.
I hate how weak dragons are unmodded. I still remember my first vanilla playthrough where I turned the difficulty up to master when one showed up so it was actually fun and tense... then died to a pair of mudcrabs because their pinching at my ankles did more damage than the gale of ice coming out of the giant flying lizard.
It also has a SkyUI menu that lets you customize the general deadliness of your dragons.

Actually SkyUI is one of those mods I can't play without. The console port UI was one of the most annoying things about Skyrim to me.


Anyway I can give more suggestions if you'd like once you've narrowed down what you are interested in. Like Saern I use a lot of mods, to list all the ones I can't play without would be a list of probably 20!

@Saern

Thanks, I'll look into iNeed :) And yeah, I do have the unofficial patch, it fixes so many things.

@Ankokou

Wow I didn't know that happened with the civil war. It's too bad we didn't get to see the intended version, it sounds like it would have been great.

Deadly Dragons might be good. The dragon fights feel so extra when you have at least some resistance gear. If I'm not playing one of my no weapons characters or pure mages then I like to give myself a bit of a challenge by defeating them cavalry archer mode (well, only if I have Arvak or Shadowmere).

No wait, I just remembered I do have one mod. The Random Start I think it's called. But that just allows you to skip Helgen.

SkyUI looks very nice, I think I wanted to try that at one point but I wasn't sure then if it supported controllers, which I have to use bc my mouse arm can't deal with long sessions.

I'll have to browse the mods to see what catches the eye. If I'm getting Deadly Dragons, I think I need the one mod that forces npcs to take cover indoors, since they already die to unmodded dragons too often. I don't really want to make them essential npcs, just not take on a colossal beast when they're so wholly unprepared.

Oh yeah, speaking of unprepared, I wanted a mod that lets you choose the default attire for npcs. I currently avoid mage followers because they won't put on the best robes (damn armor class check).

Pinglist: @Lunaaaaa @Quamosthy @Saern @Quadruped @TinyTeaDrinker @Endee @AlixMode @Charias @Hisscale @Ankokou @Ruck

Flip it, I'm late! Ah well :) Today will be the first little in-character promt:



I decided to write a little note from my darling Knows-The-Skies to her parents maybe a month or two after arriving in Skyrim. Poor lizard feels lonely and unwelcome.

"Most-beloved mother and father.


I really feel like a poor daughter right now. How long was it since I wrote to you? Half a year? Longer? So much has happened since last time.

For starters, I passed through the border to Skyrim, but... things didn't go as I'd hoped. It is a story best told face to face, I believe, but the most important details are that I was captured by the military, but was allowed escape due to rather miraculous events. Now... well, I am writing this from Windhelm, the coldest city in this cold, cold country.

I have joined the Stormcloaks because I believe their cause is just. But I had never imagined it would feel like this! They make me feel very unwelcome. I meet fellow soldiers and endure their freezing remarks in a place that already chills me to the bone. I am patient, but tiring of this already.

I think I will be going south today. Much friendlier in the tundras - less need for thick coats and less unpleasant words. Much more deer to stalk and plants to harvest.


Best wishes,
Knows-The-Skies."

"To dearest mother and father,

Before you try to send Ordinators and house guards after me to verify my existence, yes I am alive, and yes I am fine (for the moment, at least). I apologize for my sudden lack of communication; the Pact war and the politics associated with my...delicate position within it keep me very busy and with little time to sit down and write (not to mention a lack of surfaces on which to write in the first place, considering how much time I spend out in the wilderness among netch and nix-hounds alike, honestly).

I know empty promises mean little to anyone, but I hope to return to Vvardenfell (and thus, to you) sometime within the year. I cannot guarantee that I can or will be back, but I will at least try to make the effort, Tribunal willing. Skyrim is a dreary, unfortunate place (Coldharbour even more so), and I find myself longing for the ash and hostility of Morrowind again, for the calls of the kwama from the eggmine in town, and for the chatter of the wilds close to Gnisis, as odd as that may sound.

But I digress. Nevertheless, despite the war in Cyrodiil I have traveled from one end of Tamriel to the other (and even beyond) and have emerged no worse for wear, praise Vivec for small miracles. I have even adopted a dog (a jackal really, but Fetcher's sweet. Perhaps just as much so as the nix-hound I kept as a child!) for company. So I ask for you not to worry, for the only danger that has threatened to end my life thus far are the s'wits who waste my time.

I pray for a swift journey home. Vivec keep you safe and may the Three watch over you.


Any rumours you hear of my association with the Morag Tong or an individual by the name of Naryu Virian are false, I assure you."

Oh, this sounds fun!

Dearest sister Sahazi,

Adhaasi hopes this letter finds you well. The world is such a strange and confused place these days, no? Those stories you may hear of daedra and anchors falling from the sky - this one assures you, they are all true. She could not imagine such things, even in her wildest dreams.

Much has happened. Too much, I fear, for you to believe. Perhaps when she returns home Adhaasi will tell you of all the bizarre things she has experienced. It is not a story well-told through letters, I assure you! This one has ended up knee-deep in the bewildering machinations of elf politics, but she hopes that she can do her part to help bring peace and prosperity to our home (and if she can convince those arrogant shaveskins that Khajiit are just as strong and smart as they are, she would not complain)!

Though, she does think these wood elves are quite interesting people. Much more than those Altmer nobles who hold their noses so high that this one is surprised snow doesn't gather on them. Adhaasi would quite like to travel more one day, when the war is over - perhaps visit Skyrim, and see if the tales of snow-seas are true? Or maybe walk the ash-deserts of Morrowind? This one feels excited just thinking of it!

But enough of me. Dear sister, how are you keeping? And the cubs - still irascible as ever, this one hopes? She will make sure she brings back a nice souvenir for them when she returns. Maybe a pet. There are ever so many monkeys here, after all...

And what of the village? Adhaasi fears every day that the troubles plaguing Tamriel will one day reach home. If you ever have need of it, know that this one is always willing to return. She would move Nirn itself to protect you. And she has become quite the warrior in her travels... perhaps you should call her Adhaasi-do, yes?

~ Adhaasi