Skyrim "Hardcore" Playstyle
- Thread starter BIGwooly
- Start date
Dragonfang
"Alas Negras en la Helada."
You guys could get your hands on the this mod: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4918
It does a revision of weight of all items, then you just set your own carrying cap to a more lower one, like 100, and you have a really rewarding experience, where you can only get a bunch of things and not clear a whole dungeon. You have to comeback to town from once to once to sell and storage thing up.
It does a revision of weight of all items, then you just set your own carrying cap to a more lower one, like 100, and you have a really rewarding experience, where you can only get a bunch of things and not clear a whole dungeon. You have to comeback to town from once to once to sell and storage thing up.
Dragonfang
"Alas Negras en la Helada."
Oh... consoles, what a strange things... xD...
i do restrict my character in some ways. i only save the game when i enter or leave a city. i only fast travel from one city to the next. or take the cart if i havent found the city yet. and dont want to walk all the way there. i always unload my gear to the lowest weight possible. i can usually get it to around 40. i only carry 10 health potions. it really sucks at lower levels ill have to run from a few hard fights. i dont make my own weapons. i upgrade the ones ive found. i made my own armor. .ive upgraded my scaled armor to legendary. but i dont wear a helm because i dont think he can wear one with all the spikes coming out of his head.(this is the main reason im hesitating to wear the nightingale armor.) i limit my arrow count to 50 of the arrows i use. i only use the arrows that are easy to come by like iron,falmer and forsworn arrows. i have 20 glass arrows as back up. any other arrows i find get dropped off in my house or sold. i played for a week as a vampire which really caused me to rethink my play style.
Gemini Sierra
Pre-emptive Salvage Specialist
1 - with the regen, and presuming you are at full health, do you eat stuff that just equals 5% of your health?
2 - how do you determine "7 meals" and pay for "7 days"? do you rest for 24hours, get up pay again, rinse and repeat?
3 - even the ones given at the start like healing?
4 & 5 - even poisons?
6 - how do you poison arrows? It's the bow/weapon that gets poisoned thus pointing back to my question about 4 & 5
As for leveling, you do a 3/1/1 combination for you character (order dependent on class), I'm going thinking of doing an archer class and was thinking that something more like 1/3/2 (m/h/s) would be appropriate for that kind of character. the reason being that stamina is required for the eagle eye perk eventually. Also it gives a longer sprint and carry weight.
EDIT: oh.. how many potions do you limit yourself to?
Your thoughts?
for my thief/sniper i do 4-1 stamina/health so i can stay zoomed in longer.
BIGwooly
Well-Known Member
Great questions and I'm happy to answer them all.
1
Yes, I eat enough food every day to equal 5% of my health. So right now my health is at 160, so 5% of that is 8. So each day, usually at the end of the day, I will eat something that restores 8 health. Sometimes I'll just buy like a horker loaf, which restores 10 health, but I don't worry about the extra. Other times I'll purchase 2 or 3 times that equal up to restoring 8 health. Sometimes I will have eaten some things I found or killed out in the wild, and won't have to purchase as much at an inn later.
2
So at first I was literally purchasing the bed and food for each day. This got to be too tiresome so now I just wait next to a bed for 24 hours 6 times. Then I go purchase a bed and sleep for 24 hours. I then purchase enough food to account for restoring 8 health per day for the 7 days. I usually just round up and purchase slightly more than I really needed. After this I will purchase enough other items to equal the cost of the bed for the 6 days I waited. At the moment this comes out to a total expenditure of around 175g.
3
This is totally character dependent. My current character is 100% unfamiliar with magic. So since day 1 I haven't cast a single spell or used a single scroll. My previous character was allowed to use illusion magic only, so again, no healing spells. It's tough. d;-)
4 & 5
I may use poisons during combat if the weapon was poisoned before combat began. OR, if I'm able to find a place during combat where I can literally sit still for 10 seconds, then I can poison A weapon or 'arrow' (more on that in a second). I have yet to use a health potion and I'm at level 12 now. If I was able to find a place to sit still for 10 seconds I would be allowed to use one, but this situation is so rare that I choose to not even carry health potions. I did just have a fight yesterday where I was able to poison a weapon during combat. First time I managed that. I tried to poison a second but at around 8 seconds I had to move to avoid an arrow and that was that.
6
So you're correct, the game does not allow you to poison arrows. You poison the bow instead. I think this is stupid but it's Bethesda's way of make the game easier to pick up, so whatever. The way I poison arrows is I basically decide at some point that I'm doing it. What this means is those poisons are committed now.
So let me use a fight yesterday as an example. I decided just prior to the fight that I was going to use 5 frostbite potions on my arrows. I was carrying 20 arrows so that meant that 5 of them now carried the poison. I couldn't use those poisons on my mace now. It also means that I had 15 regular arrows that I could use whenever I wanted during the fight. If I chose to shoot 15 regular arrows right away, then the last 5 would HAVE to be poisoned. It takes a bit of effort to track what you're doing, but that's how it works in essence. Obviously any time during the fight I wanted to shoot a poisoned arrow I would have to pause and poison the bow. If I hadn't decided in advance to poison those arrows, then I would have to use the 'sit still for 10 seconds' rule. So the advantage is not having to do that, but the disadvantage is committing poisons to arrows permanently.
Regarding your other questions, I think the leveling formula you choose should depend on your character. My first character used some magic so the ratio was different than my current character. My current character uses a ratio of 0-2-1, so no points ever go to magic. But he doesn't ever use magic so it makes sense. As for your archer class, I think a higher percentage should go to stamina since archers tend to be built less like tanks, but that's just me. If he uses magic I think 2-1-2 would be good, or even 2-1-3.
Also, I don't limit the number of potions I'm allowed to carry because I already limit my carry weight. So generally that means I'm carrying 5 or 6 potions max, but if I wanted I could sell off armor and carry more etc.
Dragonfang
"Alas Negras en la Helada."
Want to play more hardcore? dont go down Crafting skills and the game becomes way much fun and challenging.
Gemini Sierra
Pre-emptive Salvage Specialist
Thanks for the reply!
I think I understand how you are doing things now. It must be really tough to make yourself follow these guidelines. I applaud your tenacity to stick to your rules.
I don't know if I would follow such strict restrictions, but I think my next character will do some of these things.
Another question: I think you may have answered this before but I couldn't find it.
With regards to the storyline and quests? Are you doing any of them or just wandering around doing the random work (bounties) that you find or jobs you get from some of the NPC's?
Will you ever start the main story line?
I think I understand how you are doing things now. It must be really tough to make yourself follow these guidelines. I applaud your tenacity to stick to your rules.
I don't know if I would follow such strict restrictions, but I think my next character will do some of these things.
Another question: I think you may have answered this before but I couldn't find it.
With regards to the storyline and quests? Are you doing any of them or just wandering around doing the random work (bounties) that you find or jobs you get from some of the NPC's?
Will you ever start the main story line?
BIGwooly
Well-Known Member
Another great question, which I answered earlier in this thread or my diary thread, not sure which. Either way, here's the answer.
I started my current character with the intention of completing the main quest and the stormcloaks quest. As for timing I'm literally just going with the flow of the game. I have no specific plan on when I will start anything. I prefer to just play and see what happens. When I came across a stormcloak camp and had one of them suggest I join, that served as the perfect opportunity to go join as it fit the story progression. As for how or when I will start the main quest, who knows. That's the beauty of playing this way. d;-)
And yeah, it's tough to play this way and even tougher to stick to the rules, but that's what makes it fun for me. Trust me, when I spend an entire day doing things and then die and have to start over it sucks, but it makes the threat of death so much more real and intense. I love that part of it.
Let me know if you have any other questions. d;-)
I started my current character with the intention of completing the main quest and the stormcloaks quest. As for timing I'm literally just going with the flow of the game. I have no specific plan on when I will start anything. I prefer to just play and see what happens. When I came across a stormcloak camp and had one of them suggest I join, that served as the perfect opportunity to go join as it fit the story progression. As for how or when I will start the main quest, who knows. That's the beauty of playing this way. d;-)
And yeah, it's tough to play this way and even tougher to stick to the rules, but that's what makes it fun for me. Trust me, when I spend an entire day doing things and then die and have to start over it sucks, but it makes the threat of death so much more real and intense. I love that part of it.
Let me know if you have any other questions. d;-)
Gemini Sierra
Pre-emptive Salvage Specialist
lol thanks for the answers. Another that I thought of and you don't seem to have in your restrictions.
What about recharging your weapons. In your story you mention having a mace (I think that was it) an that it used to make people burst into flame, but it hasn't done that in a while. Will you recharge weapons or go about with out the recharge until you find another weapon that can do something similar.
What about recharging your weapons. In your story you mention having a mace (I think that was it) an that it used to make people burst into flame, but it hasn't done that in a while. Will you recharge weapons or go about with out the recharge until you find another weapon that can do something similar.
BIGwooly
Well-Known Member
Oh my god trust me I want to recharge that mace so badly. I was struggling to kill things before, but without the magic in the mace it has gotten even harder. Trouble is I haven't found any filled soul gems yet, and purchasing one is very expensive and I don't have the gold for it. So for now, I have to suffer. I'm hoping to get it recharged soon, or at least find a comparable magic mace I can switch to. As of yesterday my bow ran out of charge too, so I'm feeling much more vulnerable. d;-)
Gemini Sierra
Pre-emptive Salvage Specialist
something els I thought of... lol... lots of questions but the answers are helping me decide what to do.
You limit yourself to only carrying 2000 gold. What are you going to do with all the rest? When you start getting more
You really can't just leave it someplace random because it may not be there when you get back.
Until you get to Whiterun and become famous there to buy the Breezewood home, which you'll need about 7K or 8k in gold for all the furnishings and the home, where do you plan to store the gold?
It's to bad there isn't a bank. lol
You limit yourself to only carrying 2000 gold. What are you going to do with all the rest? When you start getting more
You really can't just leave it someplace random because it may not be there when you get back.
Until you get to Whiterun and become famous there to buy the Breezewood home, which you'll need about 7K or 8k in gold for all the furnishings and the home, where do you plan to store the gold?
It's to bad there isn't a bank. lol
Yeah, the 2000 Gold limitation must really be a challenge! I would see that as going too far on the Hardcore playing, as it in effect prevent the player to advance to the good stuff when it comes to equipment, which may become a problem later in the game, especially when you aren't allowed any crafting at all.
On top of that; no house. Ever...
On top of that; no house. Ever...
BIGwooly
Well-Known Member
The restriction for 2000 gold is in alternative restriction category, and just happens to be one I haven't tried out yet. Although my current character has yet to have that much gold at once anyways, lol.
I'm guessing I would purchase a room at an inn every day and store the gold in a chest in the room, but not sure if that would be safe. I mean, technically the room is yours, but is it really? Not sure.
I'm guessing I would purchase a room at an inn every day and store the gold in a chest in the room, but not sure if that would be safe. I mean, technically the room is yours, but is it really? Not sure.
Gemini Sierra
Pre-emptive Salvage Specialist
Ah, I missed the "alternative restrictions". lol.
Yeah. I don't think that is safe. Pretty sure someone created a thread on that very subject. It's only your bed for the day.
I guess in my opinion (and we all know about them... lol ) I might make it a goal of the character to find a stable place to live. In this case we all know that the house in Whiterun is the cheapest place. Maybe you could have the character learn of the house for sale by some means. Possibly a note on the wall of one of the inns. There aren't any that I've seen, but you could make it up.
The downside to this is that you'd have to do part of the main quest line and become thane of whiterun.
Yeah. I don't think that is safe. Pretty sure someone created a thread on that very subject. It's only your bed for the day.
I guess in my opinion (and we all know about them... lol ) I might make it a goal of the character to find a stable place to live. In this case we all know that the house in Whiterun is the cheapest place. Maybe you could have the character learn of the house for sale by some means. Possibly a note on the wall of one of the inns. There aren't any that I've seen, but you could make it up.
The downside to this is that you'd have to do part of the main quest line and become thane of whiterun.
