Gold

[Umphrey]

It seems I have been trying to post something too long. For whatever reason I keep getting an error when I try to post this as a whole. Therefore I am going to split it up as much as I need to.

I'd like to get an idea of how everyone is earning their money throughout their journeys in Skyrim. Personally I find it incredibly easy. It's harder for me to find merchants with enough gold to buy all my loot, as apposed to not having enough loot to earn my gold. I am playing an Imperial sneak thief/archer. I know Imperials get a bonus to the gold found in chests and pockets etc but I can't imagine it being too much more than the other races.

Anyway just in case anyone is having a hard time earning, here are a few of the things I have been doing.

Alchemy - Easy money. Even at low levels these guys sell for halfway decent money. Given the fact that the ingredients are ample and simply along the way for just about any task in the wilderness I found this to be a no brainer. Not to mention most merchants will purchase potions/poisons. Start out by eating some ingredients to unlock their purpose, then just start mixing and matching. It doesn't really matter all that much which ones you make unless you intend to use them. Just pay attention to the value of the potion as you select your ingredients, then shoot for the most expensive one. Keep in mind it's usually very beneficial to use more than 2 ingredients, but not always.

 

[Umphrey]

Thievery - I've always enjoyed this part of TES series, and other games as well. For some reason taking the potato off of the plate of some poor miner is just extremely entertaining to me. Of course the real money isn't in potatoes. If your sneak skill is decent (or even if it isn't you can just pay attention to the eye, then time it right) then all you have to do is make yourself hidden behind someone, press F5, and grab their necklaces/gold/house keys/anything really. Guards!!! Oh no... F9. Rinse, repeat.

Dragonscale/bone - If you don't plan on smithing, or you don't plan on taking the time to raise it to 100, then just sell these heavy SOBs right from the beginning. They sell for decent gold and are very cumbersome, especially if you don't yet own a house.

Just a few of the many things I have been doing to generate a constant cash flow. If I walk away from a vendor and their total gold doesn't say 0, I feel I have failed myself.

So what has everyone else been doing?

 

[Nightmare Shadow]

With my Nord I charge in to bandit camps (give every bandit 1-2 swings with my amazing greatsword) loot the bodies and chests then go away and sell. This is a huge reason I enjoy running around the entire map (still have a bunch of places I have yet to discover) plus combat raises all of my desired skills so yeah no brainer there.

My thief just breaks into homes and pickpockets every person I see. I also raid bandit camps and (although I am still getting used to stealth combat) loot dungeons as well.

 

[Zedsded]

stealthed archer from a good hidden vantage point ftw...otherwise though, it takes more thought yes

 

[Mindfux]

i have around 30,000 right now that i don't ever spend on anything

 

[Umphrey]

i have around 30,000 right now that i don't ever spend on anything

Ya I think gold is a bit too easy. Plus gear is easy to come by to. So what do you need to spend it on? I steal all my arrows!

 

[Mindfux]

i mainly only buy alchemy ingredients..that's about it...after finishing the thieves guild and dark brotherhood, i ended up with all this money, and nothing to spend it on...i've had the same gear on since level 12, and i'm 34 now, so i don't purchase any of that because there's not a whole bunch of other light armor with enchantments that i've seen to wet my whistle

 

[Garrison]

I've had more than enough by simply relying on looting... typically I clean out the dungeon without picking up anything, then working backwards to loot everything. Takes some patience as you're quickly over-encumbered, but it's rare a haul doesn't get me 2-4k (I'm only level 11 atm). I use the wait function to reset the merchant's gold allowance rather than moving from store to store. The flip side is I don't see much need to spend it either; as previously mentioned there are looted suitable items to grow with, at least for now. I'll start playing with the crafting soon enough; just haven't had a need to manufacture gold yet.

 

[tha420Moose]

looting dungeons/quests/alchemy has made me a pretty penny. also smiting and enchanting makes some good money. around 30k and have nothing to spend it on haha.