LE The security in Whiterun is terrible.

[Raymus1449]

Shameful, is what it is.

The guards in this city are all lazy and undisciplined. Things need to change...

Commander Cauis walks around Dragonsreach like a preening rooster. I could do his job blindfolded...

 

Really, Sinmir? Then why are the guard's hot on my tail whenever I steal an apple? Seems like pretty solid law enforcement to me.

But what if it really wasn't?

This is to be an immersion mod, of course. Our favorite Lollygagger Sinmir in the Bannered Mare is always griping about the poor state of Whiterun's Guard force. Yet they seem to act just like any other law enforcement in any other city, don't they? This is something a lot of people don't seem to notice and if they do, it's something they stop noticing eventually. As such, this would be another one of those mods where you really wouldn't notice that there is a mod in place, like it was supposed to be this way all along.

What if, while Sinmir is NOT captain of the Guard (I.e, before civil war questline or if the Imperials win whiterun), the Whiterun guards, specifically, acted differently?

How would they act differently, you might ask. Well I've thought up a quick and simple list that might make a lot of sense.

• At least one Guard sitting around in the Bannered Mare during the day, drinking his cares away.
• At least three Guards in the Bannered Mare at night, dancing and drinking and lollygagging.
• Guards do not react to theft of things 30g or lower, even if it is directly in front of them.
• Guards do not react to anyone of a bounty less than 500g.
• Guards are more close-knit like they are talking to each other and hanging out, rather than patrolling the city.
• Only one Guard patrolling the plains district, while the guards in the cloud district are less, but otherwise unchanged.
• Guard that stands by the post between Arcadia's Cauldron and Belethor's Goods relocated or changed in some way that makes him look (and BE) less perceptive.
• Guards do not notice any public disturbances you make INSIDE buildings (Where there are no guards) until you hurt someone enough, or kill someone.
• Guards are not always well-armed. (Maybe even clothes instead of Armor on some of them?)
• Guards are less able, to the point of being almost Incompetent, in battle. (Maybe, though this could conflict with many combat overhaul mods... By could, I mean Would.)

Now, how would this work with other mods?

One of the more notable guard-overhaul mods is Guard-Dialogue overhaul. I see several workarounds, (Although I am not YET a modder and so I may not really know what I'm talking about).

First (And Largest) : Whiterun Guards are deleted and REPLACED with other NPC's named "Whiterun Guard" who have all of the unique behaviors I listed above until the Civil War Questline ends in favor of the Stormcloaks, where they are again replaced with their Vanilla Guard counterparts.

Second : Maybe Guard Dialogue Overhaul doesn't affect their behaviours at all, merely their dialogue? So in theory, the two would be compatible anyway.

Third : Create it specifically with Guard Dialogue Overhaul in mind, with a patch and all.

--On that note, perhaps at that point one might as well do a Guard Behaviour Overhaul for ALL the cities, each with their own unique behaviors based on the Status of the City, People's Opinion of them, etc.

 

Quest-Breaking?
The only quest I can think of that this would interfere with is "With Friends like These", where the Guard talks to the Alik'r Warrior regarding his release after you've paid the fine (or Persuaded him to let him go, if that was an option..).

What do we do? Just don't delete that specific Guard patrolling the prisons. Or even adapt the 'new' guards to not change their behavior in that area until the quest is done. Something like that.

 

Now, After Sinmir gains control, either the Vanilla Guards would act Vanilla again or they would have new behaviors to show that they have REALLY improved.

• Greater Health
• Greater Damage
• Higher Level
• More Coherent
• Patrolling more areas
• ACTUALLY patrolling those areas

The list goes on.
Also, perhaps we could get that bug fixed where Sinmir was supposed to live in Dragonsreach after the Stormcloaks win, but doesn't. What kind of Guard Captain hangs around the Inn all day?

 

I want to do this myself, but at this point I don't have a computer capable of Skyrim and hardly capable of the Creation Kit, so that makes it really quite hard to even begin. On top of that, I've no modding experience and would have to wait while I Get a better computer and also learn how to even begin to do all this. Frankly, That's looking like it'll take a very quite long time, so I'd like to pass the idea on and see if anyone wants to pick it up. Maybe it could be a popular mod by the time I can play Skyrim again, eh?
I'd also like a wee bit of credit for the idea, if anyone were to make it, but obviously not credit for the work put into it.

Thanks for reading!

Edited October 14, 2014 by Raymus1449