Upgrade armor type/stats without changing how it looks. We’ve all been there. You get an armor that you really like the look of, or maybe you’re just really attached to the enchantments that come on a unique armor set. What do you do when a type of armor with higher stats, but looks shitty (in your own estimation), becomes available? I would like to be able to convert armors from one type to another through the crafting system. For example: Let’s say I really like the Imperial Light Armor. I’m a die-hard Imperial, and I love the Roman Legionnaire overtones. The problem is; the stats for the Imperial Light Armor sit ever so slightly below Leather Armor. It doesn’t take long to outgrow that armor type. What about if, at the point where it becomes possible to craft Elven Armor, I was also able to upgrade the Imperial Legion armor so it has the stats of Elven Amor? Normally, it takes the follow ingredients to craft Elven Armor: Leather Strips – 3 Leather – 1 Iron Ingot – 1 Refined Moonstone – 4 What if I could take these same ingredients and combine them with my Imperial Light Armor to get a piece of armor that looks like Imperial Light Amor but has the stats of Elven Armor? Potential Difficulties Given the number of recipes/combinations this would add, it could create a very crowded crafting menu. It might be better to make this upgrade technique work through the work bench rather than the forge. It already has a context driven menu that only displays upgrade recipes for items already in your inventory. Upgrading Improved Armor I would posit that improving an Exquisite Imperial Light Armor to Elven stats through the above recipe should give you a piece of armor that looks like Imperial Light Armor, but has the base stats of Elven Armor. If you want it to have the stats of exquisite Elven Armor, you’ll need to improve it with another piece of refined moonstone at the work bench. Upgrade Order I don’t think it should be possible to jump straight from base Imperial Light Armor stats to Dragon Scale Armor stats. I think it would work best if players are forced to acquire the resources to go through every step. For example: Imperial Light -> Elven -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale DLC Armors The DLC armors form a lot of intermediate steps that wouldn’t normally fit into vanilla armor hierarchy. Chitin Armor, for example, has stats marginally higher than Elven Armor, but can also be crafted once the player gets the Elven Smithing perk. I am inclined to suggest these DLC armor types be slotted into the chain where their stats would suggest as potential extra steps. I.e. players should be allowed, but not forced, to use the Chitin stats as an extra step. E.g. both the following chains are possible: Imperial Light -> Elven -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale Imperial Light -> Elven -> Chitin -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale The other alternative is to make the DLC armor type an alternate, albeit slightly more powerful, step. I.e. players can either go to the vanilla armor stats or its ‘equivalent’ DLC armor’s stats. E.g. both the following chains are possible: Imperial Light -> Elven -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale Imperial Light -> Chitin -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale Modded Armor Sets There are some really cool armor sets out there. Modders, to their credit, tend to be wary of balance issues and, as such, these cool armors rarely become the best armor available. I don’t think it would be inaccurate to suggest that by the time most of us install new armor sets we’ve already got better armor for our characters. We’re never really going to use these beautiful armor sets unless we start a new game. Even then there’s every chance we’ll only use them until better armor becomes available. Obviously, it would be nearly impossible to create some way of slotting every modded armor into its proper place in the stats hierarchy. To get around this I would suggest making it so that these armors can be ‘upgraded’ to the bottom of the stats hierarchy. This way you can get it onto the scale and allow it to be upgraded like any other armor. For instance, a light armor set from a mod would first need to be converted to Hide Armor stats so that it is on the scale. Then it could be upgraded all the way like any official in game armor. Special Armor Sets Skyrim has a lot of special, unique armor sets. They tend to have their own stat. Nightingale Amor, for instance, sits between Scaled and Glass. Ideally, all these armor types would be slotted into their correct position based on their own stats. I.e. Nightingale Armor would upgrade to Glass Armor Admittedly, this would be a lot of work. The alternative is to do the same thing with special armor sets as I suggested above for modded armor sets. Converting Enchanted Armors The Arcane Blacksmith perk would be required to do any of this to enchanted armors. Changing Amor Types Do you really like the aesthetic of Daedric Armor but prefer your character to wear light armors? Why not make it possible to convert armors from one type to another. I would suggest that doing so puts your armor at the bottom of the stats hierarchy. For example: Converting any light armor to heavy armor would mean converting it to Iron Armor stats. Converting any heavy armor to light armor would mean converting it to Hide Armor stats. Once you’ve done the initial conversion you can then work your way up the hierarchy. Weapons All this should apply to weapons too. It’d be nice to be able to use the sword that matches my Glass Armor rather than using a Daedric Sword for the higher stats. Comments Does anyone know if any of this would be feasible? Is this something anyone else would be interested in? I’d love to hear people’s thoughts. Thanks P.S. For the record, I have no modding and/or coding experience. While my idea may be fairly well developed, I am completely incapable of acting upon it.
