Tempest203

You need to cut down a tree then float it down a river or have your horse drag it to a sawmill.

As for a lore friendly approach, we could say the player meets an NPC who’s discovered a vast underground cavern (on the scale of Blackreach). For whatever reason the NPC wants you develop the cavern and hire him to manage it. Giant underground bases are nice as they don’t take up much surface room and can be expanded infinitely. I was thinking something roughly cylindrical in shape, deeper than it is wide. Ring shaped platforms could be built along the curve extending toward the center every 10 meters, with 2 or 3 story buildings between the rings. The center would hold a massive spiral stair and or elevator. You might leave it partially open with walkways to keep that that massive cavern look. Edit: Something along these lines.

I just don’t know how the game handles things. Maybe I’ll mess with it once the CK comes out. I hate making plans that might not be feasible. Maybe I’ll workout production chains. How do you make Dwarven oil for instance? It could be something with Taproot as they have the same effects. Going along the same “only make the game do something it the player’s there to see it” line, I was considering a few sort of generic plant growing rooms. There would be a greenhouse, subterranean room, etc that would only populate when the player entered the appropriate door. You might have plant growing rooms for everything in the game, but you’d only need to make as many rooms as you have growing environments.

Keep in mind that I have almost no knowledge of what is possible with mods here, but I do have a background in complex programs/scripts. It seems to me that the best way to get maximum compatibility and still take advantage of the game world and other mods would be to: A: have a non intrusive base of operations private island / ship or my personal favorites being a magic floating island / flying ship (provided the realism can be maintained). B: have NPCs that can dynamically interact with the game world. If anyone has played the X series where ships have complex AIs that allow them to carry out tasks, that’s the idea here, though it’s probably impossible to do anything on that level. It’s more likely that the player would somehow “show” the NPC where to go and what to do. A miner could have a series of waypoints set by the player in game that he uses to find ore. Then drop it off at the smith’s. The miner would likely need guards or be extremely formidable himself, in addition to being set essential naturally. The idea here is that while the player has to spend a great deal of time setting things up (which might actually be a good thing) the mod is compatible with almost anything. Do NPC interactions even take place when the player isn’t around?….. so much for that idea if they don’t. Oh and Bismarck, I don’t mean to ignore your quest ideas. I just need to know what’s possible before I try to think about the story much.

Yes it’s similar, but they’re not mutually exclusive. The Island city could serve as the nexus (Company) or It could simply support / be supported by scripts that allowed recourses to be moved around. Perhaps, an experienced enough smith and enchanter could create a kind of portal arch that merged the storehouses and allowed for free travel. The possibilities are nearly endless, but the important thing is that mods are designed with each other in mind if possible. The worst thing is to find two awesome mods that won’t work togeather as they could have.

Ok, first let me say, I have a degree in computer science, and would love to take a crack at this, but neither the time nor experience at the moment. The idea is to create an Economy/ player home/ construction system that other mods could take advantage of and add on to. I’m going to break this into three stages. Stage 1: The Skyrim Building & Trading Company You hire an NPC and build the Company somewhere. (not in a city in case you don’t want to pay taxes, more on that later.) The Company would be your first player home and materials nexus it would function something like Vilandor in Glenvar Castle from Oblivion. Once an area is cleared and there are no quest conflicts, the player can pay to have it rebuilt and furnished. (Assuming someone has made an add on for that area.) Stage 2: Production NPCs can be hired and paid to work in these areas, mining, wood cutting, metal working, enchanting, trading, etc. The Company NPC will buy products from you at a reduced rate, but you make much more creating a complete chain yourself. There could be quests related to training experienced smiths, alchemists, enchanters, etc. Things could be flushed out in hundreds of ways. Stage 3: Death and Taxes. If the local Jarl hears about your establishment, they’re going to want their cut. I think a fixed sum per week would work best, but a percentage would also work. If ignore the taxes and get found out, you risk being attacked by the Jarl’s men. You might have hired guards to help defend your holdings or simple do it yourself. Naturally this could count as criminal activity. There are also the common thugs to consider, so hired guards might be needed in any case. The wages, taxes, and thugs would need to be optional. Not everyone wants that sort of complexity This idea would have to be flushed out considerably before it was built, but the most important thing is to get the system established and running so others could pick an area to redesign or start from scratch with.