commandermerik

In Skyrim... probably no. Most people there prefer traditional arms and would be unlikely to experiment with something radically different than what they already have (in my opinion). Most mages seem to prefer traditional spellcasting rather than combining spellcraft with any form of engineering. Alchemists focus on potions and poisons and I can't say what chance there is for them to discover something like gunpowder and try to apply it outside of what their craft usually does. Keep in mind that the nords LOST technology as time went on, and don't seem to have any newer technology that couldn't be found/carried from other parts of the Empire. Presuming cannons are a canon technology, I could see personal firearms being developed over the years in Hammerfell as magic is probably just as if not more magic-averse as Skyrim, but there isn't as much modern lore to make it seem unlikely. If the rest of the Empire uses firearms, they probably would have some presence among the Imperial Legion, but bows and spells seem to be their standard for ranged combat. Considering Hammerfell broke from the Empire, it could be said that firearms were developed there, but did not spread into the rest of the Empire before that point. Maybe they are getting there in the Clockwork City, but they're a bit isolated. Otherwise, I don't quite know about the rest of Tamriel. Like I said, the Imperials didn't bring firearms with them into Skyrim so Cyrodiil is out. Summerset and Morrowind are too steeped in their magical traditions (and the Thalmor are shown to prefer magic over conventional weapons); Elsweyr maybe, but I doubt the Aldmeri would appreciate the khajiit developing new weapons that could be used against them (making Valenwood unlikely too). High Rock and the bretons have so little lore I can't say one way or another. The argonians in Black Marsh aren't exactly known for being innovative craftsmen but it's hard to say anything about modern argonian society right now. Same with the orcs. Overall, I wouldn't consider anything but the most early and experimental of firearms being utilized anywhere in Tamriel, except maybe Hammerfell, and practically none in Skyrim unless done by someone not aligned with typical nord culture, and they haven't been widely adopted by either the Empire or the Dominion.

I keep running into an issue where my character gets knocked down in combat and getting one of three things to happen. 1) Character gets back up as normal. 2) Character gets back up, but the camera does not move back in place from the 3rd person shot, leaving the game unplayable. 3) Character does not get back up. I like playing on survival mode for the gameplay changes, but this issue is going to give me another ulcer. I have the survival quick save mod and even set it so that it auto saves on entering a new map (but I guess survival mode likes to scrub these auto saves randomly so sometimes I'm just screwed if a bug like this happens). I've been using Immersive Fallout Combat, which I think is the reason why I keep getting knocked on my ass on a frequent basis (even when wearing power armor and only being hit by a common ghoul's swipe attack). If the patch that reduces the chance of being knocked down is actually working, I cannot say. But that doesn't change the fact that I get anxiety attacks every time my character is knocked down/back. Does anyone know a mod or two that helps with the camera/animation issues related to being knocked down? It really sucks when I lose gameplay time because every time I fall down, the game decides to force me to reload a save.

For some reason, I really don't like the Thieves' Guild in Skyrim. Is it because several of its members are overly rude and frustrating to deal with? Is it because they're all a bunch of lackeys to a corrupt businesswoman? Maybe it's because they only ever saw success because a Daedric Prince was backing them? Or perhaps it's because it pushes you into a contract with that prince and has you clean up their mess? Maybe some people don't mind all that, but I for one feel like this guild needs a betrayal option or two, like how you can kill the leader of the Dark Brotherhood and have their sanctuary raided. If I had the time, knowledge, and skill, I'd make a mod that allows for the following actions: Mjoll the Lioness offers the player a quest to help her identify and locate members of the Thieves Guild and their base of operations and allows you to turn in the quest at several points. The player can out Brynjolf to her after he gives the player the recruitment quest (regardless of if the player actually does it) for a small reward and Brynjolf turns up dead after a few in-game days and none of the guild quests can be continued thereafter. The player can instead put in the extra effort to report on the whole guild after being initiated for a more sizable reward. Doing this has Mjoll involve local authorities outside of Riften (Stormcloaks from Windhelm or Imperial Soldiers if the Rift is controlled by the Empire), leading to a raid similar to with the Dark Brotherhood, with the player having the option to take part in the assault. If the Thieves Guild is raided, its members will either be jailed or killed in the raid, except for Brynjolf and Mercer Frey who escape and cannot be killed in the raid if the player takes part. After some time, the player receives a letter from an anonymous individual who claims to know where Mercer Frey will be going to and that there is an additional reward for catching/killing him. This leads the player to Snow Veil Sanctum and plays out mostly like Speaking with Silence, except Mercer Frey isn't accompanying the player. Karliah is introduced here and essentially allows the player to complete much of the rest of the Thieves Guild questline with tweaks and alterations to take into account the Guild's destruction, such as having Karliah convince Brynjolf on her own to help her. Following the quests at this point can go normally, though some dialogue should be added or changed to match the situation and even allow the player to choose not to become a Nightingale (even if there wouldn't be any mechanical downsides to doing so). Then at the very end of Blindsighted, wherein the player receives the choice to keep the Skeleton Key as a final betrayal option. Doing so will force the player to fight and kill Brynjolf and Karliah, but in exchange they are allowed to keep the Skeleton Key (with added incentive coming from altering how the Key works). If this isn't chosen, then Darkness Returns plays mostly normally until the end where in addition to access to Nightingale powers, you are also given the equipment awards from Under New Management and a hefty monetary reward. To make the Skeleton Key a more hefty reward than just a replacement for mundane lockpicks, it also actually does stuff comparable to what it has done for Mercer. To match with the idea of it allowing the user to unlock their own potential, it could either grant a bonus to all skills, grant a number of perk points, or increase the rate at which skills level up (or some combination of those), all in addition to being an unbreakable lockpick (or even just a key that unlocks any pickable lock). This idea allows the player to either quickly get rid of the whole questline for a quick buck, or quickly get towards the end of it while letting you play as something other than a thief who wants to revive the guild. Hopefully, someone else likes this idea, as I find it such a shame that such an interesting artifact is locked behind one of my least favorite guilds and used solely as a MacGuffin rather than a proper reward.

This happened just minutes ago... > Playing first run of Enemy Within. Was happily waiting for the construction of Psi Labs. > Saw the holo-globe flicker and a cut scene start. > "Oh crap this must be the base defense part" I thought. > Sees almost all of my main soldiers wearing the base equipment and armor rather than the titan armor, plasma weaponry, and other gear I usually give them. > "Must be because my last mission head almost everyone in the hospital so I'm just left with the mainly non-equipped guys," I rationalized, still calm. > Put up a good fight making use of the base weaponry, grenades, and a lot of luck. > After losing a third of my forces, including three colonels, and my two MEC troopers one shot away from death, I get to the last wave. > Sees two cyber disks, a mechtoid, and a sectoid commander. > "Well this is going to be tough," I thought. > Sees an ethereal and a muton elite. > "[Curses loudly]" Granted, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Between the handful of soldiers I had left I was able to eliminate the invaders all the way down to their ethereal leader and was even quite lucky that my fully geared assault guy shrugged off the first mind-control effect and managed to kill several of the worst aliens. Of course it all ended up with a 1 on 1 match between my unequipped Zhang (who thankfully had a good amount of gene mods) and the ethereal. With a single rocket and a few good shots with the light machine gun, I managed to take the full hp ethereal (because PSI Drain is also bs) down to less than half hp before it managed to kill Zhang. So, the scenario was ridiculous since out of all my best soldiers I was given for the mission, only two of them actually had their normal equipment, but considering how close it got I admit it was a good fight.