zyg0tic

No fast travel is a cool idea until you are doing the first steps of the main quest for the tenth time. I use fast travel but I dont use it all the time. I only use it when I know the trip will be boring, have no challenge and I dont need to collect anything. The game consumes enough time as it is.

My current character is level 29, has a full set of ebony and daedric weapons (got all when I was about level 20 :) and can tear through standard enemies quite easily, and just use paralyse poisons on tougher ones. In my very first playthrough I abused enchanting and it certainly made things incredible easy. Now that Im keeping enchanting limited, and using it to make money mostly, Im still finding the game somewhat easy. My character dominates the economy, I can make gold on demand through smithing, enchanting and alchemy and so Im never too short of cash to buy anything from stores. I have +32% smithing improve total from store bought items, and have upgraded all my stuff. I have a question about this method: How many levels should I advance it to see a significant but not absurd difference in the challenge? Also keep in mind Im trying not to die at all - in my current playthrough Ive only died once afaicr because of Lydia pulling a Dwarven Centurion close to me when I was hiding from it (I wasnt going to restart the game because of that sort of death!).

Why F12? Shouldnt you press Print Screen key? You can take screenshot with free version of Bandicam or Fraps. With those programs you can set the folder you want the screenshots to be saved.

OK it worked. I just maxed smithing at level 21. I have full set of ebony armor, daedric mace and ebony bow. My spare perk points I've put into combat skills (heavy armor, one hand, archery, block). For this method to work for others, I think they also need to be making potions to give the extra income thats needed. So find out how to make the potions that sell for the most gold. AND I STRESS - for this to work effectively you must put points into speech perks otherwise the gold requirement is too much. Finding a % better price or + speechcraft item is also very good. The blessing of Dibella increases speechcraft by 10. My character has earned 16000 gold in their short life. @NephilimNexus Oh wow. If thats true then yeah it would be the best legit way to get gold. UPDATE: If there is enough demand for it I can make a tutorial video since I recorded all my gameplay.

I've just started a new game and I have managed to get to 80+ smithing following loosely what I described above. Ive done a bit of combat and didnt do much wood chopping. I have been focusing almost exclusively on smithing, yet am already level 18 and still havent maxed it (almost to 90 though). Ive lost count of the number of ingots it took me but must be at least 250 - I recorded it so I can check for sure. The only combat Ive done is Bleak Barrow Falls, the first dragon, and other enemies here and there. The only non-combat skills Ive been gaining are speech and alchemy. I havent done very much alchemy at all, just made the potions that are good to sell. To begin with I collected and sold all loot and things I found around the place. This gave me a decent sum to buy ingots and leather. I trained my skill up past 30, and then I bought some dwarven ingots and made a Dwarven Bow and improved it. Went to Bleak Fall Barrows, completed it with archery, sneak and the traps in there. I also looted and sold everything from there in two trips. Went to Whiterun, killed first dragon, looted dead whiterun guards. Sold all the stuff I had looted including dragon scales and bones. Alternated between Whiterun and Riverwood, buying up all the ingots of every vendor who sold them. Waited for vendors to respawn their stock a few times by resting at inn for 2 days. Supplemented cost of smithing with alchemy. But loot was probably a bigger earner. If you are the forgetful type I would recommend the Warrior Stone... In case you forget to change it back from Thief or Mage before a big bulk iron dagger making session. @khbazur True. But you can mine it before then :)

@Guss I think you only have to sleep 6 hours for the well rested bonus. @Tardivex How did you earn the money to afford it? From other sources? It would be cool to figure out how to generate the income needed to support a smithing habit while still very early on in the game. Alchemy is the best earner I have found, but not sure if it could sustain me for maxing out smithing when im still low level.

I would like to max my smithing (or just get it to 80 for ebony) within the first week of game time. I basically want to level up only by smithing, then deck myself out in ebony before starting the main quest and other adventures. Im not sure how best to achieve my goal. If I were to start over, my current idea/strategy would be this: 1. Stay in Riverwood or Whiterun for first couple of days - stay well rested to get the 10% skill bonus 2. Chop wood - while it is slow and doesnt earn much, it also doesnt increase any skills 3. Choose the Warrior Stone for smithing training sessions 4. Choose Thief Stone when selling/trading 5. Use Speech perks to reduce cost of resources and improve selling prices 6. Make and improve Dwarven bows when they begin to yield a profit The basic need is to have enough gold to purchase the massive amounts of ingots and leather needed to make the daggers. Whiterun is better for earning money and getting resources. It has an enchanters table so that you can make a profit from enchanting daggers. Keen to hear any other ideas for doing this successfully that you might have. UPDATE: I've managed to do this, but it took longer the a week of game time because of waiting for vendor to renew their gold and stock. I recorded it all and will make it into a tutorial video on Youtube if there is enough demand for it from forum members here.

I can record my next attempt at it (not dying) but even then people might not believe it because I could have just edited out the deaths :D I also dont use companion (except horse maybe), and also my enchants are lesser than some of the gear I find from store bought gear. I should list all the self-imposed rules I follow as they do make the game more interesting/challenging.

Enchanting only screws up the difficulty when you have it maxed out and are putting two insane combat modifiers on all of your gear. It becomes such that only very few enemies pose a challenge. I havent been doing that. Last time I was killed by a bandit chief with a shock damage mace - I chose to fight instead of run away when I had no heals. I think it would be best to study all of the possible options for building a character that isnt totally reliant on potions for healing and defense - although I really like alchemy and it earned me huge gold.

I think the game is easy but I still die now and then from the rare bad decision. So Im wondering if anyone has beat the main quest and a significant portion of the rest entirely on master difficulty without dying at all.

would the voice actors wield the power of the ancient nord art?

I love how she transitions in the Dovahkiin song!

I like playing female characters in single player games. I dont pretend to be female, I just like to see the female character do cool things and look pretty. In multiplayer games like an MMORPG I wouldnt.

Im pretty sure you do get a bonus for headshots, if only a slight one. Mammoths seem to get stunned by headshots. And there has been many occassions when Ive seen headshots do significantly more damage. I dont think it shouldbe changed, but you can mod to your hearts content I suppose.