LordTyraad

Played 1800 hours plus of vanilla only to learn how much of the community was still growing in 2011. It's 2018 and I have yet to play Skyrim or Skyrim SE since I've found so many wonderful mods to include in my game. I've settled on a personal build of Requiem. In that quest, I found Heavy Armory, Immersive Weapons, Immersive Armor, Real Bows, Unique Bows, JaySus Swords, Elven Weaponry, and Insanity Sorrow's long list of weapon mods - in addition to others he has made. It has become the hardest issue trying to decide what mods to include that I've created my own matrix to follow: 1. City Overhaul Mods 2. Simple Weather Mods 3. Weapon and Armor Mods 4. Lite beautification mods for player models 5. DLC enhanced modes such as Falskaar 6. Reqtified patches required to use mods 1-5 Which brings me to my question. With the "last mod wins" mentality, am I really doing myself a disservice of having the following load order for weapons and armor: Heavy Armor Immersive Armor (these two might work reversed) Immersive Weapons Unique Bows Real Bows Elven Weaponry JaySus Swords (a really kickass weapon mod) Insanity List of Weapons: Insanity's Ebony Sword Standalone Insanitys Celtic Katana Insanitys Chrysamere Insanitys Dragon Katana Insanitys Dragonbane + Craftable Optional Insanitys Dwemer Weapons Insanitys Empire Longswords Insanitys Goldbrand Insanitys Ice Blade of the Monarch Insanitys Red Eagles Bane Insanitys Shields Insanitys Umbra Sword Insanitys Zatoichi The Bastard The Stamford The Thegn Of course the first question that people will ask: why so many weapons. Well, the answer is simple. The community too the time to make these weapons and armor, and for them to not be used in some fashion in my game would do them a disservice as well as not being able to smith alternate versions of weapons and armor. I normally play a rogue assassin or ranger type character - I love the bows! - but Requiem provides a much more challenging game environment where I'll have to put on some different armor's that will still allow my stealth. My roleplaying has been Khajit, Nord, and Wood Efl in vanilla...ever single race I've led to at least level 40 with the nord getting to 60 before i realize that i've missed out on the modding world. My goal is to replace the great Auroa workstation I had with a solid system so I can mod both Skyrim and Skyrim SE with Ultimate Skyrim build, and start using some of these wonderful mods that are available. I find that I'll have to create profiles in MO2 to really discover the various mods that are just too good to not play. Thanks for reading! LT

Thanks LeddBate for your response. I've already added Alternate Start - Live Another Lifekl. Campfire, Frostfall, Hunterborn, and RLN&D are true mods that should be in everone's build. They add not only immersion, but allow the use of items that would go unused. Immersive Citizens AI will make NPC's go indoors when it rains, so why not add some immersion for my character. Wet and Cold is okay but not enough immersion. Amazing Follower Tweaks has a camping option, but it is basic. I have some work to do, so I'll get to it.

I've taken the deep dive into modding Skyrim SE. I've totally forsaken Oldrim due to the many many mods available for SSE. I'm using Zackalopes SEPTIM guide - currently at Step 8 - to install mods he deemed useful to his build. The issue is what Unleveled, Deleveled NPC and Loot system to use. I've tried MorrowLoot Unlimited which delevels the loot and changes the Encounter Zones. I'm okay with using that but I also like Skyrim Unleveled - similar to WildCat, Smilodon, and Combat Evolved. What I like about this mod is that it changes the value of armor, weapons, loot, and encounters. The approach OperatorCactus uses seems more realistic. Armor, Weapons, and Damage have been adjusted accordingly. I like the ability to use crossbows and silver weapons prior to starting Dawnguard. Also adjusting the undead as being immune to anything but silver weapons is also a plus! Advance Adversary Encounters - I believe this mod is an either or type of mod. I don't see using it with SU or any other combat mod. I also think that this is overkill for the game, but I agree with the changes made. High Level Enemies - Another balanced approach to EZ, scaled and unscaled enemies. Dalquist . He adds a lot of enemies to the game in addition to deleveling the enemies. Included are Raised Ability Caps and Increased Max Resists. Raised Caps helps with spells at higher levels to scale with the enemies. Max Resists increase the damage resist. Morrowloot Unlimited. Oh if there weren't so many patches needed for this one. Ars Metallica, Immersive Armors, Inigo, Summermyst, and ASM (Sorting Mod) which replaces the .esp outright. I like the idea of the mod - Loot and NPC's along with a significant quest reward system. I'm not sure how this mod compares to SU or AAE; its an alternative mod for loot that includes Encounter Zone adjustments. Rebalanced Encounter Zones. A simple change of numbers makes this a very easy mod to use. However, is that all that needs to be changed? If I use this mod with Smilodon, Wildcat, or Vigor, am I going to get a solid play through? The Rebalanced leveled list is the brother to this mod. Between the two, it looks like a simple edit mod. Unleveled Enemies - Simple. Enemies are not dependent on the player's level. This mod also has an unleveled list brother. With so many choices out there to add immersion and the realization of combat, I'm really having a hard time choosing. My personal preference is Skyrim Unleveled as that makes some common sense changes to weapons, armor, damage and loot. AAE is very strong, and I would not use Smilodon damage package; only the cost of combat and attacks of opportunity. I want to know from the community what is being used, being paired with. Also, please include your comments about campfire, frostfall, ineed, and realistic needs and diseases (which I favor over ineed). Thanks Strat (http://steamcommunity.com/id/lordtyraad)

Update: I had to remove Skyrim Unleveled in favor of MorrowLoot Unlimited. One of the issue I had with Skyrim Unleveled is that it created an over kill of bosses in a simple dungeon - Bleak Falls Barrow. While I understand the concept of having a challenge, I find that "Adding" isn't as good as "Modifying. Bleak Falls was designed to develop the character you want to play. It cannot be done in the mod version as it puts two powerful Draugr Death Lords after an Ellipsis. Defeating them with the Ellipsis is easy, but you still have to get past the Dragur Scourge once you get past the Ellipsis. What makes this even tougher is that my follower is inept - does absolutely nothing to help as the damage output is linked to my character ( a default setting in Skyrim). If there are unleveled NPC's, my follower should be unleveled as well. Combat Mods: I tried Vigor. It is somewhat irritating with MorrowLoot Unlimited and Skyrim Unleveled. It was not playable with the added combat matrixes that MLU and SU add to the mix. I've also tried WildCat which is less intrusive and possibly more believable - with only MLU enabled. It wasn't playable then either - could be a load order issue. I've removed Wildcat and added Combat Evolved. While I like the damage output, the realistic injury system, and the deleveled NPC's were a bit much to handle. I'm still debating using an injury system. So far WildCat does have a few more benefits than Vigor, but Vigor is injury only, making some of the NPC adjustments. Combat Evolved with Vigor might prove to be just enough of a combat realism system that is playable. Alchemy: The Alchemy mod was just disappointing. Instead of "fixing" the issue, it made it worse by making a minor healing potion not even worth carrying. I understand the concept behind the mod, but when a mod alters the game where the use of a potion to save health is useless, then the mod doesn't deserved to be installed. Frostfall is another disappointing mod. I roll up to Bleak Falls Barrow only to find NPC's walking around in the bitter cold that I'm suffering against. Until modders learn that what we suffer as players should also be the same for NPC's, mod's like this are just a curiosity. Why should a player be penalized to suffer when I have to fend off the weather. SSE Texture Pack is fine without SMIM - I'll default to the community about this I removed SMIM and the world looks just fine. Gifts of Akatosh - I've included this mod to balance out the lack of weapons early in the game. I don't know if I will use them, but having them in the game is very useful if I want to progress past the toughness of a combat mod. What does the community think I should run? Are you still able to play archetypes - builds - and if you are, what type of paradigm shifting do I need to do now? Also Vigor or Wildcat? Which one do you use and why? I like Skyrim Unleveled over the injury mods - I find the injury mods irritating at times. Having an unleveled Skyrim seems to be a better experience through level 1. Strat

Update: I had to remove Skyrim Unleveled in favor of MorrowLoot. One of the issue I had with Skyrim Unleveled is that it created an over kill of bosses in a simple dungeon - Bleak Falls Barrow. While I understand the concept of having a challenge, I find that "Adding" isn't as good as "Modifying. Bleak Falls was designed to develop the character you want to play. It cannot be done in the mod version as it puts two powerful Draugr Death Lords after an Ellipsis. Defeating them with the Ellipsis is easy, but you still have to get past the Dragur Scourge. What makes this even tougher is that my follower is inept - does absolutely nothing to help as the damage output is linked to my character ( a default setting in Skyrim). If there are unleveled NPC's, my follower should be unleveled as well. Combat Mods: I tried Vigor. It is somewhat irritating with MorrowLoot and Skyrim Unleveled. It was not playable with the added combat matrixes that MLU and SU add to the mix. I've also tried WildCat which is less intrusive and possibly more believable - with only Morrowloot enabled. Alchemy: The Alchemy mod was just disappointing. Instead of "fixing" the issue, it made it worse by making a minor healing potion not even worth carrying. I understand the concept behind the mod, but when a mod alters the game where the use of a potion to save health is useless, then the mod doesn't deserved to be installed. Frostfall is another disappointing mod. I roll up to Bleak Falls Barrow only to find NPC's walking around in the bitter cold that I'm suffering against. Until modders learn that what we suffer as players should also be the same for NPC's, mod's like this are just a curiosity. Why should a player be penalized to suffer when I have to fend off the weather. SSE Texture Pack is fine without SMIM - I'll default to a discussion about this. I removed SMIM and the world looks just fine. Gifts of Akatosh - I wonder if I should include that in the game. It seems I need something to tackle the combat additions. Nothing is sacred any longer - even Embershard Mine is a difficult challenge to over come. Then again, with the vanilla skyrim, I was able to sneak attack at least three of the bandits without issue. Go figure. What does the community think I should run? Are you still able to play archetypes - builds - and if you are, what type of paradigm shifting do I need to do now? Also Vigor or Wildcat? Which one do you use and why? I'm starting to think that vanilla Skyrim SE works just fine :)

So after installing the following mods: USSEP, Vigor, MorrowLoot, Skyrim Alchemy Fixed (huge change here), Standing Stones Overhaul (well balanced, choice not limited to archetype), Thieves Guild for Good Guys (interesting plot, haven't gotten there yet), Acquisitive Soul Gems, Campfire, Frostfall, Skyrim Unleveled (bad ass mod!!), SSE Texture Pack, SMIM, and Vivid Weathers, it's like a true role playing experience. The days of running around unhindered by weather, by random encounters, and by over powered, leveled bosses are over. Even Embershard Mine was a challenge to complete by myself. A Thief Assassin build that I've played on the original version, kicked ass around level 20, and just about dominated around level 30. No mods except the USLEEP patch, some weapon mods, and Travelers of Skyrim. That was it on the original version. With the new modified version of SSE, I now get killed on one swipe of the war hammer when wearing light armor and only at level 6 (Health at 160). So now I can't dual wield my way without some help from the dual wielding perk. It also looks like all five perks in Stealth are going to be necessary. Plus I'll need to decide if I should wear leather or use heavy armor if I go into a dungeon. Clearing a bandit cave or stronghold would definitely qualify as trying to sneak around those areas has proven difficult. Either way, I love these mods. I plan on donating to every one of them for sure. If any of you authors are out there, please friend me on steam - just look for Palladino [6th RB] in search parameters. Thank you to all who mod, and a special thank you to those authors who have created a real world Skyrim. Just to show how intense the SE really is, I took this photo (all texture mods above activated). I missed saving the red moon, but I think its still on my disk in the directory structure somewhere. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1110951456