Kayyyleb

When the cure is worse than the disease.

Ah, bloody Thalmor. Thanks for the correction, mighty zog! I wonder what Elenwen would do since Tullius was obviously going to go through with the execution despite her calling him to the sidelines. She apparently gives up anyway and leaves - so it shows they aren't willing to go very far to keep Ulfric alive. Though they should, given their interest in the Civil War, even if it could continue without him. Once again, thank the Gods for Alduin! And with that, let me crash in utter exhaustion before I reach that point when you're too tired to sleep and end up spiralling into a vortex of madness. I'm sure everyone can relate. .... Right? There's only so much she could do to try and save his life while avoiding any suggestion that they are behind the rebellion in the first place. Plus, Tullius is unlikely to give in to their demands anyways. The WGC might control some of the Empire's actions but the rebellion is an internal affair that the Thalmor have no jurisdiction over and Tullius knows it.

The key difference here is that Ulfric is supposed to stand for Nord tradition, honor, freedom and all that crap but only does it when convenient. Tullius doesn't preach and make grand speeches that he ought to live up to like Ulfric is fond of doing. He's just a general there to do his job in keeping the Empire together not a supposedly idealistic crusader fighting for truth, justice, honor and all those other nice words that get people riled up.

But this one is in the non-spoiler section. Makes things much more challenging.

I laughed for reals haha.

Nature gave us 20 year lifespans. Science and technology increased it to 80.

Imperial here...I almost never run into Thalmor.

I'm the opposite. I usually sacrifice one of the generic mercenaries at an inn nearby who I never use or talk to anyways. Whoever is conveniently nearby. I'd sacrifice Serana if she wasn't essential though. Filthy vampires. In my most recent playthrough I killed Lydia because she started a fight with Anska during her quest and I'm playing on legendary so I kinda need followers to help. Plenty of other housecarls anyways... The generic Mercenary, that would be Stenvar if it's Candlehearth Hall (nearest Inn).... :(....Not Stenvar, he is totally cool.... :(....is one of my top favorites among the vanilla Followers, the other favorite is Kharjo. Sacrifice Lydia, not Stenvar.... :P....all she does is whine anyway... :smile: Ah that's his name. Yup, Stenvar bought it. :P Lydia was already dead at this point unfortunately.

A good observation. Yes, I do hate reckless barbarians and as a result Skyrim's culture generally leaves a bad taste in my mouth. While I usually play a Breton ingame, I play with the mindset that would match an Imperial and I very easily attached myself to Tullius' character. IRL I'm much more of a rationalist, realistic, skeptic type of person and the Imperials represent those ideals infinitely better than the Stormcloaks.

Using the Legion in Whiterun is no defense of Ulfric. The Stormcloaks mobilizing against Whiterun forced Balgruuf's hand in joining the Imperials. His only other option is to stand completely alone with a non-ally on one side and an enemy on the other. The "enemy of my enemy is my friend" and Balgruuf understood that. The Legion is in Whiterun because Ulfric practically invited them in by attacking it and created a battle where there didn't need to be one. I'm sorry, but Ulfric's actions at Whiterun are simply not defendable.

Sure, I can understand the Stormcloaks are biting at the bit to get into a fight. But why does Ulfric send them after his fellow neutral Nords instead of attacking the Legion? He took the unnecessarily bloody route when he could've saved many lives. It seems there's either contradiction in his character development or an oversight in the quest design because you're right that he seems reluctant or unwilling to attack at times then goes and makes a seemingly rash decision like attacking Whiterun. Perhaps Galmar can be blamed for the deaths at Whiterun because Ulfric simply gave into his pleas for warmongering. Seems like Stormcloak supporters unanimously like Galmar which is hard for me to grasp because I absolutely hate the guy. He comes across as a reckless, warmongering barbarian to me. Ulfric's personal attack dog more or less.

The "man, not a boy" line is Balgruuf essentially saying that unlike Torygg, he can actually hold his own in a fight. Both Balgruuf and Torygg had more balls than Ulfric does in this regard. Torygg knew he was going to die but accepted the challenge anyways and Balgruuf was confident that he could contend with Ulfric so he challenged him. Ulfric accepts the easy challenge then sends his army to do the dirty work when there's a chance he might lose. If that's not cowardice, I'm not sure what is. Balgruuf made the pilgrimage like many other Nords. That doesn't mean he was trying to learn the Voice from the Greybeards. Doesn't mean he wasn't either. But either way it's irrelevant. What is relevant is that Ulfric sends his army to conquer a neutral hold and kill his own fellow Nords when if he had the guts he could've fought a duel for the same goal (and likely earned more respect that way). I see that as cowardice. Normally I don't really care about honor and tradition or whatever (guess I'm like Imperials in that way) but this is a case where he could've saved lives and chose not to just to make another political statement. If the Stormcloak army wants to prove itself, why doesn't it go challenge the Legion in a major battle instead of attacking their neutral countrymen? The whole situation reeks of fear from Ulfric who is apparently all for tradition and honor until it might not work for him then it's time to send in the goon squad.

I don't use either but I hate everything about Serana so Frea wins.

Excellent point. Ulfric had a chance to avoid bloodshed and gain an entire hold through single combat. He wimped out.

There are three passes, choke points that the AD would have to pass through in order to get into Skyrim. The Stormcloaks show they know how to use guerrilla tactics, so the AD has to chase the guerrillas through the jagged, rocky, steep, ice-covered, mountains and face the harshest climate, winter wise, in Tamriel and fight an uphill battle. If they were to get into the pass the Nords could blockade the pass with just a few soldiers, like Thermopylae, aka the Spartan 300. Or the Nords could block off the pass with an avalanche or rocks, then ambush the elves and either wipe them out or severely weaken them. Or they could cut them off from their supply lines and starve them out. Its not like the world we live in, borders can be crossed, so the Nords could attack the elves in the passes from the other side. The AD has to do nothing of the sort. You don't conquer a country by chasing small bands of annoyances around in the mountain. You siege and capture their cities and force them to fight on your terms. The elves aren't idiots and are not going to go walking into ambushes and fighting on unfavorable terrain when a very simple alternative is available. Besides, setting up a phalanx in a mountain pass works great until the elves start throwing fireballs into your formations. Immobile, tightly-grouped formations of the sort used to block off choke points are highly vulnerable to such attacks. I daresay if I were an AD commander, taking the mountain passes would be by far the easiest place to crush them and exactly where I'd want them to bottle up. I'd just march into Skyrim on the charred corpses of the Nords who thought we'd just mindless throw ourselves at them. Destruction magic is far less effective in a wide open battlefield, so I'd be fighting all my battles in mountain passes or sieges where I have the advantage and the Nords can't maneuver. On the way through the pass the Nords could harass the AD's army. Decreasing Moral and picking them off little by little. This wouldnt be all the forces of the Nords. And I would imagine the AD wouldnt be so foolish as to send all their forces into one pass. Aside from in game logistics, the Nords have shown in the past that they have a formidable military. So if they AD makes it threw the passes they wont be able to just take a city so easily. And maneuvering siege machines through the passes wont be so easy, considering how narrow they are, the guerrillas could simply destroy the machines and keep the elves from making them.Plus using siege machines in a pass would be highly ineffective. The Nords know how to block magic with a shield. Not completely but it lessons the force of the magic being put onto the Nords. It is a skill in game and can be taught. Plus the Nords arent incapable of learning magic, as much as they dislike it. The "Heroic Nord Legions" were not annihilated during the war, if it were so easy to kill them with magic, how then, did they survive and defeat the elven forces. They did meat "Stiff resistance" but prevailed. This is all assuming that the elves do, indeed, have an army ready to invade. Harass them with what and how? Pockets of archers in the cliffs? Shoot fireballs or better yet lighting at them. Problem solved. You can't use a shield and a bow at the same time and Nords don't use wards so they have no defense against it. If you think the Nords have a formidable military you're heavily underestimating the AD. Nords are big barbarians mostly with two-handed axes and swords and no battlemages thanks to their arrogant and foolish disregard of war magic. Elves have tons of battlemages in addition to footsoldiers giving them a huge advantage in troop quality. Some Nords can block magic with a shield. I find it quite a stretch to presume every common farmer who's drafted into the army during a time of war is going to know this, so this is more of a professional soldier's skill. All the professional soldiers who would know this would be the Legionnaires who the Nords brilliantly ousted from Skyrim putting them in this mess since until the rebellion the Legion was the only professional standing army outside of the AD. Sure, a lot of Stormcloaks were former Imperials, but a good chunk of them will have died off in the Civil War even if they won. Plus the Nord shields are poorly designed for blocking fireballs anyways. Small round (mostly wooden) shields are exceptionally pathetic for shield walls compared to the large rectangular shields employed by the Romans. Even if a fireball is directly blocked, it'll still spray fire all around the surrounding area. A single fireball can break a phalanx if it makes it past the shield anyways, because it doesn't matter how gung-ho a man is, he's not going to keep his shield arm up with his face on fire. One man waving and screaming at the front of a formation makes a great spot to focus more magic into and a chain reaction begins and the formation collapses. If I were an AD general, I'd be throwing flammable oil at the Nords to amplify the effect. Throw some jars of oil on top of the shield wall then fireball it and that oil pours into the ranks and behind the shields. Essentially the Nords are fighting in a literal hellfire while I sit back and pummel them with fire until they're all fried or run off. Long story short, if you want to hold a mountain pass against the AD you'd damn well better hope I'm not in charge of the elves...they have way more and far superior tactical options available than the Nords. No, you do not want to fight in a pass. Then for siege weapons and sabotage: build the siege weapons in the middle of the camp and post guards at all hours. No more worrying about guerrillas destroying siege weapons. Now another point. Manpower. Skyrim fought and bled in the Great War then went home and started a Civil War. They're pretty much well and depleted on troops for the time being. The AD had a devastating defeat at Red Ring but since then they've been sitting back and rebuilding while the humans are tearing each other apart, it's a safe bet to say the AD can field more troops and with the long elven lifespans, professional, well-trained, battle-hardened and experienced troops at that. After writing out all of that I just thought of how amazing chain lightning would be against a tight formation of shield-toting Nords with nicely conductive steel armor. Yeah, no matter how you look at this magic > Nords.

There are three passes, choke points that the AD would have to pass through in order to get into Skyrim. The Stormcloaks show they know how to use guerrilla tactics, so the AD has to chase the guerrillas through the jagged, rocky, steep, ice-covered, mountains and face the harshest climate, winter wise, in Tamriel and fight an uphill battle. If they were to get into the pass the Nords could blockade the pass with just a few soldiers, like Thermopylae, aka the Spartan 300. Or the Nords could block off the pass with an avalanche or rocks, then ambush the elves and either wipe them out or severely weaken them. Or they could cut them off from their supply lines and starve them out. Its not like the world we live in, borders can be crossed, so the Nords could attack the elves in the passes from the other side. The AD has to do nothing of the sort. You don't conquer a country by chasing small bands of annoyances around in the mountain. You siege and capture their cities and force them to fight on your terms. The elves aren't idiots and are not going to go walking into ambushes and fighting on unfavorable terrain when a very simple alternative is available. Besides, setting up a phalanx in a mountain pass works great until the elves start throwing fireballs into your formations. Immobile, tightly-grouped formations of the sort used to block off choke points are highly vulnerable to such attacks. I daresay if I were an AD commander, taking the mountain passes would be by far the easiest place to crush them and exactly where I'd want them to bottle up. I'd just march into Skyrim on the charred corpses of the Nords who thought we'd just mindless throw ourselves at them. Destruction magic is far less effective in a wide open battlefield, so I'd be fighting all my battles in mountain passes or sieges where I have the advantage and the Nords can't maneuver.

AI in general is pretty bad.

Yeah, that's what I figured. It's fine. Oh and thank you Ulfric for your military service. I have great respect for veterans, even if I don't always agree with them. :smile: We aren't veterans until we're out of the military. :p

I'm the opposite. I usually sacrifice one of the generic mercenaries at an inn nearby who I never use or talk to anyways. Whoever is conveniently nearby. I'd sacrifice Serana if she wasn't essential though. Filthy vampires. In my most recent playthrough I killed Lydia because she started a fight with Anska during her quest and I'm playing on legendary so I kinda need followers to help. Plenty of other housecarls anyways...

You are aware that there are varying ranks of generals, right? In US military terms, a 5 star general commands an entire branch (like the emperor in TES commands the army and navy). A 3-4 star general commands a theatre of operations involving multiple subordinate generals and their units (like the border between Cyrodiil and the AD). A 2 star general commands operations within a more specificed area or focus (like Tullius in Skyrim). A 1-star general or colonel commands a unit. I would put Tullius at around the 2-star range. He commands a single unit (the 7th Legion) but is granted special authority that supersedes just military command of his legion putting him above a 1-star. Legates on the other hand are more like officers between the ranks of captain and lieutenant colonel. They command smaller groups of soldiers either from a headquarters of sorts (hold capital) or a forward camp. They do not command entire legions like a general.

Any mention of "a legion in each hold" is almost guaranteed to be some sort of offhand or slang remark to refer to a group of soldiers. Because yes, we all know there aren't half a dozen legions in Skyrim. To suggest that is absolutely absurd with the majority of the legion on the border with the AD. A legion is more like the real life equivalent of a regiment. Not a platoon like Ulfric here is trying to make it sound.

Every other source in the game says the 7th Legion is the only one in Skyrim. A legion is controlled by a general. Legates are captains in the field. If you want to say otherwise you'll have to prove it because everything I've ever seen in the game suggests exactly what I said. You're grasping at straws here and I think we both can see that. I've never seen Tullius at the Thalmor party in any of my...4 playthroughs. Regardless, I fail to see the point of bringing that up at all. Tullius drags himself to the party loathing every muscle movement it took to get there because making a rash, useless gesture of defiance against the emperor's decision won't accomplish anything.

The problem is you apply invincibility to Skyrim when it's convenient for you. The point about the Legion in Skyrim stands. A single Legion fought to a draw (at worst) with the rebels. Any dedicated AD invasion army is going to have far more men than the equivalent of one legion. Skyrim is far weaker than you repeatedly claim it is.

It's quite a stretch to call any characters in Skyrim "fleshed-out" by RPG standards. Serana is the only one who comes close and the more I learned about her the less I liked her. Ancient powerful pure-blood vampire who acts like a teenager with daddy problems and complains about virtually everything. Pass on that one, send in the next.

I actually loved Dragonborn. Far better than Dawnguard (I never got Hearthfire) imo. Solsteim was fun to wander around questing, the new dungeons were much more dynamic, the main quest was short but good and the new weapons and armor I particularly liked. Contrast that with Dawnguard which had me running around doing mostly generic quests with an NPC I was clearly supposed to care about but in reality absolutely hated to death (Serana). The Dawnguard armor and weapons were neat at least.