pleasurepanda Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 (edited) It's been said before, but Skyrim suffers from a lot of narrative dissonance. While the NPCs constantly whine about the brutal civil war destroying families and lives all across Skyrim, the game itself is pretty much devoid of any evidence of that war. One of the things that bugs me is the lack of garrisoned forts. There are forts in incredibly strategic locations around the map and nearly all of them are manned by bandits and necromancers. Imperial and Stormcloak soldiers on the other hand are based out of those tiny hidden guerilla camps; I don't think anyone has ever figured out the point of them. Valtheim Towers is probably the most glaring example of this. If you look at the map of Skyrim, the Valtheim pass is a natural chokepoint, and is the main route between Stormcloak-held Riften and Windhelm and Imperial territory in Whiterun Hold and beyond. There are other roads further north and south, but due to Skyrim's lack of seasons they are always covered in snow, which would make them unfit for military use. If there actually were a war going on in Skyrim, controlling the Valtheim route would be necessary for either side to take the offensive, as it'd be the only way to get supplies to an army. In light of this I think the area should be heavily fortified by both sides. Trenches, stakes, palisades, watch towers, all of these assets are present in Skyrim already but are conspicuously absent from where they should be. I've used mods like Whiterun Outskirts Market and Solitude Docks and have been impressed with how much additional content can add to immersion. I think a fortified Valtheim area would be similar. Even people who couldn't care less about realism might like it, as it wouldn't need to remove a single thing of value; anything is better than "bandit bridge." Edited July 19, 2013 by pleasurepanda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts