ShadowWolf81 Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Hey guys. Just have a quick question for anyone that has done mulitiple playthrougs. What would you recommend doing first? the Civil War storyline, or the Main 'Skyrim' storyine? I know that one, or both of these, can have an impact on completing certain objectives in the other (without giving otu spoilers). But im not sure just 'how' they can interfere with one another. So.. which would you sudjest doing first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smjn Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Side Quest first, Main Quest second, Civil War last (or never). Do the main quest up to Bleak Falls Barrow after speaking with Faringar. This will allow the village of Riverwood to have its own guardsmen and not far into the story to start spawning dragons everywhere allowing you go about your exploring and questing in relative peace. Also doing side quest first will open up a multitude of dialogue options for the main quest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowWolf81 Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 Side Quest first, Main Quest second, Civil War last (or never). Do the main quest up to Bleak Falls Barrow after speaking with Faringar. This will allow the village of Riverwood to have its own guardsmen and not far into the story to start spawning dragons everywhere allowing you go about your exploring and questing in relative peace. Also doing side quest first will open up a multitude of dialogue options for the main quest.Yea been doing side-quests.. just wasnt sure which of the two 'big' ones i should do first to keep from royaly screwing things up =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RatcatcherOfKvatch Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 There's a quest in the main line where you go undercover. It really bothers me if I become a Stormcloak officer before taking that mission because it doesn't make sense for Delphine to tell you the Thalmor have no idea who you are when they very clearly should. They would know who the officers are and not trust them. (If you're an Imperial officer you could always pretend you're leveraging your officer status to gain social rank; it's a perfect cover.) The same "anonymous officer" weirdness attaches to the College of Winterhold questline I'd say any time after the Dwemer mission. The Thalmor have received specific orders regarding you personally. Elenwen would almost have to have known about if not given those orders. How could she possibly not know who you are, especially if you're the Archmage? In the Greymane liberation mission against the Thalmor no one who sees your face, knows of your involvement, and is on the side of the Thalmor lives to tell about it. That one's ok. It's purely personal preference, but it bugs me when I'm "undercover" after I've done things that should've put me on the Thalmor's radar. If Miraak knows who I am 5 minutes after I talk to the Greybeards how could the Thalmor possibly not know that new guy at the party is actually the Archmage who killed two of their agents -- whom they had specifically ordered to kill you? How could they not know you're a Stormcloak officer? Could I bring my drinkin' buddy Galmar, too? We might as well make it a real party. In terms of gameplay the "Become Ethereal" shout allows you to fall without dying. You have no idea how useful that is until you start using it. Whirlwind Sprint will kill you if you use it while running downhill, so in a way they're counterparts. Ask me how I know. :tongue: The "Dragonrend" shout allows you to force an engagement with a dragon. Given the rampant epidemic of Dragon Attention Deficit Disorder (DADD?) it's very convenient to be able to force your eminently distractible opponent to stop fussing around with ice wolves and mudcrabs during an epic fight with the Dragonborn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidevalGuy Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I can't give out spoilers here, but the only reason to do the Civil War quest first is so you don't have to have a peace conference during the main quest. That, in itself, effects certain quests & side quests related to becoming Thane of a hold. Doing the Civil War first impacts the Thane quests depending on who is Jarl when you go to become Thane. Depending on the outcome (which side you choose), some of the prerequisites e.g. Help so many citizens in a certain town are automatically fulfilled which makes purchasing a house, or land (Hearthfire) the only thing you have to do a.k.a. it makes becoming Thane easier and faster. What I am doing for my current play though is this: -Main story line up until Diplomatic Immunity (MQ) -Side quests & general exploring (small fetch and relay quests; Misc Quests for people in The Rift & other holds) -Become Thane of Solitude / Haffingar (default Imperial side; Elisif; Help the people and The Wolf Queen/Potema secondary quests) -Azura's Star, Dawnbreaker -College of Winterhold Quest Line (completed) -Civil War Quest I am playing a female mage-slash-spell blade/archer, so CoW was a no-brainier, but also getting a head start on earning Proudspire Manner (that cost 25,000) as well as doing the related Wolf Queen / Potema story quests allows me to level up and save up as I go since I already have Breezehome as a base of operation. I am using the Civil War Quest Overhaul mod which I have never used before and am looking forward to it. I want to finish the CW before I do "Season Unending" because I've read that if the CW is over it skips (what I consider) the boring peace conference and goes directly to you capturing the dragon at Dragonsreach. I hope this also avoids some of the bugs I've ran into along with others, namely the "Message to Whiterun" bug that can break the MQ if doing that and the CW quests simultaneously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfPalatine Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 In what order, you ask? Optimally, you should do the Main Quest upto "The Way of the Voice" (don't complete it, just get that quest and become Thane of Whiterun). After that, do all the side-quests you want (including Guild Quests) and Thane Jobs for the other Holds (except Windhelm - you can't become Thane until the end of the Civil War, nor can you buy Hjerim till the War ends). After that, do the rest of the Main Quest, which will allow you to witness the Season Unending negotiations (and which, personally, is the canonical "outcome" of the Civil War - a stalemate). Defeat Alduin - put an arrow in his jaw, a missile in his ass, talk dirty to him - whatever method takes your fancy. After that - BISCUITS! Or the DLC's, assuming you have them. That's what I normally do. Problem is, after all that, you feel kind of sad, since now all you have to do is either ogle Serana, waste your time on Solstheim, or wander around Skyrim doing random (and often insane) stuff. (Side Note 1 - You CAN join a faction, Empire or Stormcloaks, before the Main Quest, but if you've progressed beyond the "Message to Whiterun" quest on wither side, you can't see the Season Unending quest in the Main Quest chain - which is kind of a drag, since it's pretty amusing, to say the least). (Side Note 2 - If you have joined a faction, their dialogue response to you will be affected by your negotiation choices in Season Unending. If you made a treaty biased towards them, they will approve. If balanced, they'll be noncommittal and if adverse, they'll be pissed off at your supposed "treachery". It was possible to be kicked from your faction if this happened, but for some reason, it was never implemented. Hopefully ApolloDown can implement that into his Civil War Overhaul). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madcat221 Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Well... Do you want to see a leader or two of the enemy CW faction in... a certain place at the end of the MQ or not? If you do, Civil War first. If not, MQ first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiegril Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I generally go with whatever my character's motivations are. However, the Civil War quest causes a bit of damage to several major locations, so if you do the quest early you may have to deal with looking at a lot of rubble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelDude123 Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 i saw some problems with this quest orders...i dont know if anybody will see this but if u complete CW before dawnguard dlc u will get some problems on that mission where u look for the moth priest...if u choose stormcloack side and finish CW u wont be able to ask guard at dragon bridge about moth priest...that mesed up my high lvl character and i was fored to start new character...no way past that if u do CW first....also if i complete CW on stormcloack side and gray mane becomes jarl of whiterun...will i be able to do that dragon capture quest or will it big out like that quest i mentioned above? sry for my fluent english xD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainPatch Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 As was mentioned, if you are doing the Main (Dragon) Quest, it involves a a peace conference which I really, really dislike. HOWEVER, if you do the civil war quest first as a Stormcloak, it makes for some quirky logic flaws. (Diplomatic Immunity as a Stormcloak? While working with the Blades? That just seems .... wrong.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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