LE Upgrade armor type/stats without changing how it looks.

[seamusquigley]

Upgrade armor type/stats without changing how it looks.

 

We’ve all been there. You get an armor that you really like the look of, or maybe you’re just really attached to the enchantments that come on a unique armor set. What do you do when a type of armor with higher stats, but looks shitty (in your own estimation), becomes available?

 

I would like to be able to convert armors from one type to another through the crafting system.

 

For example:
Let’s say I really like the Imperial Light Armor. I’m a die-hard Imperial, and I love the Roman Legionnaire overtones. The problem is; the stats for the Imperial Light Armor sit ever so slightly below Leather Armor. It doesn’t take long to outgrow that armor type.

 

What about if, at the point where it becomes possible to craft Elven Armor, I was also able to upgrade the Imperial Legion armor so it has the stats of Elven Amor?

 

Normally, it takes the follow ingredients to craft Elven Armor:
Leather Strips – 3
Leather – 1
Iron Ingot – 1
Refined Moonstone – 4

 

What if I could take these same ingredients and combine them with my Imperial Light Armor to get a piece of armor that looks like Imperial Light Amor but has the stats of Elven Armor?

 

Potential Difficulties
Given the number of recipes/combinations this would add, it could create a very crowded crafting menu. It might be better to make this upgrade technique work through the work bench rather than the forge. It already has a context driven menu that only displays upgrade recipes for items already in your inventory.

 

Upgrading Improved Armor
I would posit that improving an Exquisite Imperial Light Armor to Elven stats through the above recipe should give you a piece of armor that looks like Imperial Light Armor, but has the base stats of Elven Armor. If you want it to have the stats of exquisite Elven Armor, you’ll need to improve it with another piece of refined moonstone at the work bench.

 

Upgrade Order
I don’t think it should be possible to jump straight from base Imperial Light Armor stats to Dragon Scale Armor stats. I think it would work best if players are forced to acquire the resources to go through every step. For example:

Imperial Light -> Elven -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale

 

DLC Armors
The DLC armors form a lot of intermediate steps that wouldn’t normally fit into vanilla armor hierarchy. Chitin Armor, for example, has stats marginally higher than Elven Armor, but can also be crafted once the player gets the Elven Smithing perk.

 

I am inclined to suggest these DLC armor types be slotted into the chain where their stats would suggest as potential extra steps. I.e. players should be allowed, but not forced, to use the Chitin stats as an extra step. E.g. both the following chains are possible:

Imperial Light -> Elven -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale

Imperial Light -> Elven -> Chitin -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale

 

The other alternative is to make the DLC armor type an alternate, albeit slightly more powerful, step. I.e. players can either go to the vanilla armor stats or its ‘equivalent’ DLC armor’s stats. E.g. both the following chains are possible:

Imperial Light -> Elven -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale

Imperial Light -> Chitin -> Scaled -> Glass -> Dragon Scale

 

Modded Armor Sets
There are some really cool armor sets out there. Modders, to their credit, tend to be wary of balance issues and, as such, these cool armors rarely become the best armor available.

 

I don’t think it would be inaccurate to suggest that by the time most of us install new armor sets we’ve already got better armor for our characters. We’re never really going to use these beautiful armor sets unless we start a new game. Even then there’s every chance we’ll only use them until better armor becomes available.

 

Obviously, it would be nearly impossible to create some way of slotting every modded armor into its proper place in the stats hierarchy. To get around this I would suggest making it so that these armors can be ‘upgraded’ to the bottom of the stats hierarchy. This way you can get it onto the scale and allow it to be upgraded like any other armor.

 

For instance, a light armor set from a mod would first need to be converted to Hide Armor stats so that it is on the scale. Then it could be upgraded all the way like any official in game armor.

 

Special Armor Sets
Skyrim has a lot of special, unique armor sets. They tend to have their own stat. Nightingale Amor, for instance, sits between Scaled and Glass.

 

Ideally, all these armor types would be slotted into their correct position based on their own stats. I.e. Nightingale Armor would upgrade to Glass Armor

 

Admittedly, this would be a lot of work.

 

The alternative is to do the same thing with special armor sets as I suggested above for modded armor sets.

 

Converting Enchanted Armors
The Arcane Blacksmith perk would be required to do any of this to enchanted armors.

 

Changing Amor Types
Do you really like the aesthetic of Daedric Armor but prefer your character to wear light armors? Why not make it possible to convert armors from one type to another. I would suggest that doing so puts your armor at the bottom of the stats hierarchy. For example:

Converting any light armor to heavy armor would mean converting it to Iron Armor stats.
Converting any heavy armor to light armor would mean converting it to Hide Armor stats.

 

Once you’ve done the initial conversion you can then work your way up the hierarchy.

 

Weapons
All this should apply to weapons too. It’d be nice to be able to use the sword that matches my Glass Armor rather than using a Daedric Sword for the higher stats.

 

Comments
Does anyone know if any of this would be feasible?
Is this something anyone else would be interested in?

 

I’d love to hear people’s thoughts.

Thanks

 

P.S. For the record, I have no modding and/or coding experience. While my idea may be fairly well developed, I am completely incapable of acting upon it.

[vanschmoozin]

i would totally be on board for something like this!! wish i knew anything about modding ahah

[DoctorKaizeld]

at this point in time I do not see this mod as feasible. my reason being that there are not many great modders out there accepting mod requests and definitely no one willing to form a team. so unless you want to take this on yourself I would archive this request for when FO4 comes out (hopefully) next year.

[lofgren]

Counterproposal:

 

Every piece of armor in the game that has the same body slot and skill type has the same armor rating and weight. The armor rating is based on the best piece of armor for that slot and skill that you have found/purchased/crafted.

 

So for example at the beginning of the game every heavy gauntlet, regardless of appearance, provides 10 (base) armor (i.e. the same as iron gauntlets). The first time you find a steel gauntlet, every heavy gauntlet jumps to 12. All heavy gauntlets now provide 12 armor until you find a dwarven gauntlet. Now all heavy gauntlets provide 13 armor, etc. So you could continue wearing the same iron gauntlet you found when while escaping from Helgen for the rest of the game without missing out on decent protection for the sake of appearances.

 

Otherwise, the propose mod doesn't require a "skilled" modder or any scripting at all. In fact it's basically the most tedious drudge work imaginable. I can tell you how to do it in about ten minutes if you're curious to learn. You'll have to make roughly 300 new recipes and about that many new armors.

 

Edit: Sorry, missed the part about how you also want to be able to convert light armor to heavy armor and vice-versa. Make that 600 new recipes.

Edited June 16, 2014 by lofgren

[DoctorKaizeld]

why don't you do it than?

[lofgren]

Why don't I show you how to do it? Sure.

 

This is where you can find recipes in the Creation Kit:

 

 

 

When you open them, they look like this:

 

 

 

1. Item created
2. Count created
3. Workbench used
4. Ingredients required
5. Count of each ingredient
6. Restrictions

You'll have to create one of these per armor that you want to craft per armor that you want to convert.

 

This is an armor entry:

 

 

 

It's actually much bigger than this, but you only need to concern yourself with the highlighted fields. Create a duplicate of each armor and then set the value, weight, armor rating, and type to those of the armor you wish to be able to convert it to. Then use this new armor entry as the "Item Created" for the appropriate recipe you created in step 1.

 

Voila.

[madcow12]

 

Changing Amor Types

Do you really like the aesthetic of Daedric Armor but prefer your character to wear light armors? Why not make it possible to convert armors from one type to another. I would suggest that doing so puts your armor at the bottom of the stats hierarchy. For example:

Converting any light armor to heavy armor would mean converting it to Iron Armor stats.

Converting any heavy armor to light armor would mean converting it to Hide Armor stats.

Once you’ve done the initial conversion you can then work your way up the hierarchy.

 

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54277 - This mod can help you with this specifically

 

 

 

 

Otherwise, the propose mod doesn't require a "skilled" modder or any scripting at all. In fact it's basically the most tedious drudge work imaginable.

 

Seconded. I know because I made that mod above. Seriously tedious work. Just for vanilla no-DLC, for armor sets that have the full helmet-cuirass-gauntlet-boot set,

hide, iron, steel, leather, steel plate, orcish, elven, dwarven, glass, ebony, daedric, dragonplate, dragonscale = 13x 4 pcs = 52 pcs of armor

and then in my case i had to make the clothe counterparts for mages, so another 52. That's 144 pcs of armor edited, along with 52 additional tempering recipes and 104 recipes for conversion. and all i did was change heavy/light to light/heavy/none, change keywords, add perkfists keywords for heavy armor (for the unarmed damage perk)

 

then doodoo really hit the fans when i started working for custom armors. sometimes i wish i had the knowledge to develop a macro for doing it for me.

next step? as you mentioned, weapons. but armors first.

[DoctorKaizeld]

 

Why don't I show you how to do it? Sure

already knew how buddy