[SUDE] Skyrim: Ultimate Dragon Experience

[OwenBuch]

EDIT: I hope this is an appropriate usage of this forum by the way! Apologies if not, please move or lock.

 

The following is for the purposes of gathering feedback only. Please feel free to share your opinions on what I have planned. Development of this mod will begin as soon as the Creation Kit is released. It should be noted that this mod is HIGHLY ambitious. It'll be my first BIG mod for a Bethesda game (I've played my way around the kit for Oblivion and made some small, useless mods). Progress will be slow but I have been planning this since 13/11/11. :P

 

List is not final. Will be added to and taken away, due to feedback, or at the whims of the developer.

 

Dragons

 

Rarer, much more powerful. A big deal! Cannot fight alone, even on Adept. Better loot, better rewards. One soul per dragon still, lowering overall income of dragon souls. No more overflow. Spending a soul is a tactical decision.

 

Some general combat mechanic changes such as dragons using different breaths (Fus ro dah!), or stunning everything around them when they land, or possible chance of being stumbled when a dragons wings flap overhead. Things like that!

 

Better rewards including powerful enchanted weapons and armor, scaled only to how difficult the dragon to fight is (Manage to kill an "endgame" dragon at level 1? Enjoy your Orcish enchanted weapons and the like), and rare artefacts that start off quest chains. See Dragon Shouts.

 

More dragon types. Possibly "baby" whelp dragons that attack in swarms or fun variations like that. Very large dragons that attack settlements, maybe? (Possibly optional feature).

 

Shock dragons - Wield the element of the sky to rain lightning down onto the dovahkiin.

 

Night Dragons - Darker dragons whom appear only at night. May fade in and out of visibility. This ability may be countered by certain spells.

(Magelight, maybe? Give it some situational combat usability)

 

 

Conjurer Dragons - Dragons that, instead of breathing fire at you, breath fire at the ground around you, and it conjures flame atronachs. Or frost atronachs. Or whatever.

 

Call for backup!

 

Angered a dragon? Need a hand? Pull out your warhorn, and call upon the aid of your local allies. In the plains of Whiterun, and anger an elder dragon? Call forth your companions from... The Companions! Just an idea. Might work nice with the Legion/Stormcloaks too seeing as they're more widespread. Would require you to have reached a certain rank/reputation with the factions before they heed the call.

 

Use the Environment!

 

Coward dragon that just wont land? Near a city? Head to the walls, and mount a ballistae or catapult and force that mothersucker down.

 

Dragon souls (Possibly optional feature).

 

More things to spend them on. Fuel enchants, or enchanted weapons. Spend multiple souls to unlock a perk.

 

Dragon Shouts

 

More shouts based on experiences in game. Learn an AOE "Unrelenting Force", akin to a giants OP stomp! (Knock enemies airborne. Only 15 feet or so though!). Use a shout that increases your size. (Might be glitchy indoors). A shout that increases your movement speed (Better for travel than Whirlwind Sprint. Whirlwind Sprint retains usability when over encumbered, or for crossing gaps you can't jump across, or simply for dashing around in combat). And others.

 

Related to the artifacts mentioned above, rare dragon shouts may be obtained from special quests. These shouts will be much more situational and almost always limited in how many times you can use them. Includes the ability to "taunt" aggressive dragons of different types (giving the player some control over their dragon experience), the possibility of limited flight, etc.

 

Possible modifications to existing shouts:

 

Whirlwind Sprint:

 

At full charge, stumbles enemies you run past, and leaves a trail of fire that deals damage to any whom cross it.

 

Unrelenting Force:

 

Reduce rag-doll force. Add concussive damage.

 

Fire/Frost Breath:

 

Increased damage.

 

Dragonbone Weapons

 

Blacksmiths can craft weapons from Dragonbone. Dragonscales may be used in place of "leather strips" as on other materials. Bulk of weapon made from dragonbone.

 

Dragonbones

 

They'll be worth more, increasing their value:weight. Dragonbones should be far more sought after than they are in game. This won't break much, you'll rarely have more than a single dragons worth of bone and scales in your inventory at any one time. This will make dragonbone/scale armor much harder/rarer to craft. I may include an optional module that makes dragonbone superior or equal to Daedric.

 

Dragon Factions

 

Dragon Cultists. Mortals whom worship and revere the dragons. Maybe out of fear, and hope for the dragons protection. Maybe simply out of power lust, or a hatred of their kin. Often found at Dragon-shrines, or Dragon Graves. May be protecting powerful dragon artifacts.

Dragon Hunters. Mortals whom are ready to take up the fight to rid Tamriel of the Dragon scourge. May wield artifacts of their own, recovered from the depravity of the cultists, to wield against the dragons. May be willing to work alongside the Dovahkiin.

Edited December 5, 2011 by OwenBuch

[RitualBlack]

Sounds great. My only problem with your concept is decreasing the weight of the dragon bones as they should weigh a lot (at least I think so). When the tools come out I can just change that myself though :biggrin:, and make the dragon bones bigger and probably from the dragons skeleton. I would definitely use your mod, and I can't wait to see it. I can be patient, as can everyone else so don't rush it, and don't kill yourself working on it :laugh: . Enjoy the time you spend on it.

[gengrimm]

I like the Dragon Whelp/adolesents are a good idea. Rather than just having a generic fully grown "easy" to kill dragon from level one it should start off with whelps and adolesent dragons.

 

I'd be really interested in seeing how lowering the scale of the dragon would effect its mechanics. The primary probably I could see is that the effects for breath might not scale, and the "bite and toss" killing blow they have wouldn't work/look right.

[SkyrimeisterSam]

I think there needs to be a lot more dragon animations to make the fight more fluid and unpredictable. As it stands at the moment, when fighting a dragon head-on there's a 50% chance it'll bite and a 50% chance it'll use a Shout. Leg kicks, wing swipes, headbutts, tail impalements should all be added so no part of the dragon is safer than another. Also, when it lands, if you're underneath it you should be 1hit KOed, you may be Dragonborn but that doesn't mean you can shrug off a 10ton lizard squatting down on your head.

 

Also, all dragon stats should be doubled, I think they're the rare exception where they should always be a challenge, if I see just an average dragon on the horizon, I want to think "s*** please don't come my way" not "ooooh more free dragon bones / scales".

 

Different types / colours would also be nice too. Imagine fighting a Night Dragon that is jet black with glowing red eyes, how epic.

 

Also, wtf, I can't believe this wasn't already in the vanilla version, but add Shock Dragons.

[Littlemeister]

This is like the best idea ever... I think all animals in the world should have a "closed health and damage stats... And all other stats on it to"... So u have to level up with basic stuff to get to the trolls and bears and stuff like that... So in the beginning you have to avoid animals and dragons... but in the end your a killer mashine...

 

And to put in dragon babys and stuff like that... what a great idea. If you can, try to bring on more people to your project so your project will be official before the next bethesda game ;)

 

And maybe make a dragon cave... and more missions, where you get to know the npcs (or friends if online version is made) so that it will be like an HOBBITS ADVENTURE thingy.

 

glhf

[OwenBuch]

Thanks for the feedback so far, let me address some of the more interesting points.

 

My only problem with your concept is decreasing the weight of the dragon bones as they should weigh a lot (at least I think so).

I admit it's more for the sake of fluidity of game mechanics than realism. Realisticly, dragon giant lizard dinosaur bones are heavy. However, the reason I have decided to lower their weight is just so the game is more consistant in terms of how things weigh, as well as increasing the value of dragon bones. I may just add in a module that increases their worth instead, though.

 

I like the Dragon Whelp/adolesents are a good idea. Rather than just having a generic fully grown "easy" to kill dragon from level one it should start off with whelps and adolesent dragons.

I'm not sure I want the dragon experience to "level" with you, so to speak. During the first 15 levels, you'll likely do your best to escape ANY dragon encounter (possibly excluding quest dragons). I want part of the experience with dragons to be increasing in power so you're finally able to kill your first. With help. It may still be possible to kill a dragon at level 1 with lots of help, though.

 

 

I'd be really interested in seeing how lowering the scale of the dragon would effect its mechanics. The primary probably I could see is that the effects for breath might not scale, and the "bite and toss" killing blow they have wouldn't work/look right.

 

I think I can test this immediately using console commands. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the possibly preemptive bug report. :P

 

 

I think there needs to be a lot more dragon animations to make the fight more fluid and unpredictable. As it stands at the moment, when fighting a dragon head-on there's a 50% chance it'll bite and a 50% chance it'll use a Shout. Leg kicks, wing swipes, headbutts, tail impalements should all be added so no part of the dragon is safer than another.

All of this is probably out of my league as it all involves animation rigging and the like. Maybe in a long, long time, a few years down the road, I might finally be able to take a crack at that, but, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

 

Also, when it lands, if you're underneath it you should be 1hit KOed, you may be Dragonborn but that doesn't mean you can shrug off a 10ton lizard squatting down on your head.

Might be kind of annoying in fights where there are a lot of things going on at once. I could just make it deal a lot of damage and shove you back/knock you down?

 

 

Also, all dragon stats should be doubled, I think they're the rare exception where they should always be a challenge, if I see just an average dragon on the horizon, I want to think "s*** please don't come my way" not "ooooh more free dragon bones / scales".

 

Different types / colours would also be nice too. Imagine fighting a Night Dragon that is jet black with glowing red eyes, how epic.

Also, wtf, I can't believe this wasn't already in the vanilla version, but add Shock Dragons.

 

New dragon types and harder dragons. All a planned part of the experience. I think you'll like it. :P

 

This is like the best idea ever... I think all animals in the world should have a "closed health and damage stats... And all other stats on it to"... So u have to level up with basic stuff to get to the trolls and bears and stuff like that... So in the beginning you have to avoid animals and dragons... but in the end your a killer mashine...

I only kind of know what you mean here. My mod will only effect dragons. I'll leave the other stuff to the other mod makers. :P

 

 

And to put in dragon babys and stuff like that... what a great idea. If you can, try to bring on more people to your project so your project will be official before the next bethesda game ;)

I won't be advertising for aid, but if any mod developers feel like contacting me and offering their aid I would be excited to consider the possibility. :)

 

And maybe make a dragon cave... and more missions, where you get to know the npcs (or friends if online version is made) so that it will be like an HOBBITS ADVENTURE thingy.

 

glhf

 

There will be modifications made to the existing dragon locations in the game. Adding more is unlikely at this point, as A.) It's harder to add new locations than to simply add an existing one, B.) Adding a whole bunch of dragon locations, alongside the vanilla existing locations, might flood the game for people whom "Want a better dragon experience, not a dragon infested skyrim experience".

 

Modifications include cultists, additional quests, artefact hunts, ect.

 

As for NPCs, well, I mentioned Dragon Cultists. They'll be enemies. It's possible you may bump into some Dragon Hunters though? We'll see!

 

EDIT: I could have an opposed faction to the Dragon Cultists, as Dragon Hunters? Early days. We'll see!

Edited December 5, 2011 by OwenBuch

[SkyrimeisterSam]

That'd also be cool, all it would take would be to set up a radius around the dragon and should you get be in that radius while Mr.Lizard lands you get hurled backwards taking big damage.

 

Draconic Coves would be a good idea, adding massive underground caverns with dragon nests where the whelps live, possibly having a "Dragon Matriarch" as the end of cave boss.

 

Shock Dragons would look so hot, lightning flowing around their bones.

 

Also, this has been mentioned in a few other dragon threads, there needs to be a fear option that automatically runs, or maybe triggering when the dragon roars. Only an hour ago I watched 2 mammoths, a bounty hunter, a mudcrab, a giant AND a sabrecat pile an Ancient Dragon. Obviously, they all got slaughtered, but come on, a goddamn mudcrab nipping at an Ancients wing? Doesn't look right lol.

 

I wish you the best of luck on your mod, many others will also be looking forward to a dragon overhaul :)

[AndrewWaltfeld]

Dragons should stumble everything in 10 feet radius when they land. (10 ton lizards...)

 

They also should be immune to shield bash from the main character or guards.

 

I would like it if they picked up things and dropped them more often. (guards etc)

 

Ability to throw guards or you around via biting or tail/wing hits. Could use that shout the undead use to fling you around etc.

[SkyrimeisterSam]

The guidebook says all dragons have access to Unrelenting Force, not seen one dragon use it and I'm level 53.

[Galacticat42]

Mmm, half of this looks like a copy of what's going on behind the scenes with my mod... Anyway love the ideas, perhaps you'd like to come into my team - the Dragonborn mod(s) is basically a giant dragon overhaul mod with extra features to use in each mod iteration. So instead of just giving the player more stuff to look at, it gives the player a reason to go look at it with a story intertwining everything.