LE Spouse - Get a job already! (plus more)

[Mechwarrior94]

We all know how useless a spouse really is, they just sandbox around and not really add to anything really aside from being basically no more then moving and talking furniture. Now was my suggestion and request to get spouses more interesting and usable. Each spouse should either have a job by default or getting a job after getting married to you. This also should make it possible to have more possible matches for you to marry to increase the options you will have eventually.

Example 1:
In Riften you have a male blacksmith (sorry, forgot the name). This guy is a blacksmith, yet he is useless. He does not provide you any weapons, armor or even dumps materials in a special chest which only you and him should be able to open and use. Any made weapons, which should be at random displayed near the forge (oh wait, this as well is also missing ;) ) This should be free for you to grab if you wish to do so. However as blacksmith you would expect to have customers that would buy your creations, but this is not happening either. It would be nice that he would get customers who pay him on which he can upgrade his shop over time, which is also a good topic to talk about since he does not have that either.

Example 2:

A miner as spouse should allow you to have a mine next to your house in case of Heartfire DLC or for vanilla playerhomes it may be a good idea to have locations where this may be placed. This however does mean your spouse needs to travel to that location every day or be away from home for a while before this spouse returns with the profits. A spouse that needs to travel may need a horse or later perhaps a horse with cart for example. This could be payed from the profits made. This spouse may get you some ore from their mine over time. But of course the mine needs to be upgraded as well over time and a small shack needs to be added to keep your spouse and his workers safe and warm during the night.

Example 3: If you married a guard, it does not deliver much income. However you may have a perk of learning fighting and defensive skills over time. Which also gets transferred to your children who learn to defend them self's. This also allows them to pick up a weapon and fight in case if they have no other choice. It may also add over time a training area at your house or allow you and your children to train where other guards are training.

This is basically adding to a 'living world' idea, which would make the immersion level go up and playability of Skyrim to increase. You will likely have a lot more joy in getting a spouse then the freeloaders they are now.

- You should be able to either let them pay for their own thing and see it grow over time, or if you rather see instant progress add to the funding and materials yourself.
- Income of the spouse should be split, part goes into their job and the other part goes into the family's 'treasury'.
- Perks of having a spouse with a specific job should give you either goods depending on the job over time. Aside from that having a place you can join in to either help your spouse or for yourself.
- Income that is split between the family 'treasury' and the spouse's job should be adjustable in MCM by a simple slider including a option whether it should be at random or not graying out the slider completely.

Additional options:
- Children should grow up with time
- After your children are adults, it should be possible to either have them join your spouse or find another working location. With MCM it may be possible to allow you to choose whether this is at random or chosen by you.
- After your children are adults, you should be able to get more and raise those as well.
- Being married you should be able to get the female in the marriage pregnant, which you should also be seeing with other NPC's that also should be able to get pregnant and have children. Yes, it will impair your progress as playing as woman due to a big belly not fitting in the armor obviously. But you should be able to do other tasks around the house or helping your husband to stay busy (also part of a living world system which also is immersive and realistic). Any young couple that married would want to have children in a world like that, this would give more mouths to feed but also more hands to work just like in ancient times. It would be a logical point to get married for in the first place.

- You should be able to hire and fire NPC's to help your spouse around work depending on their job.
- Hired NPC's should have a place to sleep and some place to store their stuff, this requires the spouse (and you) to either get a barracks like building or individual homes.

- With increased people in one place you will also have increased enemies trying to take your stuff. This means that everyone needs to be able to defend properly. In case of a vanilla house in a major city this may not really be a problem, guards all over the place. A few extra guards may however end up saving the day and increase protection of the city itself. But in the wilds it may be a good idea to build walls, towers, a gate, etc. for added protection aside from some guards. (no, this isn't a idea for a 'your own city' thing. Just some basic defenses as extra to help everyone protect things better. It actually adds to the realism and immersion as well)