LE Castles for RPers

[JanusForbeare]

So my current character is now rich enough that it's time to start thinking about moving on up, to a deluxe apartment in the sky ;). To this end, I started trying out a number of modded homes and castles yesterday, and I was disappointed to find that, generally speaking, they fit into one of three categories:

 

1) The kind of homes that cause CTDs when I try to load my game.

 

2) The kind of homes that chew up memory to the point of being unplayable.

 

3) Most of the remaining homes are great, but they're aimed at gamers who just want a place to show off their loot. So you'll end up with 67 mannequins, 150 weapon displays, 40 bookshelves, etc., but no dialogue from the castle staff (certainly not voiced), few or no guest rooms, and very little in the way of scripted content.

 

I've been hoping for something more along the lines of Castle Dunkerlore or Castle Seaview for Oblivion. Medium-sized castles that actually look defensible, make efficient use of space (without being ridiculous - a guest room shouldn't have two queen-sized beds next to each other), have a staff with enough AI packages to give them the semblance of a schedule, and value immersion over storage space.

 

The latter point is especially important. Granted, when the CK came out, we could only have one companion. However, with the advent and popularity of mods like UFO (and Atvir!) which allow the player to recruit a much larger party, does it make sense to label a castle as "Companion-friendly" when all five party members have to share a single dingy room in the cellar? For that matter, why do our companions have to live in accommodations so much worse than our own? I like to think of them as my character's "family", and they should have rooms to match.

 

Continuing with the topic of immersion, where are the washrooms? Even Beth put washrooms in many of their dungeons and habitations (Castle Seaview for TES: IV had one that that gave you an "ease burden" effect when used :laugh: ). I'd also like to see some interactive defenses (ie. usable drawbridges, portculli, ballistae, etc.) and contact with the outside world. Wouldn't it be fun to have your defences tested against your Civil War enemies, or perhaps a dragon? What about having one or two weekly deliveries of food and supplies from the cities - which may or may not get interrupted? What about being besieged inside your castle for weeks (daily radiant quests could keep things interesting)?

 

I guess, ultimately, that I'd like to see more homes that go beyond being shrines to the player's ego and actually become living, breathing parts of the game world in their own right. There's no hard and fast rule that says that quests and content are only for earning homes - they can be used to truly create one.

[Cipherthe3vil]

Such a mod would be a glorious must-have.

[lycanheart]

So my current character is now rich enough that it's time to start thinking about moving on up, to a deluxe apartment in the sky ;). To this end, I started trying out a number of modded homes and castles yesterday, and I was disappointed to find that, generally speaking, they fit into one of three categories:

 

1) The kind of homes that cause CTDs when I try to load my game.

 

2) The kind of homes that chew up memory to the point of being unplayable.

 

3) Most of the remaining homes are great, but they're aimed at gamers who just want a place to show off their loot. So you'll end up with 67 mannequins, 150 weapon displays, 40 bookshelves, etc., but no dialogue from the castle staff (certainly not voiced), few or no guest rooms, and very little in the way of scripted content.

 

I've been hoping for something more along the lines of Castle Dunkerlore or Castle Seaview for Oblivion. Medium-sized castles that actually look defensible, make efficient use of space (without being ridiculous - a guest room shouldn't have two queen-sized beds next to each other), have a staff with enough AI packages to give them the semblance of a schedule, and value immersion over storage space.

 

The latter point is especially important. Granted, when the CK came out, we could only have one companion. However, with the advent and popularity of mods like UFO (and Atvir!) which allow the player to recruit a much larger party, does it make sense to label a castle as "Companion-friendly" when all five party members have to share a single dingy room in the cellar? For that matter, why do our companions have to live in accommodations so much worse than our own? I like to think of them as my character's "family", and they should have rooms to match.

 

Continuing with the topic of immersion, where are the washrooms? Even Beth put washrooms in many of their dungeons and habitations (Castle Seaview for TES: IV had one that that gave you an "ease burden" effect when used :laugh: ). I'd also like to see some interactive defenses (ie. usable drawbridges, portculli, ballistae, etc.) and contact with the outside world. Wouldn't it be fun to have your defences tested against your Civil War enemies, or perhaps a dragon? What about having one or two weekly deliveries of food and supplies from the cities - which may or may not get interrupted? What about being besieged inside your castle for weeks (daily radiant quests could keep things interesting)?

 

I guess, ultimately, that I'd like to see more homes that go beyond being shrines to the player's ego and actually become living, breathing parts of the game world in their own right. There's no hard and fast rule that says that quests and content are only for earning homes - they can be used to truly create one.

I would love to see a mod like this. Why cant we use our money to upgrade our castle, buy more guards etc. I make too much ,money in game and there is nothing to use it on. I play on the hardest level now, I have added Monster mods ect, but to have one really nice castle, full of people, guards, and quests would dbe great.

[littleork]

If I was better with interior and buildings I would have done that as a side project, I added a farm in my main project where you could buy cow,goats and chicken so doing something like that where you would pay for more guards,furnitures and vendors/npcs is something I would have got some fun doing.I am sure someone will do something like this at some point though, maybe I will give it a shot at some point but probably not for a little while.Adding an event where you would get attack is definitly a good idea too.