Bear Riders for Skyrim, or Bare Riders - it's much the same thing. Options

[ghastley]

Again, I'm splitting this off from Fleur, as it's getting a life of its own. Since she's helped me work on the armours, and done some exploring for me, I'm getting into making a mod.

The Bear Riders that were just outside Bruma in Oblivion, have moved just over the border into Skyrim. I found a location next to the road to the border crossing for the HQ, and added a "Gudrun" and a "Timo" to the staff. The building is an inn, with bedrooms and forge in the basement. The main floor has facilities for alchemy and enchanting. It's about the same distance from Helgen as Falkreath or Riverwood, so it could be a third option for the starting player to head off to join the Riders.

Joining the Riders is only for females. The bears insist on that, and they'll also require the right equipment on the rider. Their special armour can be forged only at the HQ forge, but tempered/improved anywhere. It all has the same stats as the equivalent regular armour of the same material, and is made from the same list of materials. If I can determine how to add a frost protection bonus, I'll do so. Since there's a perk to allow multiple enchantments, there may be a way to do that without blocking the player from adding another.

I haven't found many bears in the Falkreath region in Skyrim, so maybe the bears can come from other places, but the trainer lives and trains the bears in Falkreath? That'll give a little more reason to actually go there...

That was the case with Meija in the Oblivion mod. She lived in Falkreath, and the bears were sent from somewhere else (Solstheim via Windhelm?) for her to train, so she only had one at any time. I'm thinking that the player will have to raise the cost of training a bear before they get one, and the trainer will have a quest to do as well. If I have a "recruit another rider" quest, similar to the recruiting for the Blades, then she'd start training more bears as the candidates join up. There are also possibilities for issues with her supplier, and a whole lot more.

I need to find an outfit for the trainer, that's similar to the one Meija wore - gloves and arm protection, so she doesn't get hurt by roadside foliage, and boots with possible thigh protection for the same reason. Minimal torso coverage, to keep the bear happy, and they also don't like fur or leather in any quantity. Chainmail is OK, as long it it doesn't contact the bear. She'll be a Nord - the 50% frost resist is a must in that outfit - and have an amulet to provide even more. (And it could get stolen for another quest opportunity.)

This post has been edited by ghastley: Aug 20 2021, 06:38 PM

[ghastley]

I looked into the idea of female children telling the player they wanted to grow up to be a bear rider, and discovered the same problem that Bethesda had with Dawnguard. Every eligible NPC (i.e. the girls) would get stuck saying the same hello until that piece of quest is completed, the same way that guards insist on telling you that they're reforming the Dawnguard, until you start that quest line. Fleur's game suffers from that, but Pala's doesn't because she deliberately gets only the minimal set (Skyrim.esm, Update.esm, Unofficial patch and Bear Riders) to keep testing sane. She gets "arrow in the knee" instead.

I already have a book called "History of the Bear Riders", but that's for Gunilla to give the player on joining, in lieu of a large introductory dialogue. It might be worth putting the Earl of Gweden's "Tales of the Riders" from Oblivion into the game as background lore, and attaching the start-up script to those. I suspect I'd need quite a few books to make sure they appear at random, so I may have to hand-place some.

Right now, my Pala character is collecting a bunch of potential followers for testing the recruit quest. Lydia (now wearing Rider Steel), Iona (the same), and Mjoll (in Rider Steel Plate) so far, and I'm trying to collect enough money to buy Proudspire Manor and pick up Jordis. The Skyrim economy model, where the merchants have limited cash, is being a pain, as I have to go from town to town selling stuff and then wait for them to refinance. I have a good collection of gems, rings and amulets, but just can't sell it fast enough.

I could go look for a few more hirelings and others, and I should find someone who likes light armour, and maybe a mage too, so I can test how they work out as recruits. I decided that I'd allow male players to craft the female-only armours, so they can be given to followers, which made the crafting simpler to implement, too. Males (and most likely Khajiit and Argonian females, so I don't have to provide more headgear) still need an alternate path into the questline other than joining up as Riders, probably dumping them straight into the recruit quest, and giving them the "Unna's Amulet" quest when they get the first recruit.

The Radiant Story Alias system means that assigning beds to the riders as they join is already taken care of, and I don't have to write a whole lot of code, like I did for Oblivion. They can get patrol packages etc. the same way, so it looks very promising.

Update 10/28: Fleur has bought Proudspire, so Pala doesn't need to. Pala has Brelyna Maryon in tow, who's wearing a cropped version of the Mage Apprentice outfit, although I haven't sorted out how that will be crafted in-game. So far it's just console-added, and I'll take it away when Pala can make her a new one.

I'm taking apart the Caravans quest that the Khajiit use, to see if I can reuse any of it for the Rider patrols. It appears that patrol points can't be shared, which is a disappointment. I was hoping that route sections could be used again, and I wouldn't have to place duplicate waypoints, but at least Bethsoft has done the research on where they're needed.

I need to create the AI packages that follow these routes before I can put them onto the Aliases in the recruitment quest. Rider01, whoever she is, will get the first bed, and be assigned the first route to patrol, etc. The player doesn't get a patrol, having Dragonborn responsibilities that take precedence, but they don't get a bed at the Lodge (or Timo in it).

I've decided that Gunilla will change into a Rider uniform once she has a recruit. If the player character is female, that's as soon as the first quest is complete. If the PC is male, it will wait until the first follower is brought in.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Oct 28 2013, 07:21 PM