adjusting creature difficulty

[Corsayr]

Hi there ?

 

What would be the best way to adjust creature difficulty by the specific creature?

 

I don't want to increase overall creature difficulty because in general, I have my difficulties tweaked to the level I like right now. But there are a couple of creature types that I would not mind giving a bit of a buff. 

 

A good example is trolls. They are supposed to be scary AF, but at my current settings which are good for most things, they seem a tad lackluster, if I tweak my general settings to put them where I think they should be, other mobs like generic wolf packs and draugrs are too powerful. 

 

Another example is Rieklings, they should be way more potent then they are, a group of 5-6 of them are less intimidating than a group of wolf and wolf cubs... ?

 

as always, thank you in advance for your attention in this matter. ?

 

[RohZima]

Are you using some overhaul for balance? What is wrong just going in the CK and increasing their attack and/or HP? What do you mean "current settings"? Is it difficulty setting, or something else?

 

I agree trolls could be tougher and their attack should have the ability to knock you flying. 

 

I don't even play anymore anyway, I just look at my characters and try out mods now and then...

[Corsayr]

8 hours ago, RohZima said:

Are you using some overhaul for balance? What is wrong just going in the CK and increasing their attack and/or HP? What do you mean "current settings"? Is it difficulty setting, or something else?

I do use mods that adjust armor values, combat, AI, and creature values (things like OBIS, and wildcat) but nothing that specifically targets those creatures. The problems with going into the CK is I am not entirely sure what stats to raise... do I have to go into each creature separately? or will adjusting the creature race record do it? I am somewhat competent when it comes to outfits and construct-able item recipes... but actors and statistical records I'm kind of a dummy. ?

 

I do know my way around the CK though so I have that going for me which is nice. 

 

By current settings I mean the whole thing, a combo of difficulty settings, combat mods, creature mods, etc... It is a very delicate balance, and there are just a couple of pieces not lining up. ?

 

8 hours ago, RohZima said:

I agree trolls could be tougher and their attack should have the ability to knock you flying.

I prefer stagger to actual knockback and the ragdoll effect in Skyrim has a tendency to bug out a lot. ?‍♀️?

[Psalam]

Quote

On 4/21/2019 at 10:23 AM, Corsayr said:

I do use mods that adjust armor values, combat, AI, and creature values (things like OBIS, and wildcat) but nothing that specifically targets those creatures. The problems with going into the CK is I am not entirely sure what stats to raise... do I have to go into each creature separately? or will adjusting the creature race record do it? I am somewhat competent when it comes to outfits and construct-able item recipes... but actors and statistical records I'm kind of a dummy. ?

 

I do know my way around the CK though so I have that going for me which is nice. 

 

By current settings I mean the whole thing, a combo of difficulty settings, combat mods, creature mods, etc... It is a very delicate balance, and there are just a couple of pieces not lining up. ?

 

I prefer stagger to actual knockback and the ragdoll effect in Skyrim has a tendency to bug out a lot. ?‍♀️?

 

I read your request and was thinking about looking at the CK later to see what could be done (per RohZima). However, I ran across thin in Nexus and wondered if it would serve your purpose?

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12481?tab=files

[Corsayr]

1 hour ago, Psalam said:

I read your request and was thinking about looking at the CK later to see what could be done (per RohZima). However, I ran across thin in Nexus and wondered if it would serve your purpose?

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12481?tab=files

Thanks that does look interesting, but unfortunately, it makes all creatures harder. ?

 

I currently have most creatures balanced ok to my settings.

 

specifically, Trolls and Rieklings are just not where they should be threat wise.  

 

Trolls should be terrifying! They are giant rage beasts that have health regen, but they are kind of meh... They really spend too much time emoting and not enough time trying to wreck your shit! ?

 

Reiklings are pack hunters that use weapons. They should be somewhere around the challenge of bandits, but really they aren't even as scary as a pack of wolves. They are probably too slow and do not use ranged enough. ?

[Psalam]

Quote

32 minutes ago, Corsayr said:

Thanks that does look interesting, but unfortunately, it makes all creatures harder. ?

 

I currently have most creatures balanced ok to my settings.

 

specifically, Trolls and Rieklings are just not where they should be threat wise.  

 

Trolls should be terrifying! They are giant rage beasts that have health regen, but they are kind of meh... They really spend too much time emoting and not enough time trying to wreck your shit! ?

 

Reiklings are pack hunters that use weapons. They should be somewhere around the challenge of bandits, but really they aren't even as scary as a pack of wolves. They are probably too slow and do not use ranged enough. ?

 

Okay, I'm at home and I've pulled up the CK. I think I know how you can achieve what you want with the Troll and, by extension, with the Riekling.

 

Tell me whether you want me to share here or tell you in a PM or just try it out in a "mod" and send it to you.

[Corsayr]

Just now, Psalam said:

Tell me whether you want me to share here or tell you in a PM or just try it out in a "mod" and send it to you.

share here, please. ?

[Psalam]

Quote

2 minutes ago, Corsayr said:

share here, please. ?

 

Go to the CK object window box. Enter troll after selecting "All" from the very bottom of the tree. Click on EncTroll (there are two more you will have to also do for frost trolls and troll ambush).

 

If you are interested, the very first tab listed would allow you to change the height and weight. That should make no practical difference in game play but might make them more fearsome should you decide to do that. 

 

The second tab is stats. While there are many things that you might want to play with here it is most likely that all you want/need to do is add to the Health Offset. Evidently, the troll has a lot of stamina anyway.

 

Next is the sixth tab - AI data. From your description this may be the most important. Again, while you may want to play with other things what you most likely want to change is Combat Style. Scroll down the list until you find another creature (draugr maybe?) that acts more like you want your troll to behave and change it to that.

 

Finally, go to the last tab - Attack data. Click on each entry in the table individually and change the priority and strength associated with each type of attack. 

 

Save your changes and enjoy the results.

[Psalam]

I suspect that you are aware of this but for anyone else who reads this be careful with adjusting height and weight. Making changes in the CK tends to cause larger changes than you think will occur. Very small changes 1.00 to 1.02 for instance, are quite noticeable in game.

[Corsayr]

1 hour ago, Psalam said:

Go to the CK object window box. Enter troll after selecting "All" from the very bottom of the tree. Click on EncTroll (there are two more you will have to also do for frost trolls and troll ambush).

 

If you are interested, the very first tab listed would allow you to change the height and weight. That should make no practical difference in game play but might make them more fearsome should you decide to do that. 

 

The second tab is stats. While there are many things that you might want to play with here it is most likely that all you want/need to do is add to the Health Offset. Evidently, the troll has a lot of stamina anyway.

 

Next is the sixth tab - AI data. From your description this may be the most important. Again, while you may want to play with other things what you most likely want to change is Combat Style. Scroll down the list until you find another creature (draugr maybe?) that acts more like you want your troll to behave and change it to that.

 

Finally, go to the last tab - Attack data. Click on each entry in the table individually and change the priority and strength associated with each type of attack. 

 

Save your changes and enjoy the results.

Thank you!

 

I'll play with these settings and see what I can make happen.

 

Do you know of a way to give trolls the ability to stagger opponents? I don't really like knockback or knockdown because of the potential for game breakage, but a staggering effect would be pretty badass for them. 

[Psalam]

I may be misremembering but I thought the very last attack option the troll had was listed as "stun" something or other. I think all you should have to do is make this a higher priority for attacking in order to see it. Otherwise, I'd probably have to get into scripting.

[Corsayr]

1 minute ago, Psalam said:

I think all you should have to do is make this a higher priority for attacking in order to see it.

I'll try that! Thanks