When do you typically play the Civil War quest?

[El_Duderino]

Hi,

 

This simple question is something that I've been wondering about for quite some time, and now that I'm writing my own mod which uses locations and NPCs which the civil war might affect (or kill), it has become important for me to find an answer to it.

 

So, when (if at all) do you typically play the civil war quest? Doesn't matter in this context if it's the vanilla CW (apparently often mentioned as one of Skyrim's worst quests), or one of the overhauls for it.

 

Thanks for your time!

[MadMansGun]

after the dark brotherhood so i don't have to pay off the bounty in solitude.

[Captain Cobra]

Before the main quest (if I even plan on doing the MQ on that character) and usually around level 20 or so.

[Thermite Dragon]

I detest both sides of the conflict so I tend to ignore it.

[El_Duderino]

Thanks much to all who've responded so far. I've only played the CW once myself, and not even completely to the end. I was a bit ... underwhelmed by the whole experience and haven't ever bothered again, though I probably will some day as that Second Civil War mod seems pretty enticing.

[Just Don't]

Did it once, hated it. I've ignored it since then. I have a couple of mods that remove CW requirements for some things so I can ignore it harder.

[Psalam]

To be more specific than "as soon as possible":

 

I normally play with the Paradise Halls Mod along with HSH and AYGAS. When you complete the CW quests all the losers in the Civil War (Jarls, Housecarls, etc.) will show up as slaves that can be purchased. However, it takes a significant amount of real time for this to happen (between the end of the CW and the beginning of these slaves occurring - even more time for all to become available). As such, I've found that doing it after the Companions Quest but before any other quest tree is most convenient. That way, there is plenty of time for the new slaves to appear while I'm doing everything else.

 

So, I didn't use to play the CW either (of itself it's not interesting) but with Paradise Halls I find it's worth the effort.

[サマエル]

[NCK30]

Never ever played it even. 12 years playing Skyrim.

 

Could be because I have started hundreds of characters.

 

 

I DON'T WANT TO FINISH SKYRIM!!!

[karlpaws]

As with the other responders I generally do not do the civil war quests since it is dumb, often buggy, and makes world changes I don't usually want.  When I do play the questline I tend to start it early as it will be part of the roleplay and goals of a character I am playing with a certain theme in mind. Mods changing certain locations or needing certain NPCs might change the timing or I might just plan to not use that mod's effects in my character planning.

[El_Duderino]

The sample of responses is of course very small, but the trend among those seems pretty obvious. I'd say that a quest that relies on pre-Civil war world and NPC interactions shouldn't be an issue for many players.

[IBAGadget]

only been playing Skyrim for about 4 years now, but while I have finished the main quest a couple times, I've never been interested in playing through the Civil War.

[Miauzi]

I played a few times... even once on the side of the racist "Stormcloaks" ("Skyrim belongs to the North").

Yes - I know that the producer of this game is in the USA and that this country is still more or less suffering from the trauma of the civil war in the middle of the 19th century.

But the whole background story and its "dramatic" implementation is so poorly done... and when I think, for example, of finding the Talmor files on Ulfric (who is a "sleeper agent"!) - are the more interesting ones Approaches to civil war were either never finished... or were sacrificed for reasons of mass compatibility.

Really now... I'm the super assassin who assassinates the emperor... but I can't get rid of Ulfric??

Or... I'm a Vampire Lord - I killed Harkon - I can darken the sun with a tainted bow... but I have to sit down at a table with these "Kaspers" in the monastery in order to be able to capture this one dragon.. .otherwise I can't get to this temple with access to "Valhalla"??

Yes - it's Skyrim... luckily there are plenty of mods with story content - so you can leave the main quest line on the side of the road!

[kmaaier]

I use Civil war Neutrality. And I also don't like the negotiations

 

[karlpaws]

12 hours ago, Miauzi said:

I played a few times... even once on the side of the racist "Stormcloaks" ("Skyrim belongs to the North").

Yes - I know that the producer of this game is in the USA and that this country is still more or less suffering from the trauma of the civil war in the middle of the 19th century.

But the whole background story and its "dramatic" implementation is so poorly done... and when I think, for example, of finding the Talmor files on Ulfric (who is a "sleeper agent"!) - are the more interesting ones Approaches to civil war were either never finished... or were sacrificed for reasons of mass compatibility.

Really now... I'm the super assassin who assassinates the emperor... but I can't get rid of Ulfric??

Or... I'm a Vampire Lord - I killed Harkon - I can darken the sun with a tainted bow... but I have to sit down at a table with these "Kaspers" in the monastery in order to be able to capture this one dragon.. .otherwise I can't get to this temple with access to "Valhalla"??

Yes - it's Skyrim... luckily there are plenty of mods with story content - so you can leave the main quest line on the side of the road!

 

I think they are saying Skyrim belongs to the Nords, not north...

 

The CW and Main quests are mostly on rails without a lot of deviation. Being the Dragonborn and killer of Alduin, champion of Molag Bal and replace Harkon (as you list), or just werewolf out and eat the whole Palace of Eastmarch or the Blue Palace... should really have alternate options but I guess Bethesda was in a rush and ran out of time.

 

as for the whole peace conference... see below

 

8 hours ago, kmaaier said:

I use Civil war Neutrality. And I also don't like the negotiations

 

 

I used the LE version of CWN and found it just so nice.... especially to ignore the whole peace conference thing. 

[Miauzi]

Vor 18 Minuten sagte karlpaws:

 

Ich glaube, sie sagen, dass Skyrim den Nord gehört, nicht dem Norden ...

 

Die CW- und Hauptquests laufen größtenteils auf Schienen ohne große Abweichungen. Das Drachenblut und der Mörder von Alduin zu sein, der Champion von Molag Bal und Harkon zu ersetzen (wie Sie es auflisten) oder einfach ein Werwolf zu sein und den gesamten Palast von Eastmarch oder den Blauen Palast zu verschlingen ... es hätte eigentlich Alternativen geben müssen, aber ich denke, Bethesda war dabei ein Ansturm und keine Zeit mehr.

 

Was die gesamte Friedenskonferenz betrifft ... siehe unten

 

 

Ich habe die LE-Version von CWN verwendet und fand sie einfach toll ... vor allem, um die ganze Sache mit der Friedenskonferenz zu ignorieren. 

 

The machine translator sometimes does "funny" things - the term "Nord" actually stands for "Northern man" or "in general "Northern countries" ... and in other languages they say, for example, "Viking" or "Varangian" or "Russia"

("Rus" derived from the term for "oars" or "the men who row the ship" - later it became "Russia"... but that's another story)

I had already looked at your "links" before your answer to my post - thank you very much for that ... they are definitely too late for my current installation - I won't change anything about it ... until the end of the second main part of my blog - Story (which deals with Lord Harkon...who will NOT die from this ridiculous arc!)

Since my character will go through a complete "transformation" after Harkon's death anyway... I can update my installation afterwards - since I'll continue to act with a "different" character from then on anyway... and that's exactly where it fits in perfectly - neutrality for the civil war.

 

 

[ghostwalkr]

I've only completed the CW quest once and that was with my very first playthrough back in 2011.

Since then I have ignored it completely because I detest both sides. 

To be honest, I much rather go off and find all of the stones of barenziah (vanilla) a million times before taking up that quest line ever again.. 

 

 

[CaptainJ03]

I've played those silly quests a few times, never liked it though. Even tried some Civil War Overhaul - which is even more useless mass fights where you just hope your machine doesn't die on you.

 

What bugged me most was that winning the war for either side doesn't change anything. The patrols still scold you "this doesn't concern you, citizen" and there's no way the PC can tell them, "I am Legate Lola, and I expect a proper salute, soldier!"

(There were other things, but it's some years ago that I actually played that to the end, so I don't remember the other oddities)

 

On 2/2/2024 at 3:59 PM, Miauzi said:

Or... I'm a Vampire Lord - I killed Harkon - I can darken the sun with a tainted bow... but I have to sit down at a table with these "Kaspers" in the monastery in order to be able to capture this one dragon.. .otherwise I can't get to this temple with access to "Valhalla"??

Yup. I wrote this back in 2014 in my Skyrim diary:

Do you have any idea, who I am? Who is this adventurer in grubby, bloodstained armor? Ask anyone in Skyrim. I happen to be their thane - I am thane in every hold of Skyrim, so everybody at this table should know me.
We are having this conversation because I chose so. You wondered about the bloodstains - I've slain dragons by the score and I've killed about a thousand people. You see - I've killed more men than both of your armies combined, yet I'm talking to you. All of you.
Imagine me raising an army. Would I ask farmers to lay down the plough and take up a sword for the cause? No, I'd ask the Night Mother to help me out, to have every leader killed by a blade in the dark of night. I'd ask the thieves guild to rid you of your valuables. Who'd be fighting for naught? Against an unseen army of assassins and thieves? And only then, none earlier, I'd raise an army of veterans, of heroes, every single one of them. Slayers who don't care if the odds are one to five, one to ten or even one to twenty.
And while you are quarreling about Markarth, Karthvasten and Winterhold, the Thalmor are laughing in your backs. I have proof that they do not want either side to win the war.

[FauxFurry]

It all depends on my mod loadout. If I have followers in tow that comment on the Civil War (Bjorn, Lucifer, Kaidan or Radolf from 'Without Honor") as well as mods which enhance the conflict, I at least start it early on to engage in a few random battles with the opposing forces. 

If not, I put it off until relatively late in a play through. 

[Darkpig]

I played Civil War once but then realized more people die if I just let it happen😀

[belegost]

Last time I played civil war, Windhelm disappeared off the face of Tamriel, leaving a hole in the ground in the shape of a perfect equilateral quadrangle and a size equal to the number of chunks that city used to occupy in the overworld space.

 

Also, Tulius is a bigger racist than Ulfric ever was, yet nobody calls him out on that.

Edited February 15 by belegost

[belegost]

8 hours ago, Darkpig said:

I played Civil War once but then realized more people die if I just let it happen😀

And that's a bad thing?

[Darkpig]

6 hours ago, belegost said:

And that's a bad thing?

Well no. The people of Skyrim are jerks. So fuck em! But mostly I find it amusing. Kinda like George:

 

[FauxFurry]

6 hours ago, belegost said:

And that's a bad thing?

No one who uses mods like Open Civil War, Warzones and/or Skyrim at War would likely try to make that case. The whole Civil War in the base game feels like a skirmish rather than a proper war. More people die in boating accidents every year than die in this so-called war.

 

In the base game, it is hardly worth bothering unless one really wants to change the Jarls ruling over holds as well as killing off a handful of civilian NPCs as collateral damage as well as Tullius or Ulfric. The Dark Brotherhood quest has more far reaching consequences than this country spanning engagement. 

[belegost]

20 hours ago, FauxFurry said:

No one who uses mods like Open Civil War, Warzones and/or Skyrim at War would likely try to make that case. The whole Civil War in the base game feels like a skirmish rather than a proper war. More people die in boating accidents every year than die in this so-called war.

 

In the base game, it is hardly worth bothering unless one really wants to change the Jarls ruling over holds as well as killing off a handful of civilian NPCs as collateral damage as well as Tullius or Ulfric. The Dark Brotherhood quest has more far reaching consequences than this country spanning engagement. 

 

You're stating the obvious, Captain.