Gameplay Guide
If you’ve installed Slidikins’ Strenuous Skyrim, chances are you’ve just added hundreds of mods without the opportunity to read each one’s description thoroughly. To save you some time and to help you get adjusted, I’ll try to boil down the essentials of what you need to know going into the game.
Note: Though the list aims to have a “vanilla” feel, several mechanics and quests have been adjusted. Guides written for the original game will be misleading. I recommend you push those guides and videos aside and discover Slidikins’ Strenuous Skyrim firsthand.
1. Reduced HUD
The first thing you’ll probably notice when you take control of the Prisoner is a lack of on-screen information. By default, the only HUD element that is always displayed is your Health Bar (and attached Shout Meter). Stamina and Magicka Bars appear whenever they are adjusting, and the Crosshair will dynamically appear when needed, such as with a ranged weapon or spell.
Enemy information is completely hidden from you as the player. You’ll no longer be able to see the health of an enemy or their level. You won’t even be able to see their name in most situations. Keep that in mind as enemy strength can vary within a single area. Some foes will go down easily, others will present a challenge. Proceed with caution and always have a backup plan in case you find yourself outmatched.
Lastly, activation prompts have been removed. Most of the time the UI will give no indication you’re about to steal an item. (Stealth indicators are also removed so it’s up to you to determine if you’re hidden or not.) Locked containers and doors won’t broadcast their difficulty either. You’ll need to try your hand at it and decide for yourself if it’s worth the lockpicks.
Tip: If you do get caught committing crimes (shame on you!), don’t reload! Getting caught is part of the criminal’s journey and can enhance your roleplay experience. Skipping town for awhile will gradually lower your bounty (Wergild Depreciation). A silver tongue will also help with the occassional bribe.
In general, expect the game to tell you far less information, leaving you to infer a lot of it on your own.
Relevant Control Changes
- Journal:
F4 - Quick Inventory:
F2 - Quick Magic:
F3 - Quick Stats:
F1 - Toggle Compass:
X - Favorite Groups 1-4:
9,0,-, and= - Horse Hotkey:
H(Simplest Horses) - Toggle 1st/3rd Person View:
F - Toggle 3rd Person View Mode:
↑(in 3rd Person View)
2. Survival and Exploration
This list will automatically enable Survival Mode at the start of the game. You’ll be expected to engage with its mechanics, specifically eating, sleeping, and keeping warm.
Hunger
Fuel for your adventurer, food will be a near-constant concern on your journey. Neglecting to eat will lower your maximum Stamina, slow your Magicka Regeneration, and eventually affect your physical prowess. Luckily, food is somewhat abundant in Skyrim if you know where to look.
- Fruits and vegetables are commonly found in barrels all around the region.
- Hunt wild animals for meat if you prefer protein in your diet, or utilize Fishing to source from the waters of Skyrim.
- With a dash of salt you can cook the above into simple meals. Merchants can provide recipes that will allow you to cook more nutritious meals.
- Different types of foods given different bonuses, each lasting 20 real-time minutes. A varied diet can have a profound effect on your dungeon crawling.
- If you have a heavy coin pouch, you can always buy ingredients or fully cooked meals from vendors to save yourself time.
Fatigue
Before long, you will find yourself Lethargic or Tired and in need of sleep. Several options are available to you though you may want to act fast before the penalties to your maximum Magicka and Stamina Regeneration make it hard to fight effectively. Your experience rate will also drop when you are fatigued and improve when you’re properly rested.
- A multitude of bedrolls are scattered around Skyrim. You won’t wake up Well Rested, but it’s free.
- Sleeping in town is another option. However, the cost of an inn depends on the location, with major cities charging a premium.
- Of course, you can always take what you want from the local brigands. Bandit camps typically have a warm, indoor bed to enjoy once the owners have been evicted.
- Eventually you’ll want to purchase a permanent residence for something dependable and reliable.
Cold
Skyrim is a cold, northern environment and ignoring the elements will lead to your downfall. Your Health is directly at risk when succumbing to the cold but there are ways of dealing with it.
- Avoid the obvious hazards. Snowstorms clearly mean freezing temperatures, as are lakes and rivers in snowy regions. Stay out of them.
- Purchasing or cooking hot soups and stews can warm you up as needed along your travels.
- Wearing clothes with a lot of coverage and/or fur will leave you warmer than other options. Conversely, metal armor is more susceptible to lower temperatures. Heavy armor users may want to carry a change of clothes for the road.
- The realm changes with each season, with the winter months being the coldest of the year. Factor that into your preparations.
Other Notes
- Your Health will only regenerate so much on its own. You’ll need to utilize other sources of regeneration to recover further, such as food, potions, perks, or Restoration magic.
- Containers are no longer bottomless. If you want to hoard goods and materials you’ll need to find a suitable location with enough chests for your stash. (Container and Arrow Weight Restrictions)
- Similarly, your Carry Weight has been reduced, encouraging you to reconsider what’s worth leaving the house with as well as what’s worth picking up in a dungeon.
- Imperial Septims won’t be found in places where it wouldn’t make sense. You’ll find foreign or ancient coins in their place. Merchants can exchange these for Septims at various rates. (C.O.I.N. - Coins of Interesting Natures)
Additional Reading
3. Crafting
The hard limit on player level (Lv50) and perk points (55 from leveling, 2 from quests) makes it harder to invest in multiple crafting skills, while at the same time makes it more worthwhile to utilize them all. As you make your mark on Skyrim, don’t be afraid to pour some of your earnings into crafted goods you can not create yourself.
Alchemy
Alchemical goods can be found in almost every settlement at the general store if not a dedicated apothecary. Many of the available potion effects last for a minute or longer and provide percentage-based buffs making them viable at all levels of play. You can always craft your own alchemy potions and poisons as well, combining useful effects to save on Carry Weight. Even without perk investment it’s worth your while to dabble in Alchemy. Ingredients can be found everywhere so there’s nothing to lose!
Smithing
With the exception of the quintessential Mage, most adventurers will get some benefit from Smithing. Higher tier weapons and armor have been removed from the random loot lists so your options for obtaining them are limited to hunting very specific enemies or crafting them yourself. Weapons and armor can be improved (a master at the craft can add +10 base damage/armor with a single ingot) but they will degrade back to their original stats as they’re used in fights (Simple Degradation).
Enchanting
Enchanting will give you the extra oomph you need to go from good to great, no matter your playstyle. Novice enchanters can add noticeable boosts to their gear but it’s a long investment before one can rival the skill of an adept or expert enchanter. Until then, keep an eye out for enchanted gear from merchants. The price tag can be daunting but the benefits of a well picked enchantment are worth it.
Additional Reading
4. Combat
Removing combat related HUD elements alone increases difficulty but keep in mind there are additional changes to combat under the hood. For starters, you’ll be more vulnerable when on the offensive, such as power attacking, drawing a bow, or casting a spell. A poorly timed attack could send you to an early grave so pick your spots carefully.
Tip: Even though health bars were removed, Just Blood will add increasing bloody overlays on enemies as a rough indicator of their Health. Keep an eye out for this subtle effect.
On top of that, enemies have been placed into tiers and you’ll want to build your strength up before tackling some of them. For example, Falmer and Dwemer ruins are best avoided until Lv20 or so, and Daedra until Lv30. Of course, this is just a general rule, but keep that in mind if you run into a figurative wall on your adventures. Dragons in particular are much tougher than they are in the vanilla game, with their levels soaring higher than your Lv50 cap. But you’re Dovahkiin, you’ll figure it out. Learning and paying attention to the resistances of an enemy will be a huge boon in your favor when tackling challenging creatures.
Followers
It sounds like the deck is stacked against you, and in many ways it is. But you don’t have to go it alone. Keep in mind the following changes when bringing a follower along:
- NPCs, including followers, use ammo the same way you do. If your follower uses a bow, make sure to keep them supplied with arrows.
- Followers and summoned/reanimated creatures are affected by the same difficulty modifiers as you, the player. This makes them much less effective at higher levels without compensating with better equipment.
- Followers who run out of Health will be in a “downed” state for up to 2 minutes unless healed by Restoration magic. Enemies will ignore them in this state, redirecting their ire towards you. (STAYDOWN)
- Mercenaries will charge more for their services based on factors such as their level. (Dynamic Mercenary Fees)
Relevant Control Changes
- Lock On:
Middle Mouse Button - Cycle Targets:
Mouse Scroll Wheel Up/Down
Locking on is a convenient way to keep an enemy centered on your screen in first-person or third-person perspective. It’s a completely optional mechanic and offers no mechanical advantage otherwise. You’ll still need to aim at your targets, even when locked on.
Additional Reading
Tips & Tricks
As you can probably infer from the name of this addon, your adventure in Skyrim will have its difficult moments. Here are some tips that I’ve found useful for making the journey in one piece.
Early Game (Level 1 - 10)
Take it Easy and Start Small
You’ve just escaped Helgen by the skin of your teeth. You don’t have much to your name, and you don’t have nifty perks that deliver the pain to your enemies. Take a moment to collect yourself in town. Craft a bit and make a little money to get yourself started. The Skyrim Uncapper is configured to give less character exp for your crafting skills, so there’s no need to worry about overleveling yourself out of the gate. There will be plenty of time to delve into dungeons later. Make sure you’re properly equipped now.
Stay in Range of Whiterun
The urge to explore is strong but try to fight it off in the early game. There is plenty to do in Whiterun Hold once you’ve reached Riverwood, and that content should get you to Level 10 without too many hitches. A Missives board can be found in Whiterun if you need additional tasks. Bleak Falls Barrow can be handled easily by Level 5, though you may want to wait until you’re in the Level 10-15 range before tackling Dragon Rising. Also, buy Breezehome. All of the other homes are more expensive and you’ll need someplace reliable to store your valuables until you can afford them.
Bring a Light
The interior lighting is changed so that light comes from visible, reasonable sources. Torches, candles, windows, etc. and so on. This can make certain areas, such as dungeons, quite dark at times. Carry a source of light with you (such as a torch) so that you don’t find yourself lost in the shadows.
Mid Game (Level 10 - 30)
Find a Follower
If you haven’t already, consider choosing someone to accompany you on your adventures. Ideally they should complement your skill set. If you’re a frontliner, consider a follower good at archery (supply them with arrows!) or magic. Or vice versa if you like to attack from range. Just remember to provide them with quality equipment as their usefulness will plummet if they can’t keep up in fights.
Buy a Horse
Okay, now forget what I just said about staying local. It’s time to explore and get into the thick of it! Time passes fast on the overworld so unless you want to spend all of daylight traveling from Point A to Point B, invest in a horse to shorten your travel times. And if you’re really going far I recommend making use of the carriages from time to time. Since your carry weight (and that of your follower) is halved, horses are also the best way to move a lot of supplies from one place to another. (Press H while looking at the horse to use its saddlebags.)
Join a Faction
Go find yourself a faction (i.e. The Companions) that suits your character and sign up. Their quests will support the skills you’re looking to improve. As you progress through the tier, also consider signing up for the Stormcloaks or the Imperial Legion if you have a stake in the civil war. Their quests are less focused but they’ll provide plenty of targets to practice on for more experience.
Late Game (Level 30 - 50)
Spend Your Septims
At this point you probably have a hole burning in your pocket from a pile of extra septims. Spend it! You get 5 training opportunities per level, use your gold to bump skills towards a perk you desperately need. Or buy high quality equipment that just isn’t appearing for you in boss chests. Don’t hoard your wealth like the dragons you’re meant to kill; put your money to good use.
Utilize Crafting
I can’t stress this enough. In the late game you might deal with areas that are scaled above your Level 50 limit, some at that point before you even reach the cap. You’ll want every advantage you can get to bridge the gap and most of those advantages are obtained through crafting. If you ignored this early on, now’s a good time to reconsider it. If on Master or Legendary difficulty, you might even need to make different equipment sets for different types of enemies.
And Draughts of Fate Unwound
Combining the previous two tips into one, don’t be afraid to use your excess cash on Draughts of Fate Unwound from apothecaries. These will refund all of your perk points, allowing you to redistribute them in ways that are more useful to your current goals. Can’t find the highest tier gear? Use a draught and craft it yourself. Already crafted everything you need and no longer want the crafting perks? Use a draught and spend those points on other skills. (For this reason it’s not a bad idea to dabble in all 3 crafting skills regardless of your build as you play.)