[RELz] Economics of Skyrim

[Thomas Kaira]

Economics of Skyrim

Current Version: v0.1.5β

Download at Steam Workshop

Download at Skyrim Nexus

I'm sure everyone has run into this one at some point and been a bit annoyed by it: every merchant takes their products for sale from the same generic loot pools meaning that after factoring out random variation, every merchant in this game has exactly the same stocks.

Why? Shouldn't cities in this game have some form of variation in what they sell? You know, to add a bit of character?

That's where this mod steps in.

Primary Features

-Regional Economy-

Globally:

- All merchants have been given some more gold so to make it a less tedious process to offload your dungeon spoils.

- General merchants will no longer be a one-stop shop for all your adventuring needs. They will instead be geared towards selling food, books, clothing (why do none of the merchants in this game sell clothes?!), jewelry, and odds and ends.

- Alchemy shops stock regional ingredients much more often and in much higher quantities along with some ingredients that are imported from other areas of Skyrim, though these will not always be available and stocks will not be guaranteed. Rare ingredients will have a chance to be stocked by any city-dwelling alchemist, but that chance is lower and you won't find as many available.

- Blacksmiths sell weapons and armor based on what is available to them in their specific region. There will be an occasional, though very slight, chance for rare items to be in stock, though you will need to have played the game for some time before you can actually see them (for the sake of balance).

- Innkeepers serve food based off of a regional menu. This menu are strictly adhered to, as they do need to keep costs down. Buying local product is a good way to save some coin. The inns found in major cities serve a wide range of foods along with a selection of desserts, whereas inns and taverns found in the more rural areas of Skyrim tend to operate on a more rigid "this is today's dinner" style.

- Merchant stocks are un-leveled. If you have the coin, you've got the product. Plain and simple. Instead, what is available for you to purchase depends on where in Skyrim you are shopping. Whiterun and Riften, for instance, now have vastly different goods for sale.

- The vast majority of Skyrim's merchants no longer sell magic items. This is done to A: keep with the game lore better that Skyrim is relatively superstiscious of magic and B: for the sake of my own sanity (repricing thousands of enchanted items by hand is not something I have any interest in doing). If you are shopping for spells and soul gems, your best bet is to visit your local court mage or take a carriage to Winterhold.

- You will have to pay extra for non-local goods than for local product to make up for shipping costs.

- If you are looking for goods that may not be entirely from legitimate sources, Khajiit Caravans should have what you need. They are also the only merchants who are openly willing to sell you lockpicks. Also, try the fondue, mages love the stuff!

- Orcish gear is available for cheaper prices in the various Orc Strongholds in Skyrim. Of course, actually being allowed to buy it is something you'll need to figure out for yourself.

Whiterun: Major resources: Leather, Iron, and Corundum (copper), meat and game.

- Given its central location, there is a chance of finding a little bit of everything here, but stocks will still be heavily geared towards what is found out in the plains. Lots of meat and hides, as well as plentiful iron.

- This means alchemists stock a lot of tundra-specific ingredients, but there is still plenty of imported ingredients for sale.

- General merchants are geared towards the sale of meat and vegetables, as well as working class clothing. Goods are geared towards a more middle-class standard of living.

- Blacksmiths sell a lot of leather product (due to the plentiful game hunting in the tundra) as well as a fair bit of iron and steel. There will be a higher chance than other areas to see other armor and weapon types in town given, such as Dwemer or Elven. Iron and Corundum is available plentifully.

- The Drunken Huntsman is geared towards selling hunting quality bows and arrows. They will not stock higher grades, as they are not in the business of combat archery.

- Eorlund Gray-Mane now exclusively sells Skyforge Steel weapons and armor, as well as any special gear only open to the Companions.

- Market merchants: meat stall will sell plenty of fresh meats, vegetable stall will sell vegetables and bread, and the Gray-Mane stand will sell basic silver jewelery.

- Innkeepers will sell lots of meat steaks including venison, beef, and occasionally mammoth. Vegetable stews are also popular fare.

- In short, Whiterun is an excellent city for newer characters to get geared up learn the lay of the land, as goods and services are plentiful in this central city of Skyrim.

Markarth: Major resources: Dwemer metal, silver, and gold.

- As Markarth is built in an old Dwemer city, plenty of Dwemer metal means plenty of Dwemer goods. Silver and Gold is available in great supply, as well, but little animal hides.

- Alchemists stock Reach-specific ingredients, such as Juniper Berries , as well as ingredients commonly found in Dwemer ruins (like Falmer Ears and Chaurus Eggs).

- General merchants have plenty of Dwemer utensils to sell, as well as foods that favor rocky environments. Clothing is geared towards mining with a bit of finery here and there. And lots of jewelery. Markarth is also (almost) the only place in Skyrim you can find raw gemstones for sale.

- Blacksmiths commonly stock Dwemer goods in Markarth, as well as silver weapons. Dwemer metal scraps and silver can be purchased as ore.

- Innkeepers sell hearty stews, a fair bit of goat and plenty of starch. Leafier vegetables are not often found fresh, as the Reach makes for very poor farmland.

Riften: Major resources: Ebony and Malachite, wood, vegetables.

- Riften's proximity to Morrowind makes it much easier to obtain raw Ebony and Glass than most other places. You will see Ebony more often than Glass here.

- Alchemists have Rift-specific ingredients for sale, so forest mushrooms and bird eggs can be found plentifully. River fish, as well, due to the presence of plentiful lakes.

- Due to heavy forests, farming is difficult in the Rift, so foods are favored towards items that can be more easily foraged. That being said, farm space has been cleared, and the ground is very fertile, so fresh fruits are plentiful.

- General merchants sell lots of wood-based products in Riften, though rarely anything valuable due to the presence of the Thieves Guild.

- Blacksmiths will stock Ebony and Glass items more often in Riften, and ingots of Ebony and Malachite are also available, though expensive and in short supply.

- Innkeepers favor Maven Black-Briar's mead in the Rift, as well as hearty stews due to the Rift's high elevation compared to the rest of Skyrim.

Solitude: Major resources: Moonstone and Quicksilver, fish.

- As the Imperial capital, Thalmor influence is very strong in Solitude, so you will often come across Elven weaponry and armor.

- A fairly rich town, Solitude has more finery available for sale than most other provinces.

- Fish is very common to see on the plate. Vegetables are a bit more difficult due to how far north Solitude is, and the rocky environment prevents good farming.

- General Merchants sell finer wares than other places in Solitude. Clothing is geared towards upper-class, and plenty of fish. Horker can also be found occasionally.

- Alchemists specialize in hardy plant life found far to the north. As the Thalmor are magically inclined, rarer ingredients can be found more commonly in Solitude.

- Blacksmiths often have Elven gear for sale, as well as Quicksilver and Moonstone. You cannot buy iron and steel at all here, they need it for Legion equipment.

- Fletchers are geared toward Combat archery, due to the military presence in the city. Higher quality bows and arrows can be purchased here.

Windhelm: Major resources: Malachite and Ebony from Morrowind, fish, leather.

- Fish is the dominant protein in Windhelm. Little farmland is available, but what can be used is extremely fertile due to the volcanic presence, making for a decent supply of vegetables.

- Alchemists stock the local flora, as well as river-caught fish since two rivers run through the Hold. Giant toes and Ice Wraith teeth can be found more often, too, as Nord tradition runs very deeply through the city (slaying a giant or an ice wraith is a Rite of Passage in Nordic culture).

- Mammoth is found more often here than other places due to bolder hunters.

- Light Armor is the preference of Windhelm, and thanks to its close proximity to Morrowind, has taken a liking to Glass equipment. Glass and some Ebony can be found more easily here than other Holds, specifically Glass thanks to the mines in Kynesgrove.

- Foods are very Nordic, so heavy on roasted meat and stew, and plenty of ale and mead.

Small holds:

Falkreath - Plenty of wood and birds means plenty of arrows from fletchers.

Morthal - Marshy ingredients are plentifully sold, but selections are limited here due to the largely isolated community and resource-poor surroundings.

Dawnstar - A small trade hub in the far northern reaches, a fairly good selection of non-local goods is often found here.

Winterhold - This is the place to go if you want magical gear. Spell tomes, scrolls, and robes can be bought for cheap and are readily available in Winterhold.

-Armor Sets-

- It is now possible to buy an entire set of armor in one fell swoop. If you see a merchant has "XXX Armor Set" in stock, if you buy that item, every piece of that armor (including the shield, if applicable) will be added to your inventory.

- Buying these full sets is slightly cheaper than buying the armor in individual pieces where the armor in question is regularly forged, and it is also the only way to buy armor if the materials to make it are not present in a particular region.

-Regional Pricing-

- Items that are not available plentifully in a specific Hold are sold at inflated prices. If you wish to save your coin, your best bet would be to buy items readily available in the area. Prices fluctuate depending on region.

- Once a price-inflated item is sold to the player, the added value is lost, so make very sure you are buying what you need before agreeing to the purchase.

-Fence Perk Extra Benefits-

- Lockpicks are no longer ten to the Septim at general stores. They are quite unwilling to provide their shoppers with a means to break into their stores. Bad for business.

- However, they might be more willing if your character is an accomplished Fencer. You might also start seeing a bit of... special goods, too.

- And if you are in desperate need, try speaking to some of the shadier merchants. They might be able to fix you up.

Installation

- If you are using Steam Workshop, the mod will be installed automatically for you, simply keep the Economics of Skyrim.BSA and Economics of Skyrim.ESP files in your Data folder, activate the mod in the Launcher, and away you go!

- If you are using Nexus Mod Manager, the manager should be able to easily handle the installation process, as there is nothing fancy about the mod's packaging.

- If you are using Wrye BAIN, again, there is nothing special about the packaging, so you can just stick the archive into your Installers folder, Install it, and head off to play.

- It is highly recommended you run BOSS to insure an ideal load order for your mods.

Uninstallation

- Uncheck Economics of Skyrim.ESP, and uninstall via your installation utility.

- Please note that the scripts this mod adds to the game are, for all means and purposes, permanent. Any aftermarket tweaks to the scripting are not guaranteed to work because once the script is in your save, it is there, as-is, for good. This is an issue with the core game (and an ugly one at that), so there is nothing I can do to prevent any issues that may crop up due to this. Please be responsible in your usage of this mod, because any issues that occur due to improper management of saves will NOT be supported.

Compatibility

- This mod will be incompatible with any other mod that directly alters the mechant containers found throughout the game either to add or remove items.

- However, this mod IS compatible with any mods that add items to merchant containers indirectly through scripting (such as Imp's More Complex Needs).

- Mods that make direct alterations to the stats of weapons and armor will override the value changes this mod makes to them. Indirect changes through script (such as with Duke Patrick's combat mods) are still compatible, though.

- There should be no compatibility problems with mods outside of those two bullets above.

Known Issues

- Prices for pre-enchanted items currently do not conform with the prices set for their corresponding base weapons and armor. This is because I really can't be bothered to go through and change the values of literally hundreds (perhaps over a thousand) objects by hand, that would take way too long. This will be fixed when I gain the ability to modify item values dynamically.

- Selling items to merchants may result in duplicated items showing up in the merchant's inventory (one high-priced, one low-priced. This issue is caused by the method currently being used to increase item prices in certain areas in lieu of scripting item value alterations (which I can't do right now). If you find any duplicated items already present in a merchant's inventory, please report it so I can fix it. If the item duplicate is of an item you sold to the merchant, there is, unfortunately, nothing I can do about those (I tried). Just wait for the merchant's inventory to reset and they should go away.

Licensing/Legal

- You are free to alter, expand on, or destroy this mod in any way you see fit. If you wish to share your work, however, you MUST contact me and obtain my explicit permission before doing so. Any instances of severe mod destruction will not be eligible for technical support until restored to a functional state.

- Any works that are found to be in breach of the above, the author will receive a single polite request from me to remove it from wherever it is being hosted (from all sites it is being hosted on). Failure to respond within 48 hours will result in more direct action being taken.

- DO NOT upload this mod to any site other than those I have personally uploaded it to without my express permission given. Any user or site found in violation of this will be considered to be stealing intellectual property and will be treated as such. Just because this mod is free does not mean that gives you free reign over what you can do with it. My work, my rules.

- If I fail to respond to your requests to expand or alter this mod within 30 days, you may consider yourself as having my approval to do as you wish, but please note that upload location restrictions still stand.

[Thomas Kaira]

On a side note, any and all feedback about balancing is welcomed and needed.

[Thomas Kaira]

Okay... I guess the game doesn't like it much when you re-use a script a bunch of times. Symptoms include sporadic (though not 100% guaranteed, oddly) CTDs on startup.If I am right and my testing holds up, I will be releasing an update to fix this ASAP.

[Ysne58]

It is possible that sporadic random ctd's are contributed to by your mod. I haven't seen it happening any more often after installing your mod than before installing.Since that hasn't happened while selling, buying visiting shopkeepers, I didn't associate it with your mod either.

[Arthmoor]

People are dumb. They'll assume your mod is to blame for all of their problems even if they say the game crashed in a dungeon 500 miles from the nearest thing you touched.

[Thomas Kaira]

People are dumb. They'll assume your mod is to blame for all of their problems even if they say the game crashed in a dungeon 500 miles from the nearest thing you touched.

Well, this was happening on my end and I know I'm not dumb, since I did actually fix it. :tongue: In this case, it seems like I was the only one having a problem with it, since no one reported an increase on CTDs-on-startup at all.I am starting to really hate how stupidly random this new scripting engine is. First this, and now I have people reporting incompatibilities with IMCN (which are false) when in reality, IMCN's menu scripts are lagging for whatever reason (not me, all my scripts get paused in menu mode).

[Arthmoor]

Oh no, the acronym game begins! (IMCN being?)I'm also hating how stupidly random things are. People are starting to report that version 1.2 of Live Another Life is giving the "you don't want to sleep" message when clicking the bed even after they've chosen a start option. Which of course doesn't happen for me, so how can I fix it? Ugh.

[Ysne58]

Oh no' date=' the acronym game begins! (IMCN being?)

I'm also hating how stupidly random things are. People are starting to report that version 1.2 of Live Another Life is giving the "you don't want to sleep" message when clicking the bed even after they've chosen a start option. Which of course doesn't happen for me, so how can I fix it? Ugh.[/quote']Imps more complex needsAnd I really hope no one asks you how to do a clean save TK

[AndalayBay]

TK, how do you do a clean save? *flees*

[Thomas Kaira]

[AndalayBay]

You need Ama's Amafairun emote here. :tongue:

[Thomas Kaira]

Okay, so if there are no objections, I think v0.1.5 of this mod is ready to go public. I've already updated the Steam Workshop file and am getting ready to upload to Nexus, and I'll be unhiding them once I am ready. Files are up and open at Dark Creations and TES Alliance right now because those sites get less traffic.

[Arthmoor]

Yep, no further problems with the 0.15 file. I'd say go for it.

[AndalayBay]

Sorry I couldn't help test. Went to bed at 6am but didn't get up until 3pm! My sleep pattern is a mess right now. AmaXae syndrome indeed. :lol:I'll test the new one anyway, but hopefully everything is sorted now.

[Thomas Kaira]

*adamantly ignoring all compatibility patch requests for this mod right now.*I'm using hackish scripting to work the mod right now, I have no intention of keeping it, and so I will not provide compatibility support for it.Any and all compatibility requests can wait until the obligatory SKSE release, when a good deal of those compatibility problems (not even problems, just item names not matching up) should take care of themselves.And some wonderful news from SKSE, it would appear that the GetValue function I desperately need is under active development. If SetValue comes along with it, then we can say good-bye to the above once SKSE hits the shelves.

[Ysne58]

Yep, you need to ignore all those patch requests.

[Arthmoor]

I haven't even seen the requests and would also tell you to ignore them. For one, because I doubt they're necessary. For another, because there's no decent tool set available yet to clean up the mess the patching process will make.

[Thomas Kaira]

Right, so I've decided to continue updating this mod for now and say fuck it to compatibility for now. There are things that need to be done, and if that means people won't be able to use it alongside primary needs mods until Wrye Bash gets updated, so be it.I've tried everything else I could to keep these merchants from selling things they aren't supposed to, so the only option I have left is Keywords, which means either my mod will cause primary needs mods to lose the effects they give to food, or my keyword changes will be removed and merchants will start selling crap I don't want them to.

[Arthmoor]

People can simply be patient or go without. At least all you need is some work on Bash to be done

[Thomas Kaira]

True, once we have the ability to merge Keywords in Bash, that problem will go away very fast.Anyways, once I removed IMCN from the equation, my Keyword alterations did the trick.

[Ysne58]

True' date=' once we have the ability to merge Keywords in Bash, that problem will go away very fast.

Anyways, once I removed IMCN from the equation, my Keyword alterations did the trick.[/quote']Let me know when you have a new version for testing. As I said in the DC thread, I will just make sure this loads after Baratan's mod. I have a feeling that any incompatabilities aren't going to bother me all that much.

[Thomas Kaira]

Someone who I am pretty sure has no clue about how leveled lists work has just said he won't use my mod because I DIDN'T edit the vanilla leveled lists. Why would I even think about using them (save for a few very specific cases)? They are completely generic and the exact point of this mod is to make them NOT that. Not to mention all the compatibility problems I would open my mod to by editing those lists. This way allows me to change the vanilla merchants and allow mod-added merchants unaware of the mod to co-exist peacefully alongside, because I DIDN'T edit those lists.

[Ysne58]

Someone who I am pretty sure has no clue about how leveled lists work has just said he won't use my mod because I DIDN'T edit the vanilla leveled lists.

Why would I even think about using them (save for a few very specific cases)? They are completely generic and the exact point of this mod is to make them NOT that. Not to mention all the compatibility problems I would open my mod to by editing those lists. This way allows me to change the vanilla merchants and allow mod-added merchants unaware of the mod to co-exist peacefully alongside' date=' because I DIDN'T edit those lists.[/quote']Another one for the dumb user comments thread over on Nexus. :headbang:

[Arthmoor]

There's one in every crowd. Or, with Steam, hundreds in every crowd.

[Thomas Kaira]

By the way, did I mention how much I hate it when the CK decides to crap out on me and no longer allow me to edit base objects?This must be the fourth time I've had to restart the damn thing because of that. :headbang: