When does the game choose between Hired Muscle or Trouble in Skyrim?

[Skaidan]

Hello everyone 

I am wondering when exactly does the game choose between the Hired Muscle or Trouble in Skyrim quests from Farkas once you join the Companions. From the testing I've done, it seems the quest you'll be getting is already locked by the time you start the encounter with the Giant in Pelagia Farm (or, if you skip that part, when you speak with Kodlak for the first time). At this point, it seems you will always get the same quest type and even the same objective (person to beat/dungeon to clear). I can see in the Creation Kit that this quest (CR04) is related to the quest Take Up Arms (C00), which has the Start Game Enabled variable checked. In the quest aliases of this quest, I can see there are references to later Companions quests, such as those involving the Glenmoril Witches and even Ysgramor's Tomb.

Could it be that the game makes the decision on whether to give you Hired Muscle (CR04) or Trouble in Skyrim (CR05) at game start?

Also, another question I have: can you even do Hired Muscle if it is not your first Companions radiant quest?

By the way, I am using the latest version of USSEP (v4.2.4b) and no quest mods.

[Adella]

I should like to raise a similar issue of choices being ‘locked in’ at the start.

In my scenario, I found that when I go with Ralof into the Helgen Keep at the start, as I go through the door I hear the drum beat notification of a level up and see my Sneak skill rises.  When Ralof cuts my binds I can access my skills page and I see every skill has risen by.....oddly...0.9  Yes 9/10th of a rise. Plus Sneak being a bit more due to its strange rise as I came inside.  The smallest activity in anything then grants the full point in the relevant skill.

However not every fresh re-start does this...only about four out of every five.  So sometimes I can do everything the same...enter the Keep with Ralof and I get NO sneak rise...and no artificial skill increase...they all read exactly 15 as they should.

So that is what happens.

Now...the bit relevant to this post.  I have saved at various points...stepping off the cart, just after Char creation, after Alduin shows up, inside the tower, in the court yard and just the instant before going into the Keep.  Re-loading at any of these points makes absolutely no difference to getting the un-earned skill rises.  The only thing that allows a different outcome is a full new game restart.

This means the choice in the engine to increase all my skills going through the Keep door....Is baked in right at the game start.

Now to be completely transparent...Yes I run plenty of mods (tho’ nothing involving Helgen) and we are talking XB1S here not PC.  But still....if I do everything exactly the same way, every time in this sequence...Why the difference between skills going up or staying unaffected <Shrug>.

Why does it matter?...because I use BradeM’s Cheat Room to re-set all my skills to zero prior to a play through.  If I do this with all my skills initially at 15 and 9/10ths.....They will not properly go to Zero and I am left with an odd 0.9 of a skill in every one of them which is annoying!

[Uncus]

I never really analyze the game to this sort of depth,I’m just make my char get out of Helgen then lets see what happens kind of player. I make my decisions based on what I think my char would do. It is very interesting seeing what those who do look deep into the game discover.

[LeBurns]

On 1/11/2021 at 3:09 PM, Skaidan said:

 

Also, another question I have: can you even do Hired Muscle if it is not your first Companions radiant quest?

 

Is Hired Muscle the one where they send you to beat someone up?  Seems I generally get that one from the Companions from the start and it's generally to beat up Sinmir.  But I'm fairly certain I had been sent out to beat up others afterwards.  It's been a long time since I milked the Companions radiant quests.