I was just screwing around with the console having 10 giant Lord Harkons fight 20 Werewolves (the Werewolves won by far) and I noticed a line in the console that said something like DLC1radiantdisguisedvampirelord 25.00.

If it really is set at 25% I would say that is much too high considering how often a player may go near or into a settlement.

EDIT: This 25% chance to trigger also happens when you leave a building. So if you go into Whiterun, go into the general goods shop, then go into your house that is 3 times it can trigger at 25%.

25% isn't THAT bad..people assume its like a 99.9% chance.

lol

It's not like the enemies are hard to kill... I have yet to lose an NPC beyond a City Guard, and they're a dime-a-dozen.

Only NPC I lost was Adrienne Avennici on my WW character, I came outta Breezehome and turned and noticed an ash pile and a courier running up and saying I aquired an inheritance.

Nobody said they were. They outscale the guards and townsfolk quite rapidly though. Getting a vampire attack in the high levels results in a near instant wipe out of anyone nearby.

Having to save/reload all the time to avoid NPC deaths is ridiculous.

Main problem is that they are mixed in an mob of guards and weak town npc.

Anyway think this will solve most of the problem http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/21615

This I definitely had a problem with!!

I didn't have an issue with too many vampires, but this.


Belethor goes in bare knuckling a high level vampire, and the guards surround him in a way trying to kill the vamp that I can't hit any of the targets. So what happens? I hit a guard, get a bounty, all of whiterun tries to kill me while the vamp is killing them (great AI right?) and I kill the vamp and go to jail.

Not really a static truth there.

My character is level 41 and my NPC's in the towns I visit routinely wipe out Vampire attackers with minimal fuss. One of my favorites is watching that War-Bear fella from Whiterun head-butting a Master Vampire into submission.

And at level 41, I can grease a Master Vampire with very little effort, which makes me think (purely in my opinion) that the people having the most problems are trying to watch the fight against the Vampire attackers instead of getting in there and getting their hands dirty.

My opinion is based upon my experiences, and that even when enemies are scaled to my level, the NPC's have very little trouble suppressing any Vampire attacks. Even when they start bringing Gargoyles into the fray, the attackers don't last very long. Especially since I'm diving right into the fray to lend a lethal helping hand.

How is a 77 health NPC "headbutting into submission" a 1000+ health vampire?

The fact is at higher levels, even 30 would be high in this case, these attackers will one shot kill most townsfolk.

Don't think you get charged if you hit somebody during an battle, has done it multiple times, even shopkeepers are smarter than in Oblivion if you pick up minor items by accident they just take them back. However if you kill somebody you will probably get problems.

If you use powerful ranged attacks you has to be careful.

Pretty much this, as all stupid npc start attacking the vampire they will be killed fast, yes the city guard run in and will draw agro after some time but the vampire can easy kill one or two npc before this.
Simplest option would be to make town npc more cowardly.

25%, that's low I was thinking it was more at 50%. It's still a problem though due to stupid AI, no armor and merchants having Finite gold. Easily fixable by having key people be essential except towards the player, meaning a Master Vamp can't kill Adrienne but I can if I choose, hopefully with some consequences such as higher prices from her husband towards me.

1 in 4 chance is insane especially when it is leaving a building also! They have limited spawn locations also meaning if you leave a building too far away from the spawn to react, your NPC's become vampire fodder...

QFT. Also, I wonder why it's so hard to understand that vampires scale so "NPC can really take care of themselves" is true only till the player stays below 40 (and even then, sometimes, it's not possible to save a weak NPC on the other side of a town cell).

What I don't understand (Lore-wise) is why the Jarls didn't impose a curfew from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Dusk_Till_Dawn ( ), as soon as the vamp attacks in the cities started and until word gets out that you have beaten them.

As far as the game is concerned, as others have noticed most vamp attacks occur near gates (eg in Whiterun) where usually lots of guards hang out. Also, in my game I have finished the Civil War and now besides the regular guards there are also Stormcloaks patrolling the streets which means that vamps get overwhelmed quite fast. I'm not sure this is supposed to happen or if it's bug though.

Edit: Just checked the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Whiterun_Guard and after the Civil War the guards are supposed to be replaced by Stormcloaks, so my case where both exist is definitely a (beneficial) bug. Perhaps, this explains why some people (me included) never have problems with the vamp attacks?

haha I got charged...

I think I shot one with a crossbow and everyone got mad.

Mainly the guards but once the vampires were dead the whole town wanted me dead. While it was alive the guards wouldn't attack the vampire only me.

With my Level 68 guy playing on Master difficulty, Riften townfolk were dying like crazy!
I lost Balimund the smith; Bersi the Pawned Prawn guy; Ariel; and Grelka; plus a guy I can't remember who I rescued once, who now hangs around Riften - he died too.
Plus lots of dead Imperial guards...
Thank goodness I never had any attacks in Whiterun, where I was hanging out instead (trying to avoid Riften, heheh).
Terrible carnage though! Interesting to note that Bersi's wife Drifa steps right in and in his absence, runs the Pawned Prawn like usual.
Regards

There is no way it's 25%, that's utter rubbish.

I've had around 4-5 attacks in my hours of dawnguard, I've entered a town a hell of a lot more than 20 times.

Fast traveling seems key, if you don't fast travel (me) you simply don't get attacked, it's incredibly rare.

The same seems to apply for dragon attacks as well. Whenever I fast travel to Winterhold there's always a dragon (=source of dragon scales/bones) waiting for me

Or you have been extremely lucky where others have not and I wouldn't just dismiss it without researching it yourself. One could make themselves look rather foolish doing so.

Also If it is a % chance. How hard is it just to implement something to change it to a different percentage? For example, have a guard or vampire (depending on who you join) stationed near each city/town with dialogue options such as..

What would you have us do? (vampire/dawnguard)

Launch full scale attack/Take a break (75/100% attacks happen)
Raid for Cattle/Keepwatch (25%)
Bide time/Go on full alert! (0%)

That would keep everyone happy.

100% for the first attack after "Awakening"; 5% for all subsequent attacks, unless you've shot out the sun; then it's 25%

Attacks can only occur once a day, and will occur either if the percentages line up (see above), or it's been 20 days without an attack. They only occur between the hours of 9 PM and 5 AM.

The attacks begin at level 8, and they will stop once Harkon is defeated; they consist of either a vampire boss and two thralls (one melee, one missile), or a vampire boss and two death hounds.

These attacks occur only in habitations; some locations have multiple habitations which may result in more frequent attacks (such as the road to Whiterun, passing the Honningbrew Meadery and numerous farms).

Fast travel can take days to complete, thus giving the illusion that attacks are occuring exceptionally frequently.

***

The 25% chance you're reading is for the spawning of a vampiric traveler clad in black robes. He's docile unless you get close, wherupon he'll shout "Die, Dawnguard!" and attack. Scripting comments indicate he was at one point going to transform into a vampire lord, but in the final game, he does not.

It seems that he doesn't appear if you side with the Volkihar instead.

Thank you very much. Finally some in-depth info as it written in the scripting. The weird thing now is why are players saying they happen during the daytime and that killing Harkon doesn't stop them? Are they supposed to stop completely once he has been defeated or are there other conditions that can make the attacks carry on? Stuff like blocking out the sun?

EDIT: And by habitations, you mean cells?

^This.

I'm just saying that I saw it happen.

I'm on a 360 or I would have found a way to record/photograph it, but he headbutted it into the afterlife.

And this is the sort of thing I run into regularly. So, purely IMO, I don't think that they're a problem. I read the other posts, and I can see where there'd be an issue, but for me it's not so much.

Global DLC1Harkon dead must be at 0; it is set to 1 at the end of "Kindred Judgement". So the attacks should cease if Harkon is killed.

However, blotting out the sun can cause attacks that ignore the time of day.

Habitation meaning any location with the keyword "LocTypeHabitation"; usually, any area populated by NPCs, including settlements and farms.

The change location event may be triggered by going in and out of buildings, but the attacks never occur more than once a day, unless you've the bad luck of having an attack cross midnight.