I know, but that would encourage the use of the service transports (boats, mages guild transports, etc.), it would only make getting to a city that has said services easier.

That is true, but then what is the point of giving a "general" location if your going to send them within 20 meters? That is so close to the target you might as well just send them right to it since its not going to require any extra exploration. Now, if you said "Its South of town somewhere..." THAT would be giving a general idea of where a destination is, and that could lead to a lot of frustration.

Seems like you're the only one that sounds reasonable at all here. Everyone else seems to think my suggestion is to make it impossible to travel between two places without taking 40 minutes every time. I like your idea regarding the ability to fast-travel if you're already reasonably close to your end destination.

Ahh, I see. I'm starting to like this idea. I don't think it should be a skill though.

The reason I am proposing it be a skill is so that a player that spends a great deal of time exploring will be given a reward equivalent to how much they explore.

I don't know why we have to put up artificial barriers. Grinding is not fun just for the sake of adding another stat. If you don't want to fast travel just don't use it. If I have discovered the place I just want to go back and forth as quick as I please.

Nope.

You seem to think that grinding would be the only way to increase this skill. You do understand that some players LIKE exploring for exploration's sake, right? Just like it's possible to level in an RPG without just grinding. It's about balance: You can reward explorers according to the amount of exploring they do without actually removing anything from other players.

@BoSStealthAgent:
It sure seemed like it, since you were complaining about the idea of going 20 times, not about the idea of traveling the same way more than just once. It's just unreasonable to be able to INSTANTLY TRAVEL across a country right to the front of an insignificant cave you went to ONCE just because you've been there once before.

This.

Now that I think about it, I don't think my proposed method would work so much as a skill, I can't find any way that would level up the skill

Increasing the radius. You could use fast travel from greater distances, and the more you find maps or new locations the further you can fast travel.

Well, yes, but that's not what I mean. I mean, how would you go about increasing your skill? Just fast traveling? That would encourage nothing but grinding, people just fast traveling between two points until they are high enough level.

... Perhaps a fast travel cool-down timer to avoid spamming fast travels?

Basically you find maps laying around that increase your navigation skill, or you travel to new locations. Both increase your Navigation skill.

I think all of this would all turn out to be down right frustrating and annoying.

I have a question. How do you like Morrowind's system of travel?

The reward for extra exploring is finding new areas and finding new loot. If I fast travel I will not find any new areas and I have already looted the areas I am traveling back and forth. The game already has a reward built in. It does not need a number to increase to show how much you have explored.

Numbers don't matter, mindless repetition without reason aside from temporarily inhibiting somthing already tried and generally disliked does. There is no need to be quite so hostile he just has a different opinion man.

@DarkM, I still don't see what the need for fast travel is. With a transportation system and mark/recall along with intervention spells getting from most point A's to most point B's would be quick and primarily painless. Then again that is assuming they damn near duplicate Morrowind's system which doesn't necessarily mean it will work in Skyrim. I personally would be more than content with a few interlinked towns and cities (through giant fleas or somthing ^.-) and no quick traveling outside from that, but as long as Skyrim doesn't get designed around people using fast travel like Oblivion did I am happy.

@ Mal Content, Why not just walk/run there and avoid people manually or fight them manually?

Either that or really useful and good


I'd rather not take a gamble. I might have to sit down and think for a couple hours on how to perfect a method of fast traveling but restricting it to a point to where you're encouraged to use services to travel larger distances.

I'll post what I can think up if this thread isn't locked by then. There are so many fast travel threads it's not even funny xD lol

This basically sums up everything.

I've always felt that if they added a chance for random encounters while fast traveling to your destination, it would be awesome. As it works now, you can travel from Anvil to Cheydinhal with no chance of anything possibly going wrong, it's actually kind of over powered. How cool would it be though if halfway to Kvatch you were attacked by some bandits or whatever and dropped out of fast travel. Wouldn't even have to be enemies, maybe you run into an Imperial patrol or something. You could even work your idea for a navigation skill into it, high navigation could lower your chance of random encounters.

I have a better way I think of rewarding the player for exploring.

What they should do is an overhaul that addresses many facets of the travel system, and the maps in general. Maps like http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/6812/208206-black_marsh_map_oblivion_large.jpg look good in the game, and they aren't terribly time consuming to put out. Considering that, I say they make a ton of the maps and integrate them into the game world.

I'd firstly suggest that you'd have to buy all the maps you were going to use, as well as the compass. They had a wet compass in Redguard, so we know they can be items. Next, you'd need to buy the map or get the guide to the town if you wanted anything zoomed in. Buildings wouldn't have mini-maps or anything, they weren't tourist friendly. For more detailed maps of places outside the city, you'd have to talk up scouts and local mapmakers to get a map of the smaller piece of terrain, and to put landmarks and locations on there. As always, you can either pay for information about the area, or you can work for it with exploration.

Using the maps this way, you can also use them to fast travel. The map interface should be http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/fcry2mapbig.jpg so you don't have to be in a menu to operate. The animation to bring those out looked alright too.

To fast travel with them, you'll need to be able to navagate the paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks. The more you know, the better you'll be able to fast travel. The Outdoorsman skill will let you be better at dead reckoning and fast travel off the roads, while better Equestrianism skill will let you evade fast travel traps along the way.

When you get a quest from someone, they'll point to where it is on your most relevant map and you'll mark it. None of that quest marker business, so you can't mark people with it. Only locations.

As a standard, many maps need to be wrong, or just flat out lies. In this time, the boundaries are only somewhat agreed upon. Disputes over borders are still a common thing, and maps are one of the best ways to lay claim to something. Each noble would likely have his own type of map for his or her interests, and make their subjects see it their way. There shouldn't really be an official map of what is what in the world, and the overall map needs to look quite a bit http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/457/26326036.jpg. It shows the major cities, a couple major roads, and the basic outlines of topography, but it's a pretty sparse map.

Then, maps by membership. Chances are that they aren't going to map every wayshrine of Arkay on a merchant's travel map, so you'd have to talk to the right people. Find someone in the town who worships Arkay, and don't forget that the society is henotheistic. Believing in Mara doesn't mean you give a crap about Kynareth. Getting maps as rewards again will be a great thing.

Lastly, you can sell locations to people. If you find an unmarked trade route, you can sell that info to some bandits. If you find out where the Baron's summer getaway house is, you can tell his enemies, or for a lesser price the Thieves guild. The guild might resell the info to the Baron's enemies, and clean house once they're through with the place. You guys might remember in Daggerfall being able to choose how you finish quests by taking evidence to someone related to the quest for a different outcome. There was a time Helseth was having you deliver a message for him, but you could take it to Barenziah for her approval and reward. You'll also remember revealing the mine to the elf in Vivic city in Morrowind, and that he gave you a daedric weapon for it. That's the kind of deals you should be able to work out. It's up to you to find and sell what they might be interested in.

yes

I think that people simply did not like your idea. Nothing wrong with that, on your side or on the community. I believe this comes from the fact (impression?) that you have a specific character with a specific gameplay in mind, and ppl have not shared your preference. I personally, would not vote for another skill that I would never use, unless I played in a specific way.

Actually, I just voted 'yes' on a poll about fast-travel available just because I know there are people who want it. Even though I could care a less (I'd simply not use it).

Morrowind fast travel no silly method and no oblivion fast travel thats it

Oblivion had a big map...? What, did they upgrade it from the tiny few single-digit square miles in some patch I missed?