eventually we'll wind up with attacks that cancel each other out. say the next dlc includes random daedra attacks on cities? vampires and daedra duking it out in the city gate.

Do you really need armour for Skeevers?




I had some Horker's spawn inside my fish Hatchery outside my Hjaalmarch house, and now their corpses are cluttering it up. I'm not sure if they are a random attack like bandits and giants, or were placed there in vanilla and conflicted slightly with Hearthfire though...

Why? Character is level 18, I can handle everything else just fine. I can handle most stuff fine...from ambush. The character is designed as a hunter, with stealth, light armour and archery coupled with alchemy for poisons.

But here I am, getting Giants shoved in my face. I can deal with Dragons, although it's not always pretty and usually involves chugging more than one health potion. Again, it's not about 'waaah, I don't want to fight.' I like the combat in Skyrim.

And, again, Bethesda have said 'Play the game you want to play'. Why is that not being held true for the DLC? I CAN'T play the way I want to play, when fast travelling invokes Suddenly Vampire and there are skeevers in my basemant for no good reason. That is not a trend I am happy with. I'm sorry if asking for (how many times have I said this...?) an OPTION to get rid of said annoyances is somehow a personal affront to some people. That's certainly the impression some of the replies have given.

Despite what some people have said, I'm not angry, or 'raging', I'm just disappointed that these things are being forced in a way that doesn't feel fun, that feels artificial and irritating, and detracts from the rest of the DLC. In my opinion *shrug*

It's true. I haven't gotten Dawnguard yet but I can see this Vampire attacks becoming incredibly frustrating. The whole "Play the game you want to play" is kind of ruined by the DLCs, forcing you to prepare and find work-arounds to the constant attacks.

Sorry for the past posts. I read through them, and I wasnt helping in some of my responses, so I apologize for causing you to respond the way you did. That said, help me understand your particular situation. You're a level 18, use light armor, archery, and have poisons. And play on novice right? If a giant attacks, by your house there's plenty of rocks and such to climb. Just climb and fill them with arrows. Poison them if need be. This should work perfectly at your level, and even on adept.

I'm not making fun of your chosen difficulty, but if you're on the lowest difficulty setting, and you're still having trouble killing even a single Giant, then you may want to take a second look at either your character build or your ability to play. One of those is seriously suffering.

I'm no Min/Max player either, in fact I very heavily RP a Dead is Dead character on Master difficulty, and even I can breeze through a Giant in under ten arrows... Skeevers are a joke, and I don't understand the annoyance as they don't do anything except attack when you enter the cellar. They don't destroy property, or anything. If you enter the cellar in Sneak mode, most of the time you can clear out 2 or 3 of them before you're even seen.

But seriously, calm down, bro. It's a $5 DLC, you get to build a house. In the wilderness, away from the protection of the City. There is going to be danger, especially when each house is near a source of danger. Take the Manor in Hjaalmarch, it's only a stones throw away from a Dragon Burial site...

Or is the base problem that maybe you had a very defined idea of what this DLC might contain, and it's simply not made to your specific vision?

I am actually curious. Not poking fun at you, I do wonder about these things because I'd like to offer suggestions that might make your experience with Hearthfire better and more enjoyable.

Accepted, and I apologise if I came across as rude or ragey.

In all honestly, from a purely mechanical point of view, the attacks are not that big a deal. I think the giant one just came as an unpleasant shock, given how close it started out. It still died, heh. I think it's the principle that annoys me most. 'This will happen and there is nothing you can do about it' isn't something I agree with in a game like Skyrim.

It's also likely that the DG Vampire attacks are behind the frustration with the 'system' as it were. Having NPCs die randomly and uncontrollably, especially given how weak they are and yet how suicidally brave they also are, gets me annoyed. The house, right now, isn't a problem; the only NPC there is the Housecarl, and I've honestly been considering offing her myself. A giant doing it for me just saves me a crossbow bolt... But what if I eventually get a spouse and a kid? The kids not a problem, being immortal and all, but the spouse? Especially given you can't re-marry, or marry Essential NPCs? That's more of a worry.

I'm just not a fan in general of the 'random attacks' systems of the DLCs, but *primarily* because there is no way to stop them. Even completing Dawnguard doesn't stop the attacks, and Hearthfire has no counter to it's random stuff either. Sad Face =/

As stated, I don't find Giants unbeatably hard, no, but they can do a lot of damage in a face to face fight due to the nature of the character build. It's not like I'm just standing there like a lemon But one good hit from them does a LOT of damage at this level.

And I never said the Skeevers were tough, the 'needing armour' comment was more a 'what the smeg is this?' comment. They are annoying though. And given how disease ridden they are I need to finish at least one of the shrines in the Cellar to get rid of what they will invariably give me eventually...

It's the principle of the thing. 'This will happen, no you can't do anything about it' annoys me. It's doubly annoying knowing that's only true because I'm a console player; when PC players get this, they can just mod out anything they don't like. I don't get that luxury =/

well...um I don't know would some kind of Wards be useful for you? I'm trying to appease everyone here in a sensible way.

the most BASIC I can provide is having "wards" around your house, Items, scents, a Dragon skull, ITEMS MOUNTED that would keep the respected creatures out of the area / cellar.

and my personal preference would be a kind of ladder repellnt system.

want to keepa way skeevers? have wolves, leave meat on a pike outside your house, wolves will hunt out Skeevers and other game, will lower the amount of game you get nearby (deer/elk/moose) but similar creatures will beat it, can even do so far Saber Cats, but with increased risk (you're freaking attracking wild meat eaters to your haus)

want to keep away said Wolves/sabercats/Bears? Use bear traps?

Giants? pay a fee per week to have guards walk through and clear the area for a time

werewolves and above? use your COW/Compaions contacts/influence to fight those off as well

thinking out of the box here, people want Immersion right?

Well, you wont need to worry about your spouse, they run away unless its aela or something, but aela can handle herself, believe me. If thats your only problem, and you can handle the giant by other means, I think you'll be just fine. Just make sure you level up your primary skill for fighting asap, as this cannot hurt. Aela is an expert at archery, and you can use her to level up, then make her a follower and take the money back.

dont know if your a man or women or your characters sixual preference but i know Mjoll is essential and can be married

Doesn't she have the issue of bringing the damp milk-sop with her? And the character is female/straight, so...

Protecting my family/house reminds me of those tamagotchis from the 1990s. If you didn't check up on them frequently, they would get sick or die.

yeah,but you can always kill him b4 the wedding.

if you want a funny looking baby Derkeethus is essential 2

I'm glad that doesnt happen. That would be annoying.

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forums and first-poster to the topic.

I've yet to buy Hearthfire (only found out about it like an hour ago or so) and a lot about it sounds awesome; nevertheless, when I read about those random attacks, it does make me hesitant towards this DLC.
While I can understand the arguments of realism and immersion, I generally agree with Kyle that the character should be able to do something to counter them... and this does not necessarily have to contradict the realism element. Come to think of it, wherever there's a remotely placed farm in the game, like Sarethi farm, there is at least one guard patrolling around (when I was there once, I even saw him react hostile against something - probably a wolf). So I don't think that having an option to build a small guard house next to your house and hiring some guards is a lot to ask for.

And I don't buy the 'civil war' argument. First of all, what if you're already done with civil war? And secondly - let's say jarls are not willing to give you any guards, what are mercenaries for? Or, as some other poster suggested, if you are the head of the College or the Guild or the Companions, how about recruiting some members. The 'guard thing' would also add to realism, in my opinion - no one buys a house in the middle of nowhere without ensuring at least a bit protection.

Other than that, I agree with some other ideas poster here - poison for skeevers, painted stones and/or cows sacrificed for giants, etc. I probably wouldn't build a wall, but if someone likes that option - yeah, why not add it as well.

Oh, and I just had another idea to add some danger, or impression of danger if you want - how about, once in a while when you come to your house, your spouse or kid or steward says "Mom/dad/dear/my thane, I've seen a bear/some bandits/a giant very near our house. Gave me quite a scare. Could you take care of that?". And you get house defence that's not so quite right-at-your-doorstep.

Guards may be a good idea, for example the guy who hired mercenaries to guard the Bee farm near Riften. I guess the small farms do have guards too.

For the average player that knows what they're doing, you can do something about the attacks. Just kill them. Giants are tough for low leveled charactes, but the house itself and the environment gives the player many options. You dont suffer from the brave yet weak npc thing, because the spouse runs away if theyre not a fighter, kids are invinsible, and you have a steward and house carl that help defend the home. Not only that, but if its really a problem, you can even choose to build a tower to shoot arrows from, or worst case scenario, move to one of the other new home locations with less disturbance. If you dont want to do that, just move them into the city, and wait til you're a higher level so you can deal with the giants and such easier. I'm not trying to start an argument, but I dont understand why people say they want less hand holding, and say that the game is too easy, yet cant solve problems like this for themselves.

And do we really need poison for skeevers guys? They stay in the cellar and get one hitted upon entrance.

Apparently, taking 5 seconds to kill a few skeevers every few game hours is SOOO annoying.

this topic needs to die,lol.the poison 4 skeevers is for realism,do we need it nope.would a guard add realism and a sense of security,sure.the wall was something off the top of my head,but if it was really me moving my family and spending my time and money building a house in the wilds of Skyrim,you bet your a@# i would be gathering stone and clay to build a wall around my property

I cant speak for the wall thing, but you already have the most badass guards ever for your homes. You got the house carl from Falkreath, Rayya the redguard, who dual wields scimitars, the typical hardy nord with a big claymore from dawnstar, and battle mage type guy from morthal.

That, and you can make any other house carl a steward, so basically, you get two guards.

yeah i'm loving Gregor from Dawnstar