So I just made my very first trip to Windhelm, and as a newcomer I go to speak to one of the guards just to see what's going on. She immediately launches into the "Wait, I recognize you!" speech, and gives me the option of going to jail or pay a 40 gold fine. I have no idea what I'm charged with, and I've never been to this city before, WTF?!

Anyway, I'm a good citizen, and I'm sure the guards know their stuff, so I pay the fine and move along. The next guard I run into does the exact same thing, and I'm like: "Dooooooood, I just paid your colleague over there 40 gold, just leave my the hell alone already!!!" I mange to persuade him to not charge me, and instantly go to check my crime stats for a clue. I have a 40 gold bounty on my in Eastmarch, but that's it. I have a few assaults on my conscience, but no murders.

WTF is going on? Why are they not instantly arresting me if I'm a criminal? Why do they only pay attention to that if I engage them in conversation, and why am I not cleared of my charges when I pay my fine??

Even if you had a bounty from another city, like Whiterun, guards in Windhelm shouldn't care because each county sets different bounties.

I think they are just shaking you down because they know you won't just cancel the dialogue box and murder them with your Thu'um.

yeah i do find it weird i barely talk to you how do you recognize me from riften......were in markarth dammit

I think the "lines" between the counties get confused by the civil war. Imperial Soldiers and Stormcloak soldiers seem to carry their knowledge around as they move around the map by the civil war. There seems to be a lot of problem with this. I keep getting bounties in Solitude for strange things that I've never done anywhere near Solitude, and I think it's because the legion is seeing me do things in other areas that they control.

Not sure. Bethesda definitely needs to take another look at the bounty and reporting rules. They also need to look again at bounty clearing. I can't tell you how many times I've paid fines two and three times before it went away.

Not only that, but bribes and persuades don't work ether.
I bribe the guard (sometimes I get an persuade option) and am successful, but about 0.74 seconds after I finish the conversation, SAME guard stops me and again tells me to answer for my crimes. -.-
Also, bribing kinda svcks; I have 40 gold bounty, for example, and bribe is ~300 gold?
I personally think that bribe money should be 50% of bounty.

I believe I know the answer and will PM the answer you since you didn't put this in the spoiler's forum.

Thanks, that would be appreciated. I didn't see anything spoilerish about this :shrug:

I joined the companions and never actually started the quest. Every time I went into a new city for the first time "Hey, you're that new companion" really freaked me out. I mean, do they have a bloody Newsletter with a photofit of me?

I know Bethseda think its clever to have NPC conversation linked to quests and skills, but most of the time it comes across as just plain silly. They can implement stupid things like this.. yet they can't have them realise you're the Archmage?

You got your priorities wrong Beth.

Crimes are by HOLD. They are not by city.

Just because you did nothing in Windhelm doesn't mean you didn't do a crime in, for example, Kynesgrove.

I've had the opposite. A guard was chasing me for a 1500 bounty, so I lost him, did some more crime, then 5 hours later the exact same guard catches up to me and asks only for 1500, forgiving all my new crimes in the process.


Bribe is more expensive because it lets you keep your stolen goods. If you don't have any then paying the bounty is better.

^ This.

You know what the primary (maybe only?) method of spreading news in Skyrim? Word of mouth. How do people know youre the dragonborn without seeing you kill and absorb a dragon? "William Wallace is 10 feet tall." <-ex

I think it'd be cool to have people doubt who you are. Maybe have a questline about some con artists/wannabes who claim to be Dragonborn. Like a Conrad Verner. Lol

Yeah, it's probably this. I'm just not aware of my crime either. It would be nice to be notified when it happens. I run around like a good citizen, and suddenly I'm charged with assault when all I've done is fight critters in the wild and protect myself against bandits. WTF...

Haha, yeah, that would be super cool!

Whiterun guards also recognized me as the prisoner in Helgen. I wasn't even on the list.