Minus the smithing stuff, the cellar would probably make a better cooler/pantry.

Well, I haven't been around Heljarchen yet to check for water features, but I bet you could set up a kind of springhouse at the other two. At Lakeview there's the nearby pool (with the mudcrabs) and at Winstad there's probably more than one place to try.

I hadn't realized Lakeview had such ready access to a greater variety of food. But that would make sense given the warmer Mediterranean climate v. the tundra wasteland HH is on. While Lakeview has the greatest food resources,the most hospitable in climate, and scenic view of all the homes, it does appear to have a downside. It seems enemies apparently like hanging out there more than at the other 2 homes. With giants in particular. So it's seems to be constantly under attack based on what I've read on the forums so far.

In terms of resources, water and seafood are scarcer commodities at HH because of it's altitude thanks to its proximity to the Throat of the World. But thanks to the cow and garden, you'll have a ready supply of fresh garden veggies, some ale/mead crops from wheat, fresh milk for your household's milk drinkers, of course the bakery--mill application, and fresh butter every other day or so. HH is also the best home strategically from the Civil War perspective, especially if you're a Stormcloak. So this kind of makes up for the lack of food resources IMO

I also noticed that I got options on the plans to build both the stables and gardens outdoors. But I still don't see any to build a fish hatchery or beehive yet. So no honey or seafood is readily available just yet. So my Nord will probably end up making more frequent trips to the grocery store down in the valley at Whiterun.

btw: I'm not seeing the option to build a beast den off the first room you enter when you go into the basemant. They showed this option in one of the DLC reviews on YouTube. Perhaps this option becomes available after purchasing Dawnguard? Or is it after you become a werewolf in the companion side quests without Dawnguard?

Wonder if I could use the cheat console and add a couple of shelves and barrels in the beast lair? Would these re-spawn? If not, this area might make for a half way decent wine cellar. Would make a great place to store my spirits collection and all that beer from the Brewery mod. Hmmm......

Then again, is it worth the effort to traumatize the Dovahkin's poor kids with a torture chamber, every time they venture into the basemant to maul that training dummy?

I've just got to love all the annoying ethical and strategic dilemmas which the game constantly puts me in.

I have both a vampire and a werewolf playing, there is no beast den, I think you might have got confused with one of the PC home building mods that has that. The official trailer for Hearthfire never showed it. All you can do with the alcove in the cellar is put a coffin in it if you are a vampire.

You can only build the fish hatchery at Windstad Manor, the apiary at Lakeview Manor, and Heljarchen Hall gets the grain mill. The pond near Lakeview Manor will occasionally have mudcrabs and nirnroot, sometimes it will spawn the smaller fish.

no there is definitely a beast den in the vanilla version of the DLC. Based on what I saw, there was an option to create either a vampire lair or werewolf den. Also the vampire lair had a couple of prisoners (cattle) for your vamp to feed on in addition to the coffin and some really other cool stuff. I'll find the link on youtube and post it here.

I just discovered the bee apiary and fish hatchery are exclusive perks at the other homes besides HH. Lakeview gets the apiary and Windstad the fish hatchery. Too bad we can't add all of these to the same house like all of the 9 wings

Go play the game yourself instead of dreaming of beast dens that are not in the vanilla game, or go play the PC version if you want it so much. PC mods are not official DLC, and nothing to do with Hearthfire.

Especially so when it comes to content of this nature. When The Sims was first released, I remember a reviewer pointing out that the game was likely to become the subject of more minor criticisms than any other game. After all, the game was based on day-to-day living, the one subject that everyone in the world can profess to be an expert on. He was right, of course.

Hearthfire isn't dissimilar in that respect. It may well be situated in a fantasy RPG world, but it still amounts to "home making" and we all have our ideas as to what is or what isn't appropriate to a home, even a Skyrim home.

1. I only play on the PC
2. I use PC mods all the time
3. Drop the condescending tone. It's incredibly rude.

Yeah, I'm a firefighter, and the firepits and smelters in unventilated homes get me every time. XD I still put the smithing area in my cellar, mind (seems kind of pointless not to when just about every other house I own has an unvented firepit); it just bugs me. No matter how many times I try to convince myself to just pretend there's an appropriate mechanism in place to vent the smoke, I'm never going to get over the thought that my kids are going to get CO poisoning.


So... what are the names of these other two mods? After your post, I had to go take a look at the brewery one, and since I use IMCN, anything compatible with that would be perfect.

QUOTE: No matter how many times I try to convince myself to just pretend there's an appropriate mechanism in place to vent the smoke, I'm never going to get over the thought that my kids are going to get CO poisoning.

There's no carbon monoxide in Skyrim. It's a banned substance. Like skoooma, only worse.

Ah, but there is plenty of Skooma in Skyrim. Maybe carbon based fuel is banned? But there still would be noxious fumes from any fire. Hmm... maybe Nords are resistant to poisonous gas the same way Khajiit are resistant to the negative side effects of Moon Sugar?

Maybe the stones are magic and just transform it into something less noxious, most of my cellars do not have the smelter anyway.

Heh, based on the way CO works, I seriously doubt that Nords have any immunities. I didn't pursue college biology classes far enough to weigh in on Argonians, to be honest, but I'll bet it's an interesting discussion. I may have to just skip putting in the smelter and entryway firepit on my RP characters.

Edit: And yes, the wood/charcoal-based fires throughout Skyrim would emit CO, hydrogen sulfide, and other nastiness and alpha/beta particles. Mage fires would obviously be different, until they came into contact with a fuel source. For now, I'll just pretend that there's a vent of some sort in place, or learn how to mod one.

I'll bite! Even if Argonians have blue or green blood instead of red (anyone know?), if they breathe oxygen they'd also be susceptible to CO poisoning, though their tolerance may differ from humans. Hmm, this calls for taking some Argonian Bloodwine to the alchemy table for anolysis...