How come merchants know my ordinary steel sword is stolen? : V

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:44 pm

By the way, how is it that all NPCs seems to know when some of my stuff is stolen? If it's not unique and nobody saw me stealing it, there shouldn't realy be any chance that the merchants knew of the origin, right? Unless I told them...

PC: I want to sell this ordinary steel sword.
NPC: Right, this looks like a really nice average steel work. I'll give you 5 septims.
PC: Oh, by the way, it's stolen.
NPC: Darn! I'm an honest merchant you know. But talk to the fences down in the sewers, they'll want to buy it.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:08 pm

In 'olden' times, craftsmen would often leave telltale signs of their creation's creator. E.g. they'd carve their initials into the thing. So it's kind of explainable.

What I want to know is how a merchant in Markarth knows I stole tomatoes from an old lady in Whiterun ... :dry:

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:05 am

What I want to know is how a merchant in Markarth knows I stole tomatoes from an old lady in Whiterun ... :dry:

lol

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:48 pm

Because it has a little red mark on it, obviously.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:26 am

PC: I mark everything stolen in red so I don't forget what I stole.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:49 am

It's one of the many silly things about Skyrim. (and Oblivion before it, too). Another one: why do Imperial Soldiers/Stormcloaks just stand there and fight against dragons and giants? Surely the average guard would just run like hell? And why can't followers jump up a hill about a foot high, yet can easily sprint a mile around an alternative flat pathway to follow you? Why can't I freaking drop quest items? Grr.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:04 pm

That's why the tomatoes always are stolen...

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:45 pm

The soldier thing could be explained with duty and morale, don't you think?

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:03 am

Criminal Scum.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:10 am

The Guild of Merchants never reveal their secrets.

Why do you think it is never a joinable guild

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:36 am

I know how they know its stolen:
Player: Well met. I just want to sell this Gold Diamond Necklace to you.
Merchant: Alright let me see it.
Player: *Puts necklace on table*
Merchant: That's stolen!
Player: How do YOU know?
Merchant: On my HUD it says "Press A to Steal".

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:11 am

It's one of the many silly things about Skyrim. (and Oblivion before it, too). Another one: why do Imperial Soldiers/Stormcloaks just stand there and fight against dragons and giants? Surely the average guard would just run like hell? And why can't followers jump up a hill about a foot high, yet can easily sprint a mile around an alternative flat pathway to follow you? Why can't I freaking drop quest items? Grr.

Actually I have seen this happen when I trailed a giant into a Stromcloak camp at an ealy level. They all ran around yelling for someone to do something while the giant smacked them down.

I also had an instance where I was doing the run from Riverwood to Whiterun and saw the companions fighting that giant. For some reason a giant was taking a stroll down the road by that farm. I shot him with an arrow and ran into the companions. They all ran around as well yelling for someone to do something. I got a good chuckle out of that.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 4:29 am

Should be asking yourself why the hell would you steal a tomato in the first place.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 4:35 am

Oh, there are many good reasons for stealing a tomato.

The most obvious would be that the Riften people have a yearly tomato festival, and to participate you need A LOT of tomatoes.

Then we have the tomato growing Troll of Rorikstead. If you should steal anybodys tomatoes, it's his. Gives you a lot of fun watching him try to figure out why all his tomatoes suddenly got invisible.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:29 am

They did it so you couldn't bank by stealing things and selling it to any merchant

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:57 am

Clearly this is a more realistic implementation of the idea of items being "soulbound." You can still pick them up, but people know they belong to someone else.

Honestly there really isn't a good reason for them to know these things if you travel a good distance away to sell something.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:36 am

They did it so you couldn't bank by stealing things and selling it to any merchant

You can still bank. Not just with stolen goods, that's all.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:44 am

From a gameplay perspective it's so that the thieves guild fences and the speech perks aren't useless.

From a realism perspective..yeah..magic?

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:20 pm

In 'olden' times, craftsmen would often leave telltale signs of their creation's creator. E.g. they'd carve their initials into the thing. So it's kind of explainable.

What I want to know is how a merchant in Markarth knows I stole tomatoes from an old lady in Whiterun ... :dry:

Hey a clever first post. Yay, there's still hope. :biggrin:

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:28 am

From a gameplay perspective it's so that the thieves guild fences and the speech perks aren't useless.

From a realism perspective..yeah..magic?

But why did they put the perks in the first place?
Sure I can agree on the really unique items, and that it would be worth the trouble of looking up a fence to really get a good price for it or something. But the idea of the stolen items and the magical labeling must have come before the perk implementation, i think.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:36 pm

Merchants just see the same UI when trading and they see items with "Stolen" property on them.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:15 am

From a gameplay perspective it's so that the thieves guild fences and the speech perks aren't useless.

my answer as well. it can't be reasonably explained, simply a gameplay mechanic.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:13 pm

But why did they put the perks in the first place?
Sure I can agree on the really unique items, and that it would be worth the trouble of looking up a fence to really get a good price for it or something. But the idea of the stolen items and the magical labeling must have come before the perk implementation, i think.

It's not so that the perks are useful. It's so that you can't make a ton of money super-early. It's ridiculously easy to rob people blind and so you can make a lot of money doing that if you could just rob a bunch of people then go sell your stuff in another town. If robbing people was harder, then they'd probably relax how the system works.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:45 am

It's not so that the perks are useful. It's so that you can't make a ton of money super-early. It's ridiculously easy to rob people blind and so you can make a lot of money doing that if you could just rob a bunch of people then go sell your stuff in another town. If robbing people was harder, then they'd probably relax how the system works.

You have a point, of course. I was surprised when I accidently stole an item in a house (which nobody seamed to care about that I entered), with people watching and nothing happened. Of course people will exploit that...

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:51 am

You have a point, of course. I was surprised when I accidently stole an item in a house (which nobody seamed to care about that I entered), with people watching and nothing happened. Of course people will exploit that...

If you steal more than one thing, they'll react. There seems to be a bit of leeway. That said, it is relatively easy to sneak around them or put something on their head so they can't see anything. It's not that hard to steal a bunch of stuff overall.