THE ORIGINAL THREAD! http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1377449-we-should-get-strongholds/page__pid__20896426__st__180#entry20896426
Check out the original poll!

A stronghold on the Hammerfell mountains bordering Skyrim or near the Morrowind border. I like the idea!

We should get a town. i.e. Rebuild Helgen!

We are getting strongholds in the dlc.

can't wait to live in castle dawnguard
also rebuilding Helgen would be cool, reminds of all the times I thought Kvatch should of been rebuilt in Oblivion (i play on Xbox btw).

is this from the e3 interview i havent seen it yet? did todd go into any detail...

It was confirmed somewhere that you could live in castle Dawnguard or castle Volkihar. I'll try and find the thread for you and link it here.

They belong to a faction, they're not yours in a strict sense more than the College when you become head of the mages.

Thank you. They're not the same thing. If you've played Morrowind, I'm talking about the mansions you got to build yourself in several stages when you become a high ranking political official in Vvardenfell.

He said you get your own, at least I'm pretty sure he did. I know about the strongholds in Morrowind, and it sounded like that's what he meant.

EDIT: "In this there are two fortresses, you can make your own and kinda trick out..." - Todd Howard, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux76mg7V4_o

I would actually love this.

As I recall, the castles you get are just castle volkihar or castle dawnguard: the guild halls. Either way, what we're talking about is a stronghold you build overtime, get guards, radiant quests, different architectural styles. It's all in the OP. It's a seperate idea from the ones in Dawnguard

Read my edit please.

Ahh well I suppose we'll see if it's similar in due time. We need more info first. I have a bad feeling that it will be more watered down than what we were describing in the previous thread.

I do agree, but at least there's hope now.

Yeah, and it seems like we wont be able to pick the style or anything.....dangit....I guess I'll never have my hammerfell sultan's palace...not yet anyway.
Edit: But hopefully if we keep posting and telling bethesda what we want (look at the poll on the last thread) maybe they'll listen.

I think this would be a great idea and would also like to have the ability to start or invest in new businesses in towns that don't have them, e.g., smithy in Morthal.

And if the game had logic where once you've invested in places like Winterhold, Morthal, Ivarstead, etc. NPCs would start to be drawn to the "reinvigorated" community and build their own homes ... all the better. For me at least would be a visible sign that something you've done in the game has had an impact and improved life for citizens of Skyrim.

But I'd like all of this functionality to be incorporated in the next TES game, i.e., any logic developed for the ideas suggested in this thread for a Skyrim DLC would be included in the next game.

And while rebuilding Helgen would work for Skyrim, there may be no similar town in the next game.

Which why the stronghold idea would work well, as the concept could be included in every future TES game, regardless of whether that game included a burned out town or not.

And while the ability to rebuild a town like Helgen would be great ... and definitely help with the "what do I do with my 400,000 gold" problem ... it's still something that the Jarl could, to my mind, ask anyone to do and as such is, for me at least, lacking in the recognition department.

In my view, the ability to build a stronghold based solely on the fact that you have done something very special in the game gives the player significant and unique recognition and the option of, as psychotrip suggested, building in different surroundings, e.g., you could choose to build by the sea, on a plain, in a forest,or on a mountain, gives the player much more choice than simply being given one location, e.g., burned out town, to build in.

I think adding the ideas suggested in this thread would ... beyond providing tangible recognition and giving a player something to do with their gold at higher levels and a reason and interest in acquiring more ... definitely boost the replay value of the game ... particularly for we console players who likely will never have access to mods.

And it would add increased depth and thinking challenges for higher level players to whatever extent they choose, i.e., I could just build a lodge and stick with that or I could build a community and have to think about basic economy management stuff.

As I've said before, I really like Skyrim and believe I got my money's worth out of it.

But in my view, if you're going to make an open world game that "never ends", you have to deal with the "too much gold and nothing to spend it on" issue that will inevitably occur at higher levels and you really need something to keep players engaged at those levels.

And obviously console players can't access mods that might, to whatever extent, address these issues, so in my opinion, Beth needs to address this themselves.

And I don't think a "well play it on the PC" view does anything more than let Beth off the hook in this regard.

I think implementing ideas like the ones discussed in this thread would help TES maintain something "special" about the franchise rather than simply becoming another "run around and kill things and save the world " RPG among many similar competitors.

I hope if they do gives us one it has a few things available.

One: I enjoyed having Knights who followed me and fought with me, so that. More then one also, but a Knights faction.

Second: a lot of customisation, the one in Oblivion was great. However once you had done it once you have done it all, so maybe customise the banner and where everything inside goes. Even what rooms are used for what, I think it would be good to pick out your own bed room.

A quest: Oblivion had this and I think it was very good, it helps to know the castle has history and was not just made up or copied. (DLC/bat/vamp lord lol)

I like the Helgen Idea.... but only if I can give my guards equipment to them... no over used guard-mail for my men..

For your stronghold, you should be able to choose how far you take it like Dragonbait said. I personally would NOT like to have a whole town. I'd feel like I had too much responsibility haha. I see, however, that a LOT of you do! So there should be several "levels" of this dlc, each can be completed if one chooses, and if you want to stop you still get radiant quests and cool stuff to do. You shouldn't feel like you're missing out on quests and secrets and radiants because you want your stronghold a certain way. Each level should be different, not lacking. Each level has several stages of building, investing, hiring, and quests.

So anyone else have any opinions or suggestions? Would you like to see this added to the game?