Combat Advice Request

[kitten2021]

So I've gone YEEEEEEEEARs since I last played Morrowind, and I remember loving the daylights out of it as a kid but as I've gotten much older (and yes, that DOES mean well past my prime and now with poor vision issues), I have been spoiled over the years by these newer games with more advanced combat precision.

I would like to re-learn how to battle in Morrowind as I have been finding myself dying to pretty much everything out there (most embarrassing was the rat, but I digress). I understand the game uses an RNG-type based system (or you could also call it a D&D dice numbers system) for the hit's and misses, dodges and blocks - which I loved about this game growing up. But I've been getting so frustrated with not being able to kill anything, and rather than getting frustrated and walking away from such a beautiful piece of history, I'd love some advice on how to beat this combat issue I'm having.

I have rolled as a mage, ranger and warrior on all three attempts, but ran into the same problem. I can at least admit that, whilst playing the mage and ranger-type characters, I was able to kill a couple of things - chock up two small victories for me! :)

But at this moment I am trying to play as a very basic Nord warrior whom is skilled to use long swords, wear heavy armor, has all the normal things you'd pick (i.e. acrobatics, armorer, etc) to help him along and keep him alive. Any suggestions on what I should do at the very start of the game (Sayda Neen, spellings probably wrong sorry) to help get my Nord, Sovn, off to a nice start? I'd love to be able to master the melee skills like I've 'some-what, kind of, sort of' done with the "ranged" skills used previously.

Thank you very much everyone, and I look forward to anyone's helpful advice. ^u^

EDIT: Oh! I did forget to mention, I am not using a single mod to change game play - minus OpemMW and a font improving mod, as previously mentioned I have poor eyesight, so it was needed to help me see things a bit better (menu and all).

[Minari99]

You need stamina when attacking. And it also affects EVERYTHING you do in the game, including talking with NPC or just buying. So try to keep your stamina up, and get some potions for it because you will need it. Another thing is the weapon skill, so having it on 40 or above when starting is good. But stamina is more important. Try to keep it above 50% when starting a fight.

[Valden21]

At first, I would probably do some of the early quests around Seyda Neen in order to improve your skills a little bit. There are about 2-3 quests there that can help in that regard. There's also the smuggler's cave, Addamarsartus. After that, I would advise that you head to Balmora via the village of Pelagius; you can resupply there.

[kitten2021]

So I take it trying to kill the Tax Collector's murderer to get his house right away for storage is a bit out of my league at this moment?

[psychotron666]

First of all, you should not go into combat while your stamina is low or empty. At low levels, your stamina is the main factor to success or failure. It sounds like this is probably your problem. You have to stop running before you go into combat or wait til your stamina regenerates. Fatigue affects the success rate of every single skill.

If you want a cheap starting, when leaving the census office at the beginning, steal the limewire platter on the book shelf, and then instantly drop it. Guards will run up to you and take stolen gear but won't punish you because you're still in the tutorial. Now you can pick it back up.

Then when you get to the next room where you meet the guy who tells you about your duties to go to Balmora, behind him on the bookshelf is a key. Drop all your stolen gear, and then pick up the key and as quickly as you can, right click to open your inventory and drop the key. The guy will tell you you can't steal, but as long as you don't have the key he won't take it. Now you can pick it back up safely.

Now end the tutorial and walk out the door. The door directly across from you when you get outside which is locked can now be opened with the key. In that building there is tons of armour and weapons in crates you can steal and either sell or use. That's a good way to start out for a beginner. Of course you can't get caught stealing now that the tutorial is over.

If you already left the census office, this isn't viable. However here's a legit way of getting money. Give fargoth (the wood elf outside) his ring (you now get a huge boost in relations with the store owner who will make your stuff cheaper to buy). Now go into the trade house and go upstairs and talk to the Nord. He gives you a quest to tail fargoth.

Now go to the lighthouse and go upstairs, wait until at least 11pm. Now just watch below and you can see fargoth sneaking, he will sneak to the tree trunk in the swamp in town and stash stuff. After that you run up and take it, it's his gold and that ring you gave him.

Now go directly north from that swamp and cross the water, and continue a very short distance. To the west by a tree is a dead body with 200 gold on him I believe. Take the gold, and you get a quest update about the dead guy.
Go back to the Swamp where you took fargoth stuff in the tree trunk, and the house directly to the west next to the tree trunks go inside. There should be just a dark elf.

Now make sure your stamina is full here. Then talk to the dark elf and ask about the "murder of processus something or other" (the dead guy). He will admit he killed him, and tell him he's wrong, he will then attack you.

Kill him, if he takes your stamina down (because he's punching that's how unarmed works) and it gets close to zero, run outside and wait a few seconds for it to regain, then go back in and kill him.

Now that he's dead, go to the census office and talk to the guy who gives you your class and birthsign. Tell him about the murder and he pays you 500 gold.

Now you should have enough money to go buy some good starter gear at the store.

Also you may need to use some of the gold from the dead guy to buy a sword or something to kill the dark elf.

From there, the "tutorial dungeon" is right across from the silt strider, where you can kill some chumps and get some loot.

[kitten2021]

You know what, I believe you guys are right... I think my Stamina/Fatigue has been empty when attempting to fight due to leveling my acrobatics (jumping everywhere). I'll wait until it refills and Edit this post should I see an improvement in my battle with the murderer of the tax man.

[psychotron666]

Yeah early game it's pretty vital. By mid to late game when you have 70+ in a skill, you can still reliably hit with no stamina left, but at early levels you'll miss a crazy amount with no stamina

[psychotron666]

Also depending on your weapon is how you should attack. Besides the obvious 3 attack types (swing, thruster, chop) and the difference in damage, look at the range (1-20, 5-15, 5-6, etc).

Most weapon types with a big range, like the 1-20, require that you hold your attack until you pull all the way back before letting go in order to do the max damage in that range. so you don't want to spam attack button.

However if you use a dagger which have a very similar damage range (like 5-6), the difference between a quick attack and pulling all the way back is basically nothing (1 damage difference in this case). With a weapon like that you're better off spam attacking, because the minimum attack does the minimum range.

[kitten2021]

So would you say maybe re-rolling (which doesn't bother me as I'm right at the start) and instead of taking Strength and Endurance, take Strength and Agility to help me with hitting my enemies better?

[kitten2021]

I took a picture of my weapon (and consequently my stats) for y'all to see, in case it helps.

https://i.postimg.cc/P5VfYyMr/Sovn-Nord-Stats-and-Weapon.png

[psychotron666]

Honestly agility isn't that vital for melee combat, at least not as vital as some people will claim. Your number 1 factor for hitting is your weapon skill. Number 2 is stamina. Number 3 is agility, and number 4 is luck.

If you want to get into the math of it, here's the formula.

(Weapon Skill + (Agility / 5) + (Luck / 10)) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue / Maximum Fatigue) + Fortify Attack Magnitude + Blind Magnitude

As you can see, weapon skill is by far the biggest factor.

So not necessary imo, just watch your fatigue and keep your stamina up. Join the fighters Guild and they all restock free healing and stamina potions for mid combat stamina healing. And just rest an hour or wait the 30 seconds before you enter dungeons. When in dangerous places, just walk, that also allows you to not attract too many enemies at once by running into them.

By mid game that all goes away once your skills are high.

And even easier if you have the warrior birthsign, that increases your attack by 10% chance onto the regular formula, so it's very strong for warriors and new players starting out.

[kitten2021]

Many thanks y'all! I've managed to hit him and get blood from him twice now, hahaha, I'll have him down eventually. :)

[kitten2021]

Oh my gosh, I did it! I finally killed Foryn (the tax murderer)!

Figured something out mid-fight... I was skilled for Long Swords, but I was using an Imperial Short Sword, which would not work as well had I been using what my Weapon Skill was actually for. Went and purchased that, WALKED back to his home, took a few swings at him and BAM! Dead within a few moments.

Thank you so much fellows!

[Heresy]

Originally posted by kitten2021:

Oh my gosh, I did it! I finally killed Foryn (the tax murderer)!

Figured something out mid-fight... I was skilled for Long Swords, but I was using an Imperial Short Sword, which would not work as well had I been using what my Weapon Skill was actually for. Went and purchased that, WALKED back to his home, took a few swings at him and BAM! Dead within a few moments.

Thank you so much fellows!

YOu can go around and kill several mud crabs around the starting area too that should give you a few levels in long sword and yes look out for weapon descriptions! I am currently using a weapon called "short sword" but its actually listed as a Long blade lol it can be confusing.

[kitten2021]

Oh I've been having a blast now, cleared the tutorial dungeon without much of a problem, killed the crabs around the area (including that murderous rat). Thanks again, THIS is what I was looking forward to today. ^u^

[theo]

300 IQ