Security Question

[Nezkeys]

How exactly does lock picking work and if a lock says very hard is there just no point in trying to open it until i am a higher level.

So i push it up then press x to hold it in place then move on to another which breaks the pick instantly. I dont get the mechanics of it tbh

[Gorgeous Freeman]

It's kind of difficult to explain but, what you gotta do is, when you move the pin up there's a small click sound and you need time your button press so that you press the button and the click happen at the same time. Although it's far easier to just level to level 10 and grab the skeleton key, it fortifies your security skill by 60, and because of how it works it counts as a proper levelup and not a buff. It's also unbreakable so you can just spam auto attempt until you get it.

[Nezkeys]

Oh...thats pretty neat. Been trying on this chest here for last hour with 22 skill..it supposedly has 10 poisonous apples in that sell for 300 each. Well it will be more like 150each what with most merchants refusing anything abive 50%. But still 1500 just for killing a few skeletons and opening a chest every 3 game days aint bad

[Nezkeys]

Im gonna need a lot more gold soon as training fees hike up. At the start id just do a round of each mage guild for alchemy equipment + round of each fighters guild for weapons. The gold from that aint really cutting it now tho. Im around 4-5k and some spells i want will easily broke me

[Rithm Fluffderg]

It's technically very possible to open a very hard lock when your lockpicking skill is 5, it's just a lot harder than when it's at 50.

Nezkeys, if you feel like it, the best way to skill up your mercantile (which will increase just how much you can sell an item for) is to sell arrows, individually one at a time. This is where the 360 version makes it easier - you can select an item, press the left bumper or trigger (i forget which) to automatically select the lowest amount, confirm sale, and repeat.

I have a mod that streamlines this for the PC version but I only came across it by luck.

(That mod would be called Toggleable Quantity Prompt - it sets up some quick keys like pressing/holding shift to grab/buy/sell an entire stack, or ctrl to grab/buy/sell a single item from a stack. It makes manually leveling mercantile something less than an arduous endeavor)

[Nezkeys]

Mercantile was raising very fast at the start but now its taking forever fjnmmbnnhjmnññnñññbbbbñ n .

[Patriot03]

You any good with Alchemy? I'm level 15 (about 60 Alchemy?) and have mostly journeyman tools, anyway what I do for money is travel to skingrad, pick up all 80 tomatoes from the farm, and all 90-120 or so grapes and combine the 2 for 80 Restore fatigue potions, selling all of said potions gets me over 2000 septims.

The amount you'll get will depend on your Alchemy skill/tools, restore fatigue potions are the easiest to make as pretty much all regular food like items have it as a main effect. - Thus most farms will grant you tons of ingredients for these potions.

PS: They will respawn after just 3 days, so I do this every time I pass through Skingrad on my travels (No fast travel allowed!)

I Give them a Custom Name of "Grapemato Juice"

[Nezkeys]

My alchemy is level 50 at level 3 main character. I did 10 levels each level for the +5 to INT which put me at 45 alchemy then decided i may as well go to 50 so did 15 levels on the second level up lol

Whats the best ingredient to nake lots of restore magicka potions. Im an atronach so need them

[tax evader]

The following ingredients are what can be used to make Restore Magicka potions, (listed according to the required Alchemy level to know of their properties)...

Novice...

Blister Pod Cap.
Bog Beacon Asco Cap.
Elytra Ichor.
Flax Seeds.
Lichor.
Purgeblood Salts.
Steel-Blue Entoloma Cap.
Void Salts.
Withering Moon.

Apprentice...

Stinkhorn Cap.

Journeyman...

Congealed Putrescence.
Fire Salts.
Thorn Hook.
Water Hyacinth Nectar.

Expert...

Blackberry.
Fungus Stalk.
Painted Troll Fat.

***

Generally speaking, combining any 4 of these ingredients with all the required Alchemy equipment, (an Alembic, Retort, Calcinator and Mortar and Pestle), should make a stronger Restore Magicka potion. Of course, you could also try stacking effects to really maximise your efficiency in battle. For example, combining the reasonably common ingredients of Aloe Vera Leaves, Sweetcake, Void Salts and Water Hyacinth Nectar will Fortify Magicka, Restore Fatigue, Restore Health and Restore Magicka.

Moreover, for a more Mage-specific potion, a potion that Fortifies Intelligence, Magicka, Restores Magicka, (and Damages Endurance, which shouldn't be too bad if you're character is a sole Mage although could pose problems if your combat approach is a mixture of both Melee and Magic), can be made through combining the ingredients: Carrot, Clouded Funnel Cap, Void Salts and Water Hyacinth Nectar.

To my current level of understanding, the higher the Alchemy level of a player and the higher-level Alchemy equipment that they have, (for instance, Apprentice Mortar and Pestle > Novice Mortar and Pestle), the stronger the potion will be; it's not affected by the actual ingredients, (for instance, one ingredient won't have a higher level of one trait than another). Take this with a grain of salt, though, and some further clarification might be needed, because I rarely use Alchemy in Oblivion and tend to just buy the potions that I need in bulk from an Alchemy shop.

A final note regarding Lockpicking: I'm not sure if this has been said yet, but the higher your Lockpicking level milestone is, (i.e. Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, etc.), the fewer tumblers fall when you break a Lockpick. For instance, when you're a Novice, if you break a Lockpick, all the tumblers fall back down and you have to start again from scratch. For an Apprentice - one tumbler remains in place; Journeyman - two tumblers remain in place; Expert - three tumblers remain in place; Master - tumblers always remain in place.

[Nezkeys]

I still dont understand how it works tho, for example...

Attempt 1: first pin pushed up i press X and it locks in place. I move on to the next pin do the exact same thing but the lockpick breaks and both pins revert back to normal. Thinking you must do them in a certain order i try again but this time will skip the middle pin but here is what happens...

Attempt 2: first pin pushed up i press x and the lockpick breaks immediately.

There is no consistency so makes it hard to learn exactly what to do

[Patriot03]

I have an Alechmy question, does using more than 2 ingredients for 1 desired effect change it at all?

I've trested it for myself but adding 3 or even 4 that produce just one effect (like restore magicka) makes 0 differences compared to just the original 2.

[tax evader]

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

I still dont understand how it works tho, for example...

Attempt 1: first pin pushed up i press X and it locks in place. I move on to the next pin do the exact same thing but the lockpick breaks and both pins revert back to normal. Thinking you must do them in a certain order i try again but this time will skip the middle pin but here is what happens...

Attempt 2: first pin pushed up i press x and the lockpick breaks immediately.

There is no consistency so makes it hard to learn exactly what to do

Yeah, it's quite a tricky system, both to describe and to get to grips with.

The more you do it, you'll notice that the tumblers fall at different speeds. Some fall slowly, and others fall immediately after you ping them up. You want to hit X when they're at their maximum elevation in the lock, and the best time to do this is when they fall slowly. Obviously, it's difficult to predict when they'll fall slowly rather than quickly, however, with experience, you'll learn to time your tumbler locks with more precision.

What is critical is that each time you flick any tumbler up it will rise and fall with varying speed, so flick it up a good number of times and just watch the speeds at which it goes up and down. The worst time to hit X is when the tumbler falls quickly, and a good piece of advice is to wait until the tumbler falls quickly, then hit X the following flick, as this will reduce the likelihood that it'll fall again; wait until you get the most predictable and slow movement, and use the X button to lock it into place just when it reaches the top.

You can also use the sounds of the tumblers to correctly time your hitting of the X button. It's difficult to explain, so I'll provide a video that'll hopefully be of some assistance, (not made by me - just found on YouTube )...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYf9VTKUO8Q

I was horribly bad at it at first, but now can ultimately breeze through a Very Hard lock. It just takes practice and experience, and you really have to try to grasp the rhythm. Personally, I don't use the audio method, although it does work, and above all else, you just need experience and practice. It's very difficult to get at first, but eventually, it'll get easier, to the extent where Lockpicking becomes very easy to do.

[tax evader]

Originally posted by Patriot03:

I have an Alechmy question, does using more than 2 ingredients for 1 desired effect change it at all?

I've trested it for myself but adding 3 or even 4 that produce just one effect (like restore magicka) makes 0 differences compared to just the original 2.

The strength of a potion is not influenced by which ingredients you use, nor, to my current level of understanding, the quantity of ingredients that share a common effect. For example, a Pumpkin and Watermelon potion will have the same Restore Fatigue magnitude and duration as a Flour and Apple potion, (only the weight will be affected, with the caveats described under Weight).

Including three or even four ingredients with the same effect will not increase the potion strength; it's the apparatus that you use, and your Alchemy skill, that counts. For instance, Apprentice Mortar and Pestle > Novice Mortar and Pestle, and the better your apparatus, (and the more of it that there is: using an Alembic, Calcinator, Retort, and Mortar and Pestle will make a stronger potion than using just the Mortar and Pestle), the stronger the potion will be; it's not affected by the actual ingredients.

Hope this helps!

[Nezkeys]

Thanks for the alchemy info on that long post.

About that lockpicking video...i dont hear the double clink in his video he refers to

[Nezkeys]

But what i did notice after just messing around with a lock....there was a pattern to each pin....

There were two and the first went 1 slow 1 fast. The second was two fast 1 slow. I got it first time after i hit it on the slow ones on each :)

Maybe im on to something now...ill have to try out a few more locks first to see any consistency

[Gorgeous Freeman]

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

But what i did notice after just messing around with a lock....there was a pattern to each pin....

There were two and the first went 1 slow 1 fast. The second was two fast 1 slow. I got it first time after i hit it on the slow ones on each :)

Maybe im on to something now...ill have to try out a few more locks first to see any consistency

The speed of the pins rising is dependent on your security skill. The higher it is, the more often they'll rise slow.