Caravans of Skyrim

[Ilja]

This topic is dedicated to caravanner play style. Feel free to discuss and share ideas, mods, experiences and screenshots about the matter.

To give you something to discuss about, here is a collection of mods that I am currently using. I have divided the topic in three separate parts. You don't need to use all parts – or even all mods listed in these parts. As a whole, however, this collection should provide all benefits and cons of caravan life.

Collection is also flexible enough to provide a proper cover story for both Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, but you can be from any other guild as well. You can also play as a traveling professional, like alchemist, fletcher or blacksmith - all recognized by mods in this collection.

Enchanting is the only form of craft that causes a problem with trade, but that problem touches only the Market Stall. While enchanting materials are quite cheap, found or self crafted, this is not a big problem and crafted gear can be sold to vendors instead.

It is worth of mentioning that this collection really puts your Speech skill to good use. Crafting skills also affect to your prices, so being a professional is finally worth it.

To avoid a lengthy topic post, I will list all links here and open them more in my second post. All mods are from Nexus and easy to install. You will need SKSE[skse.silverlock.org] and SkyUI[www.nexusmods.com] for this and many players already have them. Have fun and remember to read all instructions and guides before installing mods to your game.

Trade

Your Market Stall[www.nexusmods.com]
Trade and Barter[www.nexusmods.com]
Trade Routes[www.nexusmods.com]

Craft

Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade[www.nexusmods.com]
Smithing Perks Overhaul - Remade and Updated [www.nexusmods.com]
Weapons and Armor Fixes - Remade with Dawnguard and Dragonborn support[www.nexusmods.com]
Clothing and Clutter Fixes[www.nexusmods.com]

Caravan life

Frostfall[www.nexusmods.com]
Ultimate Follower Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com]
Convenient Horses[www.nexusmods.com]
Convenient Horse Herding[www.nexusmods.com]

[Ilja]

Trade

Your Market Stall
This small mod is the heart and soul of this collection. It doesn't look like much, but it is still the one making all this possible. The brilliance of the mod is that you do not actually have to sit on that bench whole day. Your follower can tend to your stall while you are doing deals elsewhere. Your reputation lives normally during your followers watch and money gets traded when you take the stall back.

What makes this mod so powerful is the fact that you actually sell your gear by vendor values. You can't spend too many days in one place at once, or pedestrians around you will be left without cash. Move along and come back when they have more gold. That is the life of a caravanner.

Trade and Barter
This mod changes prices according to location, faction status, knowledge, race (if allowed) and personal relations. Now you actually have a reason to befriend with several characters, especially vendors. Being a thane of Whiterun gives some discounts and being a friend with a vendor like Adrianne Avenicci lowers her prices to you even more. You can deal and befriend with vendors of other cities, while market stall sells the gear you bought cheap straight to customers.

Trade Routes
Another brilliant trade mod that adjusts product and raw material prices according to their availability in area. Some prices are quest related, so clearing mines from creatures and bandits is now actually more beneficial than small loot and 100 septims from steward.

Trade and Barter influences Trade Roads by making several changes to prices. It doesn't make routes obsolete, but less productive. Why are we installing this one? Because we have our stall and vendor prices with it. What you can't sell with reasonable profit to another vendor can be sold from your stall. Trade routes are not a point of this collection, but they should still be working, if you wish to use that part of this mod.

Craft

Complete Crafting Overhaul
Smithing Perks Overhaul
Weapons and Armor Fixes
Clothing and Clutter Fixes

These mods actually work as one. At first it might look like a complete change, but the changes are actually subtle and logical. You don't get any crafting shortcuts with these installed, but they create an economical balance to the game when installed with mods mentioned above.

These are not essential files for caravanner life, but I warmly suggest installing them to your game.

Caravan life

Frostfall
Frostfall does not only create a proper settings for caravans, but also introduces gear to live the life. You will get functional tents and bedrolls for your caravan. Mod's impact is wide and it is so popular that explaining more in here is just a waste of space. If you are not familiar with the mod, read the instructions and get ready for colder and harsher Skyrim.

Ultimate Follower Overhaul
Another widely popular mod. In top of it's other useful perks, UFO allows you to have more than one follower at a time. You can have different companions for different purposes. Let Lydia guard the area and Faendal take the stall, while you empty some safe boxes and slit few throats with Jenassa. If you happen to be the Archmage of College of Winterhold, then you can actually get those two younger mages around you, as lore tells you would. Brelyna can tend to your stall, while J'zargo guards the area. You can discuss about Dwemer architecture with Calcelmo.

This mod also makes other mods and some console command worth for use. Did you marry Ysolda? She always wanted to be a caravanner. Make sure that she can. After all, she has her own shop after married and is a good character to tend your stall. Other spouses are – of course – good and obvious candidates for this job as well.

Convenient Horses
Convenient Horses is a very good mod. It allows all your followers to ride individually customized horses. In top of that, horses have their own inventories for all those steel war hammers and fur cloaks you have picked up or crafted. You will have to store your products somewhere and there really isn't other lore friendly portable storage devices than these.

Remember to disable UFO's default horses. This can be done by speaking to Skulvar Sable-Hilt and telling that you have heard about more convenient horses. (I raise my hat to fLokii for having a good sense of humor and ability to cope with other modders.)

Convenient Horse Herding
I would suggest installing this mod for named horses and to further enchant your caravanner lifestyle. Who needs houses, when you have group of friends, a tent, a herd of horses and group of dogs around you? And if you do decide to buy house(s), then any Hearthfire house as your main home gets completed with a herd of loyal horses, dogs and properly armed caravanners camping around your home; always ready either for a battle or another great adventure.

[𝕊𝕋𝕌ℝ𝕄-𝕂𝔸𝕋]

nice thread! :D

I love trading. Thanks for the links

[Ilja]

Thank you. I have been testing these mods properly for a while now. All should work as advertised.

Time to take the hype down a notch. This is how it really looks, when you are playing the game with these mods installed.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=218557305

[Trigger]

Try this mod on Nexus; ♥♥♥♥♥ Eyes Caravan, It's awesome for who wish to wander

[Ilja]

Originally posted by Trigger:

Try this mod on Nexus; ♥♥♥♥♥ Eyes Caravan

That is a nice mod. I just feel that riding trough Skyrim with a group of followers and herd of horses feels more like caravanner life style. However, it is an awesome mod so let's link it here for others to try out as well.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33219/?

[Чувак Сергеич]

Good

[Trigger]

I take it that prizes is your way of spelling prices

[Ilja]

Originally posted by Trigger:

I take it that prizes is your way of spelling prices

Whoops! That got past my spell check. Silly me for doing such mistake.

Thank you. I will correct my spelling at once.

Edit:
Done. English is not my primary language, so I actually appreciate that my mistakes are corrected.

[Ilja]

Crafting links have been updated. I have now properly tested kryptopyr's remade versions and I can warmly suggest them for all.

Additonally, I have also added new link "Clothing and Clutter Fixes" to the list.

[𝕊𝕋𝕌ℝ𝕄-𝕂𝔸𝕋]

Oh YEAH BOB! I was JUST gonna suggest this to be linked into your thread. Sorted. On with the Khajiiti sales! :D Goods and wares of all kinds, come come, see what we have for sale, no price is too high :D

[Aryel_Emrys]

Originally posted by Ilja:

This topic is an amazing ideia. May I suggest add to [Caravan life] part:
Dragonkiller Cart Reloaded by Xgrufijury[www.nexusmods.com] to complement this playstyle

[Ilja]

I left this thread a bit dormant, when it stopped gaining attention. Might be best that I rewrite and update the post.

Dragonkiller Cart will be included. It has actually been in my to-do list for a while. Thing is that I try not to recommend mods that I haven't personally tested. Dragonkiller Cart testing was left unfinished, when I started to do some WIP testing for certain modders.

I need to get back to it, before updating this post here.

[Aryel_Emrys]

Originally posted by Ilja:

I left this thread a bit dormant... Might be best that I rewrite and update the post. Dragonkiller Cart testing was left unfinished, when I started to do some WIP testing for certain modders...

I found your suggestion about this playthru style an awesome idea. That's why I want to start a completely new MO profile using your guidelines. I have used Dragonkiller Cart Reloaded in another play and I had completed the construction of all addons without any bug or problem. In my experience, it seems to be stable. However, knowing that maybe you'll be upgrading the post I'll wait to see what the news is!.

[Ostro]

nice mods wow you must have gone to coding games school idk?

[Nazenn]

While it may not completely fit with the collection if you are only playing as a caravaneer, and never going into any dungeons for any reason, this mod adds some realism to the monetary system in skyrim by adding in different coins for the nordic ruins and the dwemer ruins instead of just having modern septims laying around. This just adds a touch more realism to the monetary and archeological side of adventuring which depending on what type of stall you decide to run could come in handy.
Skyrim Coin Replacer Redux[www.nexusmods.com]