Companions during the Civil War . . .

[nthzero]

An earlier posting mentioned that the Companions pretty much sat out the Civil War (which I didn't get at all), but now I'm wondering if I could join the Companions and still fight to defend Whiterun when it gets attacked. Has anybody done that?

I really don't want to join the Imperials--I wasn't impressed that it was OK with them to chop off my head at the start regardless of the fact that I hadn't done anything other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. (The guy stealing the horse and I were just crossing the border at the same time the group of Stormcloaks was crossing.) Plus, the Imperials are waaaaay too agreeable towards the Thelmor. But . . . when I tried joining the Stormcloaks (they seemed like the better of the 2 bad choices), Ulfric and his crew were so nasty about everything that I gave up on them after doing the test with the ice wraith.

So I'd like to keep myself out of both the Imperials and the Stormcloaks. But no way will I sit around if Whiterun is under attack.

I'm not a fan of the whole werewolf part of the Companions' storyline, but I figure I can just decline the werewolf invitation and do my own thing most of the time. Will that work? Esp., will that work when the Civil War gets started?? (I'm not even sure that the Civil War will start at all if I don't join either the Imperials or the Stormcloaks.)

Any advice and/or info here would really be appreciated. Tx!

[BlastOff]

You have to do certain quests after joining one side for Whiterun to get attacked. Nothing happens as far as the Civil War without you picking a side and doing quests to further the war.

[{NOC}JURY]

I think that players that takes sides in the war early on in the game are likely to choose the storm cloaks, after all the imperials seem like an imperialistic (duh) foreign occupation force imposing dogmatic laws on everyone, who were going to chop your head off, without even bothering to fill out the necessary paperwork…

:spoiler alert:

But if you leave it for a bit, don’t go straight to windhelm follow the game quests to whiterun do a few missions, (as the game unfolds) regardless of your politics, following the storm cloak storyline will result in an attack in what is essentially your home town, making them the enemy.

Looking at the allegiances of various jarles and key characters that support each side, listen to the various stories and motivations behind each key characters action it becomes clear that no one side really has the moral high ground, and that the true enemy’s are the elves who deliberately fermented the conflict (and orchestrated many other event) solely to destabilise the region as a possible prelude to invasion.

:End spoiler alert:

Knowing this as a character who takes up a banner later in the game you may decide from an intellectual point of view that siding with the empire, is truly in the best interest for the people of Skyrim.

Either way it is established that it would be best for the people of skyrim if the war is brought to a swift end to either sides advantage rather than if the conflict were more drawn out.

Because the game seems to be designed to play out like this, I feel Bethesda has set the stage, for a possible elder scrolls follow on involving an elven / imperial war where skyrim itself is taken out of the picture either through a storm cloak victory, or through the crippling after effects of a prolonged conflict that the empire eventually won.

And all it would take from a scripting point of view would be for an imperial officer to say "Of course they took skyrim!, we wern't exactly in a possition to defend it after those damn stormcloaks were done!"

[nthzero]

This info was really helpful. If I have to choose between the Imperials and the Cloaks, I'll take the Imperials. They'd be the less-lousy option or something like that. <lol>

I was really thinking that I could join the Companions and then sort of jump into the fighting when Whiterun got attacked. So it's great to find out now that I need to plan differently.

Remember how, when exiting Helgen Keep, the guy you were with said the two of you had better split up? Well, he headed down the road, and I headed off to the right. I've been sort of making my own fun as I wander around--mostly just killing assorted bad guys. I didn't want to get too caught up in the main story line 'til I'd had a chance to just enjoy Skyrim. The one big mistake I made was that I went to Winterhold to see the college and got sucked into this big mess with the Eye of Magnus. (I'm about 80%-decided to start a new game and avoid ALL the towns, if I can. . . . :o) . . .

If I get one of the other parts of the Elder Scrolls set, will the game sort of start over?? Or does my present character get to continue on? And are the other games like Skyrim in that they sort of push you through the maze (quest line?) 'til it's done? I like this game a lot, but I'd like it a lot MORE if it weren't so darn pushy. <lol>

Tx again. :o)

[ARmodder]

no once you finish the main storyline you can still play with your current character and complete side quests and I hear a lot of people who are going on about being restricted to what they can do as far as the Quests are concerned, and the game overall, this game is open world you dont have to do any quests you dont want to, many people just roam the map doing their own thing and dont even touch the quests, the game is basicall an alternate life in a sense that the choices you make are yours

[ARmodder]

to add to my previous post I will say that they could have given more multiple decisions in terms of your quest choices, and the ability to affect the story's outcome more, like they did in FO3

[Calendyn]

As far as I know, Whiterun is never attacked if you don't pick a side; the game is waiting on you to begin one of the two factions' questlines. If you're okay with some spoilers, hit up the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages for more information.

[{NOC}JURY]

All major events are triggered by your actions throughout the game if you choose to leave a primary story line alone it will not progress world events... Changes is the war are hinted upon in the Alduin storyline, should you progress that quest whilst ignoring the War storyline. Many of these references will be removed however if you complete the war storyline first.

I have got a character to level 60 just doing bounties at saloons; if you do this there will be nothing to indicate that the world around you has in fact changed since the events at Helgen.

Only by progressing main quests will any story events happen.

Also the game won't end... the closest thing to a scripted ending in this game is you characters death during combat... or falling off a cliff... or drowning... It doesnt have a round up ending like fallout (or faction based diguises from wareing uniform etc... WTF is that about? seemed like a step backwards to me) so dont expect any kind of closure once you've saved everyone from everything, then gotten bored and killed them all.