Hi all! Thank you for your interest in my mod. My name is Dsheck, I am in college studying for a music major, and this is my first mod published!
This mod is a passion project of mine and is very special to me, even though I'm a total noob at it and it's filled with a lot of mistakes. A lot of the project was inspired by Jedo's Imperial followers and Camp Argentum. I began drafting the concept in 2016 and started to work on building it in SSE in 2018 with the more stable 64bit Creation Kit. It wasn't really planned from the start; it kind of just started unfolding on its own as my modding capabilities and toleration of the bombastic instability that Bethesda calls the Creation Kit became stronger. Because of the other commitments in life I have and the fact that this is a side hobby, I am only able to put a limited amount of time into this project. If any of you want to help out with my project, [url=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeWrAxGxV_nY2-f0FHhMXjki6VTTXdNRGmUwvCUiyBdE2bBJg/viewform]fill out this form so I can contact you and potentially follow up from there. [/url]
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[/size][color=#fff2cc][color=#ffff00][size=4]Note: Because of COVID-19, I have a lot more time to work on the mod. After the situation resolves, I will probably be very busy again and won't be able to work as actively. [/size][/color]
What is this mod?
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Holy moly. Where do I start?
This mod is designed for players that like to have NPC battles and push the game engine as far as possible. There is too much for me to go into detail about, so I will do my best to describe the mod.
This is basically my idea of a mostly neutral faction that behaves much like the Companions, but with a lot more structure. I drew a lot of inspiration from Napoleon's Imperial Guard. Since the game doesn't support glorious NPC wars to a scale that I'd (really) enjoy seeing, I decided to push it as far as it can go. I recently got pretty bored with the mod (plus with Skyrim in general; 4000 + hours, hahaha...i mentioned 3k somewhere else but unfortunately that is wrong. I counted again just now. fk.) and got stuck in a mentally dry creativity state, so I'm publishing it to see what you all think and listen to any ideas I might like.
This mod features:
-Over 300 + NPC's total added to the game (most are non-unique)
-Around 190 + followers; independent and ready to follow you on command (RDO needed for some)
-Over 300 beds, bedrolls and places to house followers/soldiers, the vast majority already having their own dedicated, living quarters area
-Around 50? + vacant beds all across Skyrim for any followers to use
-Camps and Reserve areas dedicated to housing and feeding soldiers, for a total of 6 [color=#00ffff](see below for more details)[/color]
-3 Forts included with basic housing necessities for the Dragonborn (it's extremely bland atm, but it's got what you need)
-Over 200 hostile, elite Stormcloak units located from tactical and isolated places all across Skyrim (I will make a list of places eventually and might make a patch that makes this optional in the future. I don't know how to do that though. Contact me if you'd like to teach me or do it yourself)
-6 battlerooms, 4 of which you can test your army in to fight 30-40-ish hostile units; from easy to insanely difficult (these are still kinda buggy)
[color=#00ffff][size=3]More Details About Bases, Camps, and Forts
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LEGEND:
PCU's = Placidus Curatorian Units (also PCs, PC's, etc)
BP = Bellatores Peritissimus Units. These soldiers are part of an elite unit within the PCU, unrivaled by any other faction in the entirety of Skyrim itself. The Old Guard of Napolean's Army; the Marine Corps of the US Army. Take care of my babies, please..!! T_T
List of Camps, Forts and Reserves. These are estimates; please take these numbers as an approximation: (I will make a map of the places in
the future)
[u]Garcius Estate[/u] - 60 PCs
The undeclared capital of the Placidus Curatorian Army, Garcius Estate houses the most soldiers when you count active duty + reserves on the estate. It also is home to the army's crucial iron, corundum and ebony resources in the Garcius Estate Mine. The founder of the entire unit, Legatus Augusti Albertus Garcius, owns the estate's land and constantly travels back and forth between the Estate and nearby Fort Refugium. Although he theoretically commands the entire Placidus Curatorius, General Garcius leaves daily administration of the Garcius Estate Army to some of his novice Legates during peacetime.
[u]Camp Centratus[/u] - 43 PCs
Home to the camp with the largest army, Camp Centratus is headed by Praefectus Castrorum Joanah Antar, a battle hardened and practical Legate that is fourth-in-command of the PCU during peacetime. Legate Antar is most famous for having the most disciplined, planned, efficient and largest army. She is likely unrivaled in the PCU at her micro-intensive logistical management of her armies.
[u]Camp Falkreathus[/u] - 36 PCs
The second largest immediate army is in Camp Fakreathus, fortified and located in the Shriekwind Basin area. It is commanded by Tribunus Laticlavius Allen Mikaelson, a gifted, lion-hearted and charismatic Nord that is the third-in-command of the PCU during peacetime. Being very similar to an ideal Nord, he is one of the most popular leaders and figureheads for morale and inspiration in the Army, as well as an extremely talented and bear-like warrior.
[u]Fort Refugium[/u] - 36 BPs
Fort Refugium is home and headquarters to the Bellatores Peritissimus, an elite unit speaheaded by Legatus Legionis Valora Garcius. Legate Garcius is second-in-command of the entire PCU during peacetime, commander-in-chief of the entire BPU, and commander-in-chief of the entire PCU during wartime. A veteran of the Trail of Tears in the Great War, Legate Garcius is an extremely talented and intuitively intelligent commander that shines brightest during times of conflict. She is married to General Garcius.
[u]Ravenscar Reserve[/u] - 15 BPs
This reserve base houses 15 of Legate Garcius' BP reserve soldiers.
[u]Fort Gelid [/u][u]Pea[/u][u]k[/u] - 10 BPs
Still under construction, Fort Gelid Peak houses 10 BP reserve soldiers for Legate Garcius.
[u]Whiterun[/u] - 10* PCs
There are 10 Rookie PCU soldiers located inside a trapdoor near the Whiterun guard tower as you enter Whiterun; on your left.
[u]DeepFolk Reserve[/u] - 4 BPs
These "Libratus" soldiers are counted as an older reserve of the Bellatores, but are not assigned to Legate Garcius' main Refugium army. They currently scout around Skyrim and stop at Inns.
And a few bunch more I probably forgot about for a total of 214 potential followers; 149 PC's and 65 BP's.
Stuff I want to add in the future (*but need help doing most of):
-Stormcloak followers
-Add quests*
-more NPC faces
-more lore
-more bases
-more reserve areas
-more soldiers
-custom armors*
-more beautification of the forts*
-LOD fixes*
-make proper doors. lmao
-more books explaining the stats and roles of units IN-GAME
[b]And so much more that I cannot list off the top of my head. [/b]
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Why did I make this mod? [/size]
1. To have FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN
2. To have more micro-macro-control of NPC wars
3. To have followers one-shot everything for me instead of me doing it (it gets really annoying after 3000 hours)
4. To try and make a large, Roman-Napoleanic inspired army that I thought Bethesda failed to do with the Imperial Legion.
in-game. The lack of organization and ranking clarifications were laughable.
5. To show that you don't need a ton of modding skills in order to make largely detailed mods. Just patience and a willingness to learn and adapt to the CK dumpsterfire
6. To have a lot of flexibility with followers.
7. It's basically a fraction of the powers and administration I wanted to have or be able to learn and expect in the Imperial Legion, but never got to, because Bethesda didn't put much detail into the Imperial Army.
8. I wanted my own personal soldiers containing personnel inspired by many of my Skyrim profiles, who are part of a faction that has the organization of Napoleon's Imperial Guard and the altruistic honor of the Companions.
[size=5]Is this mod Lore-Friendly/Balanced?[/size]
HELL NAH, LMFAO. If you are looking for a Brodual "Immersive 100% Lore friendly and Game-Balanced Follower pack" or some other stuff, then you should Control + W right now and stop reading right now. This is for veteran players that are sick of Skyrim and love to command armies and followers. A huge plethora of the strongest followers I made can Amazon Prime the Ebony Warrior to Sovngarde faster than it took the Imperials to glock down Lokir of Rorikstead (you'll eventually see why they need to be that strong...). I don't have time to fix all the glaring balance issues or atrocious, immersion-killing doors I use to teleport between cells. There is a lot of crap that is laying around that will break the balance of your game, including disgustingly overpowered followers and custom made staffs and hilariously broken spells that were made for BETA testing (this mod is still in BETA after all. I am releasing it so I can get attention for it and have people help me out of they like it and want to see it improved). I have a ton of ideas for this mod but I don't have time to figure it all out by myself, on my own. I NEED HELP.
[size=5]What do you need to run this game?[/size]
[u]Important Disclaimers:
[b]1. First off: Compared to the highest quality of a mod; this mod is dirty and crude[/b]. [b]It has not been cleaned in TESVEdit.[/b] PLEASE MAKE BACK-UP SAVES BEFORE YOU TRY THIS OUT. IT IS STILL IN BETA FORM. I made this mod with only half of a mind about compatibility; I don't have time to work on all these things by myself. Since this is my first major mod, there are a lot of navmesh edits in particular Tamriel worldspaces that I didn't do the best way possible. I suggest cleaning the mod before using it, if you are particular about that. [b]You have been warned. DO YOUR PART, READ, AND SAVE OFTEN. Nevertheless, the mod is very stable aside from a few non-major bugs that I have no control over. [/b]
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[color=#00ffff][size=4]Performance:[/size][/color]
My specs are:
i7 6700k (4.0 Ghz Quad-core)
GTX 1060 6GB (i play on 1080p)
24GB DDR4 RAM
What you need is:
-A Good PC - RAM 8GB minimum, 16GB rec.
-Core Quality/Strength > Core Quantity
-A Decent GPU. I wouldn't go weaker than Integrated Graphics 530. But honestly, I don't know. [b]You gotta try it out for yourself[/b] since this is BETA and new. I've been waiting for an Imperial follower mod like this for 6 years. It never happened.[i] So I did it myself[/i]. Lol.
For the most part, I designed a lot of the bases and followers to be as friendly to the CPU as possible. This is still a WIP, but I am doing my best to keep NPC's in certain interior cells so that they're not all in the same cell at once and cause the floating NPC paradise engine bug. Your biggest issue will come from what kind of CPU you have. If you use a weak CPU, then you will probably make delicious eggs with your PC. As far as graphical goes, be careful about using Imperial HD mods with the followers. They will look gorgeous but your PC will make a delicious barbeque (before maybe crashing) if it can't handle having all the units on your screen with 4k armor. It lags a lot with my specs.
Note: A 1060 6GB is what I have. but honestly i was playing skyrim with Integrated graphics 530 on low graphics with 1920x1080 resolution for like 200 hours and the game ran around the fps high 40's. However, this was when the mod was in its infancy.
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[/size][size=5]What mods do you [b]need[/b]?[/size]
1. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1187]Relationship Dialogue Overhaul[/url] - this adds follower dialogue for some of the followers in the mod. Without this, they can't be asked to follow you.
2. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/266]Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch[/url]
3. A Mod that disables Skyrim Borders (I use [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/7011]Skyrim Borders Disabled[/url] by nhskill)
4. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6270?tab=files]Increase Actors in a cell[/url] by Kevin843 (75 is recommended, but please experiment with this)
Note: Do not use more than 60 units on a screen if you want to avoid the floating NPC bug.
[size=5]What mods go great with The Placidus Curatorius Unit?[/size]
Please read over this section with great detail. If you don't want to go back and install these later, you might as well do it now.
HIGHLY Recommended (NEEDS [color=#ff00ff]SKSE[/color])
-SkyUI ([color=#ff00ff]SKSE[/color])
-[color=#ff00ff]SKSE[/color] (No I'm not putting it again)
-My Home is Your Home (MHIYH. THIS IS ALMOST A MUST. IT'S SO GOOD.)^
OR My Home Is Your Home 64-bit (SSE ported, [color=#ff00ff]SKSE [/color]Version)
-EFF ([color=#ff00ff]SKSE [/color]Compatible but [b]not mandatory[/b])
-EFF patch for [b]Relationship Dialogue Overhaul [/b](check mandatory mods above for link)
-EFF Naked Outfit Bug Patch (so they aren't naked after dismissal.)
HIGHLY Recommended (NO SKSE NEEDED)
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/14084]Skyrim Project Optimization SE[/url] (your potato will leak tears of joy)
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1396]Simply Faster Arrows and Bolts[/url]
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2470]Increased Enemy Spawn[/url]s (x3 is performance demanding)
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4145]Organized Bandits of Skyrim [/url](If you need more stuff to kill. prepare your lag switch)
Other Enjoyable Mods I Would Recommend Any Player
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/272]Live Another Life[/url]
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3479]Immersive Armors[/url]
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/173]Immersive Citizens[/url]
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/16788]Immersive Weapons[/url]
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/718]Immersive Patrols[/url] (not sure if entirely compatible)
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3218]The Notice Board[/url]
-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/13570]Take Notes[/url] ([color=#ff00ff]SKSE[/color])
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/9197]-Hunters World by agerweb[/url]-[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/28039]Shumer and the Fall of Allagard[/url] by agerweb
-MORE Follower Mods!!!!! I cannot understate this. I made a whole bunch of guesthouses and extra beds for additional custom followers in the future (I could use some help documenting these places). You can use them for your favorite NPC's in the meantime. Use MHIYH with this.
-Any follower mod that you want. One that supports massive amounts of followers is what this mod is intended for.
[size=5]Which follower mods should you choose?[/size]
Note: You can use any follower mod you want. However, there are very few that can utilize all of the NPC's that are included
in this mod.
I recommend choosing only one of these two below. The author of MFF has stated that his mod works with EFF, but I found dismissal to be buggy when they work together. No crashes though.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/7003]1. Extensive Follower Framework (MUST be 4.0.3; it is the last supported
version for the Relationship Dialogue Overhaul compatibility patch)[/url]
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/24167]2. Multiple Followers Framework[/url][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/30136]
3. Shout Commander[/url] (This is part of Multiple Followers Framework. You will need this too.
Make sure you open the Manual of Configuration book added to your
inventory and disable Follower Bows if your Followers are using Bound
Bows instead of their weapons)
[size=5]Extensive Follower Framework [b]OR [/b]Multiple Followers Framework?[/size]
If you ask me, [color=#ffff00][b][color=#ff0000]EFF is much better for combat[/color] [color=#ffffff]and [/color][color=#00ff00]MFF is much better for convenience[/color][/b][/color]. Below is why:
[u]EFF Pros:[/u]
1. Can make use of SKSE to see health bars, Combat classes, and other stuff you should read on its main page
2. Can teleport followers to you if they get stuck somewhere
3. Your follower AI's work pretty well compared to MFF and you can adjust their follow distance and a ton of other stuff for combat.
4. You can set essential status for each follower for whatever reason (they respawn after dying, so you don't have to worry about reloading a save because of that)
5. You can dismiss your followers all at once.
6. You can see every single item in each follower's inventory. Very useful for swapping out armor you want them to have instead.
7. You can have them refresh their stats to get their default armor back!
8. You can see their Class, skills and stats!!!! I said this already! I know!! It's Awesome!!
[u]EFF Cons:[/u]
1. There is this naked dismissal bug that happens with every follower when you dismiss them under this system. Next time you go to find them, they may be all naked. There is a patch for that, but it doesn't fix the problem entirely. Read more about it here.
2. Recruiting your followers may be fun for you...or a massive pain. You have to recruit them in dialogue one at a time.
3. For some really unfortunate reason, EFF does not work well with My Home Is Your Home. The MHIYH menu may not show up with the followers' dialogue, and if it does, I have NEVER been able to set a schedule for them because the options don't show up. You need SKSE if you want to avoid this issue. Use the SKyUI menu to access each MHIYH follower's schedule, residency, and location. It is SUPER useful when you lose track of an NPC. You can teleport to them or have them teleport to you, saving you loads of time and preventing ruined saves.
4. Sometimes the game crashes when you teleport your followers. It's more likely if you have a lot; it just crashes like a quarter of the way through for who know why. [b]Make sure you save before you teleport!!!!![/b]
5. Support doesn't seem to exist anymore. Good luck with that
6. Be careful when you "train" them. It disappears and recycles all the items they have. Use with care.
7. Some of my followers work VERY weirdly with EFF, especially the Curatorian Mages 1-5 from Camp Garcius Estate (they will equip bows and not use magic etc). It is probably on my end, but I have spent hours investigating and could not find why this happens. However, I have never reported it with MFF.
8. You can adjust friendly fire options. (THIS IS A HUGE ISSUE IF YOU HAVE MAGES).
[u]MFF Pros:[/u]
1. [b]Recruiting is a JOY.[/b] Simply shout in a single direction and bam! All the followers are following you. No dialogue screens for each of them like in EFF! Testosterone moment.
2. It feels more immersive compared to the somewhat intrusive window the EFF mod has you use. It's easier to talk to followers.
3. It's more "balanced". As nice as the teleport feature in EFF is, it can feel rather cheatsy (as if having 100's of followers isn't enough already, LOL)
4. It's very friendly with recruiting non-follower NPC's! You can recruit bandits, Guards from Holds, and other friendly NPC's if you set the options right. It's really cool to be able to get a few guards from Whiterun Hold as Thane to clear out those damn bandits from White River Watch, or even station them somewhere else.
[u]MFF Cons:[/u]
1. Friendly fire SUCKS. This is by far the biggest issue. If you are using a lot of followers, friendly fire is almost inevitable with projectile users. They will fight a revolution in front of your eyes until the mages Hiroshima'd 90% of your entire Vanguard unit and half of all your archers. You need a mod that stops this. Please message me if you find a good standalone mod for this. I looked in the past but stopped after a while.
2. Dismissal is weird. They don't always dismiss properly and you sometimes have to do it more than once .
3. You can't access their inventories and stats easily. You gotta go through dialogue
4. You can't see all their items like in EFF.
I highly recommend trying both of these follower systems in separate saves. Please experiment on your own and feel free to post your results on the mod page.
[size=5]Compatibility (WIP)[/size]
Mods that you should NEVER use with this mod: (Still working on this list)
-Mods that modify Tamriel cells West of Pinefrost Tower
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/5288]Populated Skyrim Civil War SE Edition[/url] : I CAN make this work with my mod, but I need help with that. Hit me up baby
-That one Warzone mod. That thing gives me the heeby jeebies
-Anything that adds a lot of new structures in cities is a liekly hazard.
-Open Cities mod.
[size=5]Mods that are semi-compatible but may cause crashes
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-Mods that modify Rorikstead's exterior (I worked around here at one point and left a small navmesh mess nearby)
[size=5]Installation[/size]
Installing on a new save is recommended.
Installing Mid-playthrough is not out of the question because I doubt that there will be much
problems. My greatest concern is if the mod will conflict with other mods due
to a lot of random edits and vanilla navmeshing deletes that I have done in the
mod. Therefore, I suggest installing on a profile that does not have a lot of
mods so that the conflict chance goes down.
For the future:
-Add videos
-Add High Quality pictures to make it look more exciting then it probably is
-include more lore for the soldiers (i havent put a lot of it in the game yet)
-more books to expand library and get to know soldiers more
-add personal chests for each soldier in Fort Refugium
-beautify the bases a bit on the outside
-beautify the insides of the forts/camps
-add packages for Camp Falkreathus
-finish Camp Falkreathus
-new camps
-finish Jerall reserve
-and a lot more. I will update this later. Come check again. I will mark it by dates added
Sources of mods in mentions and pictures: (incomplete)
Frankly HD imperial armor and weapons
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20848
total Character Makeover
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1037
Semper Fi
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/693
Jedo's Followers (AFAIK, not available on SSE. F for Jedo please)
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/15629
Camp Argentum
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/14226
My Nexus Profile:
https://www.nexusmods.com/users/44048262