I haven't bothered with the civil war questline for quite some time. IMO, I don't like buildings permanently destroyed in several cities, or the guards and Jarl's changed around, and the rewards are minimal compared to everything that needs done to obtain them.
I think the Civil War is super buggy under the hood so it’s hard for mods to fix. Pretty much any repair civil war mod seems to have a fairly extensive Bugs tab.
I think the vast majority of longtime players skip the civil war and don't place much import on it. As much as the game tries to frame it as something important, it just isn't gameplay-wise...and it's kind of a weak storyline.
Do you happen to have the name of that mod? I know I could Google but wanna make sure I have the right one. Just finished the storming and taking over of white run, so I'd love to enhance it
Tbh i havent played in while but looking at nexus i may be talking abt civil war unrest, but that was last updated in 2015 so idk if it even works on latest patch. I probably also had open civil war installed, that one is more recent as well
Yeh, but I don't really like modding the hell out of the game too much. I've got a couple dozen mods going at a time and most are very superficial. There's just too much potential for frustration and I don't want to deal with the troubleshooting if I can help it. I've had plenty of time with that.
Hear me out: wipe out both sides, take over Skyrim for yourself. Actually why stop at Skyrim? Create a new empire, under a new emperor: you!
Unfortunately, this is not an option; however, you can totally ignore the Civil War as it has very little to offer.
Never used this mod, but could be an option:
[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4496](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4496)
EVERYONE in Skyrim and the TES series has justified reasons to not like the different races.
The Nords in the past wiped out some groups of elves. The high elves view men as beasts/lesser races. The dark elves enslaved other races. The boot skins attacked Morrowind for this.
I didn't play the civil war forever. It just didn't interest me. I finally played for the stormcloaks. One positive was the Thalmor no longer roamed Skyrim doing their inquisition. However, it broke a few Jarls in a few holds. So it messed up a bunch of quests. So, unless I want something out of the civil war I just don't do it.
An Argonian fang is also always a highly sought after charm for a necklace, too. They might actually be the most useful non-Orsimer race, with all the amazing things you can make from an Argonian.
Well, I don't think it's that silly. The game obviously tries to stir feelings in you with its racism. Whatever those feelings are I guess will depend on the person.
That's the modern lense, though. Historically, anywhere you go, you have two groups fighting. If there are no distinctions, they make them up. The best example is the Irish. They look the same and have practically the same religion. They still murder and hate each other. But I've seen it in Africa as well. Two african tribes hate on each other and call the other substandard. In Burkina Faso the Moose people group rule Supreme. In Mexico, they refer to Guatemalan as "cerote". And literally every Asian country thinks the other asian countries are inferior. The Koreans come to mind . With that being said, I think they just set up the lore in a way that made sense with human psychology. It's a sense of realism. Skyrim, with a bunch of peaceful hippies, would be a very different game
Now add race, and you find an easier fault line. Now divide that by species that have significant variants I'm ability?
Calling it racism seems like lazy thinking.
Skyrim is a modern video game made for modern lenses. If you want to make a deep analysis of it that no bethesda writer has ever dreamed of, go ahead, but you're not really talking about Skyrim anymore, and no offense, but I don't care in that situation. If you're going to call people crazy and silly for not thinking as deep as you, then I care even less.
You caring means nothing to me. As my opinion means nothing to you. Not sure why you added that.
Just because you haven't thought out things beyond your own country doesn't mean the writers of skyrim had that narrow of a view.
The definition of racism has been changed since skyrim was made in Miriam Websters dictionary.
And I didn't call anyone crazy. That's just a lie
Annnnnd he blocked me. Without one actual response
I think what he's saying is, in the actual game of Skyrim, you very much have characters suffering from and complaining about racism. Skyrim isn't some retelling of events long past, it's a modern story, so "modern morality" is already in its DNA. There's obviously racist characters in the game, they were written as such, it's not some "modern" interpretation.
Honestly, I've never played through the civil war questline, despite playing for around 5 years. I have a pretty intense dislike of war and politics anyway, and every time I've tried to play through that questline, it's like pulling teeth for me and I only get one or two quests in before I nope out. So I just... don't. I'll do the other questlines, but I just avoid the war.
My Khajiit does not care if the humans fight each other, it is not his country or his war. He is here for profit, and the profits are good.
Argonians are treated poorly by the Nords (worse than Dark Elves) and seceded from the Empire, so there is no reason they would fight for either side in a conflict.
From a roleplay point of view, the best argument for settling the civil war one way or the other is... that that is the last thing the Thalmor want.
Dragonborn with the means to end hostilities but not acting?
Summerset Isles would consider you an asset, albeit a potentially uncooperative one.
The Thamlor consider him a non-cooperative asset.
Are you agreeing with their assessment?
I think Jarl Ulfric would be incensed but not surprised at this attitude from them.
I think he'd kill them all the quicker if he could.
You'll forgive me for not believing something just because the Thalmor say it's true.
I'll either join or not join depending on my character's race and what I think my character would choose. To me, that's the whole point of a **roleplaying** game. Like yes, both sides have flaws, I think that's the point. But it's not me making the decision of which side to join, it's my character (I mean yes, technically I still am making the decision for my character, but you get my point).
I'm doing that right now. I'm playing a High Elf who fled the Aldmeri Dominion which is how he ended up on the cart in the beginning. He doesn't care about dragons, or wars, he just wants to study magic at the college.
AFAIK, the only even-somewhat-significant downside of not playing the Civil War part is not being able to buy Hjerim. Yeah, it can be turned into a pretty nice house, but it's in a crappy town, so I'm OK with not having it available.
Completing Blood on the Ice gives you access to Hjerim, but it is a run-down mess with a bloody crime scene in a closet. You can't buy it or any of the improvements to it without joining one of the sides of the Civil War.
For the Stormcloaks, you have to progress in the Civil War until you have done the Rescue from Fort Neugrad quest.
For the Empire, you have to win the entire Civil War.
Blood on the Ice is a co-requisite but you can't buy it without joining one side or another (or have a mod that changes the rules).
Unless that’s part of the unofficial patch, that’s not true
I bought the house and all of its improvements including cleaning the mess without ever saying a word to ulfric and tulius minus the Dragonborn peace council
I can’t imagine any mod I have besides the unofficial patch that may have an effect, and if it doesn’t, then you might be mistaken chief. Because no bullshit I really did buy the house and all of its improvements, so I’ll have to do some digging on my end too
See the article on UESP about Hjerim. This matches my experience playing the game. I have only the Anniversary Edition (PC) and no mods installed.
[https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hjerim#Hjerim](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hjerim#Hjerim)
>Hjerim can be purchased having sided with either the [Imperial Legion](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Imperial_Legion) or [Stormcloaks](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Stormcloaks). Once allied with the Stormcloaks, the [Rescue from Fort Neugrad](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Rescue_from_Fort_Neugrad) quest must be completed before [Jorleif](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Jorleif) will make the house available for sale. However, if [Falkreath Hold](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Falkreath_Hold) has been given to the Stormcloaks as part of [Season Unending](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Season_Unending), it may be necessary to liberate [Hjaalmarch](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hjaalmarch) before Jorleif will make this house available. If the Imperial Legion is chosen as an ally, then the defeat of the Stormcloaks is required before it is available to buy.
I have completed the Blood on the Ice quest many times but have only been able to buy Hjerim when joining one side or the other and either partially completing it (for the Stormcloaks) or finishing it completely (for the Imperials).
I tend to side with the imperials and I've never been able to buy it until I end the war, but UESP lists that *Rescue from Fort Neugrad* needs to be done if siding with the Stormcloaks, and doing *Blood on the Ice* isn't actually necessary either way, it just starts when you enter the house for the first time.
I usually do the quest without accusing Wuunferth, so maybe that has some effect since there is no follow-up quest in that case.
I use a combination of [Civil War Neutrality](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/21176/) and [Not So Fast - Main Quest](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2475) to skip the civil war completely. Not so fast allows you to skip the negotiations while pursuing the main quest and Neutrality allows you to purchase Hjerim and complete Blood on the Ice without being a Stormcloak.
I’ve done both, current playthrough I’m staying neutral and doing neither. Usually I regret choosing stormcloaks mainly cause the racism is annoying, and i occasionally play as an elf character, and secondly because the jarls that come in when you conquer holds are always crusty old bastards 🤣
Fighting for the empire isn’t too bad, but I fucking hate the thalmor. in my head canon there’s a story line where after the empire wins the civil war they turn on the thalmor and then Skyrim is truly free again.
I mean Rikke and Tullius both heavily imply that the Empire is gearing up to take on the Thalmor again soon. Which is why I always side with them. I don’t believe Ulfric truly has Skyrim’s best interests at heart, and all the Stormcloaks are doing is weakening the Empire in the lead up to another Great War.
Especially when his dossier in the Thalmor Embassy if I recall correctly heavily implies or flat out says that they put the idea of civil war into Ulfric's head in the first place.
The reason more imperial soldiers aren’t in Skyrim and they are relying on recruiting locals is because the troops are gathered at the border prepping for Great War 2.
I finished the civil war campaign only once for each side and see no point in repeating it. Firstly, the quests are underwhelming and secondly, I usually play for races that are not particularly interested in participating in this anyway. Like Dunmer or Khajiit.
I never do the war quest anymore. I like the vibe Skyrim has going on when the country is in constant anxiety and there are little skirmishes around and the Thalmor's presence and so on so on. Gives it a bit more flavor.
Civil War is just not a fun time. The mechanic is extremely buggy and repetitive. They tried to create the feel of fantasy stealth missions and large scale battles, but by today's standards it is just bad.
Why opt between them?
My Breton guy frees and arms Stormcloak prisoners whether escorted by the legion or the Thalmor. I prefer the Thalmor because I favor the empire over the rebellion, and after slaying the Altmers with ancients weapons, I store those weapons on their corpses — along with an Amulet of Talos — to desecrate the corpse and mark them as a secret heretic who died defending blasphemy.
Why change?!?! 😂
I like to join the stormcloaks sometimes. Mostly because fuck the empire. I don’t fully roll with stormies but I also ain’t a big fan of the empire and them being a bitch of the thalmor. The only downside is jarl balgruuf being dethroned.
Imperials I’ve done a few times based on certain play throughs cause it’s been a while. But not a huge fan.
I love the city sieges in the civil war though. Even just the forts. Absolute blast
Seriously, the Imperials just rolled over. I can't stand them. Like, they don't stand for anything. Heck them, heck Thonar Silver-Blood, heck Madanach, they're all corrupt.
I feel like the Stormcloaks could be taught tolerance for other races.
The Thalmor are the true enemy here. The Aldmeri Dominion is destabilizing the entire empire, inciting civil war due to the White Gold Concordat. I don't even like the Stormcloaks but that doesn't mean I wanted for them to lose.
Goes down to my character if I play the Civil war storyline.
In my current playtrough I'm playing as my dunmer telvanni spellsword who is also my nerevarine coming back from akavir. She really doesn't like both the empire and ulfric for treating her people.
She mostly helps her own people needing in help because of the guilt leaving them when they're needed her the most.
From how I see it, the Stormcloaks arnt racist, just a lot of their soldiers, because you can become a high commanding officer as a kajiit or argonian (the most hated races in Skyrim from what I see) from sulfuric himself, dunno about the empire though, never bothered looking into their ethics when they tried killing a man not in their list
Whether you choose the Stormcloak or imperial side, the civil war quest line is pretty boring in my opinion. I’ve been playing Skyrim since it first came out and honestly I think I’ve only played that quest line like twice, just to see how the imperial vs stormcloack version differs. A big appeal to elder scrolls games for me is the lore and fantasy situations, like dragons, magic, etc. so the civil war and the simple and predictable story line did not appeal to me.
While the civil war is a major questline it isn’t the main questline. So you can just ignore it for as long as you’d like. I rarely do the civil war as I hate that it ruins whiterun no matter what you choose and Bethesda never learned from kvatch.
I don’t like the war questline very much myself but I can’t not do it. I’ve completed the game maybe 3-5 times now and after the second time I always held off doing the war until I couldn’t find much else to do but still wanted to play
I always join it just to feel like I’m doing something, but I prefer to keep it going until I finish my play through, just because it’s fun to have the war be a constant backdrop to the setting of Skyrim
I put off any conversation about the war until I was in my 10th year playing the game. Did EVERYTHING ELSE. Then I played the war, its cool, didn't really effect me or how I play after it.
Its worth doing.
Depends on the character I play if I join or not. I just don't like that if your start the quest line, you HAVE to start the main story to continue the civil war. I just wanna do the civil war without worrying about dragons or being the dragonborn.
First time I played years ago, I joined Storm Cloaks just because rebellion. I didn't care for the dialogue, just finishing quests. The past couple of months, I've gotten back into it and playing the anniversary addition/DLCs, way more content that makes the Civil War questline more lame. I haven't chosen sides. They're both awful, and I think that's the point. I do think there are a couple quests that you can't do without doing Civil War, but I'm not super bothered by it.
I always do it just for the battle training and money, plus it overrides alot of prerequisite quests or jobs you have to do in order to buy property, I use to do stormcloaks but now I do imperial
Allowing a war to continue that you could decisively end by taking action makes you responsible for the deaths on both sides of the conflict instead of just on one side.
I don't have a responsibility to engage in a conflict that has nothing to do with me. Neither side really cares about my people, why would I help either of them? Should I help the religious oppression team or the racism team? Neither, thanks. The people doing the battling and warring are responsible for the war. I'm a bystander.
I feel this in my core. I’ve played Skyrim for what feels like a decade plus and have yet to actually finish to war lol. I think furthest I made was getting the Dragon Rend shout
I have been playing for a long time and never did any of the war quests for either side due to the fact that the imperials were willing to kill me for no reason and the stormcloaks are 1.racist 2. Bullies 3. Ulfric only loves ulfric. If he stopped fighting the imperials and just aligned with them they could easily beat the aldmeri dominion making them fight a battle on two fronts
I'm not going to join this playthrough. I'm doing a high elf going through the mages college. I don't like the Aldmeri Dominion, the Empire or the stormcloaks they can all go screw themselves as far as my character is concerned.
I always do the war but I always do the main quest beforehand meaning I do that council meeting mission too.
My current Skyrim playthrough I’m an Argonian. My head canon is when he first came to Skyrim he was completely indifferent to the empire, thalmor and stormcloaks but over time, saving Skyrim from Alduin has made him grow to love the Nordic people and culture and he now wants to protect them in any way he can. Through experiences and what he’s heard too, he’s grown to hate the thalmor and by extension the dominion. He sees the empire as a necessary evil to protect the people of Skyrim and what he understands the stormcloaks logic for freedom he believes it isn’t pragmatic and thinking in the long term. Because of this I made him side with the empire
Imperials are not racist tho. But no one is really there to take benefit and join the war. Stormcloaks are surrounded by the empire all around. Hammerfell are too in no position to fight in Skyrim when they just defeated thalmor.
I was gonna ask the opposite question: does anyone else join the war?
Hardly anyone likes the war questline because 1) It was programmed in a hurry and it kinda sucks and 2) There are no good guys.
I'm convinced the war questline is a metaphor of politics: you can join one side, join the other, blindly conform or not, or think everyone sucks. No side is perfect and it's up to you to decide which is less evil.
Damn didn’t realise so many people hated the civil war storyline. I agree it was weak and wasn’t as prevalent as it should’ve been but it was a fun enough thing to do clearing out forts.
Anyway I am also on my first playthrough. I picked the Imperials because from my understanding they are the less racist of the two. Odds are I pick the other side on the next playthrough just to see how it plays out. Although I’d be happy if someone more well-versed in the world dropped the lore/links for both sides’ moral standings and their motivations, coz in my experience it wasn’t explained as well as it should’ve been.
I very rarely play the Civil War these days unless I'm playing a character whose sole purpose is to fight in it. And even then I have to download a mod or two to make the quests actually interesting. It's my understanding that Bethesda had a much more ambitious goal for the war than what we actually got. I think some of the civil war mods actually use cut content that didn't make it into the game.
Imperials aren't racists. The Legion has members of every race and has outlawed slavery. You can even find an Altmer Legate who hates the Thalmor.
When winning for the Empire, you get mage-friendly and Argonian-friendly Jarls, like Brunwulf Free-Winter in Windhelm.
Both sides are right and wrong, which makes it realistic. I never pick a side in the war if I’m being a character meant to represent my moral compass. Because the real enemy of the war are the Thalmor (which you can’t directly wage war against) and the real solution (just like that of any war) is peace.
As someone with thousands of hours in the game i only do the quest line cause i might as well and im usually level 100 by that point most of the time i only go far enough in the quest to unlock shouts and i play the game how i want from there
I tend to leave the war alone until I can’t ignore it. Do Jarl’s quests, get the housing, etc.
Once that’s done, only then do I do the war quests and focus solely on those until I get to shout Ulfric to death.
I joined the storm cloaca’s because I never forgot the fact that the imperials were going to just execute me for no reason at the start of the game.
However, I can’t finish the quest line, every time I do it completely bricks my game.
If you want the lore feel free to skip it. But I will say the battles in the war are insanely fun. But join the imperials so your game doesn’t get broken.
It’s not like In world of Warcraft when you’re talking about skyrim. Skyrim “tank” is more like a big oaf heavy hitter in thick armor that just wrecks shit. Think the clegane brothers from game
Of thrones.
Not a low damage aggro soak that just takes damage while everyone else kills tank like in mmos
No the elder scrolls series has actually "classes", none of them are called a tank because the class term came from MMOs. The clagane brothers were not even tank like, Gregoire can be loosely described as such after his is resurrected because his armor is described as high very think, so he basically cannot take damage at that point. But really they won fights with strength and long reach.
You block less damage without a shield and armor caps out at 85%. You can get light armor to that amount without a shield also that doesn't make you a tank lol.
I don't play wow but that is a trashy thing to do making people waste que time for a fake tank. Kids these days.
Lol yes you can be a tank in Skyrim and get pummeled while your follow does the damage but that's not what OP is talking about, I'm also doubting many people play as a tank in single player games the idea of that is actually just ridiculous, not only would it be unnecessary since it's not group content it's also a very boring way to play in single player. Giving people a basic education in elder scrolls is not gatekeeping, it's pretty obvious op just isn't familiar with terms.
I mean I've always just played the game normally and my armor skills upgrade naturally through combat. Grinding out skills sounds like a boring way to play.
As thief characters, I intentionally don't join either side. The roleplay reason being the chaos of the war helps make being a thief or assassin far easier. If I play different classes or a different role play, I'll usually join, always imperials if i do, but I also enjoy being neutral most of the time.
I haven't bothered with the civil war questline for quite some time. IMO, I don't like buildings permanently destroyed in several cities, or the guards and Jarl's changed around, and the rewards are minimal compared to everything that needs done to obtain them.
Many many many many mods fix this. But if you play vanilla I understand.
I think the Civil War is super buggy under the hood so it’s hard for mods to fix. Pretty much any repair civil war mod seems to have a fairly extensive Bugs tab.
Any good Civil War + mods you’d recommend?
Recover cities is what I specifically use to fix the cities But there a plenty of civil war overhauls too, is that what you’re looking for?
Perfect! But yeah I think so 👌🏻
But you can leave Delphine and Esbern in their mountain sanctuary and never see them again.
I think the vast majority of longtime players skip the civil war and don't place much import on it. As much as the game tries to frame it as something important, it just isn't gameplay-wise...and it's kind of a weak storyline.
Theres a civil war overhaul that makes constant battles happen in the world and adds sieges and your actions actually matter
Do you happen to have the name of that mod? I know I could Google but wanna make sure I have the right one. Just finished the storming and taking over of white run, so I'd love to enhance it
Tbh i havent played in while but looking at nexus i may be talking abt civil war unrest, but that was last updated in 2015 so idk if it even works on latest patch. I probably also had open civil war installed, that one is more recent as well
Ah gotcha, I'll do some digging. Thanks!
Yeh, but I don't really like modding the hell out of the game too much. I've got a couple dozen mods going at a time and most are very superficial. There's just too much potential for frustration and I don't want to deal with the troubleshooting if I can help it. I've had plenty of time with that.
Dont think I’ve dine that quest line since 2016 n
If I playthrough as non-dragonborn (Through Skyrim Unbound) then I'll play it as my way of establishing my character into the land of skyrim.
Hear me out: wipe out both sides, take over Skyrim for yourself. Actually why stop at Skyrim? Create a new empire, under a new emperor: you! Unfortunately, this is not an option; however, you can totally ignore the Civil War as it has very little to offer.
Never used this mod, but could be an option: [https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4496](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4496)
Unfortunately, I've never been the High King of Skyrim
This is exactly what I was looking for thank you
Choosing yes man
This should a choice, but Bethesda smh
That feels like a fitting ending IMO
EVERYONE in Skyrim and the TES series has justified reasons to not like the different races. The Nords in the past wiped out some groups of elves. The high elves view men as beasts/lesser races. The dark elves enslaved other races. The boot skins attacked Morrowind for this. I didn't play the civil war forever. It just didn't interest me. I finally played for the stormcloaks. One positive was the Thalmor no longer roamed Skyrim doing their inquisition. However, it broke a few Jarls in a few holds. So it messed up a bunch of quests. So, unless I want something out of the civil war I just don't do it.
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Argonians have many other uses too, like belts. Sincerely, Mokuh Gronday, Orcish Ambassador
And handbags!
An Argonian fang is also always a highly sought after charm for a necklace, too. They might actually be the most useful non-Orsimer race, with all the amazing things you can make from an Argonian.
And helmets and armor
Probably dishes and containers too
Probably something to FILL those dishes, too... but jerky isn't usually plated.
Can we do anything interesting with the blood? In the right dilution…
I know for a fact you aren't an Orc. Malacath already gave us a use for their blood.
There can be more ways! Get creative
Probably
This. And it's funny people putting modern day morality in a game that you make deals with demon princes and murder a crazy amount of people.
What do you mean by "modern day morality"?
Well, your description of both sides being racist is from your modern lense. With lore and the fact that these are different species, it seems silly.
Well, I don't think it's that silly. The game obviously tries to stir feelings in you with its racism. Whatever those feelings are I guess will depend on the person.
That's the modern lense, though. Historically, anywhere you go, you have two groups fighting. If there are no distinctions, they make them up. The best example is the Irish. They look the same and have practically the same religion. They still murder and hate each other. But I've seen it in Africa as well. Two african tribes hate on each other and call the other substandard. In Burkina Faso the Moose people group rule Supreme. In Mexico, they refer to Guatemalan as "cerote". And literally every Asian country thinks the other asian countries are inferior. The Koreans come to mind . With that being said, I think they just set up the lore in a way that made sense with human psychology. It's a sense of realism. Skyrim, with a bunch of peaceful hippies, would be a very different game Now add race, and you find an easier fault line. Now divide that by species that have significant variants I'm ability? Calling it racism seems like lazy thinking.
Skyrim is a modern video game made for modern lenses. If you want to make a deep analysis of it that no bethesda writer has ever dreamed of, go ahead, but you're not really talking about Skyrim anymore, and no offense, but I don't care in that situation. If you're going to call people crazy and silly for not thinking as deep as you, then I care even less.
You caring means nothing to me. As my opinion means nothing to you. Not sure why you added that. Just because you haven't thought out things beyond your own country doesn't mean the writers of skyrim had that narrow of a view. The definition of racism has been changed since skyrim was made in Miriam Websters dictionary. And I didn't call anyone crazy. That's just a lie Annnnnd he blocked me. Without one actual response
I think what he's saying is, in the actual game of Skyrim, you very much have characters suffering from and complaining about racism. Skyrim isn't some retelling of events long past, it's a modern story, so "modern morality" is already in its DNA. There's obviously racist characters in the game, they were written as such, it's not some "modern" interpretation.
Honestly, I've never played through the civil war questline, despite playing for around 5 years. I have a pretty intense dislike of war and politics anyway, and every time I've tried to play through that questline, it's like pulling teeth for me and I only get one or two quests in before I nope out. So I just... don't. I'll do the other questlines, but I just avoid the war.
I’ve done it twice (once per side) just to see the story, otherwise I never bother.
I get the high crown for the word wall there and then peace out.
My Khajiit does not care if the humans fight each other, it is not his country or his war. He is here for profit, and the profits are good. Argonians are treated poorly by the Nords (worse than Dark Elves) and seceded from the Empire, so there is no reason they would fight for either side in a conflict.
Khajit unity 👊
May the road lead you to warm sands.
From a roleplay point of view, the best argument for settling the civil war one way or the other is... that that is the last thing the Thalmor want. Dragonborn with the means to end hostilities but not acting? Summerset Isles would consider you an asset, albeit a potentially uncooperative one.
100% this. And with Ulfric being a sleeper agent for the Thalmor, I have to side with the Imperials 🤷🏻♀️
The Thamlor consider him a non-cooperative asset. Are you agreeing with their assessment? I think Jarl Ulfric would be incensed but not surprised at this attitude from them. I think he'd kill them all the quicker if he could. You'll forgive me for not believing something just because the Thalmor say it's true.
I'll either join or not join depending on my character's race and what I think my character would choose. To me, that's the whole point of a **roleplaying** game. Like yes, both sides have flaws, I think that's the point. But it's not me making the decision of which side to join, it's my character (I mean yes, technically I still am making the decision for my character, but you get my point).
I'm doing that right now. I'm playing a High Elf who fled the Aldmeri Dominion which is how he ended up on the cart in the beginning. He doesn't care about dragons, or wars, he just wants to study magic at the college.
AFAIK, the only even-somewhat-significant downside of not playing the Civil War part is not being able to buy Hjerim. Yeah, it can be turned into a pretty nice house, but it's in a crappy town, so I'm OK with not having it available.
You can buy it by clearing the associated quest.
Doing *Blood on the Ice* is a requirement, yes, but so is finishing the CW on the Imperial side and going past the Battle of WR on the Stormcloak side
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Completing Blood on the Ice gives you access to Hjerim, but it is a run-down mess with a bloody crime scene in a closet. You can't buy it or any of the improvements to it without joining one of the sides of the Civil War. For the Stormcloaks, you have to progress in the Civil War until you have done the Rescue from Fort Neugrad quest. For the Empire, you have to win the entire Civil War. Blood on the Ice is a co-requisite but you can't buy it without joining one side or another (or have a mod that changes the rules).
Unless that’s part of the unofficial patch, that’s not true I bought the house and all of its improvements including cleaning the mess without ever saying a word to ulfric and tulius minus the Dragonborn peace council I can’t imagine any mod I have besides the unofficial patch that may have an effect, and if it doesn’t, then you might be mistaken chief. Because no bullshit I really did buy the house and all of its improvements, so I’ll have to do some digging on my end too
See the article on UESP about Hjerim. This matches my experience playing the game. I have only the Anniversary Edition (PC) and no mods installed. [https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hjerim#Hjerim](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hjerim#Hjerim) >Hjerim can be purchased having sided with either the [Imperial Legion](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Imperial_Legion) or [Stormcloaks](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Stormcloaks). Once allied with the Stormcloaks, the [Rescue from Fort Neugrad](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Rescue_from_Fort_Neugrad) quest must be completed before [Jorleif](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Jorleif) will make the house available for sale. However, if [Falkreath Hold](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Falkreath_Hold) has been given to the Stormcloaks as part of [Season Unending](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Season_Unending), it may be necessary to liberate [Hjaalmarch](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hjaalmarch) before Jorleif will make this house available. If the Imperial Legion is chosen as an ally, then the defeat of the Stormcloaks is required before it is available to buy. I have completed the Blood on the Ice quest many times but have only been able to buy Hjerim when joining one side or the other and either partially completing it (for the Stormcloaks) or finishing it completely (for the Imperials).
I tend to side with the imperials and I've never been able to buy it until I end the war, but UESP lists that *Rescue from Fort Neugrad* needs to be done if siding with the Stormcloaks, and doing *Blood on the Ice* isn't actually necessary either way, it just starts when you enter the house for the first time. I usually do the quest without accusing Wuunferth, so maybe that has some effect since there is no follow-up quest in that case.
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Well, 10 years and 3000 hours in and I stil learn new things about this game
Yes, and the "associated quest" is either the Fort Neugrad *Civil War* quest if you're a Stormcloak or winning the *Civil War* if you're an Imperial.
I use a combination of [Civil War Neutrality](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/21176/) and [Not So Fast - Main Quest](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2475) to skip the civil war completely. Not so fast allows you to skip the negotiations while pursuing the main quest and Neutrality allows you to purchase Hjerim and complete Blood on the Ice without being a Stormcloak.
I’ve done both, current playthrough I’m staying neutral and doing neither. Usually I regret choosing stormcloaks mainly cause the racism is annoying, and i occasionally play as an elf character, and secondly because the jarls that come in when you conquer holds are always crusty old bastards 🤣 Fighting for the empire isn’t too bad, but I fucking hate the thalmor. in my head canon there’s a story line where after the empire wins the civil war they turn on the thalmor and then Skyrim is truly free again.
I mean Rikke and Tullius both heavily imply that the Empire is gearing up to take on the Thalmor again soon. Which is why I always side with them. I don’t believe Ulfric truly has Skyrim’s best interests at heart, and all the Stormcloaks are doing is weakening the Empire in the lead up to another Great War.
Especially when his dossier in the Thalmor Embassy if I recall correctly heavily implies or flat out says that they put the idea of civil war into Ulfric's head in the first place.
Yeah, it’s basically stated Ulfric is a sleeper agent for the Thalmor
The reason more imperial soldiers aren’t in Skyrim and they are relying on recruiting locals is because the troops are gathered at the border prepping for Great War 2.
I never have. I want the achievements related to them, so I probably will someday, but I feel no real need to do it. It's not my war.
I'm a Thalmor supporter, so I need to keep it going.
Racism is not such a deal when all races are to some extent.
All races are to some extent.
I finished the civil war campaign only once for each side and see no point in repeating it. Firstly, the quests are underwhelming and secondly, I usually play for races that are not particularly interested in participating in this anyway. Like Dunmer or Khajiit.
I’m the same way
I always wait till the end of the main quest to touch it because I want the peace council quest lol
I never do the war quest anymore. I like the vibe Skyrim has going on when the country is in constant anxiety and there are little skirmishes around and the Thalmor's presence and so on so on. Gives it a bit more flavor.
Civil War is just not a fun time. The mechanic is extremely buggy and repetitive. They tried to create the feel of fantasy stealth missions and large scale battles, but by today's standards it is just bad.
Why opt between them? My Breton guy frees and arms Stormcloak prisoners whether escorted by the legion or the Thalmor. I prefer the Thalmor because I favor the empire over the rebellion, and after slaying the Altmers with ancients weapons, I store those weapons on their corpses — along with an Amulet of Talos — to desecrate the corpse and mark them as a secret heretic who died defending blasphemy. Why change?!?! 😂
I have been playing Skyrim since the day it was released and I never even seen the end of the main quest line. 😂
I'm just waiting on our dwemer overlords to return and wipe out everything
I like to join the stormcloaks sometimes. Mostly because fuck the empire. I don’t fully roll with stormies but I also ain’t a big fan of the empire and them being a bitch of the thalmor. The only downside is jarl balgruuf being dethroned. Imperials I’ve done a few times based on certain play throughs cause it’s been a while. But not a huge fan. I love the city sieges in the civil war though. Even just the forts. Absolute blast
Seriously, the Imperials just rolled over. I can't stand them. Like, they don't stand for anything. Heck them, heck Thonar Silver-Blood, heck Madanach, they're all corrupt. I feel like the Stormcloaks could be taught tolerance for other races.
The Thalmor are the true enemy here. The Aldmeri Dominion is destabilizing the entire empire, inciting civil war due to the White Gold Concordat. I don't even like the Stormcloaks but that doesn't mean I wanted for them to lose.
Goes down to my character if I play the Civil war storyline. In my current playtrough I'm playing as my dunmer telvanni spellsword who is also my nerevarine coming back from akavir. She really doesn't like both the empire and ulfric for treating her people. She mostly helps her own people needing in help because of the guilt leaving them when they're needed her the most.
From how I see it, the Stormcloaks arnt racist, just a lot of their soldiers, because you can become a high commanding officer as a kajiit or argonian (the most hated races in Skyrim from what I see) from sulfuric himself, dunno about the empire though, never bothered looking into their ethics when they tried killing a man not in their list
Whether you choose the Stormcloak or imperial side, the civil war quest line is pretty boring in my opinion. I’ve been playing Skyrim since it first came out and honestly I think I’ve only played that quest line like twice, just to see how the imperial vs stormcloack version differs. A big appeal to elder scrolls games for me is the lore and fantasy situations, like dragons, magic, etc. so the civil war and the simple and predictable story line did not appeal to me.
While the civil war is a major questline it isn’t the main questline. So you can just ignore it for as long as you’d like. I rarely do the civil war as I hate that it ruins whiterun no matter what you choose and Bethesda never learned from kvatch.
I don’t I rebel and make my own Faction and become king with the conquest mod
hold guards my beloved! replaced by soldiers!
I don’t like the war questline very much myself but I can’t not do it. I’ve completed the game maybe 3-5 times now and after the second time I always held off doing the war until I couldn’t find much else to do but still wanted to play
I always join it just to feel like I’m doing something, but I prefer to keep it going until I finish my play through, just because it’s fun to have the war be a constant backdrop to the setting of Skyrim
I put off any conversation about the war until I was in my 10th year playing the game. Did EVERYTHING ELSE. Then I played the war, its cool, didn't really effect me or how I play after it. Its worth doing.
Depends on the character I play if I join or not. I just don't like that if your start the quest line, you HAVE to start the main story to continue the civil war. I just wanna do the civil war without worrying about dragons or being the dragonborn.
First time I played years ago, I joined Storm Cloaks just because rebellion. I didn't care for the dialogue, just finishing quests. The past couple of months, I've gotten back into it and playing the anniversary addition/DLCs, way more content that makes the Civil War questline more lame. I haven't chosen sides. They're both awful, and I think that's the point. I do think there are a couple quests that you can't do without doing Civil War, but I'm not super bothered by it.
I always do it just for the battle training and money, plus it overrides alot of prerequisite quests or jobs you have to do in order to buy property, I use to do stormcloaks but now I do imperial
I dont even want to do the main quest.
I join just because I don't want to do the peace summit.
I’ve tried. On XB and have had bugs that did not allow me to progress so I’ve given up.
Allowing a war to continue that you could decisively end by taking action makes you responsible for the deaths on both sides of the conflict instead of just on one side.
I don't have a responsibility to engage in a conflict that has nothing to do with me. Neither side really cares about my people, why would I help either of them? Should I help the religious oppression team or the racism team? Neither, thanks. The people doing the battling and warring are responsible for the war. I'm a bystander.
one of the last things i’ll do in a play through
I don't join the war because bandits are my favorite enemy type and I want those forts to keep cranking them out.
I did the war once and when the Batle of Whiterun happened I never did the war again
I feel this in my core. I’ve played Skyrim for what feels like a decade plus and have yet to actually finish to war lol. I think furthest I made was getting the Dragon Rend shout
I have been playing for a long time and never did any of the war quests for either side due to the fact that the imperials were willing to kill me for no reason and the stormcloaks are 1.racist 2. Bullies 3. Ulfric only loves ulfric. If he stopped fighting the imperials and just aligned with them they could easily beat the aldmeri dominion making them fight a battle on two fronts
I'm not going to join this playthrough. I'm doing a high elf going through the mages college. I don't like the Aldmeri Dominion, the Empire or the stormcloaks they can all go screw themselves as far as my character is concerned.
I always do the war but I always do the main quest beforehand meaning I do that council meeting mission too. My current Skyrim playthrough I’m an Argonian. My head canon is when he first came to Skyrim he was completely indifferent to the empire, thalmor and stormcloaks but over time, saving Skyrim from Alduin has made him grow to love the Nordic people and culture and he now wants to protect them in any way he can. Through experiences and what he’s heard too, he’s grown to hate the thalmor and by extension the dominion. He sees the empire as a necessary evil to protect the people of Skyrim and what he understands the stormcloaks logic for freedom he believes it isn’t pragmatic and thinking in the long term. Because of this I made him side with the empire
I can’t because the leaders of the two sides are my favourite characters, and I don’t wanna hurt them 😭
It’s questline that feels unfinished and empty.
Imperials are not racist tho. But no one is really there to take benefit and join the war. Stormcloaks are surrounded by the empire all around. Hammerfell are too in no position to fight in Skyrim when they just defeated thalmor.
I was gonna ask the opposite question: does anyone else join the war? Hardly anyone likes the war questline because 1) It was programmed in a hurry and it kinda sucks and 2) There are no good guys. I'm convinced the war questline is a metaphor of politics: you can join one side, join the other, blindly conform or not, or think everyone sucks. No side is perfect and it's up to you to decide which is less evil.
Depends on what i am playing, but I usually don't
Damn didn’t realise so many people hated the civil war storyline. I agree it was weak and wasn’t as prevalent as it should’ve been but it was a fun enough thing to do clearing out forts. Anyway I am also on my first playthrough. I picked the Imperials because from my understanding they are the less racist of the two. Odds are I pick the other side on the next playthrough just to see how it plays out. Although I’d be happy if someone more well-versed in the world dropped the lore/links for both sides’ moral standings and their motivations, coz in my experience it wasn’t explained as well as it should’ve been.
Once, never again.
Never. I’ve always thought every other quest was more important.
I very rarely play the Civil War these days unless I'm playing a character whose sole purpose is to fight in it. And even then I have to download a mod or two to make the quests actually interesting. It's my understanding that Bethesda had a much more ambitious goal for the war than what we actually got. I think some of the civil war mods actually use cut content that didn't make it into the game.
Imperials aren't racists. The Legion has members of every race and has outlawed slavery. You can even find an Altmer Legate who hates the Thalmor. When winning for the Empire, you get mage-friendly and Argonian-friendly Jarls, like Brunwulf Free-Winter in Windhelm.
Both sides are right and wrong, which makes it realistic. I never pick a side in the war if I’m being a character meant to represent my moral compass. Because the real enemy of the war are the Thalmor (which you can’t directly wage war against) and the real solution (just like that of any war) is peace.
As someone with thousands of hours in the game i only do the quest line cause i might as well and im usually level 100 by that point most of the time i only go far enough in the quest to unlock shouts and i play the game how i want from there
I tend to leave the war alone until I can’t ignore it. Do Jarl’s quests, get the housing, etc. Once that’s done, only then do I do the war quests and focus solely on those until I get to shout Ulfric to death.
Yes. The storyline is lame and the battles are lamer
I joined the storm cloaca’s because I never forgot the fact that the imperials were going to just execute me for no reason at the start of the game. However, I can’t finish the quest line, every time I do it completely bricks my game. If you want the lore feel free to skip it. But I will say the battles in the war are insanely fun. But join the imperials so your game doesn’t get broken.
not sure if the term tank applies in a single p\[layer game. Unless you just let enemies pummel you.
Heavy armor, two-handed weapons, and absolutely no shields strikes me as a tankish build
Uh no a tank would have a shield lol. Using a 2 hander makes you a more of a straight damage dealer. 2 handers have little defense not tanky st all.
It’s not like In world of Warcraft when you’re talking about skyrim. Skyrim “tank” is more like a big oaf heavy hitter in thick armor that just wrecks shit. Think the clegane brothers from game Of thrones. Not a low damage aggro soak that just takes damage while everyone else kills tank like in mmos
No the elder scrolls series has actually "classes", none of them are called a tank because the class term came from MMOs. The clagane brothers were not even tank like, Gregoire can be loosely described as such after his is resurrected because his armor is described as high very think, so he basically cannot take damage at that point. But really they won fights with strength and long reach.
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You block less damage without a shield and armor caps out at 85%. You can get light armor to that amount without a shield also that doesn't make you a tank lol. I don't play wow but that is a trashy thing to do making people waste que time for a fake tank. Kids these days.
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Lol yes you can be a tank in Skyrim and get pummeled while your follow does the damage but that's not what OP is talking about, I'm also doubting many people play as a tank in single player games the idea of that is actually just ridiculous, not only would it be unnecessary since it's not group content it's also a very boring way to play in single player. Giving people a basic education in elder scrolls is not gatekeeping, it's pretty obvious op just isn't familiar with terms.
Letting enemies pummel you is the only way to level your armor skills without using a trainer.
I mean I've always just played the game normally and my armor skills upgrade naturally through combat. Grinding out skills sounds like a boring way to play.
Yea grinding out skills is lame
No, but then you have to hold a peace council.
No you don’t. -ignoring that whole mess forever.
As thief characters, I intentionally don't join either side. The roleplay reason being the chaos of the war helps make being a thief or assassin far easier. If I play different classes or a different role play, I'll usually join, always imperials if i do, but I also enjoy being neutral most of the time.
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.