SUGGESTIONS:

Economy

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Money becomes meaningless too soon in the Elder Scrolls games. In Skyrim, the main source of this easy wealth came from creating and then selling weapons, armour, potions and enchanted objects. While initially unrewarding, it became a regimented process to mash a button and accrue vast sums of wealth when striking all fronts. It was especially unbalanced when the player exponentially fortified smithing, enchanting and alchemy with potions. There are numerous ways in which this can be reigned in (see CRAFTING SKILLS).

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Other ways to balance the economy of the game:

• Houses are more customisable, and therefore expensive.

• The rebuild a city quest line requires serious investment (refer QUESTS & LORE).

• Paid followers demand a regular salary as opposed to a one-off payment.

• The Merchant feat, which allows the player to sell all types of item to vendors, is much tougher to achieve.

• Traders refuse to buy items of inferior quality for anything more than a pittance.

 

MERCHANTS:

• Apothecary: Buys and sells first aid items and restorative potions.

• Barber: Changes your character's hairstyle.

• Blacksmith: Buys and sells metal weapons, armour and shields, raw metals and general metal goods (such as pokers, goblets etc.). They will also shoe your horse. More likely to be found in mining towns.

• Book store owner: Buys and sells literature and manuals.

• Carpenter: Sells wooden shields and weapons, arrows, and upholstery (see Real Estate & Interior Design). Willing to buy wood and wooden items from you. More likely to be found in forested towns.

• Cartographer: Buys and sells map locations and fast travel territory.

• Clothier: Buys and sells clothing, fabrics, robes and capes. Dyes clothing. You can find looms across Elsweyr with which you can create clothing. New clothing items include: capes, backpacks, portable tents.

• Fishmonger: Buys and sells fresh fish. Also deals in angling equipment (lures, rods, bait etc.).

• Mine Foreman: Buys and sells ores, ingots and products made from the material of the nearest mine.

• Traveling Merchant: General merchants who traverse the wilds of Elsweyr in their caravans, trading with fellow travelers and merchants within settlements as part of their circuit.

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Disposition:

In some instances, merchants will sell to the player higher quality stock that they wouldn't normally offer. This is usually following the completion of a personal task or through repeated custom over a long period. With a merchant that the player enjoys a beneficial arrangement, an investment of 500 gold may be made, raising the merchant's maximum gold permanently. Some shadier merchants with whom the player has invested will purchase stolen goods.

 

ODD JOBS:

More mundane ways of earning a few gold at a low level include:

• Chopping wood

• Washing linen in the river,

• Fishing,

• Bringing pails of water from the lake,

• Walking an NPC's dog,

• Serving ale to patrons at an inn.

 

SUPPLY & DEMAND:

A traveling merchant may develop a sense for areas where supply is high and demand is low, or vice-versa, and trade on this basis. If such a system existed in Skyrim, one may purchase silver weapons relatively cheap in Markarth and sell high in towns and villages with lycanthrope problems. A town near a forest will mostly craft wooden items and the guards will largely be archers. Buying fine wooden bows in such a location is less expensive, while selling metal armour could be lucrative as it would be of benefit to the guards.