Dragon came, circled, flew away. Bug? : V

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:23 pm

I hadn't encountered a random dragon in a while. Just now one popped up in the sky, circled me a few times (I was shooting at it with arrows -- unsure if any hit as he was pretty high up), and then he just flew away. Does this happen occasionally or is my save game slowly falling apart?

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:27 am

Thats nothing! i was fighting an ancient dragon, had him to low heath, and then the chickened out and fled! :banghead:

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 6:21 am

One of my four dragon encounters was such as this...near fort and prison by white run.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:10 am

they do that sometimes :sadvaultboy:

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:20 pm

they usually do that when their ADD sets in. probably started chasing a rabbit in the nearest forest or something.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:25 am

The only dragon I have seen after the first one, flew around a couple of times, then flew off.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:02 am

That happens to me a lot, sometimes after I've been fighting them for a while. Dragons get distracted way too easily.
Also today had a dragon fly as high as he could into the sky and stay there.
Also had a dragon die right in front of me after a fast travel and I got the soul and eveything.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:06 pm

All i wanted was his soul. :sadvaultboy:

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:15 am

I wouldn't say its a bug. I think its just part of the "Radiant AI". Instead of being scripted to land and fight you, maybe he decided against it and went about his business. I'd say its less a bug and more of a showcase of the AI instead.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:25 pm

Okay, that's comforting, thanks all.

The other dragon encounters I had were all "normal". The one other weird thing that happened is that I suddenly found a dragon skeleton directly outside Whiterun (almost at the gate, on the ramp up). I didn't kill it, either. On top of that, it was empty and I'm relatively sure it had the name of the very first dragon that is encountered. And the bones twitched for a bit, for a minute or two. Other than that, I've not noticed anything weird in about 34 hours of playing this character.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:21 pm

I wouldn't say its a bug. I think its just part of the "Radiant AI". Instead of being scripted to land and fight you, maybe he decided against it and went about his business. I'd say its less a bug and more of a showcase of the AI instead.

I would think its because of the Radiant AI, I had one dragon fly over me and in to the mountains.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 3:31 pm

If they don't come down when they see you that means they don't have enough room to land. This happens a lot when finding a dragon by rivers.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:52 pm

I hadn't encountered a random dragon in a while. Just now one popped up in the sky, circled me a few times (I was shooting at it with arrows -- unsure if any hit as he was pretty high up), and then he just flew away. Does this happen occasionally or is my save game slowly falling apart?

Its happened to me several times! And what really gets me is that they will aggro other mobs away from where you are. I think once the player has the dragons attention it should not land some place else and attack Bambie over there playing in the grass when you the player has already caused it lots of damage.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 5:22 pm

If you didn't hit it with an arrow, it didn't notice you were there.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:36 pm

Sometimes a dragon will fly above you being menacing but not actually landing and attacking anything. I assumed this was Alduin and it was a scripted thing, him just tracking the Dragonborn around keeping an eye on him.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 5:51 pm

i've had this happen on two separate occasions just outside Riften. the guards would go on alert and the dragon would roar a bit before flying off. then the guards would yell at me for yelling at it ;_;

i've also had one dragon straight up IGNORE me and try to toast some Whiterun guards even though i was standing right next to it. combat didn't initiate at all and there was no battle music or anything until i attacked it. i don't know if it was a bug or if it was like "naw son i ain't messin with this one".

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:46 pm

This happens to me as well :/

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 5:54 pm

Some dragons are scripted to not attack you automatically. It's considered a Random Encounter, and it's listed among the other Encounters in the strategy guide.

You can attack them and start a normal dragon fight. I did it tonight just outside of Whiterun.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:57 pm

yeah they did that to me a few times, and once I was half way through fighting him then the damn dragon chickened off and flew away, UGH!

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:50 pm

Some dragons won't attack unless you attack first. So none of your arrows probably hit.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:39 am

I dont want to spoil anything but that is an important named dragon Alduin. You don't fight that dragon in a random encounter....

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:12 pm

I rather like both that dragons don't always see you and stop to fight when flying over head and that they don't care so much about you that they will attack you over others. Maybe it's just my imagination (very possible), but it makes it seem like, to the dragons, the world revolves around them, not around your character.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:40 am

I just had this happen. I was poking around in the woods near Fort Amol, dragon appears and circles around, so I run over to the fort, where I've battled a dragon already... and he just flies off. What a fraidy-dragon.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 5:36 am

I dont want to spoil anything but that is an important named dragon Alduin. You don't fight that dragon in a random encounter....

Ah good I'm not the only one who thought this

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 3:59 pm

sometimes there's a set 'circle' in which they will notice you and land. At least from my 20+ dragon fights, 14 or so were random ones.

Speaking of dragons, I have a bounty that says, "Kill the Dragon at Mount Anthor," but the marker is way over near the East Empire Warehouse (near Solitude). I check both places and can't find it anywhere.