I've been thinking of something related to Dragon Shouts but before I'm getting too excited I am wondering if perhaps I am just incompetent with the game

So, how do you effectively use dragon shouts in combat? For all that I can see you either have to:

* favorite the shouts beforehand, then the sequence goes > press quick menu key > target the shout in the list > select it > and then you still have to use the Shout/power key

* open magic menu during combat, select the shout, close menu, use the shout/power key

I find it a real chore to use more than one shout in combat, but maybe I am missing something?

Are there mods that affect the way you cast Shouts?

I use Categorized Favorites Menu.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/4862/?

I press SPACE (I've remapped it for my Favourites)
Click the Shout I want (all listed under Shouts)
Press ESC
Press C (remapped for Shouts and Powers) whenever I want to use it,


This is an old screen shot of one of my other characters:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowblade001/8921586710/in/set-72157633870970281/lightbox/

F11 for full screen.

I don't know if that is as quick as you want, but it works for me. They are like spells and weapons; which ever one you want to use has to be selected before you can use it.

I don't often use Shouts, though, except when I have to for certain quests as I don't find them all that effective compared with spells and weapons with poisons. And I don't think I tried using several in battle unless the first was having no effect.

In a big battle, they can be useful while you wait for Magicka to regenerate, but I suppose it depends on your play style. I am playing a Daggerfall-Style Nightblade at the moment, so I cannot use bows and crossbows, and swords aren't too useful against dragons.

That Shout that shows were all the living or dead creatures are can be useful. But considering that the game is all about the Dragonborn and his Shouts, they don't seem all that powerful.

SkyUI also has it's own Favourites menu system, but I find CFM much better.

~.~

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/5626/? comes to mind.

Thanks!

That maybe part of the reason why I'm not seeing what I have in mind. Indeed I haven't collected many shouts yet.. so I don't know maybe the 1st and 2nd level of a shout are really weak?

I was thinking that perhaps a custom shout menu along with a shout overhaul (game balance) would work well together. So in other words, indeed in vanilla Skyrim a better shout menu doesn't seem like it would do much to enhance the game...

But hmm.. see this is something that's not quite clear to me. The issue for me is I can't be bothered setting them up. I'd set the sprint one by default, but then I'd want to change it during combat, then revert it again... it just seems very cumbersome to use them. And even more silly is that I simply forget about using them! I swear most fights I 'm just busy swapping between range/melee and it never occurs to me that I can use some shouts. So it is unclear to me atm whether this happens because the UI makes it hard to pick shouts in a more fluid way, or whether the shouts themselves are bad. I can think of the Ice one for example, it freezes an enemy, that's pretty good! On the other hand the ones that weakens enemies I can't seem to ever notice any effect.

Oh btw, do you have to upgrade alchemy and make fortify alchemy gear in order to make decent poisons? I'm level 44 and never ever seem to find a decent posion potion (most I find do like 50-100 health with is laughable). Is that an option at all without investing in Alchemy?

ThuuMic is pretty cool! Interestingly kind of as a bonus side effect it lets you bypass the quickmenu and directly "pick" a shout based on voice.

Anyone knows if it's possible to make the player character use a power or shout via scripting ?

So eg. let's say I make a panel with a bunch of buttons, one for each shout, and I click one, can I then make the player use the skill without requiring any further key presses?

Quite possibly that's why there are no mods as you suggest. The full three words for Fus Ro Dah are certainly a lot more powerful than just the first word.

That Thu'ummic sounds like fun, but I'd have to remember the actual words! No chance!



Actually, so do I! Fus Ro Dah can be a life-saver to blow enemies away when you need to scoff some healing potions and run away. I've never "shouted him apart - with my voice", though. Hot-keyed potions can be a life-saver as well. But with flying Dragons I often miss completely.

Actually, with CFM you could hot-key 8 shouts. You just need to remember which number is which, Then there is the cool-down time, anyway, so you cannot rapid-fire them like with spells. So I use a Shout, select another...

But I never go into battle with Whirlwind Sprint selected. I use it when needed, but then revert to something else.



Well, some higher level poisons are better then no poisons at all, but to get the best out of your own you need to get Alchemy V and all the other perks that increase poison damage and gives you the double dose effect. Plus, with maximum Fortify Alchemy equipment (enchanted with maximised Fortify Enchanting potions), they can be quite astonishing. With Dragonborn, you can harvest Scathecraw on Solstheim, which lets you brew potions of Damage Health, Lingering Damage Health and Ravage Health when combined with Imp Stool and Skeever Tail. Devastating!

Unless the enemy is immune to poisons.

Actually, I have an Alchemy mod which balances Herbalism by splitting into Healer and Poisoner branches and makes Green Thumbs available to both. And all the ready-made poisons and potions are more powerful and those you brew will match more sensibly. It is not released as I have more work to do on it and I am too busy with real-life until after Christmas. I wanted to enable NPCs and other enemies to use the same poisons against the player as well, so it was balanced. And you can brew Cure Poison with it, which works well with Realistic Poisons by WarriorWithin83, which makes all the venomous creatures much more deadly.

~.~