I know theres been a main road idea floating around, so I added that. My vote is for all the Morrowind transport options with horses, and a faster moving character from the start like in Oblivion. For the Fallout 3 option, the difference between that and Oblivion is finding the location first. I know there was a bit of that in OB but anyway.

I'd like the main road idea. Makes it a bit more of a hull for getting somewhere.

I would be happy with a Fast Travel option that only allowed you to travel along things in the main roads that youve found, and allowed you to travel to cities immediately.

I would prefer a system like Morrowind's, one that utilizes several overarching transportation methods to create a loose network between influential locations. Ships, caravans (to replace silt striders), and Mages Guild Guides. Actually having someone in the world whose job it is to transport people, actually seeing and interpretively using the methods of transport, and actually paying for the use of transport, adds massive amounts of immersion.

But if I can't have my preference, then I am more than comfortable with the travel-by-main-roads system, with some conditions. 1) The main roads have to be rigorously enforced by guard patrols real-time, and hostile NPCs or creatures should never be found on those main roads real-time. Otherwise, that will undermine the premise of safely traveling on those roads when using fast travel. 2) While I can understand the travel-by-main-roads system negating the need for ships, caravans, and even Mages Guild Guides, main roads should not remove other methods of transportation such as Intervention, Mark/Recall, or other displacement phenomena when appropriate such as the Propylon indexes.

Morrowind with horses and an expanded Mark & Recall. I'd also wish for Intervention spells to return.

How does Oblivion's FT system differ from Fallout3's?

Morrowind with horses is what I went with.

However, I'd actually take it a bit further, and make it so all fast travel is actually in real-time, albeit much faster than usual running or riding. I just think taking a boat from point A to point B if you were actually taking the boat, rather than just teleporting to the destination (the exception, of course, being actual teleportation).

It should be a combination of both, but with a twist.

In Oblivion, when you fast travel, you basicly teleport to your destination. Any encounter you might have had on the way is avoided and *poof!*, your character mysteriously avoided them and appeared in front of the location.

Using a fast travel method without paying for a service should bring random encounters. For instance, you can get stopped on the middle of the way by a group of bandits who ambushed you.

And so paying for a traveling service would have its benefit. Because that would reduce the likelyhood of being attacked on the road while fast-traveling.

The old fast travel topic again, eh? Well, I'll give my old answer then: I'd like a system similar to Morrowind's with all that it entails including mark/recall, intervention spells, etc..

This.

Also, if Bethesda isn't going to do mounts right, then they shouldn't add them in at all. The horses in Oblivion were totally worthless. IF they must be in the next Elder Scrolls game, then at least add packs to them for extra inventory space or something.

I never used horses. Because I was allways trying to increase my athletic/speed levels. So I just ran everywhere. And by the time you have 100 speed + items you can run faster than horses anyway.

This is from an older post, I dont have the updated version on this computer. Not much new though, if anything. I believe the main roads idea was originally mine... since this has been around for... a couple of years or something :I

Plus Morrowind style services: especially boats. Silt striders could be replaced by something similiar, region specific.

I voted Fallout 3, as I like the idea of being able to fast travel to locations you have previously been to. But I would also have added the Daggerfall-system, where you decide how you travel, if you rest at Inns or not etc, and that will affect your health, when you arrive at your destination and how much it costs. I would be ok with a Morrowind-system without fast travel if you didn't have the "go two hours around the cliff that is to high for you to cross, get lost, spend all your potions and magicka on random encounteres before you reach your dungeon"-kind of quests as the rule instead of the exception.

I very much enjoyed Oblivion's fast travel. I sometimes used it and other times didn't depending on how I was playing my character at the time. The fast travel definitely improved the replayability. I've played well over a dozen characters.

Fast Travel should be completely removed, and instead they should make scrolls who can teleport you. Ofcourse, the chance of getting one as drop should the very small. Another good addition to this, would be that Beth could make scroll's that will teleport you to a random place!

This thread confuses me so I didn't vote. I don't fast travel at all anyways, you miss out on alot of random stuff if you fast travel all the time. I like xaxxiron's idea above--use teleport scrolls to get somewhere quickly. Or for skillful mages, they can cast a teleport spell. It's more traditional than just touching a sign or a map.

BUt of course, I can see how the whole fast travel thing appeals to gamers who just want to rush thru Oblivion, so they can get back to other stuff or games or whatever.

In Daggerfall, you were forced to fast travel.
In Morrowind, you were forced to not fast travel.
In Oblivion and Fallout 3, you could choose whether you wanted to fast travel or not.

So, yeah, I definitly think the OB/F3-version is overall best.

Err... What? How exactly are you forced to not FT in Morrowind? If anything, Morrowind accents the diversity of different FT methods along with giving those FT methods actual cost, coupled with the same option of walking if you wish. You can't port to anywhere from anywhere, true, but that's sensible limitation. And with smart use of Intervention/Mark-Recall/paid-transport, you can still pretty much go anywhere from anywhere just the same. The only difference is that it's far more immersive and believable.

Fast Travel:

OK here's my take on fast travel again specially the traveling methods. For this keep in mind that the game world in mind is FAR bigger than the one in Oblivion, walking from one end to the other wouldn't take half a day but a full in game WEEK (following the main roads and resting regularly).


How you travel:
Just like in Daggerfall it could simulate your travel AND what you did on the way, if you traveled rigorously or carefully, if you kept traveling or did regular rest stops, if you took safe paths or shortcuts etc.
All those then simulate how much money or resources you used, how far you walked and also your condition in the end, it could happen that you got sick on the way and have to cure that first.

-The route you take:
Main roads: Only taking the main roads is the longest path but also the safest, you won't encounter bandits here and very rarely small creatures. Also most inns are along the main roads, however camping on main roads isn't tolerated.
Side roads: Taking side roads can be a lot faster as you can take shortcuts but it's less safe, some danger of bandits and wild animals. There are less Inns but you can camp out without risk of the guards threatening to arrest you.
Cross country: This can be the fastest method but also the most taxing and dangerous since you really go though the wild. You can only rarely stop at a inn and pretty much have to camp out to rest.

-Resting:
Inns: Most relaxing and regenerating, uses money.
Camp out: Takes more time since you have to set up camp and can be less relaxing, uses food OR requires you to hunt.
Travel on: You can also chose to travel on without rest, this however can mean you collapse on your way making you a easy target for bandits. This shouldn't be done if you're injured and have to travel for more than 2 days.


Travel methods:
-Walking:
Walking is by far the slowest method of travel, as mentioned it could take a full in game week to travel from one end of the map to the other. Here you have free choice what way to take and how you want to travel.
Plus you can really go everywhere since you're not limited to a path.

-Horseback:
Similar to walking but faster and you can regenerate more, though not fully since you still have to ride. Again pretty much free choice of how to travel but horses can't go everywhere, very remote and hard to reach places can only be reached on foot or under special conditions.

-Travel service:
A bit slower than by horse and you're bound to their conditions, if they stop for the night it means you stop for the night too and. However you can fully regenerate since you can treat injures and get food on the way.
However you can jump off a travel service anytime too.

-Hitch a ride:
Similar to travel service, only here you don't have much control over where they go, they can pretty much just take you the same way they go.

-Mages guild teleporter:
By far the fastest method but limited to big mages guild halls so you can only get to certain locations and most likely the most expensive one. However if you can skip ? of a trip that way it's a good alternative.

-Teleportation devices:
Again like in Morrowind, scrolls, items and spells that can teleport you between set locations like a marked spot or temples/churches.

-Other teleporters:
It's also possible that other teleporters are scattered throughout the land like the Propylon chambers in Morrowind. Of course those would only have fixed locations, some of them could even reach to secret places like deep underground, on a mountain you normally cant reach or that have no other entrances.


What can happen:
First off you should NOT die or lose valuable items while fast traveling, it should not be a punishment. However you can use money, food and your equipment can be quite worn after a long trip.
Not to mention you can arrive quite exhausted and even injured. You can also catch diseases and infections on the way but again, you won't die on the way.
What CAN happen though is that the trip is too exhausting and you collapse leaving you as easy prey for anyone coming along.

During a bandit attack you could get a message, either chose to pay and go on, resist and fight or switch from travel to normal game and try yourself at it. Paying however wouldn't automatically mean you get out of it free.
Trying yourself at it also allows negotiating, maybe you could talk him out of it.
As mentioned if you travel on the protected main roads you will NOT run into bandits but it's the longest and also most expensive method since you have to take breaks in inns. Camping on the main roads is forbidden which could get you arrested and end up in the nearest prison.

When you lose a fight during fast travel you don't die but your fast travel is aborted, how you end up then depends on where it happened. Near a settlement there's a chance you awake in a hospital, a guard station, church/temple or if someone decided to take you in.
On the roads it's likely a guard finds you and wakes you up, most of the time they'd offer taking you to the nearest settlement except if you already managed to make yourself a quite bad name. However even in that case it's likely they won't just leave you out to die, after all they can still collect a bounty.
If you where further in the wild you'd wake up at some point near your path of travel beaten and injured but still able to patch yourself up.

Also one thing, if you want to go to certain locations OFF the main roads it pretty much demands to either go on foot OR choosing cross country.

When camping it can also depend on your gear, just camping with nothing is least relaxing as you pretty much sleep in the dirt, carrying a pillow makes it a bit better, then getting a bedroll, sleeping bag or even a tent.

I voted for the morrowind fast travel but with horses ... I didn't like the fast travel in Fallout 3. But I did like the fast travel in Oblivion just wish that the fast travel was tied in with the horses, though.

thanks
eric

With that I meant that you didn't have the option in Morrowind to fast travel. So instead of having to fast travel, or not being able to at all because it's not in the game, I prefer to have it optional. That way, if you include various types of transportations as in MW along with fast travel, you can satisy everyone.

You mean, exactly like Morrowind?

Oblivion, because if you don't like fast travel, simply don't use it.

Fallout 3, it was nice since you could only go to places you'd been, even large cities, yet it didn't force you to endure repetitive travel, if you were in a hurry, or wanted to just get something done.

i'd have to say morrowind with horses as i belive it allows a bigger option for exploring and immersion. but possiblity to be allowed to travel by real time with an reduced cost(like with the classic travel mod for oblivion) would be even better =)

But Morrowind's methods of transportation, particularly the ship-travel and silt striders, are just as much "fast travel" as Oblivion. In fact, the mechanics themselves are identical. Blank-screen, load new location, and simulate time passing. Hence, Morrowind does indeed have fast travel. The difference is in the outside-of-mechanic limitation placed upon its use.

But I agree with your latter sentiment in a theoretical sense. If they included Oblivion's scope of fast traveling, yet didn't design the world around its use and included Morrowind fast travel options alongside, virtually all complaints would cease. However, I would be insanely surprised if Bethesda took this route, because having two mechanics that undermine each other in your game at the same time is not something a developer wants to do, stylistically. Why would the developer want to give the player the gameplay option to be limited by travel and pay for travel, alongside another gameplay option to neither be limited or have to pay? Their design styles completely contradict each other.


I really dislike this argument, because, in Oblivion, regardless of whether I use it or not, 1) Oblivion's *optional* fast travel necessitated the removal of any other fast travel options, and 2) quest structure and world-design operated on the subtle premise that the player would be using Oblivion's fast travel. So it really doesn't matter in the slightest whether I use it or not. It negatively affects my game either way.