I know what you mean. For me Dawnstar is a ghost town as 90% of the time when I show up there a dragon attacks and kills people. I'm thinking of using the console to bring people back but that'll just ruin my immersion.

set MQ106TurnOffRandomDragons to 1

problem solved (at least for PC users...)

You try to avoid fast travelling then... It seems that dragons are far more likely to spawn after an FT then after manual travel.

yeah, I know. it would've been nice tho, a real, living open world
also you could solve NPCs accidental deaths with a resurrecton spell like in gothic 2

nowadays i resurrect every npc that dies through console, because not only some ppl of dawnstar already died, in addition winterhold(luckily only this little place) became a ghosttown through a dragon attack.

One playthrough I had the blacksmith at riverwood thought just that, and before the battle was over he was eatin dirt.

May Sovngarde greet him with cheers, cold mead and glorious fights

What makes me laugh is that old women and children think that they can take on Ancient Dragons with a damned BUTTER KNIFE. I'm sure I saw one woman punching a dragon before it chomped on her and threw her right over the village. Worst [censored] AI EVER!

I don't mind the random dragons spawning but there should be SOME rules that kick in when this happens... the merchants, women and children should all run indoors and only the warriors should attack the dragons. That's what really would happen if this was real. Perhaps an automatic scared mode kicks in where the non-combatants run away screaming their heads off like you see in every fantasy film that has dragons in.

This is why when this happens I just reload... it's a broken game mechanic when you see non-combatants attack a dragon and get killed.

Oh and bartoman, you have to do stupid stuff and do all the quests to get the Oblivion Walker achievement (at least I think I do). I'm just confused that I've pretty much looked everywhere and still don't have 20 shouts. I'm just trying to get 100% achievements for this game which is why I've done all the quests on one character heh. But yeah, I think being chief of all guilds and being a supplicant to multiple daedric princes is really silly. In fact one of the daedric lords can only be talked to if you are unaligned and this one NPC says he can't talk to him because he is under Mara's influence... Me on the other hand have done loads of things for the daedric lords and am still classed as unaligned. There are just so many things in the game that just don't make sense...

What it should be is "One character, one guild (two at most), one daedric lord's help." Oh and NPC's that behave rationally and not attack dragons with their butter knives. Nothing funnier that watching Olava the Feeble laying into a Dragon like some super-boosted combat specialist.

You are the dragonborn you are alligned to Shor, a prince at best can use you for a little while (That's my explanation at least)

As for the people fighting, children are immortal. I'm surprised they haven't joined an army, would make sense. Woman are no less then man, they can fight as well, and no true Nord would ever back down. Just imagine everybody is a true Nord at heart,willing to die for what they love.. even the people that aren't from Skyrim.

Heh... when that glitch happened in Whiterun where the entire guard force was chasing one little girl and she never died made me giggle a bit.

Now this bull about a true nord not backing down is dumb (are they ALL berserkers?)... but what about elves (all types) and other races that are NOT Nords. They all do the exact same thing. The AI in this case is just SILLY.

I've found that when dragon attacks a town that my only recourse is to call in my own pet dragon along with some conjured atronachs. A Storm and Fire one works best (ranged attacks). And if you have a certain shade that is even better. Poor dragon has no chance then.

it annoys me too that even the weakest of npc's (old ladies wearing no armor or weapons) just head straight in to punch the dragon in the face, instead of trying to find some cover

Haha, I had to just stop my charge at the dragon when I saw some lady trying to punch the dragon in the face T.T Then the dragon ate her..

I'm sure the dragonborn and the city guards can handle the dragon, no need for the UNARMED civilians to come in and add more trouble and worry for us.

Then kill the damn dragons. Would you rather they politely knocked on your door and said "Uh good morning Mr. Dovahkiin, would you like to come out and have a nice clean punch-up somewhere off to the side so we don't accidentally ruin the china?" Dragons' collateral damage is your impetus to deal with them, and that is good. This game barely does anything to propel you forward. Any less motivation to advance the storyline, and it would be "Nord Simulator 2011".

i have no problem with collateral damage, but do the kids and the elderly women really have to gang up on the dragons? too scared to retrieve your sword from a few bandits, but jump on a dragon the second you see one.

What can I say, those people are just infected with Nord culture (even the Dunmer in Windhelm) and they want to go to Sovngarde too...


Really?

There is very little room for any breaks there logically speaking. Unless you just don't care, sure it's not as urgent as Oblivion. But in Oblivion doing anything but the main quest wouldn't make sense.

I've seen some NPC's run/flee from dragon attacks. I even had one begging me to do something in Winterhold during an attack. Personally I like the reality that anyone outside can be killed if a dragon attacks the town. Also notice that some of the NPC's have the fear affect going on so they can't run or are trying to sneak away.

You want to save NPCs then hit the dragon the hardest. It will focus on you and you can lead it away...or at least be the direction of it's breath weapon until it lands. Skyrim has tons of quests. If an essential one dies, then do that quest line with the next character you create.

Well I've BEEN to Sovngarde... was boring (too much like here in the UK during Winter lol).

Oh and has anyone been killed because they couldn't get out of a conversation while being blasted by a dragon's breath? I got down to a slim sliver of health and then died when I finally managed to get out. The guy I was talking to was so coooooool though as he just ignored the dragon while he was talking to me lol.

People complain when NPC's are immortal and people complain when NPC's die.

I guess I just don't understand not accepting that the events (including the dragon attacks that kill valuable NPCs) are just part of the that PCs world and life ~and that that's just how it goes. The Smith makes a mistake (or not), and gets killed, and that's that.

*I've always had dislike for the use of essential NPCs.

if they die while trying to flee from the dragon, no problem. every single npc should be killable, and i would even prefer it that way, even if you could end up ruining quests completely. the problem is that everyone, no matter their age or physical fitness, seems to actively pursue confrontation with said beast.

You forget horses. Horses! They attack bandits, wild animals, giants and... dragons too!

Dragons should just have a fear aura that frightens NPC's level 10 or below that would send most citzens running for cover. With an exclusion for guards.

My character doesn't use ranged weapons of any sort. The first dragon attack on Dawnstar was a massacre. Not far enough in the MQ to be able to get it to land, and It took me a while to figure out where dragons would land on their own in Dawnstar - they like to perch on the pointy roofs and flambe the town. I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get its attention not knowing it will only land behind the buildings. Meanwhile half-a-dozen quests are popping up "You failed this quest, so sorry" because the quest-giver is dead. Fortunately I had a save to go back to. Not my most heroic moment.

Usually the dragon spits them out... HARD. I can just imagine what the dragon is thinking when that happens...

its an easy fix to which is that sad part.it could be in the next patch....just have to make everyone run insaid and the guards stay out said to attack them...and seriously i havent seen an ounce of thought put into any counter argument yet.Your just saying brain dead comments that let me know i am right.I would welcome a thoughful and decent argument instead of their not true nords or i like dragons killing everything cause i have nothing real to add to the conversation and i love being a tool.