Not really an option of adding a battle like that. Like I said before, such battle is wasteful and forceful. Like Defense of Bruma. One does not have to join in a battle, and just sit there. That "optional", but the battle is still there. The PC is felt that the PC must join in the battle.

And if anything I would like that they add resource to, its lores and story, but such battle is not needed to enhance it.

Agreed agreed not every part would need one maybe a few or should i say by rare chance let it happen, but like i said to somebody elses post the story and lore first before anything else.

of course tactics would vary depending on map...i kinda wish they had this kinda thing...but it needs to be done right.

That kind of thing is nearly impossible to do in a game where every character is controlled by their own AI. It would flood every known CPU/GPU, even the experimental ones...it means we might see that kind of thing but not sooner than in 10-20 years.

In 10-20 years we will probably play TES in virtual reality, large scale battles would be pretty epic.

I think the limits of the engine should be pushed to their limit - occassionally. So, probably about what we saw in Oblivion, if not slightly bigger battles, and slightly more infrequent.

Morrowind was kind of a let down, it seemed a lot of people talked about war going down at red mountain, but in the end you were as alone as ever. It really wounds the scale of the story to think only one person would be fighting (and even then, not fighting very many people).


Large scale sieges and wars are nice, but don't lend themselves well to the TES style game I don't think. I'd really love a nice big one if they could squeeze it in, and I certainly have no problem with large-scale battles occurring in-game (if handled properly), but I have just as little problem with not seeing any. There are upsides and downsides to both, and in the end I really don't care.

Yes as long as it plays out well it could work.

Oddly enough we were saying those same things 10 years ago and look around now, even Natal is still in the future...no I think 10-20 years from now for a real time simulation of a battle with every single soldier controlled by complex AI commanded by another one is a pretty decent timeframe of developement

I also think our technology shall not be that advanced for still a while yet we have a ways to go for virtual reality.

There's one problem I see with having a province battle.

Let's say there's an epic battle going on between Morrowind and Skyrim and the story says you talk sides with the Nords. Well, what if you're playing a Dunmer?

The thing I liked about the stories of Morrowind and Oblivion were that the main "bad guy" was someone all characters could be up against. Dagoth Ur wanted to drive out all outlanders and guess what? You played as an outlander. Menruhnes Dagon was destroying all of Cyrodiil, where you lived. Of course you would want to get rid of that, right?

Now, if you had the option to choose sides, then that would solve the issue.

Now my main problem with a large battle.... ever notice how NPCs just love to jump in front of your sword and then get mad at you for attacking them and then you're not only fighting your enemy, but the ally too? And imagining ten of them doing that?

I'd rather be up on a hilltop somewhere watching it or having be a cutscene.

i think the most likely battles are between groups. like the necromancers and mages guild.

idea
lets say the guild is attacked and all there magic charms have been put down. the arch mage is busy keeping a sheild up. but the zombies are lurking in to attack but the council got it covered. the only way too get help is to teleport to hernia's house. U teleport to the Hernia's house and she comes with you. then she gets there and she is very old and small and is an argonian. she then says oh my. she throws feirce lightning at the zombies and the all fall. She then puts up all the security measurements back on with a word. She the surrounds the entire compound with fire that constantly moves. the head necromancer comes forth. He is pissed he sends a whole bunch of zombies after her but she stands her ground and gets out her wand. she put the zombies under a charm that sends them back towards the necromancer he then forces them back to the outskirts of oblivion. she says "ha u are too immature". he then sends lightning bolt on her which is absorbed. He then sends all the fire towards her which surrounds her. she turns it into water. the dark one then sends a horde of daedra which attaack her. she then with a gesture turns the water back into fire and makes it surround the daedra and eat the darkone. who then falls and turns the fire into wter.but the the woman sends a curse that makes him scream in agony then he flies away in a cloud of smoke. she then fixes everything and cleans up the place.

I'm much more fond of the idea of battles within the country/empire. Stupid rich nobles starting stuff for their own personal gain, politics gone wrong or civil war or whatever, rather than battles to expand or defend an united country/empire. So I don't want a war between continents.

I also don't want large scale battles to happen that often. They are special moments and should be treated as such.

The Fighters guild/imperial Legion/Mages Guild should have you as a soldier, and eventually a general. as a soldier you would fight personally, but as a gennerl you would simply give ordersto people.

I think it would be cool if the game was about a war with Akavir, and every few months after the main quest you can go on big raids to stomp to scout out, conquer, and stomp out remaining resistance.

Not until they make it so every NPC ally isn't a Leeroy Jenkins like in TES IV.

only if becomes doable and not look like the Bruma "battle" which made me facepalm.

Play Operation Anchorage for FO3. It's "large scale" but has a small scale missions the PC undertakes to contribute to the general war effort. That is in general how Beth should handle large scale battles; have the "main fight" but the PC undertakes separate small scale missions to allow the side (s)he push back or forward. Such things could be like open the gates, burn the food reserves, disable the siege weapons, protect a group of mages that summoning a powerful daedra, etc, etc.

However, these fights hardly occur on a random schedule, and could be part of quests for a noble the PC is working with.

Actually a good idea. There could be a purly animated battle in the distance, but unreachable by the player. This way there could be hundreds of people without slowing down the game -- for example like the crowd of the Arena. you would gennerally be in a "special operations" unit. Stealthy players would steal or destroy enemy supplies or assasinate leaders, warriors could fight one-on one with the best soldiers in the enemy army, and Mages/rangers could battle enemy spellcasters/long range fighters at a distance.

However anybody who has played Op Anchorage knows that this style of battle portrayal is boring. I was expecting brutal urban firefights supported by Liberty Prime, instead i got some little skirmishes.

I think large scale battles should happen rarely and only be quest related. Having lots of big battles, or big battles that are just random, detracts from each battle's significance. If one happens on a regular basis, the epicness and feeling of importance diminish. If there is a large scale battle, I would only have 1 or maybe 2 in the whole game, and have the aftermath impact life.

And when I say large scale, I mean between provinces. No battle experienced in any ES game counts to me. There were some large skirmishes/small battles, but nothing I'd consider large scale.

i havent played it but to be honest it does sound really boring and i agree with the person who said that continuously having battles detracts from its importance. i personally dont see the type of battles you all are talking about working in an elder scrolls game unless it was just a cutscene or heavily scripted.

You were part of a strike team, not mow everything down and charge the front lines. Plus, Liberty Prime hadn't even been completed. And I found O:A to be quite fun. Now, if Beth can build up more on it by offering more missions with different choices and consequences, then it'd be even better.

It's be awesome if the Numidium was in TES V, and there was a similar mission to the Liberty Prime assault from Fallout 3 where you run along behind the thing and watch its awesome destructive power.

Ok, when I read that, an idea sparked and I came to a conclusion: Bethesda is obsess with giant robots.

You shouldn't have been in a strike team, it would be better to be part of an infantry battalion. Plus Vertibirds weren't around at the time of Anchorage yet they are seen in the simulation, proving that the Americans took liberties with the content of the simulation. I enjoyed it as well but was disappointed at the same time.
Anyway my point is that being part of a strike team behind enemy lines is boring and would be more so in TES.