So, I'm not a fast traveler at all, and only on very rare occasions do I use the carriage system. I usually run, or take my trusty spotted tank of a horse, Rudolf.

Now, in one specific case I had left Rudolf in his warm cozy stables back home in Whiterun, and I hoofed it all the way to Riften on my own. On the way I collected a lot of loot and became over encumbered with stuff I didn't want to sell, but wanted to store at my house in Whiterun. I thought: "Oh well, just this one time I'll fast travel," not knowing that you cannot do so when over encumbered (Duh! new player!). As I started out on the long hike back to Whiterun, rather disappointed, I passed by the carriage service and thought: "Sweet!! Surely I can just jump on a carriage with all my loot, it's an in-game option after all!" But alas, not even a sturdy Nord 4 wheel carriage could carry me and all my loot. I then proceeded to sell off some precious loot to bring my encumbrance down a bit, and at that point I was so disillusioned by the travel system that I cheated and fast traveled back towards Whiterun. However, not wanting to be caught red handed fast traveling by the good peoples of Whiterun, I only traveled to the meadery outside town and wanted to jog the last mile home, you know, looking all Dovahkiin. Much to my amazement I appeared at the meadery with Rudolf standing right next to me. WTF?! I thought! Either Rudolf has a thing going on with that lusty mare at the meadery, or this fast travel system is effed up even more than I thought it was!

So not only are carriages completely useless because they can't carry more than an unencumbered Dovahkiin (It's really just an option to pay for fast travel in case you feel bad about fast traveling), but fast travel is apparently also this magical thing that teleports your horse to wherever you decide to go. Seriously?!

It's my own fault, I shouldn't have fast traveled in the first place. It just made me discover yet another unfinished feature in Skyrim. These are stacking up alarmingly fast, but tiny things like this you'd imagine could've been solved by Todd's 5 year old son during breakfast on a Sunday morning. And how about buffing up those carriages, Todd junior? Seems to me that's the whole point of taking an effin carriage in the first place. :shakehead:

Welcome to tes?

Carriages were necessary to get to cities without traveling by foot. Because the game is massive and full of enemies that will destroy you early on, they are very necessary.

Try getting to Riften at low level by foot. :cryvaultboy:

I'm so lazy that if I fast travel to a place with my horse and get into a huge fight in which he runs off, I'll just fast travel to the location I'm already in to put him right next to me.

I love the system, I just don't fast travel. I use the carriages, totally reasonable.. only a few of the cities have the carriage anyway. Strikes a nice balance, like what Morrowind had, no fast travel, but with some kind of public transportation to cover large distances. That was my biggest gripe about Oblivion, I felt kinda forced to fast travel, and that just slowly svcks allllll the fun outta the game.

It's really not that far-fetched. Imagine fast travelling as if you really did travel that same distance, only now you pressed a button to do it "faster" - at least from the player's point of view. Time still passes when you fast travel, and your horse comes with you, as if you'd traveled that same distance step by step.

I imagine carriages would give you the option to bring your horse along for the ride, if you had one. They would probably just strap the horse to the carriage and let it stroll along.

The carriage system is one issue I want to tackle when Beth releases the CK. I was so disappointed to climb in the back of a carriage for the first time, expecting to hear the snap of a whip and a "Heeyah!" and feel the wagon lunge forward. Dang. Fast travel. Booo! The mechanics are there. The opening scene has you riding in a wagon.

There's some work to do there.

I'm totally ok with there being a carriage system, in fact I think it's great. I just want it to work right, i.e. you need to experience the trip still, maybe in fast forward, and with the risk of bandit attacks along the way. Right now it's just an expensive alternative to fast travel for 'role playing purposes', which it doesn't do for me at all.

And that fact that the horse comes with me is ok, if that horse had been with me to begin with! It was in its friggin stable in Whiterun, and it should have remained there. Who summoned it to my location without my permission??

There's no difference in fast traveling normal or by only using carriages. One our pretend that you rode to that city in a carriage, the other you can pretend you rode to that location on your horse. Whatever.