I'm in the process of determining which mod(s) to use for enhancing dragon combat (to make them more challenging), and would appreciate some input.

There seems to be three main alternatives:

• http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3829/?
• http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1471519-enhanced-mighty-dragons-by-erkeil-thread/
• http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/32597/?

I believe Deadly Dragons and Enhanced Mighty Dragons are mutually exclusive, in the sense that they both increase the raw power of dragons, such as their health, regeneration, damage output, etc. Both can potentially be used along with Dragon Combat Overhaul, which only (?) affects the dragon A.I./behaviour.

So far I only have experience with Enhanced Mighty Dragons. It's a great mod in the sense that it makes dragons much more diverse, both in terms of appearance and breath weapons, and definitely makes them much harder to kill. I also like that you can make the dragons unleveled, so that they don't scale to your level. However, they're still rather predictable, and once you've grown enough in power it's just a matter of waiting for the dragon to land, running up to it, and hitting it until it's dead.

I'm tempted to use Deadly Dragons instead of Enhanced Mighty Dragons this time, because Deadly Dragons seems to offer more in-game customization. Enhanced Mighty Dragons is configured when installing the mod, so if you choose a high mod difficulty setting (and unleveled), the first dragon Mirmulnir becomes nearly impossible to kill until you've reached a very high level. I definitely don't want to make ad-hoc changes to the esp's for certain fights, due to the risk that it might make the game more unstable - so, Deadly Dragon's MCM menu is appealing.

- Is there anyone here who have experimented with both Deadly Dragons and Enhanced Mighty Dragons, and if so, do you have any advice to offer?

Dragon Combat Overhaul is focused on making the behaviour of dragons wildly unpredictable, which is sorely needed. There's many impressive gameplay videos about it, as well. However, it sounds extremely script-heavy, and I've read that it can cause dragon scripts to get permanently stuck in your saves, which can cause the game to freeze or CTD more frequently. I'm also skeptical about a using mod that adds so much complexity all-in-one, because such mod are nearly always very quirky/buggy. The "documentation" seems very unprofessional, as well.

- Do you consider Dragon Combat Overhaul a must-have mod, or have you had negative experiences with it?

- Finally, which dragon mod(s) do you use, and why?

Thanks for your time.

P.S. Enhanced Mighty Dragons has been unavailable for a while, but according to its author, a new version will be launched on September 15th.

Hi!

Enhanced Mighty Dragons are 100% compatible with Deadly Dragons (you have to install the proper .esp - read the installer descriptions ).

Moreover, EMD are 95% compatible with Dragon Combat Overhaul.

A lot of players use/used this configuration and load order:

Dragon Combat Overhaul

Deadly Dragons

Enhanced Mighty Dragons (DD compatible version)

My brother runs Deadly Dragons and the Dragon Combat Overhaul, it seems to be a rather nice setup. He can customize the dragons to his tastes, which just so happens to be that dragons are absolute MONSTERS! I'm a console player and have only watched these mods in action, never really tried them BUT from what I've seen the combination of the DD and the DCO mods is a very nice combination IMO.

The dragon encounters seems more realistic wherein you have a very good possibility of dieing even at high levels, now this is all dependent on how tough you set the dragons but with trial and error or experimentation you can find what works for you. The biggest proving point for me would be the Undead dragon in my brothers game that has made Whiterun it's home. It's been about 2-3 months ( in-game ) now and still no signs of my brother killing the dragon ( without exploiting the bugger out of the game and making very OP weapons ). The dragon swooped in one day as he was on business and pretty much claimed Whiterun for it's own, the second you walk in there's 20+ Draugr overlords terrorizing the streets with the Undead dragon circling over head.

No matter what my brother tries the dragon is rather unpredictable and wins every time, so Whiterun is a loss cause. The fact that he can make the dragons in game the monsters their supposed to be is what makes these mods so great, the fact that you can " tailor " them to your liking is great. So IMHO I would say go with the DD and the DCO mods and fool around with the dragon settings until you find what works for you.

Me personally if i was able to use those mods I would make the dragons so difficult it wouldn't be funny, make them the monsters we all know and love from RL lore

Anything Erkiel or I say will probably be biased, since we're the authors of the mods you're asking about. But anyway, I like DD just because I can get the difficulty exactly the way I want it. I can fine tune the settings so that fights are longer but not tedious, and a dragon still poses a very serious threat in melee or through breath/magic attacks. You can go for the lore friendly version if that's your taste too.

That's not to say that you can't get a difficulty you like with EMD, it's just what I prefer. I haven't tried DCO, something about it just doesn't look right to me.

I prefer DD and DCO.

I used EMD on my last play through and while i liked many of the changes (especially naming the dragons in the dragon language) some bothered me. For example the melee dragons are simply boring and annoying, imo. While a neat concept, it doesn't play very well. They are completely harmless until they land. So if you are in an area they cannot land you basically win (and easily). Also, The disarm shout they use is annoying as all hell. It sends your weapon into space or something. I have never found my weapon after a dragon disarmed it- which gets old extremely fast.

EMD's main plus over DD, that i have noticed, is EMD's difficultly progression is smoother than DD. In DD at around lvl 35 nether dragons start appearing and they are a huge jump in difficultly from the previous tier of dragons. EMD doesnt seem to have such huge jumps in strength like that (when using the leveled version).

Regarding DCO, i find it amazing. While the mod author is rather... eccentric, he does a good job. His ai tweaks really make dragon fights more unpredictable. Fighting multiple dragons with DCO is the toughest fight you will have in skyrim. Their synchronized landings can kill you without them really doing much else (if they land on top of you).

I've used DD & EMD together for a number of characters. I've been meaning to give DCO a try, but haven't yet.

DD & EMD are complementary. EMD is about personalizing and making particular dragons more unique and focuses on the little details. DD focuses on adding more variety and offering a lot of configuration options.

Both are quality mods, so I don't think you can go wrong using either or both. It just depends on what you're looking for.

I use all three, work well together with the proper ESP's and just makes Dragons absolutely insane.

I use Deadly Dragons and Dragon Combat Overhaul. For me, DCO is a must-have mod. Knocking a dragon out of the air is so satisfying... but be careful about fighting dragons on mountain tops.. I've fallen to my death many times.

Good thread! Went from vanilla dragons to Dragon Combat Overhaul and was very happy. So all three mods work well together? I'm going to try all three then!