Short version question: Is it even feasibly possible to make a mount that hovers and GLIDES instead of FLYS?

And how exactly would I make it require soul gems, and dwemer oil to be used as it's fuel? What would be the easiest way of going about this?

(Perhaps give the ship a lot of stamina, and add a script that makes the stamina require soul gems/dwemer oil to recharge it, and if the stamina hits zero it transforms into an immobile static version needing recharging/refueling?).

(I know there's guides on how to make flying airships, but I want to make a gliding/hovering airship instead, using a horse with an altered skin as my base). The "horse" won't have animations, but that's not important since it's a flying vehicle.

So it seems that my best bet for this mod, might include replacing a duplicate ID horse, with my dwemer airship. How do I make the dwemer airship turn into a static item when it's not "mounted"? And how do I give it super jumping abilities? I can make "horses" go faster but I can't make them jump higher.

Also for gameplay reasons, I want the in game dwemer ship itself, to transform into different forms. The first form being the damaged state you first see it in, another static form it transforms into when all out of fuel (It would look nearly identical only those blue magical jets/the skulls blue eye orbs, would be gone to symbolize it being out of power, adding to the immersion).

Ideally I'd like to place the "saddle" near the seat in this ship for ultimate potential immersion, and if that's not possible, hopefully just make the player model invisible when mounted.

I want it to have controls similar to a horse, only it doesn't take fall damage, can't fight or move on it's own, hovers about 20 feet off the ground, and can "jump" about 80 feet in the air. Perhaps also as a balancing factor, jumping would make it consume it's fuel faster- if that's even realistically possible to make. And the ship would be "mounted" or activated, by clicking an activator near the wheel.

So, the idea has crossed my mind, of making a mod, that adds a ship... But it will be very different from any ship mod seen before. It all started, when I was making "decorations" for a totally unrelated mod (so it'd look more interesting), and when I learned how to combine statics together. Then it occurred to me, maybe I could give this specific dwemer airship it's own mod.

I'm trying to make a dwemer airship as lore friendly as possible in it's own unique way (more on that later), as balanced/non overpowered as possible, and that's big enough to feel like an actual ship, but small enough to not feel too overwhelming, and to be easy enough to handle.

For one thing, it's quite small compared to most dwemer airships, all in all I'm satisfied with it's current size though. My version makes use of the vanilla cage model which used to be used to hold prisoners, re-purposing it as basically a safety barrier to ensure the occupants don't fall out of this vehicle. The part of the cage you see would be able to open up to enter it.

Here's some pictures of it... In an incomplete very early stage. I'm still working on replicating it in Nifskope. (Before you ask, yes the textures will eventually be improved, just working on the basic shape for now).

Upfront view. http://i.imgur.com/as0yWXO.png

Side view. http://i.imgur.com/r2G2Gdp.png

Hind view http://i.imgur.com/NCMLPKt.png

View of the "trunk" of the ship. (I'll get into that more later). http://i.imgur.com/tXRgkAS.png

View of the driver/passenger cage. http://i.imgur.com/IDN6TYX.jpg

Closer view of the driver/passenger room... And a very special skull. http://i.imgur.com/7qbXSA3.jpg

Closer view of the skull. http://i.imgur.com/UG4FZEB.jpg

Close up view of where the driver would ideally be sitting from an outside view. http://i.imgur.com/vdRdGhm.jpg

Okay that all aside, let me explain some of the ideas on how to balance it. First off I want it to be capable of something like jumping-ideally jumping, and jumping fairly high, then very slowly falling while taking no fall damage. Try to think of it, as a hovercraft that can jump and fall very slowly, rather than a classical airship, that's how I'd want it to perform. Now into other balance mechanics, as well as trying to make it as lore friendly as possible.

So that skull earlier? Did you see the container on top of the skull? You know how powerful magical technology in TES lore is so often about soul gems? Well THAT'S exactly a big part of what powers this dwemer airship. It's not just a DWEMER airship, but an airship powered by consuming filled soul gems. So soul gems, would essentially be fuel, and that skull would be like the gas tank. And remember that trunk earlier? That's where you would put dwemer oil.

It would require both soul gems, and dwemer oil to run. Soul gems for the skull container, and dwemer oil for what was called the trunk. One thing of dwemer oil could last 24 in game hours, where as a grand soul gem could last about 10 in game hours, and a common soul gem about 5 in game hours. Because dwemer oil is much rarer than soul gems.

(The storyline of this airship, would revolve around travelers finding it badly damaged in a long abandoned dwemer ruin, and because the ancient dwemer knowledge of how to fully fix it has been long lost beyond any possible recovery... Soul gems must be used to power it). And you'd have to battle against dwemer machines, other adventurers greedy for the dwemer airship themselves, as well as battling against people who are morally opposed to a ship literally powered by eating souls to get it.

Ideally the first time around, you'd also have to use 35 dwarven ingots to repair it. I'm assuming this would all require all sorts of complicated scripting way above my head, and the fact I want it to handle more like a gliding hovercraft than an airship with full on flying powers makes it all the more complicated.

Any advice on how to do this all would be very much appreciated... And I'm really sorry about all these questions, I've just never heard of a mod quite like this being done before, so there's a lot of unexplored territory here.