Ward of Akavir - The Siege at Firemoth
by quorn, based on the work of Bethesda Softworks

Release: http://www.sendspace.com/file/vsf1n0

Screenshots:
http://llamahunter.homestead.com/files/Firemoth_Crew.jpg
http://llamahunter.homestead.com/files/Firemoth_undead.jpg

The Ward of Akavir was lost when Firemoth Fort was overrun by an army of undead. Head an expedition to Firemoth Fort to retrieve the lost relic for the Empire. Ask around about "latest rumors" for details. (Ask anywhere outside of Seyda Neen, like in Pelagiad or Balmora for example)

Based on the official plug-in "Siege at Firemoth", this is an updated version of the Firemoth expedition. Deactivate the original Siege at Firemoth plug-in when using this version. This version requires Tribunal and Bloodmoon due to the scripting involved.

Updates include cleaning dirty references left in the original Siege at Firemoth plug-in, improved follower support (better equipment, better following, better survivability), improved terrain texture mapping (no more visible seams), and a few surprises in store for players. Overall difficulty has increased, but not overwhelming to prepared players.

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Since I shelved the interior version due to glitches and performance, I've ported the changes to the exterior version and improved on it from there. I've cleaned up the exterior cells of texture seams and jagged terrain, and made many changes to the followers and foes encountered. I've also cleaned up the dirty references left in the original plug-in.

This is finished, but I would like feedback before I officially release this, areas I'd like feedback is terrain, follower support, and overall difficultly (overall difficulty is increased, but so is follower strength/survivability), as well as any issues/suggestions. ^_^

:D Its so much better than the original, well, its just spectacular!

OP should probably link back to the previous thread, for tracking purposes.

Re: difficulty, what are you aiming for? Should it be balanced for all classes (thief/warrior/mage) , what about recommended level?

The only thing that would keep me from playing this mod, from the looks of what I've read so far, would be a possible conflict with Painkiller_Rider's The Forgotten Shields, which mods both the appearance and enchantment of the Ward of Akavir into a much cooler package.

Do you know if load order could be used to keep your alterations to the main quest while retaining the changes I liked about the above mod? Or would it not work out due to the ways the .esms are set up?

Hmm, I've a Level 42 thief character. Is it too late for me to start this mod?

I tried this again, and I think you need to boost the archer. I don't think she really hurts the skeletons much, at least I haven't seen any die to ranged attacks. Also I think the battlemage should be brought back, though I do like the knight.

Did I mention that I keep a backup save of my current character prior to going to the fort just so I can go through the epic skeletal slaughter over and over again? Its that epic, especially when I take a rag tag group of my "A lords men" Hlaalu and Imperial guards with me. :foodndrink:

The archer should be doing about the same damage as the other mercenaries. I purposely gave her a crossbow so that she could do consistent damage to opponents from a distance (bows have a wide magnitude for damage, and from tests of my own, I've noticed that archers tend to shoot on the low end of the magnitude than the higher end). She usually lends support to the other characters, helping them kill faster. Sometimes she'll fire from a position where the bolts won't reach the target -- this generally happens around water if the target is waist deep.

As for the battlemage, I removed him for a few reasons. Originally, his spells would tend to harm the player and the other mercenaries. He also would run out of magicka very early, and would be a rather ineffective fighter. Scaling his spells back just made him another archer who would run out of ammo fast. NPCs can't drink restore magicka potions, and scripts simulating it would conflict with the health potion saver code in my tests (generally causing a crash). Also, spellcasting AI is weak.
That said, now that the Morrowind Code Patch fixes the health potion drinking and also allows the NPCs to drink restore magicka potions, I might try to give the battlemage another go. I wouldn't count too much on it though, since spellcasting AI is generally terrible especially with companions.

I still think the archer needs to do more damage though, when she gets surrounded she dies too fast. I also liked the battlemage in the original Firemoth because he could kill a lot of skeletons with that big shock spell, but he always ran out of magic by the time we got inside. Anyways I think you should give the archer magic arrows, like fire arrows. That would make her much better!