Why have even those (or any tools or weapons for that matter) - let magic handle everything.

No!

Why not?

I would like to see something along the lines of siege engines being built - not anything like the , but something like a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet being built. this would make sense in the setting. its not too advanced, just basic physics.

Not too much, no hover cars or anything, but some toilet type things would be nice.

thats what a battlemage is for

THEN WHY DID THEY HAVE THE BLOODY SIEGE ENGINE AT THE END OF OBLIVION?

Phew... I'm sorry. I lose control sometimes when people flagrantly make points in spite of what they've just quoted.

Besides, if any battlemage could take down city walls then why bother building the walls in the first place?

I do find it somewhat hard to believe that the Dwemer have so far been the only ones to figure a lot of this stuff out. You'd think that, over the years, scholars of the Empire would be studying those ruins and learning how everything works, then reverse engineering it for modern use, as well as expanding the concepts to cover a broader spectrum of civilization. I would very much like to see some believable advancements in technology if Skyrim DOES indeed take place 200+ years after Oblivion, as is the current popular guess right now.

When the only folks who ever dabble in technology up and collectively turn to dust, it takes a while for people to start trying to play around with their work. Not many people want to fund "potentially turn our entire race into dust" projects...

I think it should stay mostly the same, some minor advancements (http://www.shopncsx.com/images1/products/detail/demon_soul.jpg :wub: ) would be nice though. I don't understand the MAGIC!!! excuse though. They should ban stairs since it's easier to hire a mage to levitate you! Who needs a plow when you can work the field with telekinesis!?! Doors are unnecessary, force fields are cooler! /sarcasm :facepalm:

1) It'd ruin the feel.

2) The only people with any talent (Dwemer) are long gone.

3) Why use technology when you can just hire the Mages' Guild as a community?

And almost 40% of all votes (as of right now) are against it. If we get technology, by TES XII, we'll have TES XII: Galactic Warfare.

1) Not necessarily. Please read the OP.

2) Right, so because clever people have died no more clever people will be born? Okay!

3) Please read the OP.

4) So that's a majority for it then? Okay. And please read the OP - Tamriel's technology need not advance along the same line or at the same pace as our own.

What you do not realize, is that there are archers on top of said walls. also, i'm sure that there are ways to enchant the walls of a city with effects that negate magicka. The advances in magick that are spoken about in the Arcane University would have advanced even further to the point of being able to enchant an item so that it will be resistant to magickal attacks. If mages can enchant swords and armor surely they can devise a way to hold enchantments in stones or gems

I think the problem most people are having a time realizing is that magick is intended to be more restrictive. Not everyone can use magick, otherwise there'd be city mages on the walls instead of archers. If EVERYONE and their brother could use magick swords and suchlike would be obsolete.

Alchemy is the common man's magick - brewing a salve to rub on wounds (I tend to think most potions aren't liquids to drink, but that they can be ointments and stuff too) or to resist cold a bit better. In a sense, it's not really magick but medicine, with a twist of magery here and there from special ingredients.

But honest to god fire-flinging mages are supposed to be rare. The Mages Guild is intended to take those who can use magick, and train them to use it responsibly. But you can't make someone who's not born with the ability have it. At least, these are my takes on such things. It's kinda supported ingame (at least in Oblivion, as referenced in my first post) so that's the stance I will defend.


So right now the best way for a magickally uninclined person to attack a mage from a distance is either a spell scroll or the much more practical arrow. So, what if archery does evolve into ballistics? It has to happen sometime, down the line (at least in the future-to-come) so why not now?

Well, we don't have black powder yet, and blacksmiths would have a hard time repairing that. Furthermore, armorers would now have to create armor that is resistant to ballistics

I wasn't saying "Beth make guns!" I was saying "Beth CAN make guns!".