My first Daggerfall expriences

[dani26795]

On my way east I entered a dungeon, instantly heard the groan of a Vampire Ancient, turned around and left Eventually I reached Newcester, where I left my ebony dagger repairing and then proceeded to kill a spider inside a house for the Fighters Guild and then taking a group of mage apprentices on a tour visiting a graveyard, a farm and a shrine for the Mages Guild. Once that was done, I ventured to the NW of Newcester and entered The Citadel of Wickston, a ruined castle.

The area was filled with human enemies that kept coming in groups at me. They managed to poison me in one occasion and I had to rest for a while to use a cure poison spell. The first block had a submerged area with 2 lamias, and I discovered by pure chance that a torch activated a mechanism that opened a wall and unlocked the upper room of the block. On the 2nd block there was a bigger submerged area infested with dreughs and slaughterfish, as well as a pretty complex system of levers, wheels, elevators and openable walls that took me a while to fully comprehend

I'll check a few more dungeons near Newcester before continuing my "pilgrimage" towards Daggerfall City. Here's the map of the dungeon after full clearance:

Spoiler!

[pango]

This setup seems to work very well for you. I'm actually surprised (and impressed) that unleveled mods works so well for a first experience.
That also make me wonder how either the map or the wilderness itself could be modded to make it easier to find nearby dungeons, because that looks like a natural complement for Tedious Travel.

[Jay_H]

Borrowing a page from Might and Magic, I think of a pathfinding ability (maybe a zero-magicka spell?) you can buy from someone in town that turns on a HUD directional, like a second compass. As you explore the wilderness, you see little dots on the directional that get more opaque as you come closer, which are dungeons. It could have a range of a couple kilometers to ensure it reaches out far enough.

[dani26795]

Well as I have mentioned before I had to quickly flee from some dungeons since I have no chance against high leveled magic users. However, high leveled enemies that focus on melee can be dispatched at any level if you are careful enough fighting them. Sure, killing a Gargoyle with the Ebony Dagger can take well over a minute, but it can be done.

As for finding dungeons, I got a side map of all dungeon locations. If there's a nearby location horizontally or vertically, I go there, place myself on its center and then travel in straight line to the dungeon. If not, I constantly check the map and make sure to be at a corner of the square where the dungeon is located, then travel diagonally towards the centre. I always reach the dungeons with these approaches.

[Ralzar]

This setup seems to work very well for you. I'm actually surprised (and impressed) that unleveled mods works so well for a first experience.
That also make me wonder how either the map or the wilderness itself could be modded to make it easier to find nearby dungeons, because that looks like a natural complement for Tedious Travel.

Yeah, once in a while I just run into stuff while using TT. Doesn’t allways have to even be a dungeon, just passing a small town and deciding to stop for lunch.
TT makes traveling feel so much more immersive. The biggest thing it’s lacking is actually being able to turn your head while traveling. Then you would spot stuff like dungeons while passing them much easier.

[dani26795]

Next dungeon I cleared was The Tower of Woodwing, another ruined castle. Except for a submerged pit with 3 ice atronachsh (which I couldnt do since the levers that pull up the structure that allows you to escape the pit were inside rooms locked with magical locks that were too powerful for my low level), the rest of the enemies were exclusively humans. At one point I got a very close call when I got infected with a strong stamina draining poison. I made it barely in time to get away enough from the enemies before collapsing of exhaustion and then woke up still alive thankfully. Since each human drops full sets of armors and weapons, I ended with so much loot that I had to dp 2 travels to Newcester to sell it all. I got a nice stash of 120k gp now

Spoiler!

Then I visited Burgmont and Stokhead Hollow, both with Arkay temples for whom I did a pair of fetch quests. After that I kept going SE and I have reached Tower Ashsly, a giant stronghold. Daggerfall City lays about 20km away by now.

[dani26795]

Tower Ashsly turned out to be rather small. 2 main blocks and not much in them. After that I went further east, sold loot at Burgwall and then entered The Tower of Buckinghart, yet another giant stronghold. This one was big, with 4 main blocks. Though it amusingly had 2 of them be identical safe from small differences like whether the pit was flooded or not. To compensate, the SW main block had some interesting overall structure, with a hole crossing through several corridors into a flooded room. I also leveled up to lvl 4. I'll do a few more dungeons in the area before finally entering Daggerfall City.

Spoiler!

[dani26795]

Tower Hearthhart was my next destination. Being a laboratory, there was a lot of books on the loot from all the mages there. Atronachs might not hit hard, but they sure know how to tank your attacks. The dungeon was big and had a high variety between each block. After clearing the place and selling all the loot, which made my total gold bank surpass 200k gp, I decided it was time to wrap it up and finally entered Daggerfall City, and man is that city huge! I stopped in front of the castle and left it there. I'll probably stay here looking at the news. Once the official DFU release happens, I'll make a new character and go full on experiencing all the aspects of the game. Looking forward to that day. It's been a fun ride and nice to see how well such an old game can hold with enough care put into remastering it. Hoping to see it grow bigger and better

Spoiler!