A Horse of a Different ... Owner?

[Twinfalls]

/doffs hat

Bravo!

That Argonian made me laff before - it's twice as hilarious now

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

That's a keeper :D

 

[DarkSign]

As someone who grew up around horses (had to sell the 2 Morgans and the Appaloosa I had during college), what they're doing isnt entirely off base as people would make it sound.

Dogs often form familiar bonds with the people that take care of them and spend time with them, thus making those people the dog's "owner", but let's not go off-topic here, the discussion was about horses.

Yep. Feed something enough and groom it and it'll take right to ya.

Question: Is there a time limit for how long a horse will remember where it came from? I mean, if you steal a horse and ride around on it for months, will it eventually switch ownership?

Im sure there probably is. Id definitely say it could forget, but Id also say that given a short amount time a horse could find its way back over hundreds of miles.

 

[Lumpy]

As someone who grew up around horses (had to sell the 2 Morgans and the Appaloosa I had during college), what they're doing isnt entirely off base as people would make it sound.

Dogs often form familiar bonds with the people that take care of them and spend time with them, thus making those people the dog's "owner", but let's not go off-topic here, the discussion was about horses.

Yep. Feed something enough and groom it and it'll take right to ya.

Question: Is there a time limit for how long a horse will remember where it came from? I mean, if you steal a horse and ride around on it for months, will it eventually switch ownership?

Im sure there probably is. Id definitely say it could forget, but Id also say that given a short amount time a horse could find its way back over hundreds of miles.

So, I ask again, how will a horse know when he was bought and not stolen?

 

[DarkSign]

Well ultimately you're right. Horses cant distinguish as well between those things as humans can obviously. But surely you have to admit that they can figure out who they usually spend time around...and if its not you they know.

Seeing the owner give him away Id suppose might help...although again Im sure its not as cut and dry as that. As with anything animal, you're not talking precision here. But if your riding the horse in the presence of the primary caregiver (owner) thats different than a stranger pulling him out of his stall under cover of night.

Oh well, if the game is fun that's what matters right?

 

[HardCode]

But the fun of stealing a horse has been effectively negated, as a stolen horse is usless because of fast travel. In other words, you can't steal a horse, explore an area, stop off at a dungeon, then get back on the horse and continue. Why bother stealing a horse if this is the way it will be? Just fast travel.

Bad
Bethesda
Decision

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

On the other hand, why BUY a horse? I mean if you can just steal one, escape, then go & get someone to pay off your bounty (or just try to avoid capture altogether), there's absolutely no reason to raise the funds to buy one.

Silly
Thread
Especially
For
RPGCodex

 

[Fresh]

Hehe, yeah this sorts under non-issue.

 

[HardCode]

On the other hand, why BUY a horse? I mean if you can just steal one, escape, then go & get someone to pay off your bounty (or just try to avoid capture altogether), there's absolutely no reason to raise the funds to buy one.

Silly
Thread
Especially
For
RPGCodex

Come on, man, think this through. If the game was balanced, then everyone couldn't just steal one. Only thief-type characters with the proper skills would be stealing the horses effectively. The fighter or mage wouldn't.

And it is not a silly issue. It is just another occurance of bad design judgement. Small things add up to a lot, and if this kind of logic is throughout the game, then that is bad news for the consumers.

 

[Twinfalls]

Oh seriously, Hardcode, get a grip. The horses running away is a novel and cool solution for having stealable horses at all. The real potential issues with Oblivion have to do with dialogue, lack of skills, lack of guild interaction, etc.

This is truly a silly thread, worth it only for Hyperboy's outstanding work.

 

[HardCode]

So you think the sum of the small parts is insignificant to whole, too?

 

[Twinfalls]

No, not at all. Just that maybe you need to step back and look at this little 'feature' in its context. They've put in stealable horses. That's a cool thing that needn't have been done. So this is a pretty efficient way of dealing with the balance issues that arise. I seriously don't think this will be bad at all when the game is played, in fact it sounds kind of fun.

 

[HardCode]

But this kind of negates that fact that you can steal a horse, no? I'd imaging that it isn't easy to do to start with (excluding not caring about a bounty), so why make it a "one way trip"? I feel that it will quickly be realized as something "stupid" once you do it.

 

[Twinfalls]

Oh heck, I guess we'll see (eventually?!). I do agree with you on:

If the game was balanced, then everyone couldn't just steal one. Only thief-type characters with the proper skills would be stealing the horses effectively.

- but only to a certain extent. I don't think it ought to be too hard to steal a horse (and really this brings up another issue - they could have had a 'horsemanship' skill which would be as relevant to this as thieving skills. Thieving relates to lockpicking and being unseen, not to having a horse-whispering ability or whatever it is)

I just don't see the running away as being definitely a bad thing. Remember that you can keep them if you stick to stables - so stealing a horse will function as a partial fast-travel benefit compared to buying. They obviously wanted to make owning a horse a motive for collecting lots of cash. So they've put that priority ahead. So the good thief will still be able to put his skills into getting a horse - by stealing and selling loot, which is more relevant for a straight-out thief anyway.

 

[bryce777]

On the other hand, why BUY a horse? I mean if you can just steal one, escape, then go & get someone to pay off your bounty (or just try to avoid capture altogether), there's absolutely no reason to raise the funds to buy one.

Silly
Thread
Especially
For
RPGCodex

I think trying to mirror reality a bit is always the way to go,w hen practical. If stealing a horse then riding back to that town a week later meant there was a CHANCE you were wanted by the law and got crossbow bolts in the face that would make some sense. Better than goofy things like guards appearing from nowhere or else horse running away. Then stealing would be valuable, but it would have risks...sort of like, you know, real life. It would also be good if you did not have immediate repercussions so you could not tell if you had been spotted and reload.

 

[Twinfalls]

It would also be good if you did not have immediate repercussions so you could not tell if you had been spotted and reload.

Yes indeed. The wanted system has been crying out for more sophistication.

I have no problem with there not having to be any actual npcs around for you to be 'seen' when for eg breaking in (and let's face it, with the empty streets of Cyrodiil towns, it'll be too easy by far to steal stuff if there has to be an actual npc in the vicinity), but they need to bring back different wanted levels in different regions, and also, like you said - "Hey - hey you - yer the guy who stole my Hoss ain't that right? GUARDS!" happen randomly at any time down the track rather than straight away.

 

[Claw]

On the other hand, why BUY a horse? I mean if you can just steal one, escape, then go & get someone to pay off your bounty (or just try to avoid capture altogether), there's absolutely no reason to raise the funds to buy one.

That's why I never bought a car. :D

 

[Revasser]

What I want to know is; can we set HomingPony to False? ie. Can we easily mod this out if we want?

 

[DarkSign]

Set HomingPonyLoc=Emperor Stewart so it follows him around

 

[Revasser]

Set HomingPonyLoc=Emperor Stewart so it follows him around

So ALL of them follow him around. You could go around stealing every horse and letting it go, so after a little while, PATRICK STEWART has an Evil Equine Empire (of Pony Doom).