@dinosaur:
OK Jerm, I’m coming to the party real late. My son received this game about January and I never paid any attentiion to it. My home PC went Ka-Blewy right before Thanksgiving and I needed some electronic entertainment outlet. I sat down to his game box thingy and now I’m hooked on the darn game. It really does get you immersed.
My first question is, what in the heck is up with Smithing? I got the first bonus in the Smith Tree but it doesn’t seem to have changed my Smithing. Weapons are still Smithed up only one level even though the bonus says “twice as much.”
This is the one area of the game I can’t seem to crack with my online research. What I read doesn’t explain why I’m having this problem.
Thanks for your help. A Really Awesome Game. I’m sure I’ll play a couple characters.
Better late than never, and now you have the benefit of some of the add-ons if you choose to play them. I haven’t yet, my disc got scratched on my second character playthough. He was about at 150 hours and I was trying to get him to complete everything possible…sigh…
Anyway, realize that there are still bugs in the game that have yet to be fixed (some have): magic is pretty weak comparatively, there are a couple of loopholes/exploits that can really make the game easy, bugs, etc. I don’t think this is one of those times, I think it’s just worded weirdly.
When it says that it allows you to improve weapons twice as much, it means that extra level. You could only improve it to Fine, now it should be Superior. If I recall right, individual ranks in Smithing will allow you to improve it further without getting the next level of perk.
I could be wrong on this, but I don’t recall noticing anything weird like that.
Also, take note that there is a physical damage cap on armor that’s 567 armor rating, I think. I’m pretty sure pretty much every armor set, with the right perks, can reach that cap, so no type of armor is more effective that the other in the end. My first character was an orc in orcish armor with Smithing as a focus, and even Daedric wasn’t as good even though it is a couple of levels beyond orcish in effectiveness. Damage from weapons is very similar - I don’t think there is a cap, but the ultimate difference in highly refined weapons is just their base damage. So the difference between a Glass Sword and a Steel one might only be ten or twenty points.
Additionally, I recommend getting the Arcane Blacksmith perk as soon as possible. Improving magical items really sets them apart from nonmagical ones in midgame.
Hope that helps, and good luck.