Skyrim Dragons: Ok this is getting ridiculous......

[The Lugz]

So ends my most recent experience with Skyrim. 6 hours, 14 dead Dragons. My fellow Escapists, I ask you: are the dragon's in Skyrim getting smarter, or was the game's enemy generator just screwing with me?

yes, and at the same time, no.
you're encountering the ai coordination, the radiant story system and combinations of enemy scaling and the motivation system

they theoretically have gotten smarter, stronger and more coordinated and 'may' have learned that landing is a bad idea
i don't know if combat tactics are saved from actor to actor, so i cant comment.
but i do know they 'want' to hit you and it's on their motivation list
if they cant they'll move

so, in theory if you change tactic all the time and stop their attacks being effective they wont know what to do
for example, you could train them to land. simply hide behind an object and let them hit you on the floor but not in the air
that will tell you if they're trainable

 

[electric_warrior]

There was one point where I had two dragon skeletons in the courtyard of winterhold, one on the roof and another in the town. They just would not stop spawning there

 

[Audun]

I had just killed an ancient dragon, as i stood absorbing its soul and contemplating my manliness. The solemnity of my victory over such a majestic beast was immediately ruined by a highwayman, as he sauntered over and demanded my gold.

NPCs are a lot more annoying than dragons.

 

[Montezuma's Lawyer]

So basically dragons in Skyrim are like the Oblivion gates in Oblivion and cliff racers in Morrowind?

Lol cliff racers

... Seriously though, yes I think Oblivion Gate with Wings is the best way to describe the dragons.

Am I the only one who cant find a dragon to save his damn life?

Everyone else is tripping over them, I almost NEVER find any except for storyline scripted dragons.

 

[Idsertian]

Holy crap OP, that must've been awesome, sounds like a proper adventure. I've not played much of Skyrim myself, but my dad has put 60, 70+ hours into the game, one of the coolest things ever to happen was him fighting a dragon up a mountain somewhere with the Aurora Borealis overhead and said dragon wheeling across the sky silhouetted against both the Borealis and the moon(s). Sweet.

Also, he was up another mountain one time, when he got into a bit of a fracas with another dragon which was giving him some serious stick. Now, I didn't see this, but I did see the aftermath: Apparently, as he was fighting it and was running for cover to heal, the dragon wheeled around for a attack run. My dad healed and turned around just in time to see the dragon crash into the ground and end up on its back, a few blows from an exquisite Skyforge steel sword later and it was dead, but it left a massive scar in the ground where it hit and everything was on fire.

Pissed I missed that.

 

[Dascylus]

There is nothing better than sneaking up on a dragon when it's chilling on or close to the ground and sneak attacking with sword/dagger combo.
Then a second strike to finish the job.

 

[Jandau]

I belive that the dragon spawn rates go up as you progress the main story. I left the main story after meeting the Graybeards (for the two free Words) and Dragons aren't too frequent and about 50% of the time they just don't give a fuck about me and leave me alone.

True. I left the story early and haven't had to fight a dragon in hours. That does sadly mean that I don't have the Dragon Souls to unlock all the Shouts I've found. Oh, and that the dragon I do encounter are all Elder Dragons. Damn those things.

In regards to that, there are two things I can reccomend: First, you don't need to unlock ALL the Words you get right away. Some are pretty crappy anyway (Calm, Fear, etc.). Second, while exploring the world, be on the lookout for dragon head icons on your compass. These mark dragon lairs where you're guaranteed to find one dragon, as well as one Word and at least one chest full of goodies.

 

[Sean Steele]

Dude one time I quick travel to some random cleared dungeon to head to a quest (TO KILL A DRAGON) When two more dragons showed up at the same time.

 

[jawakiller]

Any triplets yet? That's some fucked up shit. Especially on master difficulty. And two are blood dragons. Ah yeah.

 

[babinro]

Just screwing with you.

I've put over 50 hours into the game and have gradually completed the main quest to fight about 25 dragons total. I'll admit that there are a lot in the game, far too many considering their tactics don't change. But your experience seems to be the result of bad randomization.

 

[Slash Dementia]

I got two dragons while exiting a cave at night. I ended up exiting at some mountainside covered with trees, and then I hear the Dovahkiin song come on. At this point my character was about level seven. I knew I couldn't take the dragon so I ran in a random direction. That dragon left, but not without shooting ice at me. Then the song comes back on--another dragon, but this time in a plain field and I had almost no escape. It completely destroyed me before I could get even close to a town.

 

[Joseph Alexander]

So basically dragons in Skyrim are like the Oblivion gates in Oblivion and cliff racers in Morrowind?

Lol cliff racers

... Seriously though, yes I think Oblivion Gate with Wings is the best way to describe the dragons.

no, cause it doesn't take upwards of an hour to kill a dragon.

 

[Furioso]

I have to go on an epic journey just to find one of them, so I guess bad (or good) luck on your part

 

[Furioso]

I belive that the dragon spawn rates go up as you progress the main story. I left the main story after meeting the Graybeards (for the two free Words) and Dragons aren't too frequent and about 50% of the time they just don't give a fuck about me and leave me alone.

True. I left the story early and haven't had to fight a dragon in hours. That does sadly mean that I don't have the Dragon Souls to unlock all the Shouts I've found. Oh, and that the dragon I do encounter are all Elder Dragons. Damn those things.

In regards to that, there are two things I can reccomend: First, you don't need to unlock ALL the Words you get right away. Some are pretty crappy anyway (Calm, Fear, etc.). Second, while exploring the world, be on the lookout for dragon head icons on your compass. These mark dragon lairs where you're guaranteed to find one dragon, as well as one Word and at least one chest full of goodies.

In addition, the dragons respawn at the shrines, every time I've used them as a fast travel landmark another dragon was there waiting for me

 

[Robert Ewing]

Dragons in Skyrim. Oblivion gates in Oblivion. Cliff Racers in Morrowind.

It must be an office joke to hinder your progress with an arbitrary encounter. Only they have ramped up the importance of them through the series.

Cliff racers - didn't really need to kill, but if you wanted to survive, you probably should.

Oblivion gates - Hella' annoying to encounter, and hella' annoying to close, but you get a prize at the end.

Dragons - Everywhere the further you advance. There can be 59354 at once. they give a soul so you can spend it on a shout that you will never use ever again. And bones and scales that you can't sell because nobody in the game is rich enough to buy your loot.

 

[Machiavellian007]

During the main Mages Guild quest, a dragon spawned near the College. What really annoyed me was

Spoiler

the fact that I had just returned from the Labyrinth, and there was a massive shield around the college that I needed to deal with before I could even get at the dragon.

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

snip

What level are you, and have you completed the main quest?

It seems like after having killed alduin, the dragons became more common, and now that i'm about to hit level 50, I'm seeing more of the scaly bastards than ever.

I had three dragons swoop in to fight me at once, a fourth show up after I killed one, then I summoned Odahviing and ran like hell.