Soluthis Location #003: Glimrock Mine

[Razorwing]

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<td width="352" bgcolor="#F0F0F0" style="border-right:1px dotted #0000FF;border-top:1px dotted #0000FF;">Glimrock Mine</td>
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<td bgcolor="#FAFAFA" style="border-right:1px dotted #0000FF;border-top:1px solid #CCCCCC;border-bottom:1px solid #CCCCCC;">Active silver mine</td>
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<td bgcolor="#F0F0F0" style="border-left:1px dotted #0000FF;border-bottom:1px dotted #0000FF;"><font color="#0066FF" size="2" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">Location in SilgradTowerLand:</font></td>
<td bgcolor="#F0F0F0" style="border-right:1px dotted #0000FF;border-bottom:1px dotted #0000FF;">&quot;SoluthisLoc003&quot; -14,51</td>
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<p><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a177/SilgradTower/SoluthisLoc003.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a177/SilgradTower/th_SoluthisLoc003.jpg" alt="Click for a larger image" width="160" height="124" border="0" align="right" style="padding-left:7px;padding-bottom:7px;"></a><em>Glimrock mine</em>, situated a short hike up the unnamed mountain north of Soluthis, plays an important role in the economy of the city. It's operated by House Redoran itself, whom uses the profits made from the mine's many silver deposits to pay for parts of the city's expenses. While it only fills a part of the city coffers, city operations would be seriously hurt if saboteurs destroyed the mine. None is more aware of that fact than House Redoran itself, so the mine is well-protected by armed guards.</p>
<p>The mine has fortunately not become a target for opposing Great Houses thus far, but given the ever-volatile political situation it's only a matter of time - especially now, when the other Houses are positioned to move against Redoran. More urgent is the threat from Nord warlords, beating the drums of war ever louder on the western front. Not only is there riches to be looted in the mine; controlling it would give a strategic advantage both to other Great Houses and to the Nords as the riches would strengthen their aggressive efforts. I.e. the wealth streaming from the mine could allow them to import superior weapons and armor, hire soldiers of fortune, purchase large quantities of food and other provisions for a prolonged campaign, and so on.</p>
<p>But fortunately for House Redoran they have thus far not been forced to deal with Nord aggression against the <em>Glimrock mine</em>. Their main concern is, as it has always been, the frequent raids by outlaws seeking precious metal, mining equipment, and sometimes even snatching the miners themselves for use as illegal slaves. The operations are at their most voulnerable on a specific date each month when the amassed ore is transported under heavy guard from the mine to the vaults deep beneath Areya's palace.</p>
<p>So what does my description mean in practice, you might wonder. Surely he doesn't require the claimer to mod some elaborate mini-main quest featuring a conflict with other Great Houses or with the Nords? Let me ease those fears immediately, because I don't mean to imply that. Rather I hope my description can offer inspiration for a quest idea or two. Does House Hlaalu down in Silgrad Tower (the city) bequest you to sabotage the mine? Do they go via Morag Tong to issue a writ on the Redoran noble whom has dominion over <em>Glimrock mine</em>? Will a band of Nord warriors strike the mine, prompting House Redoran to bequest the player to protect the mine from the attack (or track them down after the fact)? Does the Thieves Guild want you to hit the silver caravan? Any of those quests are doable, but if neither appeals to you then my ideas are certainly not the only ones that could work. Who's to say a miner didn't die last year and his ghost is disturbing the other miners? Or that the miners broke through into a Velothi tomb and now they can't continue because the skeletons there try to kill them when they get close?</p>
<p>The mine should be fairly large, at least four levels but preferrably five or six. If you only want to do four levels then that's a better choice than doing the two additional ones because you feel you have to rather than because you're having fun doing them. There should be one guard for every three miners. The sleeping quarters should be on the first level because that makes the most sense. You don't have to mod the sleeping quarters very elaborate, just some bedrolls, food barrels, lights, maybe a book here and there, and stuff like that. Do make sure each miner has a bed to sleep in though, and that each miner has all the usual AI behaviour (eating etc) that gives the impression they're alive.</p>
<p>You should set up the AI behaviour for the silver caravan. It will move from the mine's exit to someplace just outside Areya's manor, then once it has reached that Xmarker it will turn back to the mine again. Ultimately it will go all the way down to the vault inside the palace, but since it remeains to be modelled/modded we can't do that right now, but if you set it up like that then it'll be very easy to change the destination once the vault is ready.</p>
<p>Try to keep the facecount of each cell between 300,000 and 400,000. If you <u>really</u> need to you can go higher than 400k, but otherwise it's better to keep it low so players won't experience FPS problems. But at the same time you should strive for bringing an interior up to 300,000 faces if it's lower than that.</p>
<p>I've started the cell, added Hermit's Crooks to the entrance, added a Northmarker, dropped one of the Levelled Creature lists you should use in this interior, and set up the door teleportation. So to start working on the claim just load up the interior cell &quot;SoluthisLoc003lvl1&quot; in the Construction Set and off you go. The Levelled Creature list I dropped is just there for convenience, you can change it's position or delete it and re-add it later if you want, but please do use that kind of levelled creature in this cave.</p>
<p>Check out the Autumnwater Caverns (SoluthisLoc001lvl1 etc) for inspiration on what kind of stuff you can use in moldcaves, and check out the Silgrad Glassmine (STSeGlassmines1 etc) for inspiration on what kind of stuff we use in mines.</p>
<p>To claim this location, post a reply saying so. If you run into problems or have questions, go right ahead and post them here. You don't have to create a quest for the location, but if you want to then that would be great! Just pick up a house claim in Soluthis for your questgiver to live and mod it according to the normal specs (pathgrid, AI schedule, etc).</p>
<p>If you can't find the moldave entries in the Construction Set, make sure you have the latest internal esm posted on The Source board. If you find the entries but get exclamation marks when dropping them into the world window, make sure you have the latest asset update posted either in <a href="http://www.silgrad.com/wbb2/thread.php?postid=118771#post118771">the release thread</a> on <a href="http://www.silgrad.com/wbb2/board.php?boardid=2">The Tavern board</a> (for public users) or on <a href="http://www.silgrad.com/wbb2/board.php?boardid=229">The Warehouse</a> (for ST Modders).</p>
<p>Have fun!</p>