The Second Great War

 






Link to Special Edition version



At the end of the first Great War, the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion reached a stalemate. This lead to The White-Gold Concordat being signed, its terms heavily favoring the Dominion.

Per the terms of the treaty, the Empire was to secede a large portion of Hammerfell to the Dominion. The Redguards of Hammerfell objected to this, and so the Emperor renounced Hammerfell as an Imperial province. This would lead to lasting bitterness between Hammerfell and the Empire.
The Redguards continued to wage war against the Dominion for another 5 years before they finally succeeded in pushing them out of Hammerfell. The Second Treaty of Stros M'Kai was signed and the war was finally over.

The end of the Civil War is approaching. The Empire is as weak as it has ever been. The Aldmeri Dominion, never ones to miss an opportunity, declare war once again. With the Empire in ruins and the people of Skyrim already beaten and bloody from war, can anyone stand up to the might of the Dominion?

The fate of Tamriel will soon be decided, which side will you be on?

Starting

It appears to work fine with a save-game installation, a new game is recommended though.
If you have any problems with it from installing during a play-through, let me know.

You will receive a letter once the civil war has ended.(It may take some time, but the letter should be sent)
If Solitude/Windhelm is controlled by the Stormcloaks/Imperials, or once Tullius/Ulfric has died.

Your only chance to join the Aldmeri Dominion is during the first quest.
That is the only time.


If you don't know what to do next, make sure you don't have any objectives. If you have no objectives, wait for a letter.


For an "Immersive Playthrough" of Skyrim
The main quest-line should be past the 'A Cornered Rat' quest.
The Dark Brotherhood quest-line should be finished.
You should have finished the College of Winterhold quest-line as well.
The 'Missing In Action' quest should be done if you want to do it.
All this should be done before the civil war ends.

(It is not necessary to do these quest-lines, if you do not plan to do them in a playthrough with this mod, then there will be no issue.)
(No mention to any of these quest-lines is ever made. I only put this here because the Thalmor are involved in these quest-lines.)

If you want to start the 'A Daedra's Best Friend' quest you need to do it when Falkreath isn't controlled by the Dominion.

If you want to complete 'The Forsworn Conspiracy' quest you need to do it when Markarth isn't controlled by the Dominion.

You may keep your allegiance to the Imperials or Stormcloaks and defend Skyrim, or betray them and join the Aldmeri Dominion. 
It is possible to lose the war, giving a total of 4 endings.

There are 7 missions per side, the ones you get depend on how the war progresses, but you will always get at least 4.

If you do not show up to a siege in time, or if you run away, it will automatically end.
There is the option for retaliation sieges, if a defender loses a hold, they have a chance to try to take it back.
Succeeding in taking the hold back will not trigger retaliation.

Wearing the armor of your faction(Imperial, Stormcloak, or Thalmor), will make the enemy hostile to you.

Wearing a Talos amulet is illegal in Dominion controlled territory and will add to your bounty.
If you are sided with Skyrim, it will also make the Thalmor hostile to you.
Talos shrines in Dominion controlled cities are removed.

Each side has patrols on the roads and there are quite a few new world encounters.

You can rescue prisoners from enemy controlled forts.

There are some new armors which you can buy from Beirand in Solitude or the Dominion blacksmiths in Riften, or just loot them off of NPCs.
(The only new armor Beirand sells is Imperial Mage armor)

(Some extra things I consider spoilers are listed in the Readme, if you want to discover these on your own in-game then avoid the Readme)



Configuration Menu

Siege Size is a multiplier of the regular reinforcement sizes.
You can set sieges to be as low as half the regular size, or up to five times the regular size.
(Setting it to a high number will make sieges last a long time, I recommend keeping it between 0.5 and 2)

Retaliation Chance controls the percentage for how often a defender can retaliate if they lose a hold.

Delay War prevents the war from starting once the civil war ends.
Once the civil war has ended, Start War will be enabled, and you can start the war when you are ready.

Extra Dominion/Skyrim Reinforcements let's you add extra soldiers to either side. The number will be multiplied by the Siege Size option.
For reference, a normal siege with the default settings may have around 80-110 reinforcements for each side.

Allow Summon Spells let's you decide whether NPCs during sieges can use summon spells or not.
The default setting is off.

End Civil War allows you to skip or end the civil war with whoever you set as the winner.
I recommend that if you're going to use this, do it before starting the civil war, for less possible issues.

Allow Objective Ended Sieges set whether sieges can be ended by an objective instead of losing all reinforcements.
(Only Whiterun and Markarth are ended by objectives)

Difficulty
Normal: Things are balanced and the enemy retaliation chance is the same as the retaliation chance slider.

Hard: The enemy has extra reinforcements, if you don't show up to a siege in time you have a 70% chance of losing,
and the enemy has a 60% chance of retaliating if they lose a hold.

Insane: The enemy has even more reinforcements, if you don't show up to a siege in time you have a 90% chance of losing,
and the enemy will always retaliate.

There is an option to turn off retaliation sieges.

The boss in the Skyrim win ending is affected by the difficulty setting.



Requirements

SKSE is required.

SkyUI is required for the configuration menu.



Compatibility

May not be compatible with mods that edit forts or the cities.

Should be compatible with most other mods.

I recommend loading it late in your load order.

If you're using a mod that modifies 'Blood on the Ice', load it after this one and do the quest before you finish the civil war.


Mods that are compatible

Civil War Overhaul

JK's Skyrim

Warzones 
(Is compatible but will spawn Imperials and Stormcloaks that won't fight and may interfere with the mod at times.)


Mods that aren't compatible

Open Cities Skyrim

Legate Tyroni Calleius - Alex White

Savild - Alyxel

Ancotaur, Clagius, and Vertius - Brett "Pyractus" Bencze

Female Dominion Guards - Caitlin Buckley

Anarenen and Olquaran - Charlie Buscombe

Grisveld - Danny (rainpapadakis)

Hlofgahr the Brave, Rodyval, Saveld, and Synniu Ceno - DarthDementous

Armion and Mithlian - David Sylvester 

Baraan, Eanilian, Forond, Malpen, and Stenar Sialius. The Outros. - G. Dustin Sanborn a.k.a. Starrkk

Balfhe Hard-Heart - Jake Everett

Corrimir, Dominion Whiterun Bounty Agent, and Justiciar looking for someone(Random Encounter) - Kieran (Discharge)

Astien, Debent, Haaki The Strong, Kalort, and Velfrid - Lez Fontaine (DerHeimataerde)

Dominion Riften Bounty Agent and Sjard the Bloody - Martin Wain

Heceril, Male Dominion Guards, Tunenre - Michael Rivers

Aldarilar - Purgey

Alfhed and Valamor - saenokda

Ariellia - SkyRaeVoicing

Hodlin the brave, Jartod, and Malen - Sonic101

Viranir - Storm "GigaRat" Watters

Dar'Zahn - SyrianAws

Tauriel and Volanare - TehBigD97

Aldari and Tarcilius Horatinius - TullyMonstrosity

Meshes and Textures

Redguard Knight Armor - hothtrooper44
Morrowind looking Glass Armor - JESSETIN3
Aldmeri Tents - meo3000
Daedric Mage Armor, Glass Mage Armor, Imperial Mage Armor - Natterforme
Heroic Imperial Armor - rahman530
Aldmeri Dominion Banner - Okiir - Shinkoku

Outro Music

"Death of Kings", "Hero Down", "Private Reflection", "String Impromptu Number 1"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/