Skyrim - Pirates of Skyrim Mod Interview

The Beth Blog has a new interview with modder BigBizkit about his latest mod called Pirates of Skyrim. You can download his mod on the nexus with this link.

What features in the project are you most proud of?

When I created “Pirates of Skyrim”, I wanted it to be its own “system” so to speak. I could have made it into a quest mod where you would set sail, pillage some ships, return and mission accomplished, but instead I went for a radiant system where the player would have a reason to set sail to the sea of ghosts repeatedly, where you would want to pillage ships over and over. That is why the naval battles are randomly assigned and the loot is different every time, and so are the things you may or may not find on the ocean floor. In my opinion, the randomness of the battles, the loot, the ocean, etc. — in combination with the achievements you can unlock by collecting treasure that you may or may not find, contributes to the mods longevity and constitutes the best feature – and that is what I am most proud of.

Do you plan to continue supporting the project? And if so, what can you share from your current plan?

Sure. I have pretty much already shared my future plans in the forum tab at the mod’s file page. There are two main features on my list that I want to implement:

A Pirate Port — I envision a safe haven for pirates on a small island. It would be rundown at first and only a few NPCs would hang around there initially. But as the player continues to bring in loot from his/her pillages market stands and decoration would be unlocked and more and more NPCs would appear there showing the place flourishing.

A Privateering System —  You would be able to obtain a “letter of marque” from either the Imperial Legion or the Stormcloaks. This would give you permission to hunt down ships of the opposing faction. The player would need to set sail to the sea of ghosts, dispose of a crew of the opposing faction, and then return with proof of the deed (e.g. a banner) to Solitude/Windhelm to receive a reward. Doing so would earn the player a positive reputation with his/her faction, and a negative one with the opposing one. This would obviously come with some consequences like being blocked from ports, attacks from opposing privateers.