Weekly Update -- 10/20/2017

A happy Friday to you, my loves!

Everyone say hello to our newest contributors:

• Rib Beelboosa
• Arthur Kofman

Without further adieu, here's my progress on Ultimate Skyrim for the week!

• Enemy AI is now vastly improved thanks to a slightly tweaked Combat Evolved. This makes combat much more engaging and strategic, while preserving Requiem's core combat mechanics and philosophy. (Good luck baiting power attacks now!)
   
• Thanks to Spellsword, we've implemented an entirely new way to cast spells. You can now find or create powerful Spellweapons, which allow users to cast spells at half their usual Magicka cost (along with enchantment charges).
  
  These spells bypass armor restrictions, and like ordinary spells, they scale with your skills and most perks. However, they do NOT benefit from cost reduction perks like ordinary spells, so Spellsword characters can never achieve the power or casting ability of pure mages. This allows for powerful hybrid builds and viable cross-classing!
   
• Vivid Weathers and the Vivid Weathers ENB have officially replaced Climates of Tamriel and RealVision ENB. The new visuals are absolutely spectacular, and the new weather types will make you think twice before venturing out. The ENB is also built from scratch for Vivid Weathers, and performs wonderfully thanks to tweaks from our own /u/rodericktech.
   
• I've added Underwater Treasure to encourage exploration of Skyrim's waterways and oceans. Treasure contents have been edited for balance, and to integrate US's other loot mods. The Ghost Sea contains some particularly nice treasures... if you can stand the cold!
   
• We've re-implemented the unique cloaks from CCOR, patched for proper ownership by Novocaine. These cloaks are great for making factions and locations feel unique and interesting (and they provide some nice visual variety as well).
   
• I'm currently working on a big project to remove item conditions for displaying crafting recipes. (Temper and Breakdown recipes still retain item conditions.)
  
  Some modders try to "unclutter" crafting menus by hiding recipes until the player has one or more required materials, but I find this unnecessary with SkyUI's excellent Search function. Removing item conditions allows players to see EVERYTHING they can craft, so they can seek out materials for exciting recipes. This system was inspired by Modded Minecraft, of which I am a huge fan!
   
• Other small bugfixes and additions too small for the post, etc.

That's it for this week! I hope this info was to your liking, and I'll see you next week with more updates.

Love,
BB