The questions we don’t ask about games are often the ones that require the most explanation. Questions like, ‘How does Tamriel function across the Bethesda RPG games with very little in the way of food sources?’ Well, a new Skyrim mod aims to address exactly that. I’ve already looked at how Skyrim in real life would be hell, putting Tamriel’s coldest region in financial doom, so now let’s see how to fix it.
Skyrim is a nation of over 1000 people (at least in the game itself, not the actual fantasy world) with a measly 13 farms. I don’t need to do the maths to tell you that this isn’t enough food, especially considering the farms of Skyrim feel like they’d struggle to feed just one medieval village.
This is where the Skyrim mod “CACO Farm Overhaul” by Teabag86 and Kryptopyr comes in, as it adds a lore-friendly upgrade to the farms across the fantasy game that means farmers can actually supply to the local population, instead of them all surviving on the bark of Spriggans.
There’s a lot that this farm overhaul mod adds to Skyrim, with highlights including a farm stay quest that requires you complete tasks for food and lodging, organised crops in rows, new plant models for ingredients, new livestock in the form of pigs, piglets, rams, sheep, lambs and calves, the addition of Hearthfire DLC items like ovens and butter churns, idle loops and animations for farmers, and bug spawn points near crops.
You’ll need the base CACO (Complete Alchemy and Cooking Overhaul) Skyrim mod to get this working, mind you, but it’s worth it to feel like the farms of Tamriel actually have some use.
Each new interpretation of the farms across Skyrim is also unique, as the modders say that “a farm may specialize in wheat production, dairy products, baking, livestock breeding, small game hunting, apple orchards, regional crops, etc. Harvestable crates and barrels, hanging crops and new work areas – along with a small amount of clutter – have been added to farms to emphasize their specialty.”
CACO is also required as it adds new crops, so you’ll find the likes of onions, cabbages, peas, and blueberries on the farms too. The Farm Stay Quests are still a work in progress, but you can expect to till the fields, harvest crops, grind wheat, repair fences and more to earn your keep.
On top of the jobs, there are a few farms left to be sorted across the open world game, but you can still download the Skyrim mod right now over on Nexus Mods, which will link to the other content you need to get it working.
Otherwise, why don’t you check out our list of games like Skyrim, or our interview with the team behind the Skyrim Extended Cut mod instead.
