Something I'd Never Seen Before

[Ganit]

I had just finished Bleak Falls Barrow and was coming down the hill toward Whiterun when I saw something I hadn't seen so far in my many hours of Skyrim. Talsgar was mining some iron. I'd never seen an NPC collect materials like that. Is this going on all over and I've just missed it?

Bandits attacked before I found out if the vein would be depleted but oh well.

[I_am_one]

I've seen miners mine for ore, but they never actually collected any, as in the deposit being depleted.

[Derp53]

i've also seen bandits mine ore but none of it had been collected

[DikaSmausha]

Same here.

[Poohunter]

Go inside any mine. You'll see bandits mining it, or even friendly NPC's. The vein never actually gets depleted though.

[Evil-i]

I once found a Vigilant mining ore out in the middle of nowhere. Odd thing is, I've never found a Pickaxe in a dead Vigilant's inventory. Come to think of it, I've never found a Pickaxe in anyone's inventory.

Maybe that's why NPCs never deplete an Ore Vein in spite of doing the "Mining" animation. They're using imaginary Pickaxes that only you can see. And, if only you can see them, perhaps the NPCs aren't the crazy ones.

[Derp53]

I once found a Vigilant mining ore out in the middle of nowhere. Odd thing is, I've never found a Pickaxe in a dead Vigilant's inventory. Come to think of it, I've never found a Pickaxe in anyone's inventory.

Maybe that's why NPCs never deplete an Ore Vein in spite of doing the "Mining" animation. They're using imaginary Pickaxes that only you can see. And, if only you can see them, perhaps the NPCs aren't the crazy ones.

well we are dragonborn and if you say dragons aren't crazy and sometimes suicidal then thats like saying woodstock wasn't important

[Pilaf The Defiler]

I once found a Vigilant mining ore out in the middle of nowhere. Odd thing is, I've never found a Pickaxe in a dead Vigilant's inventory. Come to think of it, I've never found a Pickaxe in anyone's inventory.

Maybe that's why NPCs never deplete an Ore Vein in spite of doing the "Mining" animation. They're using imaginary Pickaxes that only you can see. And, if only you can see them, perhaps the NPCs aren't the crazy ones.

well we are dragonborn and if you say dragons aren't crazy and sometimes suicidal then thats like saying woodstock wasn't important

(Speaking of music festivals, My greatest regret is that Alduin doesn't actually exist. I long to summon him in the middle of Burning Man. No, wait. Scratch that. Gathering of the Juggalos. Some aspects of this world should be devoured by an evil ancient god. )


I've seen lots and lots of NPCs mining, but none never depleted the ore. It's just flavor for the game world.

[11Justin93]

Sometimes my followers will mine ore if I stand next to it for an extened period of time without doing anything. I've never checked to see if actually gets depleted or not. This may have been added with Dawnguard because I never saw it happen before then or maybe I just never noticed it.

[Ripcage]

Sometimes my followers will mine ore if I stand next to it for an extened period of time without doing anything. I've never checked to see if actually gets depleted or not. This may have been added with Dawnguard because I never saw it happen before then or maybe I just never noticed it.

Serana does a bunch of stuff i've never seen other followers do... Like sitting down.

[Derp53]

Sometimes my followers will mine ore if I stand next to it for an extened period of time without doing anything. I've never checked to see if actually gets depleted or not. This may have been added with Dawnguard because I never saw it happen before then or maybe I just never noticed it.

Serana does a bunch of stuff i've never seen other followers do... Like sitting down.

Serana actually does everything she would when your idle as if she wasn't following you, cept the only thing she doesn't do is go too far away, otherwise she's probably one of the smarter AI's

[Yaije]

I say some "bandits" chopping wood at goldenglow. I killed them and found firewood on their corpses. Should have let them continue and milked them for more.