The Elder Scrolls V: Hearthfire

The Elder Scrolls V: Hearthfire is the second official add-on for the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series,.

Released for the Xbox 360 on 04 September 2012. Hearthfire focuses around purchasing land and designing, building and maintaining a home. The option to hire stewards, and a personal bard is also available.

In addition, an adoption mechanic has been introduced that allows the Dragonborn to adopt children and raise them in the newly built home.

Official summary
 Create a living home With this official add-on to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you can purchase land and build your own home from the ground up - from a simple one-room cottage to a sprawling compound complete with an armory, alchemy laboratory, stable, garden, and more. Use all-new tools like the drafting table and carpenter's workbench to transform quarried stone, clay, and sawn logs into structures and furnishings. Even transform your house into a home by adopting children.

Building a home
The first step to building a home is to purchase one of three plots of land available and obtain a title deed. Locations for building a house include:


 * The salt marshes of Hjaalmarch.
 * The forests of Falkreath.
 * The tundras of The Pale.

Multiple plots can be purchased, and a house can be built on each. With the five pre-built purchasable houses already present in Skyrim, players can now own property in every hold except Winterhold.

After a plot has been purchased, the Drafting Table and Carpenter's Workbench can then be used to transform raw materials such as ingots, glass, straw, quarried stone, clay, and sawn logs into components of the house, such as Locks, Nails, Iron Fittings and Hinges.

Stage 1: Purchase
To buy a plot, either visit the Jarl's steward in Falkreath, Morthal, Dawnstar or wait for a courier to deliver a letter that guides you there. After a plot has been purchased visit the site where a Drafting Table and Carpenter's Workbench can be found.

Stage 2: Foundations
Activating the Drafting Table will allow the first basic layout to begin construction. Choosing a Small House Layout will mark a rectangular plot on the land were the house will be built.

Next, move over to the Carpenter's Workbench where the foundations and supports must be laid. The required materials include Quarried Stone and Sawn Logs. The stone can typically be mined from a nearby source and the logs can only be obtained from a Saw Mill.

Once the small beginning house is complete, you have the option to add a large main hall, which consists of a cellar, a large dining hall, a smaller back room, and two bedroom upstairs. Several housing additions with specific purposes are also available on the west, north and east sides of the house. Each side has three distinct addition options, for a total of nine available additions. The West Wing may consist of an Alchemist's Tower for creating potions and poisons, Bedrooms to create more living space, or a Greenhouse for growing food and alchemic ingredients. The available options for the North Wing are a Trophy Room for flaunting difficult or memorable conquests, a Storage Room for storing collections of items, or an Enchanter's Tower for enchanting weapons and armor. The East Wing choices are a Library with bookshelves for the collector, an Armory for displaying and storing weapons and armor, or a Kitchen with a cooking spit, stove, and cupboards.

Once built, each area must be individually furnished using the carpenter's tables found inside.

The area surrounding the house may also be developed to include a vegetable patch, a fish hatchery, mills, an apiary (beehive), a complete set of smithing equipment, and a stable for cows and horses.

Furnishings
The Interior Workbench can be used to furnish each room with a large variety of craftable objects. These include:
 * Mannequins
 * Divine Shrines
 * Alchemy Lab
 * Arcane Enchanter
 * Weapon Racks
 * Display Cases
 * All smithing stations
 * Taxidermied or mounted creatures
 * Most regular furnishings found in homes

Servants
Several types of servant can be hired to perform different tasks around the house:
 * A Steward can be hired to buy raw materials for building the home and equip it with furnishings. Not many Followers can be turned into a steward.
 * A carriage driver to provide transportation.
 * A personal bard.

Family life
Once the house is complete, the option to move in with a spouse or adopt a child is available. Additional options will be present for any adopted children, such as giving gifts, playing games or instructing them to do their chores. The option to allow them to keep pets is also included.

Occasionally the home may become subject to skeever infestations, giant attacks, marauding kidnappers or armed bandits that must be dealt with.

Characters

 * Llewellyn the Nightingale
 * Rayya
 * Lucia
 * Blaise

Achievements
There are 5 possible achievements, totaling 50 gamerpoints.

Gallery
ja:The Elder Scrolls V: Hearthfire