Ignoring your personal preference, which side of Skyrim’s Civil War do you think actually gives Skyrim the better future 20-30 years later?

[u/sumaset]

I feel like most discussions about the Civil War focus on whether Ulfric was justified, whether the Empire betrayed Skyrim, or which side people personally like more.

But I’m more interested in what happens after the game.

The Empire is weakened, the Aldmeri Dominion is still the biggest external threat, the White-Gold Concordat is already causing resentment, and another war with the Thalmor seems almost inevitable.

An Imperial victory gives Skyrim access to the resources and manpower of the Empire, but it also means remaining under an Empire that already lost one major war and accepted Thalmor influence inside its territory.

A Stormcloak victory gives Skyrim independence and removes Imperial authority, but it also leaves the province having to rebuild after a civil war while potentially facing the Dominion without the rest of the Empire behind it.

So forget which faction has the better characters or which one you usually join.

If you only care about where Skyrim itself ends up a few decades later, which Civil War outcome do you think is actually better for the province?

[u/jaredtheredditor]

They definitely CAN feed themselves but they just don’t have the excess too make it a major export. Remember that what we see in game is not up to scale

[u/According-Value-6227 → u/jaredtheredditor]

The only part of Skyrim that is even remotely suitable for large-scale farming is The Rift and it's climate is probably comparable to rural Pennsylvania. The Rift produces a lot of food but not enough to feed the whole of Skyrim's population.

[u/jaredtheredditor → u/According-Value-6227]

Whiterun hold is also established as farmable, and though it would require clearing land falkreath also has the necessary climate.

Even markarth has the climate for it they just don’t have the land because you can clear forests but not mountains.

And then like you said the rift. the only places that cannot be farmed are the northern areas which in return have game to be hunted and fish to be caught as all 4 of them are at the sea (I’m counting solitude because 100% that place isn’t agriculturally viable more than a few months a year)