Tutorial to new players of ULTIMA ONLINE v. 1.3
By: Jere Lindell
Last updated: 21.11.2001
Still a bit to do I think...I keep updating
Updates:
21.10.01 - Some updates. Next update will be huge, about basic things and then going on to details about the world of Britannia. I am still dreaming about the monster catalogue, but decided to make it a bit smaller so that it only contains the most common monsters. The next update might come next year, I am rather busy with school and other hobbies (note: that does not mean I have a life :-))
7.9.01 - Packy information complete, fixed some errors, added some things. Fixed the embarrassing date error in 2.9.01 (Used to be 2.9.91 *cough*)
2.9.01 - More information, packy info, and plans about creating a huge monster stat collection...
24.8.01 - txt format, and I like how things are now. Only text updates from now on...
15.8.01 - Trying to find the right format for this file...rtf seems nice, but txt is my final...
10.8.01 - Added the advanced advice section completely, and fixed some typos
8.8.01 - Fixed typos, and added some information. Enhanced the look.
24.7.01 - Finally completed writing
Few Words
Hail and welcome to Ultima Online. This is not a \"normal\" new player tutorial, I go...deeper into the game, answer many questions that manual does not, and some that it does too. Uo Stratics (uo.stratics.com) is main source for all information on UO, starting from role-playing to statistics on everything (even though it is not always up to date). This tutorial tells you the following things:
Beginning stats - What should you choose in the beginning
Beginning skills - What am I going to be?
Basic Commands - If you know these, good, if you don\'t, read.
Moneymaking - Beginning, being poor, getting money
Some Basic Ethics - Just that
Your Path - What path should I choose? Mage? Warrior?
Training - Getting ready for what you do
Woodlands - Monsters and animals
Trammel & Felucca - The choice, you have to make. Danger? Go to Felucca. No danger? Go to Trammel.
Combat - When you have to survive
Karma and Fame - Being successful
Role and Playing - Who are you? What are you? Why are you?
Advanced Advice - When you have money and skills...
Questions and Answers - Here I will answer to some questions
Some questions regarding these topics are answered in the last topic, because...err...well...they just are.
Before I start, you should get to know the very basics of UO: Walking, running, using things, casting spells, war-mode and paperdolls. Just basically, nothing fancy. This is manual for those, who think they are not doing the best they can, and there should be more to playing.
This manual is also good for those, who want to know more before jumping deeper into their character building. Check for a good manual in www.uo.com. And if you don\'t want to read all that much, but want answers to certain questions, check the last parts...And about the updating of this file when UO endures...I don\'t know if I will do it, because I have noticed there is a lot of UO beginner help files there...
So, one thing you should have done is read the manual that comes with UO. Nothing else. So, lets get started with:
Something to note: As they say, you are only young once, and you should go out and play. Go out there, and play your heart out, until you are not young anymore, and then come back. This is for those who want to enjoy truly. The real magic of this game is interaction, learning and seeing. Knowledge increases pain, but also power, so your call I could say, but trust me on this one...This is not just a rant of an old man, this is the wisdom of an old man :-)
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Beginning
The Stats:
When you start, you have 65 stat points to divide among Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence.
Strength is very important factor in your hit points (50+strength/2), and hit points are very important. If hitpoints go to 0, you die. Strength is also used to determine how much stuff you can carry and how much damage bonuses you get in melee combat. Strength is very important for any character, and this should be set to at least 35 in the beginning, no matter whom, or what you are going to be.
Dexterity equals your stamina, which is also important, especially in combat. If you run out of stamina, you are too tired to do anything. You can\'t run away, you can\'t fight. The higher your stamina, the faster you act in combat.
Intelligence equals your mana. Mana is needed to cast spells. Needless to say, if you run out of mana, you can\'t cast spells. This is not important, if you decide not to cast spells. And you really shouldn\'t do that.
So str 45, dex 10, int 10.... The stat cap is 225, and now you have 65...long way to go
In this state, you should already think what you are going to be, archer, mage or something else. What kind of stats you need? If you are a mage, you need a high intelligence. You should try to be as good as you can, so don\'t try to be a fighter/mage with 100str/25dex/100int, because it won\'t work. If you ever get lost, and meet a Player Killer, you die. You get tired fast, and you die. Every stat is very important. Even though strength is the most important, the others are too. Think, before starting the training, what stats do you want? Note though: If you are going to play Trammel only, you don\'t have to worry about player killers, and your stats can be anything you want.
Stats also modify skills, so if you have a high strength, it modifies your mining to go higher than your actual skill is. This is called \"showed\" skill. It is what if left after stat modifiers. Then there is the \"real\" skill, what is the real skill value. When you are closing 100 in skill, the real skill and showed skill merge together. Stats only matters in low skill values.
Training your stats section is later in this manual, just after the skills
The Skills:
You have 100 points to divide among three skills in the beginning. What these skills are is up to you. Now becomes the hard part (or then not, who knows):
What are you going to be? And then some more challenge: There is a skill cap of 700 skill points...no more you can have...you do the calculations.
Well, it does not matter what you are going to be, starting skills do not count. First, you need money in the beginning, and you don\'t gain much money fighting, unless you are really good at it. So, I suggest that you take that smirk off your face, and drop the knife, and pick up a sewing kit, and start making money.
Beginners should choose from the already made classes, and choose something like a tailor or a blacksmith. They make money, and they make it fast. This way you can get to be a fighter or an archer faster, and do what you really want. Of course, some want to be tailors, and I think tailoring is great fun, sometimes, not always of course.
You might also want to create a \"mule\" character, a character with moneymaking skills only, tailoring, blacksmithy, alchemy and such. Most people I know have one mule for moneymaking purposes, and these mules support their mages and warriors.
So, beginners, pick your profession, we are making money:
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Basic Commands:
Buying - Say \"Vendor Buy\"
Selling - Say \"Vendor Sell\"
Training - Say \"*name* teach skill\" (to find out what a vendor can teach, say \"*name* teach\" (example: Phil teach, Phil teach mining)
Guards - If you are attacked in a town, yell out \"GUARDS!\" and watch the show
Bank - When near a bank, say \"bank\" and you see your bank box (bank box is limited, but it is very big, and you can store anything in there, and it can\'t be stolen)
Cross - if you are in Skara Brae, say \"cross\" when in the docks and you get out of town
Trading with other players - Just drag the thing you need on another player. Simple as that.
These are very basic commands, there are more, but these will get you far. In the 6 first commands, you can put these words into a sentence, making it sound more nice, like this: \"Hail Vendor, may I buy some of your fine goods\"
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Moneymaking:
Bowyer\'s bows/Carpenter\'s woodwork
You want to work with wood? Good, wood is very nice. One of my favorites...although, all professions are very nice, and I like them all. I like being a carpenter, and working in the woods. I like being a smith, and repairing stuff, watching warriors going to \"work\". One day, you will be one of those warriors, or maybe, you will be the one, that makes those GM plate mails they are wearing, and sometimes you hear the words: \"You a GM tailor? Can you make me a full studded set, no, make it two sets. I am going to a dungeon.\" Then you know you are doing well. Anyway, back to wood :-)
All of these skills give you great possibilities when around 90 to GM....Combining these skills also is very profitable.
Starting skills
Bowyer: Bow crafting/Fletching 50, lumber jacking 50
Carpenter: Carpentry 50, lumber-jacking 50
>From the lumber jacking, you get a newbie hatchet. If you die, it goes with you. It is very light, requires very little strength to use. Run into nearby woods, use your hatchet on a tree, and maybe you get some wood. When you get some wood, then starts the crafting!
Bowyer: Double-click your dagger, then the logs you have in your backpack. You get a menu, and there are some options. Choose a bow. You start making it. If you are successful, you see a bow appearing into your backpack. You are already making money. Chop trees, make bows, and when your skill rises, crossbows, and when you can\'t carry anymore, run into town, and sell them to bowyers and armourers. If they don\'t buy it immediately, wait for 30 minutes, come back, and you can sell them (hopefully) Arrows and bolts can be made too. First make some shafts from the wood. Then kill a bird and double-click a bladed weapon and aim the corpse to get its feathers. Examine the corpse and you find feathers and meat. Use the feathers on the shaft to get arrows or bolts. Meat can be cooked for some extra gold.
Carpenter: You should have a carpentry tool in your backpack when you start. Just double-click it, and then double-click logs. You can make boards; they are lighter than logs, but the same thing anyway. First, you should build something like chests, and then move on to wooden shields when your skill reaches 55. Not so fast money as bows, but money anyway. You might also want to buy more tools from the carpenters while you sell your makings.
For more advanced help, Uo.stratics.com.everything is there
Smith\'s blades
Starting skills: Blacksmithy 50, Mining 50 (you can buy tinkering later to make your own pickaxes and shovels)
First, buy a few pickaxes from the smith\'s. Then head to the mountains (these players should start from Britain, Trinsic or Minoc), and double-click your pickaxe or shovel and aim the mountain. You will get some iron ore. (Later you will also get other ore, like Dull Copper, but let\'s ignore that). Then, head on the forge and melt your ore (double-click the ore, then aim the forge). Then double-click your smithing tool, and you get a popup menu, and there you can choose what to make (armor is always good, good for skill and money). You can sell that bronze/dull copper and other stuff to more advanced smiths for some extra gold.
For more advanced help, Uo.stratics.com and look for a profession called smith :-)
Tailor\'s clothes
Starting skills: Tailoring 50, Combat skill 50
Tailoring is just lovely. You really need only one skill to good, because usually you have combat skills anyway. And you probly don\'t even need those combat skills, they are great though.
Cloth: First, you need a sheep. Then you double-click your knife, and aim the sheep. You shear it and get some wool. Repeat (of course not the same sheep). Then take this wool and spin it to yarn (double-click, double-click and once again d-c) and then use it to loom and get some folded cloth. Then use your scissors to it, and you get cloth that looks like torn. Then d-c your sewing kit, and start making clothes.
Hides: Combat skill needed here. Find an animal that has a hide (use your brains here). Then attack it. Then d-c your bladed weapon, and aim the animal corpse. Then examine the corpse to get some hides and meat. Again, meat can be cooked and sold for extra gold. Hides can be cut with scissors to make them lighter. Then again, use your sewing kit, and make some armor. Don\'t make leather helmets, they can\'t be sold.
Again, UO stratics tells you more about this profession :-)
Fisherman\'s fish
Starting skills: Fishing 50, cooking 50
This is simple, and sometimes boring. You have a fishing pole in your inventory. Use it and aim water. Wait. You might catch something. If you do, repeat. If you don\'t, repeat. Repeat until you can\'t carry any more fish. Then cook it (, use a knife on it, use the fish steaks on fire, like campfire or oven). Sell to players or vendors.
UO stratics at Uo.stratics.com for more info
About all the professions: As your skill raises, you can do more and more different things, and you should experiment a bit with these, if they give better money, and you should always do different stuff to ease the boredom. After you get into 80+ skills, boredom is not going to ease up at all, you can make all kinds of stuff that players will buy, but skill rise will be slow. I mean slow. More about skill raising later :-)
Also, when you get the money, think about buying a packhorse or llama from a stable master. Metal is very heavy, and so is lumber. Hides can also become a burden. Packies cost about 800 gold, and they can carry huge amounts of stuff. A must for miners. A note though: Packies are a bit...slow. They think slowly, and they are slow. You must scream \"Packy follow me\" a lot. Packies also like to attack monsters, for some reason. So \"Packy follow me\"...heh
Escorting NPCs
Young players start from Haven, a small city with low prizes and everything is so easy. There are loads of npcs there waiting to be escorted from place to place. When an npc \"talks\" to you (he/she/it says something about wanting to go somewhere) or when you are near a npc, ask him/her/it \"destination\". Then it will say it\'s destination, and you can then say \"I will take thee\". Then you start escorting the npc. Take it to its destination and gain money (and karma and fame if I remember right). Very easy money gaining here, no skills needed. Those who want it easy and very...how could I say it...oh well, this is just too easy. No challenge here.
\"I took the npc where it wanted, but it won\'t leave me. What now?\"
I suggest you move back about a screen, and then try again. This happens sometimes, just keep trying. If it still refuses to leave, say \"I resign from my guest\".
And if you are thinking \"I can ask someone for money\", stop thinking. Everyone hates a begging newbie. You can ask for help, but not money.
Note: You can ask for help, and some people take apprentices/students etc. These experienced people can show how things are done, what is profitable, what is not, what should be avoided and how to do things. They can also introduce some customers that are interested in what you do. Some people buy from newbie crafters just because they want to help them, but don\'t want to give money straight away. Remember to communicate :-)
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Some Basic Ethics
Golden rules for the newbies and even older merchants and craftsmen.
- Never Spam. People hate it when you fill their screen with \"Free repairs here\" Just say \"Free repairs\" and if someone spams on you, just say it again ONCE. If the other guy keeps spamming, people will ignore him (hopefully, he might be a GM smith that everyone knows)
- Be Polite. When talking to people, try to use their name. It seems wierd, but it might bring them back to you when they need a smith or tailor or something.
- Don\'t steal other people\'s stuff, place, and market. If you see a tailor and there is a huge amount of hides around, don\'t take them even if they lie on the ground free to be taken. Nearby tailor probly had some trouble getting them. If you see a fisherman fishing, don\'t go near him, he probly wants to fish in that spot for a long time, and you would be stealing his future fish. Miners are the same. Think. This word people seem to forget, and they also forget to do that. Would you like some dude comes and takes your stuff or spams you out or something. NO! Well, don\'t do it either.
And for all of you, those kiddy 8-year olds. If I see someone doing this, expect me to make your time most difficult for some time. I hate this kind of behavior.
Try to make this game something everyone can enjoy, unacceptable behavior is something that ruins it. I am not talking about PKs here, that is just life. Not thieves either, they are fun. But if you are a rude PK or a thief or a whatever, then it is not fun anymore.
Of course you might say it is only a game, and blah blah. It is a game, but it is also something more than a game. If you can\'t understand this, go home. >:-|
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Custom character/what skills do?
Okay, I am going to explain every skill in UO, and tell what it does, and how useful it really is (ok, personal opinions, put your knives away, you don\'t have to take my word, I am not a god). I like my characters to have something else they can do, other than hit in combat, so I choose magery very often. My archers usually have bowcrafting and lumberjacking so I can do my own stuff. Remember, main character is the one you going to play the most, so think carefully what is he/she going to be like.
Alchemy: Allows you to create potions. Potions are very useful, and making them yourself is cheap, and profitable. Useful skill, but, maybe not for your main character. Alchemy is expensive, but very, very useful.
Anatomy: Skill used in combat, and in healing. Very useful. If you have this skill, you make more damage in combat, and you heal more with healing skill. You can also check out people\'s strength and dexterity and later even stamina with this skill. Fighter skill. (Check wrestling and healing). Key to raising anatomy is fighting many different monsters. This way you can also gain experience about every creature in the land of Britannia :)
Animal Lore: Knowledge of animals. Using this skill tells you how happy a pet is and what it likes to eat. It also helps commanding the pet around. And more, this increases the amount you can heal with veterinary skill. (Like anatomy to healing)
Must if you are going to be a tamer.
Animal Taming: Name speaks for itself. Used to tame animals and then commanding them around. Nothing else here. Very useful, but sometimes boring. Tamers are also somewhat despised by normal warriors and mages (Because they can control dragons and other rather mean stuff).
Archery: One of my favorite combat skills, let\'s you fire arrows from long distances. You don\'t have to enter melee, and you won\'t die maybe so often. This includes lots of running around though. Good for tougher monsters, but bad at PvP.
Arms Lore: This skill tells you something about the armor/weapon you are trying to examine. How much damage it does, how much it protects (These can be found in numbers in UO stratics) and other things. More importantly, it tells you how damaged the item is, and if it needs to be repaired. Very useful, if you can find room for it in your skill list. Note: weapons and armor take damage when used (doh). (Check Wrestling)
Begging: I have never used this skill, I am not so fond of begging. But what I have heard, this can be a very good way to make money, and does not need any resources, like hides. Each successful use of skill gives you 10% of the npc\'s money you are begging from (maximum of 10 gold).
Blacksmithy: The true art of steel. Not fighting, but crafting it. There is just that certain something when you mine and then get back to town to make some armor or weapons and maybe even do some repairs for someone. A real blacksmith is always a good companion. Only true mages don\'t need a blacksmithing services.
Bowcraft/Fletching: Archer\'s beginning moneymaking skill is usually this. I often use my own bows and arrows until I am about 80\'ish in my archery. Good for making money, and if you have this, you\'ll never run out of arrows...
Camping: This is kinda useless skill, but if used right, very good skill. It is often used to gain strength and dexterity, and is very valuable in that only. No one really needs more camping skill than you get from your stat modifier.
Carpentry: Allows you to make some carpentry. Nuff said.
Cartography: Map-making and the most valuable part in treasure hunting. You need this skill to be able to describe treasure maps. And treasure hunters are very wealthy...You can also create maps. Note though: treasure hunters are very popular and have lots of gold and magical items, but this skill rises EXTREMELY slowly. Respect all GM cartographers.
Cooking: Do I really have to say what this skill does?? Not so useful, maybe for moneymaking and training your intelligence...nothing more. You can always buy food (and you should)
Detecting Hidden: This allows you to find hidden things, like hidden players, traps on boxes, and the new monster that hides after beating, the orc scout. Some say it is good to invest some points here, some say use area effects spells...This skill does not work in trammel.
Enticement: Bard skill, used with musicianship. Lures target to come closer to you. Value of this is beyond my mind\'s reach...
Evaluating Intelligence: Tactics of the mage. Increases spell effect (damage, duration). Allows you to also check someone\'s intelligence and with high skill also his or her mana level.
Fencing: Skill to use Fencing weapons like spears. Higher skill, better you are. Nuff\' said.
Fishing: :-) Do I really have to explain? With high fishing you can also get Message in a bottle and treasure maps...some say best way to gain money...
Forensic Evaluation: Useful only to detective. Checks if someone belongs to thieves guild, and also tells the killer of a corpse etc...All kinds of criminal stuff :-)
Healing: Using bandages to heal you or others. Amount increases with skill (and anatomy skill too). With 60.1 skill both in healing and anatomy you can cure poison and with 80.1 in both, you can resurrect others.
Herding: The most useless skill in game. Forces animals to move from one point to another, if you are lucky. Good for early strength training though :-)
Hiding: Makes you invisible to other players if successful. Very useful, you can stay hidden as long as someone detects you (there is a skill for that and a spell too). If they can\'t see you, they can\'t attack you.
Inscription: Allows you to scribe scrolls, books, spell books...somewhat useful money making skill that adds bonuses to your protective spells.
Item Identification: Tells you the value of an item, its magical properties and of course its full name. So you can identify all those magic swords in your pack back.
Lock picking: Allows you to pick locks. Useful to thieves and treasure hunters.
Lumberjacking: Allows you to chop trees for logs, and adds extra damage to axes. Must for all carpenters....
Mace Fighting: Using blunt weapons like maces and staffs...nuff\' said.
Magery: Well...gee...let\'s you cast spells. Higher skill adds some bonuses to spells...Higher spell circles demand more and more skill...Inscription skill also requires this skill. Magery is kinda a must for any character; let\'s you heal, do damage, recall (move around really fast), summon creatures and protect yourself and others.
Meditation: Increases mana regeneration rate if you are wearing light armour. There are two ways to meditate: active and passive. Actively you use the skill and wait: doubles mana regeneration rate. Passively you just go on like normally, but your mana regenerates faster because of the skill.
Mining: Let\'s you mine ore from mountains and caves. Also treasure hunters use this to find their treasure (to find, not dig up) :-) Raises strength like crazy, but miners will hate you if you train by mining.
Musicianship: The base skill of bard. Allows you to play instruments and you need this skill with provocation, peacemaking and enticing.
Parrying: Using shields. Higher skill raises your blocking rate. Also note that the higher the armor rating of the shield, the less often you block. So using buckler gives high blocking rate, but doesn\'t protect so much. Your call.
Peacemaking: Bardic skill. Forces monsters to un-target you.
Poisoning: The art of poisoning stuff. Especially blades. Poison can be very useful to any warrior. Mages also use this skill to enhance their poison spells. You can only poison one-handed weapons, and macing weapons can\'t be poisoned. Basically all one-handed bladed weapons.
Provocation: Bardic skill. Forces monsters to fight each other.
Remove Trap: Removes traps from chest and boxes. Good for treasure hunters and thieves.
Resisting Spells: Helps you resist and take off bad effects from harmful spells. Must for any warrior and mage. Keeps you alive against Daemons, mages and other magic-casting enemies.
Snooping: Allows you to see contents of a pack you don\'t own. Must own if you are a thief.
Spirit Speak: Allows you to communicate with the dead. You can talk to ghosts (dead players) with this skill. Without, you only see \"ooo oo o oo ooooooo\"
Stealing: Allows you to steal stuff, maybe. This can\'t be done in Trammel with good effect, and you have to join thieves\' guild.
Stealth: Let\'s you move while hidden. Very useful for a thief...
Swordsmanship: Use of bladed weapons. Axes and swords.
Tactics: Increases damage done by melee weapons, wrestling and archery. Fighting without this skill is useless.
Tailoring: Allows crafting armor from hides and weaving clothes.
Taste Identification: Another very useless skill. Identifies potions and checks if food is poisoned. Yay. Potions are color coded anyway. (You can\'t get more than 70 in this skill anyway)
Tinkering: Skill of making all kinds of stuff, like locks, traps and pickaxes. Money making skill. Used by miners to make shovels and pickaxes.
Tracking: Allows you to track monsters, animals and people. Allows you to see the direction to run when hunting stuff...
Veterinary: Healing animals and some monsters. Like healing, but to non-humans. Also check animal lore.
Wrestling: Un-armed fighting. Useless because of its damage, but its good side is in avoiding the blade. Good skill for all mages, unless you want to die more often.
Wrestling also allows you do some special things, if you have some other skills:
Disarming: If you have arms lore, you disarm people.
Stunning blow: If you have anatomy, you can paralyze people.
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Your Path:
Advanced character creation
Confusing start, but here I am going to tell you about what happens after the moneymaking. Now you should have about 10000 gold in your bank box. Now, what are you going to be? Remember, AFTER you have 10000 gold, you can start thinking what you want to be. Otherwise, the road will be very rocky...trust me. You don\'t like rocky.
Here are some character templates for all kinds of professions:
(GM means you have 100 skill, you are a Grandmaster)
Since you probably know some people by now, and if you don\'t, what the **** have you been doing?! They can give you advice, and maybe teach you a thing or two about your profession to be.
Swordsman1: Swordsmanship GM, Tactics GM, Anatomy GM, Healing GM, Resisting spells GM, Magery 75, Hiding 50, Arms Lore 25 and this leaves 50 to something like tracking or poisoning.
Swordsman2: Swordsmanship GM, Tactics GM, Magery GM, Resisting Spells GM, Wrestling GM, Evaluate Int GM, Meditation 50 and again 50 points free, could be GM meditation or maybe Hiding.
Fencer: Follow the points of the Swordsman, you just use different weapons.
Mace fighter: Same as before. You could try to put Parrying into the skill list.
Axe fighter: Same as the other fighters, but lumberjacking GM must be there. Works for axes, more damage.
Archer: Archery GM, Tactics GM, Magery GM, Evaluate Int. GM, Resisting Spells GM, rest are up to you. You can take Healing&Anatomy for more damage and healing.
Bard: Musicianship GM, Provocation GM, Peacemaking GM, Then other skills
Tamer: Animal Taming GM, Animal Lore GM, Veterinary GM, then other skills
Mage: Magery GM, Evaluate Int. GM, Meditation GM, Wrestling GM, Resisting Spells GM, then something else
Or you can play a sage like this: Item ID 50, Arms Lore 50, Cartography GM, Magery GM, Evaluate Int. GM, Meditation GM, Wrestling GM, and then something
If you are not so concerned about being able in PvP or PvM, maybe if you want to role-play, or hunt in groups, you can always make a little different character, like that sage. Something that isn\'t so...Killer. This kind of cross-breeds are not as good as pure mages, or warriors or something like that...but they can be useful in wierd situations, nice in group, and still enough powerful to tackle everything below demon, like liches and elementals to name few. Here are few templates for wierd group playing, or role-players with a story....
Swordsmanship GM, Tactics GM, Anatomy GM, Healing GM, Resisting spells GM, Tinkering GM, Lock picking GM - A wierd template I once run into...can pick those nasty chests that spawn in orc camps and those in dungeons too :-) The idea of tinkering I do not catch however....
Archery GM, Tactics GM, Lumberjacking 50, Bowcraft/Fletching GM, Tailoring GM, Resisting Spells GM, Tracking 50, Magery 75, Arms Lore 25 - You figure this one out. It used to be a mule of some kind, but then the owner decided not to be a mule...This is what I call a pure hunter :-)
Magery GM, Alchemy GM, Inscription GM, Evaluating Intelligence GM, Meditation GM, Resisting Spells GM, Cartography GM - Template that can get some money by Treasure hunting (lvl1-2)...but...
As you can see, you can do very many different type of characters. These are just some. Make your own character the way you want, not what others want. If you want to be an Archer, and you know you might not be able to kill 5 Demons at once, be an archer. It is not about being the best, it is about being YOU. You are here to enjoy, and make this game enjoyable, not competing with others.
Remember also, you have 5 character slots in one shard. You can make 5 different characters...use this to your advantage.
Training
Part one: Stats
So you have chosen your path? Good, let us begin then by training your stats and skills. Start with stats, you need more of them. Whatever your skills are going to be, you need other skills to get your stats up.
Strength: Arms Lore, Camping and Wrestling are very good. Also try melee skills and Mining.
Dexterity: Musicianship, snooping and Hiding are very good. Also try fencing and archery.
Intelligence: Spirit Speak, Item ID and Magery. You can try evaluate intelligence too. Musicianship also has the habit of raising intelligence...also cooking is nice. Meditation also raises intelligence.
This is a good time to talk about power training. There are many ways to \"power\" train yourself. These are \"ping-pong (or see-saw)\", \"8x8\" and burst (or power) hour. Only power hour is \"ethically\" right, others are...well...somewhat wrong (Just my opinion).
I am going to explain something about each one:
See-saw method: Simple as what. Choose two stat gaining skills, like musicianship and camping. First you train your musicianship to 10. Then you put musicianship down, so it will drop when you train for more skills. (NOTE! if you don\'t have 700 skill points, it won\'t get lower.) Then start training camping to 10. Now your musicianship is 0 again. Then repeat. Stats go up easily and fast.
8x8 method: I have never used this, so I don\'t really know the real method behind this. It is based on moving, because some skills don\'t rise on the same spot more than some amount. Ask around the Stratics forums for info on this.
Power (burst) hour: This is the first hour when you enter UO every day. It is resetted at midnight. It will help you raise your skills. Completely fair =)
Part two: Skills
Well, there are few tricks to skill training.
If your skill is above 30, you just have to use your skill for gain, if you want to gain fast, power hour is your hour =)
If your skill is below 30, you can buy it from NPCs. Different NPCs train different things. (NPC=non-player-character). NPC warriors teach swordsmanship and such, so use your brains before asking what they train. Training is done by asking first NPC teach something like \" teach tailoring\" and then he will say a price. This is based on the maximum amount he/she can teach. If it says 300gp, if you drop 200 gp on him, he will teach 2/3 of the maximum amount. Oh yeah, if you didn\'t get it already, he trains you when you drag your money on him, AFTER you ask about teaching...
Skills not to gain by teaching: Melee skills, archery, Evaluate intelligence, meditation, mining, lumberjacking, tactics...
Skills to get by teaching: Magery, Resisting spells, money making skills like tailoring etc...Hiding, and many other skills that are somewhat difficult to raise.
Training combat skills, archery and stealing:
Combat skills except archery can be trained with dummies. See those funny dummies hangin\' around armories and other places? They are dummies. Go near one, and d-c it. You hit the dummy. You notice skill gain. This is a great way to work up your stats and your combat skill in the beginning. Just do it until you hit about 20, and then it will be too slow for my taste. Note: While you are training with dummies, train other skills too. You can spirit speak, hide, play music, id item, arms lore...Very nice. Then move on to rabbits, cows and pigs. When these start becoming too easy, and you notice skill gains to be slower, then move on to hinds, great harts (Tough) and wolves. After these move on to bulls and bears. Now you should already have a combat skill of 60! You are very ready to attack orcs and skeletons now.
Archery can be trained with archery buttes. Take your bow and arrows, probly about 100 of them (arrows I mean, not bows). Move away from the butte, double-click it, and you notice skill gain. Remember, again only to about 20 of course. Then it becomes too boring. Don\'t forget to get your arrows by double-clicking...Then move on to rabbits and just read from above.
Stealing can be trained with somewhat different dummies called pick-pocketing dips. Double-click speaks again, and you notice skill gain. This is good for your dexterity if you can find one.
When training like this, always use other skill that you want to keep or just to gain stats...
If you can\'t find an empty dummy (you really need a good excuse), you can always watch people fight, and do other things. Just watching gives you skill gain. In all skills, so don\'t wonder if you suddenly gain something like mace fighting when you are near a macer.
Word or two about macros:
These very useful key-combinations are the soul of training. Example: Put skill hiding to a macro Ctrl + H, and while you are double-clicking your dummy, just Ctrl + H and you are training two skills. Remember though, macroing in excess amounts (You let your character alone in the city and let the macros sing overnight and wake up next morning with GM skill...) is not allowed. When you macro, you have to be there, and besides, macro training can be boring. But it has to be done by macros, and I have a few tips to this in the end of the tutorial.
Most skills are difficult based, and you have for example fight tougher monsters to gain skill. Check UO stratics for info on this, there is A LOT of number based information. Some skills are movement based, and you have to move to gain skill (hiding is one of these).
So you are training your, say tailoring now. You have about 40 skill there. Well, you can make some leather works now...do those. Do those until you can make more difficult ones. Then do those. Always move on to something more difficult...otherwise, your skills will rise very slowly, if they rise at all.
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Woodlands
Out of town:
You have probly seen animals already, when you have been running around town and even sometimes out of town. But now, take your newborn warrior(who has atleast 5000gp in bank) and run into the woods. Be prepared. If you have healing, carry bandages (or as most players say it, bandaids). If you can cast spells, carry reagents.
- If you have a skill of 30, try to team up with someone. You are not ready to tackle monsters on your own.
- If you have a skill of 50, seek out a graveyard. There are skeletons. Very good training.
- If you have a skill of 70, run into the woods and kill every monster you see. Be careful though; large number of monster own you, not vice versa. You are not that strong yet, but you can handle a single Ettin or Troll right now. Just remember to heal.
Some monster and animal descriptions:
Most animals are non-hostile (neutrals) and don\'t attack you, unless you attack them. There are few animals that attack you though and they are:
Spiders: Giant Spider, Black Widow, Dread Spider. All are poisonous. Dread Spider casts spells on you. Giant Spider isn\'t that bad, you should be able to handle it with a skill of 70. Dread Spider on the other hand...Unless you are a near GM warrior or a mage, RUN! They will kill you. They are fast and very poisonous.
Word or two about poison: This is good and bad. Good if you use it. Bad if you are poisoned. Some monsters poison you with hits, some cast poison spell on you. Poison takes your hitpoints away, and even stamina, so heal it fast. Deadlier poisons do it more faster than weaker poisons of course. You can heal poison by drinking a cure potion (the orange one), casting a cure spell or by using healing. You need 60 in both healing and anatomy to cure poison though. Poison must always be cured first, you can\'t heal when you are poisoned. That is why it is so dangerous.
Snakes: There are many snakes. Most are poisonous. Here are few that you should avoid, if you ever see one, unless of course you are experienced. Giant Silver Serpents are poisonous, hit hard, fast and kill you. They have sucking loot. Lava serpents are like these, but they are not poisonous. They hit as hard, even harder and have a fiery aura that hurts you all the time. All snakes are a nuisance.
Dark wolf and Dire wolf: These wolves like to attack innocents, like you. They are rather tough, but a warrior with skill level 70 will hack them to pieces.
Wisps are not monsters, but I don\'t think they are animals either. Don\'t attack them unless you are prepared for a tough fight.
There are lots of monsters out there, so I won\'t describe them here. When going to the woods first time, you should have a friend with you, even if it is another newbie :-) Good place to hunt is between Britain, Yew and Skara Brae. The monsters are not too tough, and there is plenty of them, and lots of players too *sigh*
There are also dungeons out there, but those can really wait. Even the weakest dungeons can be hard, not to mention something like Hythloth..
Check out UO stratics page for Graveyards and then the hunters guide. That tells a lot of detailed information about monsters.
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Trammel And Felucca: The good side and the bad side...or the lamer side and RoXXor side?
There are two facets of the world. Trammel and Felucca. You start at Trammel. You notice how there are trees and flowers and stuff? Well, Felucca has bones and graves and stuff :-)
Trammel is the side where you can\'t attack another player unless he is in a guild, that is same as yours, or an enemy guild. No other way. So you are safe from other players, and only monsters should be your target...and other players target too. Some like this peace and quiet, and life is relatively easy out there, but, maybe it is too easy. Few facts:
- You can\'t attack other players freely in Trammel...There will be no feeling of danger, no thieves. No thrill.
- Since you start on Trammel, you might grow fond of the safe feeling, and when you hit GM skills, you move on to Felucca to kick ass. You are great, and good warrior right. Wrong. Feluccans can probly all kick your ass. They all know how to PvP (player versus player) not just PvM (players versus monster). All might not be so good at it, but you have no experience at all. And when you came to Felucca for the first time, you will be robbed clean. Thieves....I used to be one...I got bored running so much with no loot at all :-)
- In the old days, there was only Felucca. Most veterans dislike Trammel Scum. They are so soft and cute...They just love to smash you trammelites. Oh and I will declare it now, I play on both facets...I have to agree, sometimes trammel spoils people, but sometimes I hate 8-year old Feluccans who run and scream onto ya, and probly even kill you. They are annoying. I have nothing against good a death (did I just say that??), but rude death annoys me.
- Okay, since I mostly PvM, I usually am in Trammel, but like everyone, we all should learn to use both facets. I don\'t live in Trammel. If all the good spawn spots have been taken, I move my ass to Felucca....(Spawn spot is the spot where monsters are created, Spawned. From there they will wander around)
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Combat: You will have to fight someday...
Ahhh..my favorite subject. Fighting. The art of war...anyways, I will divide this into two: Surviving and winning...
First and the most important thing: Check your options for notoriety guery. Put it ON. If it is on, it will ask if you are sure everytime you are about to do something illegal. If off, you will be dieing a lot more. Especially useful when riding a horse in combat :-), because if you click your horse in combat mode, you attack it, and it will then try to kill you. Not good. This is a very good way to avoid getting gray (read the last topic).
Surviving: Hints and tips for those who want to live longer :-)
Surely you have run into a fight. You are in combat mode, and you have targeted the monster. You are armed, and armored. You move in, and you start scratching each other (so I don\'t have that much respect for the very early fights). You notice that your hitpoints start reducing..also your stamina. Oh no...you are nearing death. What to do?
Eat. You don\'t have to eat, but you gain skills faster, your skill checks gain bonuses, and you do better all the way when you are well fed. You heal faster.
- Always keep your pack open and be ready to heal.
- Never. I mean never fight anything you know you can\'t handle alone. If you have buddies, then think about.
- If you are less 50% of your maximum health, you might consider running and healing and coming back, unless the monster you are facing is almost dead. When you are about 20%, it might be too late already, but run like hell. Hide and heal. Then come back. Monsters can heal themselves, but they regenerate quite fast. (players of course, heal themselves, or kill you. PvP is an art)
- Keep yourself well fed. Your stamina will regenate faster and so will your hitpoints.
- Your skill of avoiding hits if based on your combat skill.
- You can heal damage by healing with magic, drinking a potion, or by using bandaids. Remember..all this takes time, and the monster is still on you.
- Two or three monsters coming onto you? Run if you can\'t handle.
- Don\'t risk it. You will die more often.
- If you can cast spells, recall out (very useful in Felucca). Very safe now. Unless you recall into wrong place :-)
- Magic casting monster? Resisting spells skill might be useful.
- Try to move so that monsters (if there are 2 or more) are separated, so that only one can hit you at time. If you are purely training, it raises skill faster (parry) to fight more than one monster at a time.
Tips for a mage:
- Your blade avoiding skill is based on wrestling and some spells.
- Keep an eye on your mana. If it is about 11, try not to cast too many spells. 11 is needed to recall.
- Healing spells. They will be very effective because you are a mage. And you have much mana to cast it.
- MOVE! If you sit around in your light armor, you will die. You will have to move around a lot.
Felucca tips:
- Reds coming your way? I would avoid, even if they are \"good\" guys.
- Big croup of \"l337 d3wds wh0 R0XX0R JOO\" people coming your way. Get out of there...even if they won\'t kill you, you will kill yourself :-)
- Always have 11 mp...it is enough to cast Recall spell...
- Always keep your packback open and a rune close by
- Something criminal happened, like someone healing a criminal? Be alert, but keep walking.
Tips against thieves:
None...you can\'t avoid them..just keep moving a lot..hide...anything
Winning: so you are still alive?
Surely you have defeated some animals by now? If not, well here are some tips for giving the final touch....
- Keep hitting it. Monsters start moving away when they are close to death. Run after them and chop \'em. Be vary of new monsters though.
- Archers might find this very easy, and mages too :-) Just do the last blast.
- Purple potions will save you from running after it, especially if you are fighting another monster.
- If you didn\'t get it already, move around. Even if you are a melee warrior, move around. Let the monster come after you. This kinda belongs to the defence, but I putted this here to remind you.
- Stay healthy. Your stamina is your hitting speed.
- Mages: If you are low on mana...reconsider. Blast or stay safe? Do this if you are in Felucca. If not, blast away. You can always run though.
- Just reminding you that potions are very useful, but they need one empty hand to use.
Against players mostly tricks:
- Paralyzed? Magically trapped pouch removes the paralyze.
- More than one of them. Recall or run, because you are not an experienced PvP man (or woman) yet.
- Run and hide, and then come back.
- Try to stay alive. I have seen people die because they attack too heavily, creating weak defence, and the opponent tooking advantage of this.
- Don\'t try to kill someone with archery. It is the most sucking pvp skill there is. People with fast connections can outrun your arrows! Good pvm, but not for pvp.
Remember, keep your equipment in shape. If your armor is falling apart, get it repaired or get a new set of armor. Same with weapons. They just won\'t work so well anymore, armor does not give so much protection anymore, and weapons miss more often. Using armslore will tell you the condition of the item, and a smith can repair most items.
Pets, like wolves and other animals are always helpful. Horses are important beyond comprehension. They move fast....always keep your pets fed (use your brains about their eating habits...horses don\'t eat meat). If they are not well fed, they will leave you, because their loyalty drops too much.
You can also hire npc\'s, but I have never done this, no use doing that.
Commands on hirelings and animals:
Come
Follow (then click on the person or thing to follow)
Follow Me
Attack (then click on the person or monster to attack)
Kill (same as Attack) (You see this often with tamers)
Guard (then click on the person or thing to guard)
Guard Me
Patrol (guard two or more objects, moving between them)
Fetch (then click on the thing to be fetched)
Drop (drop a fetched object on the ground)
Friend (then click on a second person who can then give commands to the pet)
Transfer (give the pet to someone else. Opens a trading window)
Move (if you want your pet to move elsewhere)
Stop
If you have many pets, you can say \"all kill\" or \"all follow me\", and they will all obey you.
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Karma And Fame - Titles
Fame and Karma is just about how many monsters you have killed, and it always has been. As a newbie you have no karma or fame. But you will gain it by slaying monsters, giving stuff to npc\'s, completing npc quests and you can always kill some murderers and take their heads to the guard and get some karma...eww...Fame can be gained by again killing everything, giving away stuff to NPC\'s...
You lose karma by doing evil stuff, like killing good npc\'s or murdering other people. Killing cats, dogs, dolphins and other good stuff also lowers it.. Stealing, snooping, cutting up corpses, poisoning, summoning deamons. Fame is lost by dying or by time.
The fame scale is from 0 (newbie) to 10000 Lord/Lady. The karma is from -10000 Outcast to +10000 Trustworthy...
Titles:
Low Fame High Fame
High Karma Trustworthy Estimable Great Glorius Glorius Lord/Lady
Honest Commendable Famed Illustrious Illustrious L/L
Good Honorable Admirable Noble Noble Lord/Lady
Kind Respectable Proper Eminent Eminent Lord/Lady
Fair Upstanding Reputable Distinguished Distin. L/L
Middle Karma no title Notable Prominent Renowned Lord/Lady
Rude Disreputable Notorious Infamous Dishonored L/L
Unsavory Dishonorable Ignoble Sinister Sinister L/L
Scoundrel Malicious Vile Villainous Dark Lord/Lady
Despicable Dastardly Wicked Evil Evil Lord/Lady
Low Karma Outcast Wretched Nefarious Dread Dread Lord/Lady
If you are going to be a meanie, you can lock your karma. Way to do this, I won\'t tell, because have to gain some experience before being a professional meanie :-)..hint though..it has something to with shrines...especially chaos shrine and saying something like \"bal\"
When your karma is locked it can only go down, not up. Karma locks when you do something evil and you are good. You can unlock your karma at any shrine by saying the mantra of the shrine.
Compassion Desert west of Covetous mu
Honesty Ice Isle ahm
Honor south of Trinsic summ
Humility Fire Isle lum
Justice east of Yew moongate beh
Sacrifice Nort of Vesper cah
Spirituality nortwest of Trinsic om
Valor southwest of Serpent\'s Hold ra
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Roleplaying: This is what we came here to do
You might ask \"why do I want to roleplay my character?\" \"it is just a game, no need for that\" \"lamers do that\" ...all wrong attitude comments....Most players in Ultima Online roleplay their characters, and if they don\'t roleplay, atleast they don\'t ruin the fun of others and they act nicely to others...of course there are lamers who try to ruin other people\'s fun by anti-roleplaying (figure that out yourself)...
Create a somekind of story (background) for you character. It doesn\'t have to be anything too fantastic or wierd. It is good if the story explains a characteristic on your character, like why do you hate orcs or something.
UO is mostly meant to played with a human character, but this can changed. Good example is the Shadowclan Orcs - they all roleplay orcs. There are elves too. And dragons that have been cursed to be humans. Angels without wings. Demons. Take your name according to race and maybe to profession too. Your appearance might be different.
After the beginning mess:
Now you have a character standing here...it looks nice and has a cool name. Story.
Now, how are you going to play it. Here are few examples (my past characters):
Elven warrior : Short story is that while living in woods of Yew, his family was killed by orcs. He hated orcs more than his life. He was sad and was mad at most living things. I roleplayed him like this: When I met someone, I usually referred them as humans \"what do you want, human?\". I was rather selfish \"I don\'t need help\" even though I was dying. I didn\'t mock anyone, nor did I harass anyone either. Some people became interested in me and started becaming my friends. So I roleplayed my character to ease his attitude and became friendlier. End of story.
Human mage: Old man when I quit playing him, he lived in Moonglow mostly. His youth was moving out of home, start studying in mage school and become a mage. His youth was nice, but bit quiet because of the studies. He was shy and secretive. Bit afraid of others. Later in the game, he lead some groups to dungeons for hunts. He overcame his vices.
Try to speak like your race should. If you are a drow, try to learn some drow. If you are a dragon, try to speak beautifully, with long sentences. Powerfully. Orc? Learn some orcish.
It is good if you can speak atleast some Olde English, because it is the language of Britannia. If you can\'t, you don\'t really have to. Just speak nicely and try to hold those \"sup?\" \"lo\" \"brb\" and other slang. If you have to go to bathroom or something, make a out of character comment. If you say \"I have to go, natures calling\" people might think you are hardcore roleplayer (this happened to me :-)). Try to find a good way to comment things out of character. (usually people do things \"ooc\" out of character)
Don\'t be annoying to others. Even if you roleplay a evil daemon, stop harassing people if people start ticking off at you. Try to roleplay the conversation to somewhere else. If you roleplay well, people start becoming interested in you and roleplay with you. Usually non-roleplayer either run off or then they accompany you, but are silent. If you are hunting with a non-roleplayer, don\'t try to roleplay with him too much. Your speech should do.
(sorry AD&D) You can\'t really play a chaotic evil character, because UO is a team game. Neutral Evil is the most evil character that you really can play, if you want to be with someone. If you don\'t, go ahead and try. But this kind of roleplaying is not far from kiddy 8-year old playing.
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Advanced Advice: Answers to questions you might have
Magical equipment:
For armor, its ability to protect you ramps from \"of defense\" on the low end through \"of guarding\", \"of hardening\", \"of fortification\", and finally \"of invulnerability\" at the peak, and the better it is, the harder it is to find.
If you have the money to buy powerful magic items, do that, because it is all about the edge in combat. Getting more armor and damage makes you more effective, but this can be costly. Armor is especially good, because you don\'t want to get hurt, trust me. Survining is very important. But remember, do you want to pay 100000gp for the little bit of edge?
For weapons, extra damage is inflicted by items named \"of ruin\" at the low end, \"of might\", \"of force\", \"of power\" and \"of vanquishing\" at the high end. Extra skill at using the weapon is granted to you if you carry something named \"Accurate\", \"Surpassingly Accurate\", or \"Eminently Accurate\". If given a choice between more accuracy and more damage, your call. Do you want to hit more often, or harder?
Armor and weapons can be more sturdy, and take more damage if they are \"durable\" to \"massive\" and all the way to \"indestructible\". They just take more use to be destroyed, making them more useful in the long run.
Then there is \"silver\", which douples offence against the undead. Don\'t use this weapon against the living, \'cause they do more damage to you.
All things can be \"blessed\" (also called newbiefied), and that means it can\'t be stolen, and if you die, it travels with you.
These are the names of effects weapons/armor/items can have:
Name Effect
Burning Casts magic arrow
Clumsiness Casts clumsy
Daemon\'s Breath Casts fireball
Evil Casts curse
Feeblemindedness Casts feeblemind
Ghoul\'s Touch Casts paralyze
Mage\'s Bane Casts mana drain
Night Eyes Casts night eyes
Reflection Casts spell reflection
Thunder Casts lightning
Weakness Casts weakness
Wounding Casts harm
Mostly these are useless, but sometimes, it gives you a huge advantage in PvP, when every hit gives lighting bolt too, not just sharp blade. But these items have charges, and they can\'t be recharged, so they are kinda one use only items.
Items, such as necklases and cloaks with effects like invisibility, and spell reflection, are very good, just wearing will start the effect. Remember, wearing them uses charges, and when they run out...
Now there are also Virtue weapons, that have special effects against certain monsters..very rare, but can be very effective
Oh and btw, do you see those glowing rods that people carry, or hold in their hand while sitting at the brit bank? They are evil. If you get one, sell it immediately, some banksitter will propably buy it from you. You don\'t want to have one of those, and you don\'t want to be a banksitter.
About buying good equipment: Player vendors (those people who stand in front of player houses) sell magic equipment, potions, scrolls, crafted items (always exceptional). Normal stuff can be bought from NPC\'s in towns.
Potions:
Potion Colour Effect
Black Night Vision
Blue Increase Dexterity Temporarily
Green Poison
Orange Cure Poison
Purple Explosions
Red Bring Back Stamina
White Increase Strength Temporarily
Yellow Healing
Purple potions are handy for dealing extra damage, learn to use them. All potions are life savers, except the black one. It gives you nightsight, allowing you to see better in the dark. Green potions are used with poisoning skill, don\'t douple-click them, you don\'t want to drink them! Try to carry few cures and heals with you all the time.
Healing, Curing, Explosion can have lesser, normal or greater effect. Try to have greater ones, cause they are better. White, Blue and Red potions have lesser and stronger effect, try to carry stronger ones. Poison comes with 4 levels, from weak to deadly (it is deadly). NPC\'s carry normal ones, and player vendors usually carry greater ones, but that is shown, so don\'t worry.
Houses:
There are many types of houses a player can live in, and their cost varies from 45k to a million. Smallest ones a boxes with a door, then coming two story buildings and then huge keeps and castles. These places are safe, and you can store stuff in your house, and of course, decorate it. Finding a spot where to place the house is a different thing....
If you have a house, you have to refresh it, so it does not decay (and disappear). If it disappears, all the stuff you had in your house is free loot. You should refresh atleast once a week.
Questions and Answers: The final and the most longest part of my tutorial
Welcome to the last part of my tutorial. Here I have gathered questions that people ask, and I feel like answering. This is the section that gets updated most often, if any updates are done.
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General questions:
How do I do stuff?
Read the manual. Nuff\' said. If you don\'t read the manual, you will miss a lot. Also check UO websites for more info.
Okay, now I can move and stuff. Now what?
Read my tutorial :-) (okay, I didn\'t answer the guy like that, but now I answer you like that)
What should I do? How can I kill stuff best?
I can\'t tell you what you should do or how can you kill 3 dragons simultaneously. I don\'t care. You are what you want to be.
I want to logoff. Can I do it here?/Is it safe to logout everywhere? etc...
You can logoff everywhere. But it takes a lot of time (10 minutes) and if you are in a place where monsters spawn...you\'re dead. Better to logoff in inns or in campfires (needs a bedroll)
Can I attack and kill people?
In Trammel, no. In Felucca, yes, but he/she will fight back (unless he/she is a miner and helpless). It is not adviced to attack people all the time, you will die a lot.
What happens when I attack someone?
Well, you become gray for 2 minutes(and you can\'t recall away), and if you are a newbie, you die. Gray means you are a criminal. People can attack people who are gray to them (like thieves that are noticed) without becoming criminals themselves.
I saw two guys fighting in Trammel. That is not possible. What was that?
A guild fight. Guild mates sometimes train together in Trammel and sometimes people with warring guild fight each other.
Guilds?
Two types of these. Player ran and non-player ran. I will talk about the player ran guilds. These are guilds that people gather to have something nice to do and a nice title. Guilds can declare war to other guild and if the other accepts, they can always fight each other. It is so simple.
I met a red guy? What was that?
A murderer. Player-killer who has killed too many. Avoid, these are rarely up to something good. (I could say the same about Trammelites too, but they don\'t have red names, so you can never tell...)
Uh, I am blue, animals are gray...what else there is?
Well, there are red murderers, gray criminals (or free-to-kill), blue innocents, orange is a opposing guild and green is a guild mate.
How big is this world exactly?
Huge. Very huge. To be able to see every place (by horse/boat) you have to travel for a few real-life days...maybe weeks... I don\'t know, it is huge. There are not many people who have been to even most places...there is no-one who has been everywhere.
I dropped something on the ground and someone took it. Now what?
Anything on the ground is free game. GMs(Game Masters) don\'t do anything if you drop something and then someone takes it. Never drop your stuff unless you want to get rid of it.
I know, looters and other this kind of pick-up thieves are annoying little pieces of scum, but you will have to live with them. Don\'t think that all looters are scum though. I once met a looter (after kicking the bucket in a dungeon) who came running of the dungeon. He then asked me if this is my stuff. I said yes, and he gave it back to me. I was stunned. He then said he is going to keep my dagger of power and 10 percent of my money...I gave him also my silver black staff...I was happy to say the least.
Thieves on the other hand...there are good and bad thieves. Bad thieves is something you should hate.They use offensive language and are stupid. I hate them!!!
erhm..anyway, good thieves..still thieves..but they have honor. They sell your keys back to you..they usually roleplay..maybe that is the reason...
When I start again this autumn, if you see a person called ArcticWolf, you might want to hide or duck or whatever...he migth be a thief who has a great desire for jewelry and magical daggers.
Okay, I died. Now what should I do?
You have two options if you are not new. Young players are automatically teleported to healers house. You can either play as a ghost and seek for resurrection or insta-resurrect. Insta-res comes with penalty to skills...and it hurts...especially in hard to rise skills like magery. Never do this...whatever happens...never. Always play as a ghost and look for a wandering healer/towns healer/a friendly mage or a warrior player with a high skill in either magery or healing. Shrines also do the trick.
How do I get to islands/other places/towns/dungeons far away?
On the mainland, you can walk, but there is a faster way, that most people refer. That is recalling. They Mark runes, and then Recall to the spot where the rune was marked. (lvl 6 and lvl 4 spells). You can also Gate (lvl7), allowing multiple players to travel to faraway places. You can also move by ship, if you are not afraid of wandering monsters(or getting lost). First you go somewhere, then you cast mark on a rune, and then when you cast recall on that rune, you arrive there in a second.
I met someone who said something about \"kanst du das hielen\" or something?
This guy was a German who was looking for some healing, not all people speak English. Usually this text is translated, if translators are on.
I\'m in Felucca, and thieves keep bothering me. What can I do?
Run, stay away from people, move faster. If a thief is a real good one, there is no way to keep your stuff safe. Sorry to say that, just avoid people :-)
About food...well, I have some raw food, how do I cook it?
Use it on fire. Using knife on a fish makes fishsteaks, using them on fire cooks them. Create a campfire (or use a oven) and cook (you can create campfires by douple-clicking a kindling (and you can get kindlings by douple-clicking knife and then targeting a tree)). Eat well, but remember some food is always ruined with low cooking skill, but don\'t worry. You can always buy food :-)
Combat questions:
Okay, I am preparing to be a warrior, what should I wear/wield?
Anything you want. It is all about your style. Do you want to be a knight with a broad sword and heavy platemail, or a archer with a bow and leather armor. All about you.
So any hints in this? What is good to have?
Well, okay. Mages should stick to leather armor or nothing, because having armor heavier than leather kills your meditation. Warriors should probably have more that studded. Archers are fine with leather/studded, because they don\'t want any dex losses. If you have a high dex, you can always wear plate mail, and even then swing fast. Hitting fast is very efficient and important, so...About weaponry: Well, fast weapons are good, but some high damage weapons are too very good. First you must think about the fact of potion drinking; one-handed or two-handed weapon? If you are using two-handed weapon, you can\'t drink potions without dis-arming. Shields can only be used with one-handed weapons. Here is a list of best single-two handed weapons:
Swordsmanship: 1-handed: Katana, broad sword, long sword. (I like scimitars, they are sexy.)
Swordsmanship: 2-handed: Axe, Executioner\'s axe, (mostly with lumberjacking).
Fencing: 1-handed: Kryss, Dagger, Warfork
Fencing: 2-handed: Short spear, Long spear
Macing: 1-handed: War mace (my experience about 1-handed macing is very little)
Macing: 2-handed: Quarterstaff, Black Staff (one hits faster, the other hits harder)
Archery: Bow, Heavy Crossbow (all bows are two-handed)
Platemail needs some strength to use (60), so train a bit. Most weapons need only about 20-30 strength. And heavy armor decreases dexterity, so think what you want to wear.
I can\'t kill anything, too tough!
You can\'t kill a rabbit?!!! Well, train, train, train. Go and find a friend to fight with, or try to find a mentor. Sometimes people help newbies with early fights and teach them things.
Miscellanous questions:
I keep hearing about UOAssist and automap....what are they?
Programs that people use to help gameplay. Very useful, check out stratics for a good list of programs.
What are these acronyms, like rofl and such?
Something you really don\'t need, but...for example rolf means Rolling On the Floor, Laughing. Check ImaNewbies webpage for some info on all kinds of l337 acronyms and slang. (www.imanewbie.com)
You said something about \"macros\"...
Oh, yeah, I did. They are key-combinations that assist you during situations that need speed. Say you are fighting, and you want to heal. Well, mages can have a macro Ctrl+h as greater heal spell. Pressing that combination automatically does that action. No mouse swinging needed. Make macros in your settings screen...
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Final words and Credits
This is copyrighted to me, and I don\'t want you to change anything in here(if you do, I will get you). You can freely put it into your homepage and you can freely distripute it to anyone. This is non-commercial text file, so don\'t ask money for it.
Thanks to UO stratics team for making so wonderful web page. I could have never written this without you.
Thanks to some newbies in Europa and Stratics newbiehelp forum, for asking questions :-)
I will keep updating, so if there are typos or something wierd, mail me. I will fix it.
Sadly, I am not playing UO right now, so you cannot meet me at all :(
Also visit www.spidweb.com , a company that creates fantastic games. Drop by at the boards too...
Contact me if you have any questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
