The Beginner's Guide to Ultima Online v2.2
by Paul Drye
Last Updated September 9th, 2001

Introduction
This guide is intended for the beginning player of Ultima Online. While this is a great game, getting a new character started can be a slow process, and certain aspects of the game mechanics are obscure and not at all well-explained. Basically, if it confused me when I started, it's in here. This document also contains the tricks I've used to make my own characters operate as effectively as possible within the confines of the game.

Getting Started
Creating a Character
What should my attributes be?
You absolutely should set your attributes to Strength 60, Dexterity 10 and Intelligence 10, regardless of what career you want your character to follow in the long run. The eighty points that you have to distibute among the three attributes are not sufficient to make you very good at anything, so the first few days you spend playing a new character in Ultima Online are going to be split evenly between making money and raising your attributes to a reasonable level. Strength goes up slowly, while there are several ways of increasing Dexterity and Intelligence that -- while still somewhat tedious -- will make them go up relatively quickly. So setting your Strength high right off the bat is the way to go.

One possible way around this would be to ignore Strength entirely, but unfortunately this is not a viable option. Strength is used for two very important things: heavier and more effective armor can only be worn by characters with high Strength, and more items (by which I mean gold and other treasure) can be carted around by characters that are reasonably buff. Strength simply cannot be shrugged off by anyone.

What skills should I select?
Generally speaking, you should select the skills that give you what you want to play. If you want to be a mage, pick Magery and something like Alchemy or Inscription. Thieves should obviously go for Stealing and Snooping.

There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind, however. First of all, note that I only listed two potential skills for each type of career I mentioned above, even though you have three skill slots in the character creation screen. Once your character is in the game world it is fairly easy to find someone who will train you in a skill up to about level twenty-five. Any points after this, however, must be gained through painstaking practice. As a result, it's a really good idea to pick two skills to pump up, one to forty-nine and one to fifty (you need to keep one point free for that third skill, for a reason I'll explain in a moment), then pay someone to train you in the other skill later.

Your third skill should be selected on a slightly different basis than the first two. All beginning skill selections come with some starting equipment. A lot of this equipment is essentially useless, or so close to useless that you'll want to upgrade it at the first available opportunity. Given that you're only going to be putting one point into your third skill (if put zero points in, you don't get the associated equipment), and that a skill with only one point in it is not worth using in the game, your only consideration for picking Skill Number Three should be the goodies you get.

On that basis, I suggest taking either Magery, Alchemy, Lumberjacking, or Fishing as your third skill. The first two are a good choice in that most beginning equipment is not salable, but Magery and Alchemy give you a few reagents that you can sell, and an extra little bit of money at the start of the game can make a big difference.. Fishing gives you a fishing pole and using one of those is both a good way of raising your Dexterity and (once you've trained up a bit) a good way of feeding yourself. In the case of Lumberjacking, you get a hatchet that can be used to chop trees, a useful thing that I'll explain shortly.

Do you have any specific recommendations for the first two skills?
If you want, try these, which can start in any city:

Warrior:		Tactics 50, Mace Fighting or Swordsmanship or Fencing 49
Mage:		Resist Spells 50, Magery 49
Thief:		Snooping 50, Stealing 49
Archer:		Tactics 50, Archery 49
Animal Tamer:	Animal Taming 50, Tracking 49

Or try these two if you're don't mind sticking to one city (they shouldn't travel too much at first, as they lack combat abilities):
Blacksmith:	Blacksmithy 50, Mining 49
Tinker:		Blacksmithing 50, Mining 40, Tinkering 10
Woodsman:	Bowyercraft 50, Lumberjacking 49

Blacksmiths and Tinkers shouldn't start in Skara Brae or Yew, as they need mountains nearby to mine ore. You'll also have to find a forge out in the open somewhere so as to turn the raw ore into iron ingots. Woodsmen should almost definitely pick Yew, which has loads of trees inside the city limits.

Making Money
How do I make money?
Before I get into this, I should probably explain two things.

To begin with, it is incredibly important that your character have a flow of money at the start of the game. A new character is not ready to go adventuring, and is going to need something like five thousand gold pieces spent on him for training and equipment before he is. Seeing as you only start with one thousand gold in your backpack...well, you do the math.

Also, it's not easy to make money in the context of your three starting skills, especially if you also want to pump up two adventure-related skills (and you do). You need to move as far up the economic food chain as is possible, and this is very difficult to do. Just to give you an example, Lumberjacking skill will let you chop trees for wood. Logs, however, sell for about two gold pieces a pop. Five thousand gold pieces at two gold pieces per log equals enough mind-numbing hours of wood-chopping to make Paul Bunyan snap and kill his co-workers. Fishing, Mining, hunting for furs and meat, they all suffer from the same problem.

With that in mind, there are a couple of ways to get money if you plan in advance.

The first way is via Lumberjacking and Carpentry:

•	When you create your character, pick Lumberjacking as your third skill so that you get an axe to start.
•	Find a Carpenter's shop. Using some of your starting money, buy a cheap carpentry tool from the Carpenter -- any tool will do.
•	Use the rest of your money to buy some training in Lumberjacking (see "How do I get trained in other things?, below).
•	Walk out into the woods, equip your starting axe and start chopping trees by double-clicking the axe and then clicking a tree. You're not very good at chopping yet, so it's going to take a while, but sooner or later you'll end up with some logs.
•	Now use the carpentry tool on the logs. You will almost definitely fail at Carpentry, but keep trying it over and over. Failed Carpentry checks, unlike almost any other skill, do not waste any of the basic raw materials so you'll eventually use the skill successfully.
•	When this happens, if you know where to find a Provisioners or Armor shop, make some shields. If you don't, make a chest. Chests make less money than shields, but you can sell them at the original Carpenter's shop that you found.
•	Walk back to town and sell your shields or chest.
•	Use the proceeds to buy some further training in Lumberjacking.
•	Repeat the whole process again.

Keep pumping the money you get into Lumberjacking and Carpentry. As your character gets better and better at these skills, he'll be able to get logs more quickly, and be better able to convert them into salable items. Within a few hours you should be able to make a few hundred gold pieces per hour.

The second way to make money is with Lumberjacking and Bowyercraft:

•	As before, pick Lumberjacking as your third skill when you create your character.
•	This time find a bow shop and use all your starting money to buy some training in Bowyercraft.
•	Walk into the woods and chop trees.
•	When you successfully get some logs, separate one log from the pile
•	Double-click the beginner dagger you get and then click the single log. When the game asks you what you want to make, carve a shaft. Unfortunately if you fail in your Bowyercraft skill check you will destroy the log. However, shafts are fairly easy to make, so you have a decent chance.
•	Keep separating out a single log and "shafting" it. Doing only one log at a time is moderately tedious, but your Bowcraft skill will go up much more quickly because you're using it ten times instead of just once on a big pile of logs
•	Walk back to the bow shop and sell the shafts.
•	Put the money you get into more Bowyercraft training.
•	Repeat.

At first this way of making money is slower than concentrating on Carpentry, but once you get your Bowyercraft skill up to about fifteen you can switch from making shafts to making bows, and then the pace picks up considerably. If you're willing to put up with some more aggravation at first, this way of making money is better in the long run. I find that within a few hours you are looking at about four to five hundred gold pieces an hour.

A third way to make some money is available to those who have picked the two physical combat skills as a base (Tactics and one of Mace Fighting, Swordsmanship or Fencing). Pick Tailoring as your third skill so that you get a sewing kit when you start. Now then:

•	Find a tailor's shop and use your starting money to buy training in Tailoring.
•	Walk out into the woods and find some Hinds and Goats (not Mountain Goats, which are tougher).
•	Try to kill them. I emphasize the word try here, because without any armor you're not in good shape to be fighting yet, and even these relatively easy animals are going to be giving you some trouble. You should probably familiarize yourself with the Combat section of this document before heading out there.
•	Now then, assuming you kill a Hind or Goat, use your dagger on the corpse. This will give you some raw meat and (more importantly) a pile of hides.
•	Use your sewing kit on the pile of hides so as to produce a studded leather gorget. If you fail your check, you'll destroy some of the hides, so you may need to hunt and kill a few animals, but sooner or later you should have a gorget.

At this point you have a decision to make: put the gorget on, or sell it? This then extends into what to do when you get your next set of hides: make more gorgets for selling or make a different piece of studded armor to give you more protection over some other part of your body? When I use this method of making money for a new character, I make myself a full set of studded armor before selling my first gorget. It's difficult to over-emphasize how much better your character is at fighting even while wearing something fairly weak like studded leather. This means you can kill more and different kinds of hide-bearing animals and make more money, but you do have to put off that slow trickle of money from Tailoring until then. This method takes about ten hours or so before significant money starts coming in (about two to three hundred gold pieces per hour), but at least this way you're out exploring the world and doing some fighting, so it's not as boring as the other two methods.

Regardless of which of these methods you use, I suggest you garbage pick any loose piece of junk you find while you are following your main occupation. Furs are worth one or two gold pieces, loose bags and sacks are worth about five, that sort of thing. The only objects that can't be sold are bone armor (including orc helmets) and torches. Finding and selling this stuff  will give you a tiny income that, while it's laughable compared to what you'll make once you've built up a full-fledged adventurer, will help a fair bit during the first few hours of your character's life.

Also, a lot of players switch from the methods outlined above to Tailoring once they've made about two hundred and fifty gold. This initial investment is necessary because tailors have to buy their raw materials, and with less then twenty-five points in Tailoring you'll destroy more raw materials than you can make money to buy. Once you have the two hundred and fifty gold and can buy the points in Tailoring, however, you can:

•	Buy a bolt of cloth at a tailor.
•	Make clothing items (any type, really, though I stick to skullcaps as a quick way to increase my Tailoring skill).
•	Sell the items.
•	Repeat.

A lot of people swear by this, and you can make a fair bit of money quickly with it. It's not really possible to do it right off the bat, however, unless you give your two adventure-related skills less than fifty and forty-nine points, which I don't recommend.

One last thing. All of these methods of making money are fairly well known. This means that shops are flooded with shields and chests and bows and skullcaps and studded leather gorgets. It's entirely possible that they'll refuse to buy some when you come to sell. Fortunately this is a temporary situation, as stores reset their inventory every fifteen minutes or so. Go do something else and come back later.

Can I log off just anywhere?
Yes, but if you aren't in a safe location your character hangs around in the game world for about ten minutes before timing out. He'll defend himself if attacked, but he's generally a sitting duck. Thieves, in particular, like to pick on people who've done this.

To avoid this, find an inn, walk into one of the rooms, and then log off. Your character will disappear immediately under these circumstances.

Do be careful when you position yourself in the inn's room, however. Sometimes if you log out right next to a wall, you don't disappear right away. Always stand in the middle of the room before quitting the game.

Training
How do I get trained in other things?
Non-player characters in the game will gladly teach you things in return for gold. Click the NPC to find out his name, then walk up to him and say "<name> teach". This will make him tell you the skills that he can teach; each NPC knows three or four that are usually related to his occupation. Note that there's a bug in the game which often makes the speech explaining his skills disappear very quickly. Use your Journal window to see what he said, or ask him again: the text always sticks around the second time.

Now then, suppose the NPC names a skill that you're interested in (let's say it's Mining). Say "<name> teach mining" to him, and the NPC will quote you a price. Take any amount of gold, up to the whole amount quoted, and drop it on him. For every gold piece you spend, you should get 0.1 of a point increase in the named skill. Note that there is no reason to shop around for prices. The different prices just reflect the different amounts that that NPC can train you. For two hundred gold, you're going to get 20 full points of increase, seven gold gets you 0.7 points, and so on.

In practice you'll find that most NPCs can train you up to a level of  25 points in their skills. Some NPCs aren't as good as this, however. If you train up in something only to find that you're still rated well under 25, keep an eye out for other NPCs with the same skill who might be able to train you a little further. Also, some NPCs are real experts in their fields and can train you more than the usual limit of 25. Levels as high as 35 are found on rare occasions.

Once you get to the limit of NPC training, however, you have to start using the skill to continue increasing it.

What skills should I train in?
Whatever interests you, really. However, there are a few skills that every decent adventurer should have. I'll give more detailed explanations later, as needed.

Arms Lore and Item Identification are a must, as they're used to tell you if an item is in need of repair and (for magical items) what kind of magical powers it has, respectively.

Tactics is also really important, as the damage you inflict on your opponents is modified up or down based on it.

Tracking is useful if you're hunting out in the wilderness. With it you can effectively cover eight times the ground as you can by just walking around looking for stuff. It makes finding your next target much easier.

Hiding is handy if you're up against something you can't handle and can't run away from, and is equally handy if you want to walk away from the computer and go to the bathroom or something.

Resisting Spells is one of the most coveted skills in the game, and one of the hardest to get up to a high level. Most of the more difficult monsters in the game can pepper you with spells, so any ability to throw off their effects is very useful. Unfortunately the major way to train in it past the level an NPC can give you is to stand there and take those monstrous blows. This is only recommended for the masochists in the crowd. If you have a chance, you might want to cast a Paralyze Field spell, then stand in it until it fades away. This will increase your Resisting Spells skill, but you will be very vulnerable to passing monsters and characters while under its effects (you can't cast it in town without risking the guards coming down on you). Consider where and when you do this.

In a similar vein, most players should have some Magery. Even if you're not going to be a wizard, a few basic spells can make anyone's life easier, particularly Heal, Cure, Create Food, Teleport, and Recall. In fact, it's kind of tough to play the game without a few spells under your belt, which is unfortunate for those who want to role-play a warrior, or a thief, or any other character that wouldn't really have a chance to learn magic. In my case I learn the spells, then use them only in emergencies, pretending that my character doesn't know magic in all other situations.

Are there any skills I shouldn't bother with?
Again, this depends on what kind of character you want to play, but there are some skills that are useless.

Taste Identification is one of these. It's used to tell the strengths of various potion types, but this is not really an important thing to know. Potions are already colour-coded by what they do, so the only thing they'll tell you is whether the yellow potion you're carrying will heal you a little or a lot. In practice I find this isn't useful.

Speaking of healing, the Healing skill is not notably useful either. It's a lot easier to just carry some healing potions, or learn the Healing spell.

I've yet to find a use for the Herding skill. It's much easier to just tame the animal with Animal Taming and then order it around.

Anything else I should know about training?
There are five skills you should not ask NPCs to train you in, unless you're in a real hurry. These are the five combat skills, Swordsmanship, Mace Fighting, Fencing, Wrestling and Archery.

Each of these skills can be practiced on training dummies (or in the case of Archery, archery buttes). While using these saves you money, a lot of people decide to spend the money and save the time. By doing this they miss an important benefit, however: training these skills by yourself will increase your attributes, particularly Strength and Dexterity, over time.

How do I use a training dummy?
First, try to find an unused training dummy (this is usually the hard part, unless you are playing at an off-peak time). Once you have done this, stand near it with the weapon you want to train with in your hand. Double-click the dummy, then wait for it to stop swinging. Repeat until you are sick of it. At first you'll go up about a tenth of a point per swing at the dummy, but before long it'll start to slow down. The rate of attribute increase is even slower. Don't be discouraged that it takes a long time. I recommend you keep your Skill List open and shout "Woohoo!" every time you see an increase.

Once you have trained up to the maximum of 25 in the skill related to the weapon you are holding, buy another weapon that falls into another category and train that one up. Then do the third kind. Then attack the dummy with your bare hands to work on your Wrestling (see "What effect does using a training dummy have on my equipment" for an important note). Then go buy a bow and some arrows, find an Archery butte and train on that (see "How do I train in Archery?").

Eventually (and I do mean eventually) you'll finish all five combat skills and be a lot more pumped, attribute-wise, than you were at the start of the game.

How do I watch someone use a training dummy?
Couldn't find an open dummy, eh? To watch someone else use one, just stand within two steps of them. And you thought swinging at the dummy was boring....

Note that watching anyone using any skill has a chance of teaching you a bit about how to use it yourself.

Can I use a training dummy for anything else?
Your regular, run-of-the-mill dummies are good only for weapons training. There are dummies on which you can practice pick-pocketing, however. They can be distinguished from regular dummies by the clothes they are wearing (regular dummies bear a remarkable resemblance to the Pillsbury Doughboy).

Finding a pickpocketing dummy is easier said than done. I have only seen them in the Pickpocket's Den style of house you can buy. I've heard there are some publicly accessible ones in the town of Buccaneer's Den, but I've not seen them during my occasional visits to that town.

I have to wait a few seconds between pokes at the dummy. Is there anything I can do while I wait?
Actually, a lot of skills impose this "wait a few seconds" limitation. Not all of them do, however, and this means that if you're really into pumping up your character you can sneak some "unlimited" skill practicing in while you wait for the few seconds to expire.

My characters normally carry a musical instrument of some sort -- any kind, it doesn't matter -- and every time I'm practicing a skill that imposes a limitation (Arms Lore and Item Identification are two other notables in this category), I play the instrument for a few seconds. This increases Musicianship skill, which isn't all that useful but has the side effect of also increasing your Dexterity and Intelligence.

I realize this seems kind of anal, but it takes long enough to build up a character as it is. Anything that shaves off some of that time is a good thing.

What effect does using a training dummy have on my equipment?
Your weapons gradually wear down as you use them in combat, and this includes using them on training dummies. There's not a lot you can do about this insofar as Swordsmanship, Mace Fighting and Fencing are concerned, but note that bare hands are all you need for Wrestling.

Let me emphasize the word "bare" here. If you are wearing armor on your hands when you practice Wrestling, that armor will wear down. In other words, don't forget to take off any gloves or gauntlets you might be wearing before training in Wrestling. No point in wasting good armor.

How do I train in Archery?
You need an archery butte -- a target painted onto a bale of hay -- for this. They can be found in most archery shops. You'll need some arrows and a bow too (I really shouldn't have to say that). Stand four or five steps away from the butte, arm yourself with the bow, then double-click the butte. This will fire an arrow at the butte. Keep firing until you run out of arrows.

Now go retrieve your arrows. Walk right up to the butte and double-click it. You'll see the message "You retrieve the arrows and bolts". In fact, it's not such a bad idea to do this before you start firing. A lot of people don't know they can get their arrows back and leave them sticking in the butte. Hey, if they don't want them....

One other thing: you don't have to be in combat mode to shoot at a butte. In fact, I strongly recommend that you not be in it. Shopkeepers and other players will walk into your line of fire, and if you accidently click one of them instead of the butte, you'll have the guards on your case before you can say "Sorry! Didn't mean to impale you, dude".

You'll probably need about 100 arrows to train all the way up to 25 in Archery. As you get better and better at shooting you start "robinhooding" arrows: driving one arrow into the tail of another, destroying it. Starting with 100 arrows, you'll probably be left with only ninety after the first round of shooting, then seventy-five, then forty and so on until you've destroyed them all. By then you should be nearly done, though.

Is there anything I can do to keep this kind of training from being soul-destroyingly boring?
It does take a long time, doesn't it?

One thing you can do is open your Options screen (via your character's paper doll screen) and select the Macros choice. Ask to create a New macro, and press one of the function keys on your keyboard. Then open the action list and select "LastObject" as the action to be used when that function key is pressed. Save the macro and close the Options screen.

Now hit the dummy once, so that it's registered as the "LastObject" you used. Now if you press the assigned function key, your character will hit the dummy again. Keep pressing the key and you'll keep hitting the dummy.

At this point, go to your piggy bank, get out a stack of quarters, and pile them on the function key so that it's permanently pressed down. Your character will start swinging repeatedly at the dummy without your intervention. You'll get a lot of the "You have to wait until it stops swinging" message, but that won't hurt.

I don't recommend actually walking away from the computer: a lot of thieves watch for people doing this and will pick you clean. Either stick around and just read a book (listen for people walking up to you), or strip naked and put everything you own in the bank except the weapon you're going to use. Your character, I mean. Not "you" literally.

How do I use my skills?
You might remember that the skills you picked were explained to you when you started your character. As it happens, all these screens are stored in \UO\Tutorial folder on your hard drive if you did a full install (they're also on the CD if you didn't). They're in Targa (.tga) format, which can be read by any decent graphics package.

Raising Attributes
How do I raise my Strength?
First of all, train up in Swordsmanship, Mace Fighting and Wrestling (see "Anything else I should know about training?" and "How do I use a training dummy?", above). These increase your Strength and, to some extent, your Dexterity. If you're still not happy with your Strength after that, buy a hatchet or axe of some sort, walk out into the woods, and chop trees as if your life depended on it. If your Lumberjacking skill is reasonably high you'll get some logs out of this, but if it's not you're not wasting your time. Even a failed attempt at Lumberjacking gives your Strength a tiny boost.

Note that, while you can macro Strength training on a dummy (and make it less boring for yourself), Lumberjacking can't effectively be macroed: you need to walk around finding fresh trees to molest. It's still faster than most anything else, but it's only recommended if you really want to increase your Strength some more.

How do I raise my Dexterity?
Training Fencing or Archery increases dexterity. Note that, unlike Swordsmanship and Mace Fighting, you don't need to buy a weapon to train up in Fencing: the dagger you get as a beginning player counts as a Fencing weapon, so just use that.

You'll remember that your character started with only ten Dexterity, as opposed to forty-five Strength, and that I promised that there were easy ways of upping the former. The "easy way" is buying a musical instrument, any kind, and (instead of just hitting it yourself periodically as I mentioned earlier) using the LastObject macro I explained in "Is there anything I can do to keep this kind of training from being soul-destroyingly boring?".

Hide behind a tree or something, open your backpack then double-click the instrument to play it once. Then press the function key to which you assigned the LastObject macro. The instrument should play again. If it does, you now just need to place a stack of quarters on the function key to have your character play the same song over and over again (much like some radio stations).

This actually works really well. Unlike dummy Strength training, you can keep training well past the point that the related skill (Musicianship) reaches twenty-five, and keep upping your Dexterity as long as you want. I find that about two hours of this will get your Dexterity up to about forty, which is more than enough to start with.

If you've somehow managed to max out your Musicianship and still need more Dexterity (I can't see this happening, but whatever), try Camping skill. Use your dagger on any tree and some kindling should appear on the ground. Double-click it repeatedly until it catches on fire. Walk one step to open up the area underneath your feet and repeat. Like Logging For Strength this is not macroable, but it's the next fastest thing after playing an instrument until your fingers bleed.

How do I raise my Intelligence?
The same way you increase your Dexterity: play some tunes, man. You'll find that for every five points you gain in Dexterity by using the LastObject macro on an instrument, you'll gain about three points of intelligence.

If you want to raise Intelligence other ways, use your Item Identification and Arms Lore skills on every object in your possession over and over again. You want to build up these skills anyway, so if you have the time you should train 'em yourself from scratch and get the associated boost in Intelligence.

Reputation, Karma and Fame
Please note that the Reputation system is brand new, and I'm still learning about it myself. There may be some things missing in this section.

What is Karma?
Karma is a system of points that are applied to your character for, theoretically, good and bad actions. It ranges from zero for a new character, up to +10,000 for Mother Teresa and down to -10,000 for Jerry Reinsdorf.

What is Fame?
Fame is a number of points indicating how well-known your character is to the other inhabitants of Britannia. New characters have a fame of zero, while the most famous character possible has a fame of +10,000

What is reputation?
Reputation is a combination of a character's fame and karma taken together. Your character gets a title based on his reputation:

		Low Fame							High Fame
High Karma	Trustworthy	Estimable	Great		Glorious		Glorious Lord/Lady
		Honest		Commendable	Famed		Illustrious	Illustrious Lord/Lady
		Good		Honorable	Admirable	Noble		Noble Lord/Lady
		Kind		Respectable	Proper		Eminent		Eminent Lord/Lady
		Fair		Upstanding	Reputable	Distinguished	Distinguished Lord/Lady
Middle Karma (0)	(no title)	Notable		Prominent	Renowned	Lord/Lady
		Rude		Disreputable	Notorious	Infamous	Dishonored Lord/Lady
		Unsavory	Dishonorable	Ignoble		Sinister		Sinister Lord/Lady
		Scoundrel	Malicious	Vile		Villainous	Dark Lord/Lady
		Despicable	Dastardly	Wicked		Evil		Evil Lord/Lady
Low Karma	Outcast		Wretched	Nefarious	Dread		Dread Lord/Lady

Characters in the lowest Karma row can't get service in shops (they can still get at their bank box).

How can I tell if people are good or evil?
Look up their title on their paper doll.

What will gain me some Karma?
•	Giving things to good NPCs "generously" (at the moment, there is a bug that prevents gifts of food from affecting Karma)
•	Completing an NPC quest if the quest is not trivial for your current Karma level
•	Killing an evil NPC or monster if doing so is not trivial for you (in practice, a monster has to be reasonably tough for your skill level if you want to gain Karma)
•	Giving the head of a murderer to a guard

No-one outside of Origin knows the definition of "generously" yet.

Ultimately, players will be able to transfer Karma to one another if they want to. In other words, if you do something nice for another player, he can give you some Karma points if he feels you deserve it. This is not in the game right now.

What will lose me Karma?
•	Killing Cats, Dogs, Dolphins, Cows and Silver Serpents (Cows and Silver Serpents are a bug and are being removed)
•	Any use of the Poisoning skill
•	Stealing
•	Snooping
•	Summoning a Daemon (Elementals are OK)
•	Killing a good NPC
•	Being reported for killing a PC
•	Cutting up a corpse (even an evil player's corpse)

What will gain me Fame?
•	Giving things to good NPCs "generously"
•	Killing something with more fame than you (in practice, a monster has to be reasonably tough for you skill level if you want to gain Fame)
•	Completing an NPC quest if the quest is not trivial for your current Fame level.
•	Rescuing a prisoner

What will lose me Fame?
•	Dying
•	Fame erodes slowly over time

I've been killed by another player. Now what?
You will be given an opportunity to report the murder. If a player accumulates five or more murders, he is tagged as a Murderer and basically has a really hard time of it from now on (he will be killed on sight by the town guards, charged five times as much by vendors, only resurrected by evil healers, and more).

You are also given the opportunity to contribute gold to a bounty on the murderer's head. You don't have to, but there's a certain satisfaction in it. The money will be withdrawn from your account, and anyone who kills the murderer later can take his head to a guard and claim his reward.

Can I attack someone?
If that someone is evil and an NPC, you can attack him with impunity. Players can't be attacked just because they're evil. They must actually have committed a crime that someone saw within the previous two minutes.

How can I tell if someone is a criminal?
Criminals have grey names when you use the AllNames macro, and highlight in grey when you are in combat mode.

What does the game consider to be a crime?
•	Attacking a PC who hasn't committed a crime recently
•	Attacking a Blue NPC
•	Stealing a loose item or item from a good person and being noticed
•	Having a field spell, Blade Spirit or Energy Vortex affect any good person or creature (even if they walk into it themselves)
•	Casting any helpful spell directly on a Criminal or Murderer
•	Looting a good, innocent person's corpse
•	Chopping up the corpse of a good, innocent person
•	Getting your pet to do anything bad (attack an innocent person, fetch a guarded item)
•	Giving a pet to a Criminal or Murderer

A thief stole something off me. If I loot his corpse to get it back, will be marked as a Criminal?
No. Someone who steals from you is marked as a criminal to you, so there are no negative repercussions to looting his corpse.

I died. Can I loot my own corpse without becoming a Criminal?
Yes.

Ack! I accidentally double-clicked on one of my friends in combat and now I'm a Criminal!
Well, it's a bit late for me to mention this now, but Origin has added a feature to the game that asks for a confirmation if you do something that might make you a criminal.

Go to your character's paper doll and select the "Options" choice. There is a checkbox in there for "Notoriety Query". Turn it on.

Unfortunately, the Notoriety Query doesn't kick in if you attack someone with a field effect spell, so you mages out there will have to be extra careful when fighting.

Equipping Yourself
How do I buy equipment?
There are numerous stores in the game, which sell things depending on the type of store. There are also "vendors" which stand outside players' houses and offer things for sale.

In the case of a store, say "Vendor buy" and the storekeeper you are talking to will show you a list of his wares. Double clicking any item puts it onto a "contract" that appears below the list. Once you select all the things you want to buy (no more than five things are allowed at a time), click that you accept the contract and the items will move into your backpack.

In the case of a player's vendor, double-click him to open his pack, rifle through his stuff until you see something you want, then say "Vendor buy". Your cursor will change into a targeting bullet, and clicking on something will buy it.

Where should I shop?
There's now no real difference between the in-game stores and players' vendors (the people standing around in front of houses selling things). Before the advantage to vendors was that you could use your Arms Lore and Item Identification skills on their wares to tell if you were getting the highest quality items. Now, however, you can use these two skills on in-game store items, though this is not  obvious.

To use Arms Lore or Item Identification on a store's item, ask to buy from the store so that the items for sale are displayed. Now click the skill's jewel like you normally would, then move on top of the item you want to quiz on the displayed list. Even though the targeting cursor disappears while you are over the list, the skill will still kick in when you click. If you make your skill check, you'll get a description of the selected item.

What armor should I buy?
With forty-five Strength, the most powerful armor you can wear on your hands, arms, head and neck is plate mail. Chain mail is the best type you can sport on your body and legs at that level of Strength.

However, plate mail is heavy and reduces your Dexterity. This is important because the higher your Dexterity, the faster you can swing your weapon. The penalties for wearing plate on your hands are particularly high for only a marginal boost in defense.

For weaponless mages this is no biggie, so go for plate where you can, but warriors and archers are different. With a warrior, I recommend substituting the plate mail gloves with ring mail gloves. For archers, where your weapon is already very slow and you need every bit of Dexterity-based speed you can get, replace both the gloves and the plate mail arms with ring mail (there's no such thing as a chain or ring neck piece, or I'd recommend wearing them too). Another approach would be to use Bone gloves and arms on an archer (or mage). While Bone pieces can't be repaired at all -- a fatal flaw for a straight warrior -- properly played archers should almost never suffer from close-up attacks that can damage them ("Run away. Shoot. Run away. Shoot.")

You should never wear plate mail on your head. Three other kinds of repairable helmets (the close helm, open helm and nose helm) supply the same kind of protection as a full plate mail helm, but without the Dexterity hit.

Once your Strength reaches sixty you can wear plate mail all over (except your head), plus by then your Dexterity is often high enough that you can eat the penalties for doing so. Nevertheless, I don't recommend doing this the instant you hit 60 Strength. If your Strength ever drops back below sixty, the plate mail covering your body and legs will fall off. Seeing as there's a spell that reduces Strength, and that most wizards know that they might be able to get your armor to drop off...well, you can probably figure out the rest. Wait until you have a few points of Strength to spare before loading up on plate mail.

Shield-wise, you should generally use a heater shield, unless you're a mage, in which case you need to keep both hands free to cast spells. Archers need their hands free too. Heater shields provide the best protection, but are never magical for some reason, so if you can find a kite shield with an "of hardening" or better enchantment (see "A lot of these items are magical, what should I pick?" for further explanation of enchantment meanings), you should go for that.

What weapon should I use?
Anything that matches the primary weapons skill you've picked. Most of these should be self-evident, with the exception of the War Axe, which is a Mace Fighting weapon. The weapons in the game have recently been balanced out, so that there's not actually that much of a difference between them all.

A lot of these items are magical, what should I pick?
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 top.

Generally speaking, you should always pay whatever it takes to move as far up this chain as is possible. Items more powerful than "of defense" are rarely available for sale, and are correspondingly much more expensive. but you can always make more money, and every little bit of defense helps.

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, you should probably go for more accuracy, as the extra damage doesn't help if you can't hit something in the first place.

Both weapons and armor will be more durable (and thus require less frequent repairs at a smith's shop) if they are named "Durable", "Substantial", "Massive", "Fortified" or "Indestructible". Note that "Indestructible" weapons and armor are not literally indestructible, but rather are about twice as durable as normal items. They can still be destroyed through heavy use (see the next question for details on item destruction).

Extra durability is nice, unless we're talking armor for a mage or archer (they shouldn't be up close to monsters getting their armor pounded on anyway). However, even a warrior-type should not sweat it too much. The best way to keep your armor and weapons shiny-new-new is to make your opponents seriously dead quickly. Choose more damage and more accuracy if it comes down to a decision.

Finally, there are a variety of magical names that indicate an ability to cast spells:

Name	Effect	
Burning	Cast Magic Arrow
Clumsiness	Cast Clumsy
Daemon's Breath	Cast Fireball
Evil	Cast Curse
Feeblemindedness	Cast Feeblemind
Ghoul's Touch	Cast Paralyze
Mage's Bane	Cast Mana Drain
Night Eyes	Cast Night Eyes
Reflection	Cast Spell Reflection
Thunder	Cast Lightning Spell
Weakness	Cast Weakness
Wounding	Cast Harm

Don't pay anything extra for these. I find they're less than useful on weapons and armor, as they always have a limited number of charges and a successful hit fires off one of the charges. Seeing as most combats have a large number of hits in them, all the charges will be gone quickly, and there is no way to recharge items. There's also the additional problem that casting any offensive spell in town, regardless of how legitimate the target, will call the guards down on you. Remind me to tell you about the time I accidentally used my Eminently Accurate Bow of Weakness to shoot at a wild deer in the Yew city limits and got guard-killed.

The exception to this rule would be if you get one of these words associated with a non-combat item, like some boots or a necklace. These will only go off when you put them on, and as a result are much handier. Unfortunately most of these items have something useless on them like Night Eyes.

How can I tell if my items need repair?
This is what your Arms Lore skill is for. Build it up somehow, then use it on an item. If you use the skill successfully, you'll get one of the following messages:

Brand-new
Almost new
Barely used, with a few nicks and scrapes
Fairly good condition
Suffered some wear and tear
Well used
Rather battered
Somewhat badly damaged
Flimsy and not trustworthy
Falling apart

"Brand-new" signifies that the object is at 100 percent, with each level beneath that indicating that it's lost a further ten percent. If an object drops to zero, it is permanently destroyed.

In the case of weapons, you have some leeway in deciding at which point to get then repaired. They continue to inflict their usual amount of damage until destroyed. Armor, however, gradually loses it ability to protect you as it degrades, so you should keep it as close to pristine condition as you can.

How do I get something repaired?
First of all, it has to be made of metal for someone to repair it. Bows, and leather and bone armor cannot be repaired.

Secondly, you can't get a non-player character to repair something for you: a player smith has to do it. Find a forge or anvil. There's almost invariably someone there who's trying to practice his Blacksmithing skills and will be glad to repair it for you. Put everything you need repaired into a bag and give it to him.

Incidentally, the smith has to use up some iron ingots to fix your stuff, so give the poor bloke ten or twenty gold if you can afford it. I'm so nice it's sickening.

My Arms Lore skill says this vendor's item isn't in good shape. Should I buy it?
No. If an item is used repeatedly and repaired repeatedly it gradually degrades even when fully repaired. It may be that the damaged item you're looking at just needs repairing and it'll be fine, but it may be that it's not going to get any better than it is right now.

Does the colour of armor mean anything?
Silver armor may be made by PCs. Armor of other colours can only be bought at the store or taken off of monsters.

If you're buying non-magical armor this is important because player-made armor can be weaker than regular armor. Buy coloured armor if you can. Feel free to buy magical armor of any colour, however, as players can only make non-magical armor at the moment.

Why is this vendor saying "You can't buy that", even though the item I want has a price and everything?
Make sure you're talking to the right vendor. If two or more vendors are right next to one another, it's possible to look into one's pack while talking to another one. Move until the vendor you want to buy from is the only one right next to you, or refer to the vendor by his name instead of as "vendor".

City Life
Cities and Towns
What city should I live in?
While you're getting your character up and running, I recommend a nice, quiet city like Yew or Cove. These cities were not viable alternatives previously, mostly because they completely lacked necessary stores (notably provisioners, reagent shops, and weapon and armor stores). Now that vendors are in the game, however, you can get a decent array of stuff from them and these cities are now liveable.

Once you start adventuring you may want to move to one of the "big three": Britain, Vesper/Minoc or Trinsic. If nothing else, you need someplace to sell the goodies you pull off of monsters. However, one strategy that avoids this problem is to drop stuff off in the small town bank for some time then, when your box is full, make a field trip to one of the big towns and withdraw your junk there to sell.

If you do plan on moving to a big city, be aware that Trinsic gets kind of laggy sometimes because of the crowds, Vesper/Minoc are a little worse, and Britain gets completely unplayable on occasion.

I also like the small towns because you can take over one of the in-game houses and not have people walking in and out all the time. One of my main characters lives in the big log house in the south-west corner of Yew, having rousted out the peasants who theoretically live there -- one of the many doses of unreality in UO is the really great houses NPCs live in (compare them to the glorified Kleenex boxes sold at an architect's). Granted, I can't decorate the place to my satisfaction, or keep anyone out, but thanks to bugs you can't do that with a store-bought house either. At least the knicknacks in my house can't be stolen.

How do I find the stores in this town?
Asking NPCs works pretty well. Walk up to one and say "Fred where is the bank?", and (assuming his name is Fred) he tell you the direction in which to walk. You should be able to home in on your destination just by asking a few different NPCs. As well as banks, you can try "inn", "provisioner" and any other store you can name.

This all assumes that there is one of the type of store you want in this town. Not all towns have all stores.

How do I keep people from pickpocketing me?
The main thing to do is buy some bags and pouches and put all your stuff in them. The only items that should be in the top level of your backpack are those that can't be stolen: your spellbook, and any beginner's equipment you might have.

Once an item is in a bag, it's twice as safe as it was before. Not only does the thief need to open a second bag (and make a second, more difficult snooping check), if he decides to forgo that and just steal the whole bag, he may not be able to do so. The more items in a bag (and thus the heavier it is), the harder it is to steal.

I also recommend that you keep moving around, and don't let anyone stay right next to you for very long. A thief has to be in immediately next to you before he can steal something, so if you move out of range quickly he won't have a chance to get anything.

Also, if you're really paranoid about something (for example, an expensive house deed, or a boat ticket), put a fur or cape over the item in question. While thieves can slowly jockey something like that out of the way (or just steal it outright) so they can get at what's underneath, this takes a while and you'll hopefully be out of range before they can do it.

What the hell are all those acronyms people use?
There's a lot of overlap between the IRC community and Ultima Online players. IRC has a lot of acronyms for common phrases, to help combat the fact that a lot of people type slow, slower or "Bridges of Madison County". Rather than get into them all, if you're mystified go to http://www.shano.com/acronym/, which covers most of them.

Banks
How do I deposit money in the bank?
Say "bank" in the approximate area of a banker or minter NPC and your safety deposit box will open. Drag the money out of your backpack and into the box.

Note that "in the approximate area" means you can actually be outside the bank and get at your safety deposit box. You should probably do this, as the interior of a bank is usually a pretty busy place. Too many people means lots of lag, and lots of lag means there's a decent chance the game will knock you off-line. And there are thieves who hang around at the bank just waiting for someone to drop off-line so they can be picked clean. To do your banking out in the open, walk along the outside wall saying "bank" until your box opens. Exactly when you get it to open will depend on where the bankers are positioned inside, but you will get someone's attention before you've made a full circuit of the building.

Also, while this isn't a problem you're going to have for a long time, be aware that no pile of gold in Ultima Online can contain any more than 50,005 coins. If you try to combine two piles that total more than this, the new pile will have only 50,005 gold, with the rest evaporating into thin air. I'm sure we'd all like to be in a position to have this problem.

How do I find out how much money I have in the bank?
Open your safety deposit box and click the gold inside. You can also ask the banker "Balance?" but unless you have more than one pile of gold in the box and you're bad at doing math in your head, this is probably not worth the trouble.

How do I withdraw money from the bank?
Just drag it out of your safety deposit box. You can also say "Withdraw 200" (or any other number) to the banker and, if you have that much money deposited, you'll get it shifted into your backpack. It's a lot easier to just get at it yourself, though.

Can I put anything in the bank besides money?
Your safety deposit box is just like a backpack, and can store whatever you want. There's an upper limit of 400 stones for a bank box, not counting the weight of money within.

After I deposit something, do I have to go back to the same bank to get it back?
No. All the items you deposit -- including gold -- are accessible at all the banks throughout Britannia. I think they use a system of enslaved, magical tunneling moles to get your stuff where you need it to be every time. Free the Moles!

How do I rob the bank?
First, go to a provisioner's shop and buy a ski mask....As far as I know, there is no way to rob the bank.

I want to buy something expensive and my weight limit is low. How can I carry all the money from the bank to the store?
For houses, boats and vendor contracts, in-game stores will automatically withdraw the money from the bank for you, so you don't have to haul it around.

Player-owned vendors are even better: any item, no matter how cheap, can be bought on automatic debit. The money on your person will go first, but the vendor will take it out of your bank if you're a little short.

Adventuring
Combat
How do I know how good I am at fighting?
Seven factors come into play. The first two are your Tactics skill and the skill relevant to whatever weapon you are holding (either Mace Fighting, Fencing or Swordsmanship, or Wrestling if you're bare-handed). If you are holding a shield, your Parrying skill is the third factor. Your Armor rating (which can be found on your status window) is the fourth. The damage range of your weapon is the fifth. Your Strength is the sixth, as weapon damage goes up the stronger you are. Your Dexterity is the seventh, as you can swing your weapon faster if your dexterity is higher.

All of these numbers can be found out by looking at your character's various reference screens, with one exception: the damage range of your weapon. If you go to the UOSS (http://uoss.stratics.com), there's a table of this information there.

Mages can rate their abilities slightly differently. Here you want to know your Magery level, your Intelligence, the level of spells you can whip at an opponent, your Armor rating, and your Wrestling level. That last one might seem a bit surprising, but a high Wrestling rating is good to have if you're carrying no weapon (as you must to cast spells), and something closes with you to attack. Basically it's used to rate your ability to fend off an opponent with your bare hands, keeping them from hitting you as often and ruining your spells.

How do I fight something without getting my butt kicked?
It helps if you only attack things you can beat. This may seem self-evident, but it should be noted how weak beginning characters are in Ultima Online. Most find out about this the hard way -- my very first character was stomped by a cow about five minutes into his short, short life -- but I'll warn you now: you can't beat anything. Bunnies and chickies and possibly even air-borne viruses will tear out your throat and feast on your remains. Other adventurers will laugh and point at the sorry spectacle you provide. You are going to have to get your Tactics and a combat skill up to twenty-five or so and have a full set of good quality armor (see "What armor should I buy?") before you are ready to fight things. Even then you should think twice about attacking anything bigger than a goat. It's going to take several days of gradually ramping up your targets before you'll be able to graduate to monsters.

Incidentally, I suggest checking out the "Hunter's Guide" at UOSS (http://uoss.stratics.com) for a complete list of animals and monsters rated according to difficulty.

Once you're at the stage that you can start fighting, keep both your own status window up (minimize it and it will show a bar graph of your hit points) and the status window of whatever you are trying to whack. To get the status window of a target, click it and drag away from it. Once you get in the habit of doing this, you can just watch the two bar graphs. If yours is going down faster than your opponent's, you're in trouble. Run away. Note that if you've lost more than about two-thirds of your hit points, you'll not be able to run away indefinitely: your stamina goes down very quickly when you are badly injured. So start running before it gets that bad.

I wouldn't necessarily run away as soon as you come to the conclusion that you aren't going to win, however. Your combat skills go up more quickly the more difficult your opponent is. So you may want to stick in there for a while against something tougher than you can really handle. Exit the scene only when you are starting to get seriously damaged, having reaped the rewards in your skills all the while.

Any tips for things to do while in an actual fight?
If at all possible you'll want to do two things before the fight: let your stamina come back up to full and eat until you can't eat any more. The former is a good idea because you'll wear out during a fight, and you won't want to wear out so far that you can't run away if you need to. The latter is a good idea because you heal at a faster rate when you are full. In some longer fights I've actually healed two or three points of damage during the melee and, well, every little bit helps against tougher opponents.

Other things to keep in mind:

Keep your backpack open with some healing potions (the yellow ones) visible. If you start to get in some trouble, move away a bit, take your shield off (you need to have that hand free to drink a potion), drink the potion, then leap back into the fray. Don't forget to put your shield back on. Also, see "Any tips on what potions to carry?" for an important note about drinking healing potions.

Having even one more person whaling away at your opponent can make a huge difference. Notice that a successful hit staggers your opponent. While staggered, he's not hitting back. With two people attacking an opponent you're not only wearing him down twice as fast, he's even losing some of his ability to hit back.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Two weak monsters attacking you are far more deadly than the same monsters attacking individually. Incidentally, naming your character "Jackie Chan" does not make a group of monsters line up to attack you one by one, though if you ask me it should.

If you do want to try fighting two or more monsters at the same time, try to keep them separated from each other. Whack one while the other one moves up to you, then move away once the second one is close enough to hit you. If you have the time, I find the best way to get them to separate is to run out of combat range (watch the creature's status window: when it disappears on its own, you're out of combat range), then circle around. Keep attacking one creature then running away until you've worn it down and killed it. You are then free to fix the wagon of the one that was making your life difficult. I speak from personal experience when I say that parting the hair of that second creature with your battle axe can be a highly satisfying moment. It may take a while but, then, so does dying 'cause you didn't do it.

Also watch, when fighting two or more creatures, that you're actually attacking a creature that you can reach. A common mistake when attacking several monsters of the same type is to double-click a creature, lose track of which one is which, then stand there like a moron when the another one is hurting you. Even if the first one is far away, your character will continue to focus on it and will not attack another monster that is up close and hurting him. Always double-click the creature closest to you; if you're already fighting it there's no harm, and it certainly helps if you weren't.

Incidentally, the same thing happens to monsters as well. Apparently the snippet of code that says "Danger, Will Robinson!" in a monster's AI is notso-hotso. Often a creature will be chasing someone, you'll step in and start whacking it, and it'll make no effort to defend itself, so focused is it on the fleeing peon. Sometimes it'll even conveniently stand still for you. Free gold and experience, kids!

I play by myself, and have a hard time beating tougher opponents. How can I solve this?
Try hiring a hireling or buying/taming a fierce pet like a Grizzly Bear (see "Can I have a pet?" and "How about having a hireling?").

Neither will be very inclined to attack anything on your orders, but they will respond favorably if you get them to guard you. Say "Fred guard me" (assuming the name of your flunky is Fred) and he will go into guard mode.

The only difficulty with Guard mode is that you have to get the monster you are attacking within one tile of your protector before it will try to defend you. It will not close with the monster itself. With a bit of practice you should be able to get a monster to follow you into the right position almost every time.

Spells
What spells can I cast?
Simply having a copy of a spell in your spellbook will not suffice. Two other things must be done.

First, you can't cast a spell of a given level unless you have successfully cast at least one spell of the next lowest level. So the very first spell you cast will have to be of first level, which will give you the ability to cast second level spells. Casting a second level spell then lets you cast those of level three, and so on.

Secondly, you need to have enough mana to cast the spell.

Finally, note that if you try to cast high-level spells with a low Magery skill level, it is very likely that you'll blow the skill check and the spell will do nothing but make a charming farty noise and some smoke. As a rough rule of thumb, divide your Magery by ten to tell what level spell you have a fifty percent chance of casting successfully. All levels below that are easy for you (though you may blow it on occasion), and you have about a ten to fifteen percent chance of casting a spell one level above.

How much mana does it take to cast a spell?
First Level Spells:	4 mana
Second Level Spells:	6 mana
Third Level Spells:	9 mana
Fourth Level Spells:	11 mana
Fifth Level Spells:	14 mana
Sixth Level Spells:	20 mana
Seventh Level Spells:	40 mana
Eighth Level Spells:	50 mana

What spells should I learn?
Everyone should know the spells Heal, Cure, Reactive Armor and Recall. The first three are a cinch to learn, but the latter is a fourth level spell and will take some practice.

Heal's usefulness should be obvious.

Cure is used if you are poisoned by an opponent (like a snake or giant scorpion, or a human using a poisoned weapon).

Reactive Armor reflects the damage of the first toe-to-toe hit -- not spells and arrows, in other words -- against you in a fight, and some of further blows for a few more seconds. It can give you a real edge in combat if you cast it just before the fight begins (as of a couple of months ago, Reactive Armor wears off naturally not long after you cast it, so you can't cast it hours in advance like you could before).

Recall lets you bop around the map very quickly, but is especially important as a panic button for escaping dire situations. Keep a recall rune that gets you home within easy reach, and if you're getting your ass kicked, cast Recall on it to escape.

How do recall runes work?
Drop the rune at a location and cast the Mark spell on it (if you can: it's a sixth level spell). Pick the rune up and carry it with you. Double-clicking the rune will let you give it a name, so you can remember what it Marks (single-click it to read the name). When you want to return to the spot where you were standing when you cast the Mark spell, open your backpack and cast the Recall spell on the rune.

What do I do if I can't cast Mark?
Many vendors sell marked runes to various locations. The going rate is about 150 gold per rune.

Do I lose my spellbook if I'm killed?
Not if you play your cards right.

Keep your spellbook "out in the open", on the top level of your backpack, and you will keep your spellbook when you die.

If you die with your spellbook nested in another bag, however, you lose it. Considering that you need the book up and visible to cast spells anyway, there's no point in risking it.

Potions
How do I know what a potion does?
Potions are colour-coded by ability:

Potion Colours and Effects
Potion Colour	Effect	
Black	Night Vision
Blue	Increase Dexterity Temporarily
Green	Poison
Orange	Cure Poison or Paralysis
Purple	Explosions (see below)
Red	Bring Back Stamina
White	Increase Strength Temporarily
Yellow	Healing

There are stronger and weaker versions of most potions, but all potions of a colour do the same thing; it's just a matter of how much they do it. If you really, really want to know if you have a yellow potion of Healing or a yellow potion of Greater Healing, then use your Taste Identification skill. I find it's not really worth it.

Purple potions are grenades, basically. Double-click one, then throw it at a target. They explode three seconds after you double-click, so timing your throw lets you affect how far it goes before it goes off. Careful though: you do not want to be still holding it when time is up.

Any tips on what potions to carry?
I always carry a few Yellow healing potions, and an Orange cure potion in case I run into a poisonous opponent (snake, Giant Scorpion, whatever).

Black potions are close to useless, mostly because you can see pretty well at night and in dungeons just by turning up the brightness and contrast on your monitor. Just sell them, or leave them behind if you're close to your weight limit.

The others may or may not be useful depending on how you play.

Anything else I should know about potions?
You can only drink one healing potion every ten seconds. Unfortunately, this makes it hard to fight something tough for a while, back off and drink healing potions until you slosh, then go back to settle the score. I know that was the first thing I thought of once I figured out what Yellow potions did.

Death
Aaahhh, crap! Should I resurrect or play as a ghost?
In all likelihood, play as a ghost. There are a couple of reasons for this.

For one, the thing that killed you is not going to give you a second chance. Resurrecting yourself drains virtually all of your health and mana, and you will be in no position to defend yourself. Your equipment is all on the corpse too. Naked Ettin fighting may be your idea of fun, but it ain't mine.

Further, coming back from the dead by yourself imposes a penalty on your skill levels and attributes. There is no penalty for "ghosting".

Granted, if you come back as a ghost you'll have to find a healer or shrine to bring you back to life, and your equipment will probably be gone by the time you get back, but it's easier to come up with more equipment than it is to build up the lost skills. In fact, I suggest that you start compiling a back-up set of equipment and keep it in your bank box. When you die, you won't be completely wiped out equipment-wise, and your stats will be more or less where you left them.

The only time I would recommend coming back from the dead immediately would be if you were a Lord or Lady or higher (which minimizes your death penalty), and the thing that caused your death is gone or dead itself.

Outdoors
I can't find anything to kill!
This is not technically a question, but since you mentioned it....

First, use your Tracking skill every screen or so. I've set up a macro for it that I can invoke as I walk. It effectively increases the area you can scour for monsters by a factor of eight, and greatly cuts down on the time it takes to find something.

Secondly, listen to the ambient sound around you. If you hear anything that's not obviously a bird or a goat or something, stop,  pop open your Tracking skill, and try to figure out what made the sound. Before long you'll start to recognize the calls various creatures make, but until then you should probably try to identify what's going "woooooo!" off in the distance. The last thing you want to do is walk straight into the arms of a Lich or a Gazer. Well, Gazers don't have arms, but you know what I mean.

Third, the game places a limited number of, well, "things" in any given area. If you police the area removing anything unwanted -- lighting pieces of kindling on fire, killing minor animals like rabbits and birds, and picking up spare junk left over from earlier combats and putting them on the bird and rabbit corpses (so that they disappear when the bird and rabbit corpses do) -- you'll eventually convince the game to drop some more "things" in your area. These are generally more animals and monsters, plus some reagents. On a related note, when you finish pulling the stuff you want off a monster you kill, put everything else back on the corpse, so that it disappears sooner and the resource pool turns over faster.

Finally, try to walk where other people don't. Most roads and areas on a straight line between two cities are fished out. If you can find an out-of-the-way pocket to explore, you'll be much better off.

Dungeons
Should I go into the dungeons?
Mmmmm....probably not. Most dungeons are haunted by player killers, and I find it's generally not worth the aggravation.

If you're really keen on it, however, I suggest you wait until you've bought a full set of magical equipment from the vendors, and build up a weapons skill (or Magery) and your Tactics. From then on as long as you stick to dungeons that match your abilities, you'll be okay. In order from easiest to hardest the dungeons are:

Head-Slappingly Easy:	Despise, Wrong
About Average:	Deceit, Covetous
Full Aerobic Workout:	Hythloth, Shame
"You Are Dead":	Destard

The only exception to this rule is immediately after the servers come back up. If they've been spawning all the while, even Despise and Wrong can get full of monsters and turn into slaughterhouses. I formulated this rule after my Adept Armsman went slumming in Wrong for some laughs after a server crash and he ran into a knot of twenty-odd ettins and ogres. "Will you be having the full funeral, or just a small service?"

The Finer Things
Food
Do I need to eat?
Well, you don't need to -- you can't starve to death in Ultima Online -- but you probably should. When your character is well-fed, he heals more quickly and regains lost stamina at a greater rate.

How do I know my hunger level?
When you eat something it will tell you. Keep eating food until you get the message "You are too full to eat any more!" or "You manage to eat the food but you are stuffed!" and you'll be at maximum stamina recovery and health recovery rate.

When should I eat?
After any combat when you've been more than marginally wounded is a good time. So is just as you leave town to do some adventuring.

I also eat any time day turns to night. The "changes" are far enough apart that your character is probably at least a little hungry, so it's a convenient way to time it.

What's the best way of getting food?
There are two main strategies to getting your own (not counting just going to a store and buying some).

First, save the raw ribs you get from killing things. Many people will take ribs only incidentally from animals that they are skinning for hides or feathers, but be aware that if you use a dagger on almost any corpse you'll get some meat; the game treats it all the same. My character has developed quite a taste for orc steak himself. Yummy.

Note that cooked ribs are salable to innkeepers, however, up to thirty gold pieces a pop, so you may want to avoid eating your Mu Shu Orc and take up Fishing to fulfill your diet instead.

To do this, buy a fishing pole from a fisherman (if you're having a hard time finding one, the provisioner's in central Britain has a fish shop in it, with attendant fisherman) and get a little training in Fishing from him while you're at it. Carry the pole with you and, when you need it, go fishing in any body of water, turning your catch into fish steaks (see "How do I make fish steaks?" for details).

Once you have your raw ribs or fish steaks, knock some kindling off a tree and light a fire (see "How do I get kindling?" and "How do I start a campfire?" for details). Double-click the raw food item, then click the fire. If you use your Cooking skill successfully, you will end up with some edible food. If your Cooking skill is poor, you'll ruin a lot of food for very little in the way of munchies, so I recommend getting at least a little training in it if at all possible.

Note that once you're a good fighter you should be able to pull a decent supply of food off of intelligent monsters you kill, such as orcs and ratmen. Individuals of each race often carry a few loaves of bread and cheeses. Again, however, these are salable (at taverns and pubs), so you'll want to eat fish preferentially. If you do want to live on food other than fish, eat bread before cheese and cooked ribs. It's worth the least.

One more source of food: if you're in Yew, south-eastern Occlo, or north-western Britain, go to the farms where carrots and onions grow. Double-click a patch of either vegetable and, if it's full-grown, a carrot or onion will appear at that location for you to eat.

How do I fish?
Open the container where you are storing your fishing pole. Double-click the pole, then click on the water to fish in. Your character will put his shield and weapon in his pack, equip the fishing pole, and try to catch a fish. If you use your Fishing skill successfully "a nice fish" will appear at your feet. Regardless of whether or not you do catch a fish, the pole goes back into your backpack, and your weapon and shield are automatically re-equipped. Fishing also increases your Dexterity over time.

You can actually specifically equip the pole if you want, but this leaves you vulnerable when you are out in the wilderness. Do it the way I just outlined and there's less risk of becoming an Troll's lunch while you're trying to get some of your own.

How do I make fish steaks?
Double-click your dagger or a skinning knife, then click the fish. The fish will turn into four raw fish steaks and go into your backpack.

Be aware that both fish and fish steaks are drugs on the market. They may make good eatin', but they're a terrible way to make money. Even if you can find NPCs who want to buy them, you'll only get one or two gold pieces for each. You can give them away to virtually any NPC for a small boost in Karma, however: for some reason, NPCs can eat raw fish steaks, though you can't (you need to cook them first).

How do I get kindling?
Double-click on any bladed item (except a hatchet or axe) in your backpack. Walk up close to a tree, then click on it. You'll get a message that some kindling has gone into your backpack, but that's a holdover from previous patches: the kindling will actually appear at your feet.

How do I start a campfire?
Stand near some kindling on the ground. Double-click the kindling. If your Camping skill is poor you may need to do this several times, but sooner or later it will ignite.

Anyplace else where I can cook?
Some buildings have stoves in them, and you can cook on these. Note that you can't cook on a fireplace for some reason. Stoves can be distinguished from fireplaces by virtue of the fact that they have a glass door on their fronts, with glowing red coals within. They also (brace yourself for a major revelation) identify themselves as "a stove" or "an oven" when you click them.

You can also cook on the cauldrons that often appear in the middle of Orcish and Ratmen camps, as well as forges.

What happens if I drink alcohol?
Take a wild guess. I'm aware of no benefit to doing it, and drinking too much of it in too short a period of time makes your character drunk. You'll start stumbling around and having your stats change randomly. This can be deadly out outside of the towns. Don't Drink And Adventure.

Pets and Hirelings
Can I have a pet?
You betcha. You can buy them at stables, or from anyone playing an animal tamer, or by taming them yourself with the Animal Taming skill.

How about a horse?
Yes, though the hard part is finding one in the first place. They're a hot commodity, so if you can find one expect to pay about 800 gold for it. Other players are your best bet, but if you find a stable in a city, they'll sometimes have them for sale.

How do I ride my horse?
Once you have a horse,  double-click it. You'll get into the saddle and from then on when you move, the horse trots (if you walk) or gallops (if you run). Double-click it again to get back off.

My horse, Mr Ed, is attacking me! Why, and (more importantly) how do I make him stop?
As was just mentioned, double-clicking a horse when you are not in combat mode makes you mount and dismount it. How is this relevant, you say? Unfortunately double-clicking a horse when you are in combat mode means you attack it. This may seem like a stupid thing to have done, but in practice it happens every now and then. In the heat of combat it's quite easy to accidentally double-click yourself and get off your horse, then double-click it in combat mode in your haste to get back on it.

Your horse will eventually forgive you, so just be careful when you get off it until it does (it can't attack you while you're riding it, and you can get on a horse you own even if it is trying to kick a hole through your chest). You can speed up the process by feeding it.

Any reason why I should have a horse?
Theoretically, you can travel faster on horseback. In practice I've often found that the lag between your machine (where your character is) and the UO server (where the horse is) means that the co-ordinated movement of both is actually slower than running on foot.

There are also claims that being on horseback makes you a better fighter, but this has proven difficult to confirm due to the vague nature of combat in Ultima Online.

How do I rename a pet?
Click and drag on the pet. This opens its status window. Its current name is listed there, and you can click that to edit it. If a pet is newly-tamed and has no name, you must rename it before you can give it orders.

How come that guy could name his horse Mr Ed? I can't put in a space when I name mine.
Normally you wouldn't want to name a pet with a space in its name anyway, because that means you can't order it around. Putting a space in seems to screw up the parser that makes the game decide you're talking to a particular animal.

If, however, you insist, the secret is to get an animal that still has its "original" name (i.e. "a horse", "a rabbit", whatever). When you rename the pet be careful to not erase the space after the word "a". Edit around it instead.

For some fun, you can tame a rabbit then rename it "a dragon", "an octopus" or "a Republican". Well, I didn't say it would be a lot of fun.

How about having a hireling?
Most any "wandering" NPC (i.e., anyone who isn't a shopkeeper) is for hire. Find out his name and say "<name> hire" to him. He'll quote you a price based on how skilled and powerful he is. Drop some money on him, and you just got yourself a toady.

How many pets can I have?
There's no limit in theory, but in practice you'll probably have to stick to two or so. Three or more pets tend to get in each others' way while walking anywhere except on an open road or field, which makes them get stuck and you have order them to follow you again. It's a pain.

My pet disappeared when I logged off. Why?
Excepting horses, which I'll explain in a second, pets don't tend to stick around. First, you have to feed them right before you log off or else they'll go wild very quickly. Even after a feeding it's iffy. Don't expect them to stick around for more than a of day.

If you can, go to a stable and say to one of the shopkeepers there "<name> stable" (that's the name of the shopkeeper, not the pet). Click on a pet to stable. The pet will disappear, thirty gold pieces will be taken from your person or the bank, and you can go log off. When you log back on, go find the same shopkeeper and say "<name> retrieve".

Two notes about stabling: pets will be erased if you don't claim them for one week, and if you retrieve from a stablemaster who is holding more than one of your pets, you get them all back.

Horses can be safely kept, however. When you log off from Ultima Online, log off while sitting on your horse. This makes the horse disappear with you on it, and when you log back in later, you'll log in still riding. A horse can be kept this way indefinitely.

What should I feed my pet?
Whatever it will eat. Take an item that looks edible and try to drop it on the pet. If it can eat it, it will; if it can't, it won't. If you'd rather not do it by trial and error, the Animal Lore skill will tell you outright (always assuming you use the skill successfully, that is).

The most common carnivorous animals are dogs, cats, wolves and bears. Dogs, wolves and bears eat raw ribs (obtained by using a dagger on almost anything you kill). Oddly enough they will not eat cooked ribs or cooked fish steaks. This is completely at odds with real dogs, who want to eat anything that you'll eat, especially while you're trying to eat it yourself.

Cats will eat fish steaks, either raw or cooked.

Horses eat hay and vegetables, as do llamas.

Goats will eat anything if you put it in a backpack, pouch or bag first -- and I mean literally anything: gold, potions, magical reagents, gameboards, hair dye, plate armor, tables and chairs, logs, you name it. This is actually kind of entertaining, until a wild goat snarfs something off a monster you just killed. Personally I think you should be able to use your dagger on a dead goat and get licence plates and stuff out of it, like in Jaws.

I am unsure what birds, gorillas and some of the really strange stuff like giant insects will eat. There are bananas in the game (seriously).

How do I get hay (or vegetables) for my horse?
Well, I'm glad you're not getting them for a pet llama. Pet llamas are just stupid.

Find a field with vegetables or wheat growing in it. Double-click the plant in question and, if it is full-grown, it will be harvested. Some plants, like pumpkins and grapes, don't seem to be harvestable for some reason.

Note that this is also how cotton is harvested as well (cotton can be spun on a spinning wheel to make yarn). There are, however, very few cotton plants growing in the game, so don't go out of your way to be a cotton farmer.

What happens if I feed a pet alcohol?
I knew someone was going to ask that. You can't give a pet alcohol, which is unfortunate because I think watching Gorillas on booze would be pretty funny. "Gorillas On Booze" would also make a good name for a punk band.

What can I order my pet (or hireling) to do?
Oddly enough, both hirelings and pets will answer to the same commands. The full set of commands is:

<name> Come
<name> Follow (then click on the person or thing to follow)
<name> Follow Me
<name> Attack (then click on the person or thing to attack)
<name> Kill (same as Attack)
<name> Guard (then click on the person or thing to guard)
<name> Guard Me
<name> Patrol (guard two or more objects, moving between them)
<name> Fetch (then click on the thing to be fetched)
<name> Drop (drop a fetched object)
<name> Friend (then click on a second person who can then give commands to the pet)
<name> Transfer (give the pet to someone else. You can no longer issue commands)
<name> Move (if the pet is blocking you in somewhere)
<name> Stop

"<name> Stop" is used to make your pet stop following, attacking, guarding or patrolling. This is important because your pets will get a little hovering "Fred looks annoyed" message over their heads if they're guarding you and someone walks by. It's similar to -- and about as irritating as -- those car alarms that go off just because you passed it on the sidewalk. You'll want to tell your pets to quit it while you're in town.

Hirelings have one additional command:

<name> Report

This makes them tell you how happy they are with their job. If your hireling is unhappy with you, he will tell you so. This is entirely based on how far in advance you pay him, so drop some gold on him to cheer him up. You should, in fact, do this as a matter of course, as he's likelier to follow your commands the happier he is.

There are also two useless-but-amusing commands. You can say "Good <name>" and your pet will do a little "aw, shucks" maneuver. Saying "<name> Speak" will make your animal "speak": meow, bark, growl, and so on, as appropriate.

Watch for the difference between "<name> Come" and "<name> Follow Me". Both make the pet follow you, but the former makes your pet move much more slowly. If you're trying to get somewhere at walking speed or better, use "<name> Follow Me".

My pet (or hireling) isn't following many of my orders. Why?
Pets have loyalty to you based on how well you feed them. As explained in "What can I order my pet (or hireling) to do?", hirelings are sensitive to how far in advance you pay them.

For a pet, use Animal Lore skill on it until you are told your pet's level of happiness. "Wonderfully happy" is best, but even then there's a chance it won't respond if you order it to do something dangerous (like attacking something much more powerful than it is).

So how do I make a pet (or hireling) useful in combat?
Instead of telling it "Fred Attack", say "Fred Guard Me" instead. Pets and hirelings will virtually always respond to this.

The only difficulty with this one is that the thing attacking you must be immediately adjacent to the pet (or hireling) for it to start defending you. It will not close with your foe. It doesn't take too much practice to get good at maneuvering yourself into this situation, however.

Incidentally, if your character uses ranged attacks (magical spells, or Archery), a great trick to use is the "Pet Wall". As I mentioned earlier, the monster AI isn't very good, and it's possible to use pets in a way that block something from attacking you at all.

Start by taming three at-least-moderately ferocious animals. Tell each of them to "Stay" in such a manner so that they line up one after another. Then go find something to attack. When it starts to follow you, run back to the Pet Wall and shove your way through its middle so that you're on the opposite side of the Wall from your target (you're going to need full stamina for this). The monster will walk up to the middle of the Wall and, unlike you, it can't walk through. It also will not think to walk around, and just stand there like an idiot. Pepper the stupid thing with spells or arrows.

After about thirty seconds or so your pets will clue in and start attacking the monster too. Be careful at this point! The monster will fight back and if it kills one of your pets, it will be able to break through the Wall. Evaluate the situation and decide if you've softened up your target to the point that you can finish it off in a fair fight, or if you're going to have to run.

Incidentally, this trick does not work with spell-using creatures. They will gladly hover on the other side of your Pet Wall, pounding you with lightning bolts and whatnot.

Houses
How do I buy a house?
Go up to an architect or a provisioner and say "Vendor buy". Provisioners carry the smaller kinds of houses, while architects can build you anything from the same little houses to the Ultima Online equivalent of the Taj Mahal. Architects usually hang out in carpenter's shops (one can be found in the shop just to the east of Lord British's castle in Britain).

Bring your Britannian Express™ card. Even a small house will set you back about forty thousand gold, while mid-sized houses and towers are one hundred and fifty to three hundred grand. You'll have to drop a cool million in gold or so for a big castle. Fortunately you don't have to carry this money with you. Unlike most other items, when buying a house the money can be withdrawn straight from the bank.

Once you buy a house, you will be given a deed. Walk to the place where you want to put your house -- you can put it anywhere outside a city as long as there isn't a tree or a road in the way and the ground is reasonably level -- then double-click the deed. A ghostly version of the house will appear on the ground. Shimmy the ghost around until you are happy with the location, then click. Your house will appear, and a copy of the front door key will be placed in your backpack. Another will appear in your safety deposit box in the bank.

I want to put my house here, but it's telling me I can't build here?
First, let me repeat that you can't build houses within city limits. The player-owned houses you see inside cities were placed there in much earlier versions of UO that allowed this, but it's not been possible for some time.

If you are outside of city limits and it still won't let you build it, there's a tree or something in the way.

Why is my house unfurnished?
So you can spend time coming up with the stuff you want to decorate your house. Chairs, tables, game boards, fur throw rugs, mugs and bowls, you name it.

Can I keep valuables in the house?
You can, but you won't for long. There are a couple of bugs in the game that let people break in and steal everything you own. The worst part is that even if you catch them in the act, you can't attack them without you being flagged a criminal..

Origin is reportedly working on this problem, and they've made one change already that helps. If an unauthorized person uses any object that is guarded by a pet or hireling, they get whacked with a "criminal" tag. You can attack them with impunity (the guarding animal or person will be doing the same).

Still, I strongly recommend that you do not keep anything in your house for now. Put it in the bank instead, and wait for the day that bug fixes and changes to game mechanics will let anything in your house stick around for longer than about ten minutes.

How do I write on the sign hanging out front of my new house?
Double-click your house key, then click on the sign. Type "Set name <name>" and <name> will go on the sign. Double-click the key and the sign again to lock the name down.

How often do I have to visit my house?
If you don't open and close your door for nine days, the house will disappear and your treasure chests will appear on the ground for anyone to rifle through.

If you're going to be unable to log on for more than nine days -- for example, if you have a life and go away on holiday or something -- give a copy of your key to someone you trust and have them house-sit.

How do I make a copy of a key?
Buy a blank key from a tinker, double-click it, then click the key to be copied.. If your Tinkering skill check succeeds, you'll get a copy of the key.

Alternatively, you could get another player with better Tinkering skills to do it for you, but you should be very, very careful about doing this. There's no way to force someone to give a key back, and if he decides to keep your key, he now co-owns your house (you still have the extra copy in your safety deposit box).

Someone stole my key. How do I change the locks to keep that person out?
You can't. Sorry, Charlie.

Origin is reportedly working on this.

Boats
What do I need a ship for?
There are islands offshore of the main part of Britannia. While some of them can be reached by moongate, some cannot. Ships are the only way, unless you come across a recall rune for it.

Plus, if you play a pirate, you're going to look like a moron walking around saying "Arrr, matey!" and drinking grog on dry land, now aren't you?

How do I buy a ship?
Find a shipwright and buy it from him. He will give you a deed to a ship. Walk to some water, then double-click the deed. Your boat will be built in the water you select. I'd suggest you case the area where you want to build your ship first. Ships cannot go under bridges and there are more than a few lakes with no openings to the sea. You'll feel pretty stupid if you build your boat in a spot that's blocked off.

How do I get on or off a ship?
Click the side of a ship and you will lower a gangplank. To get aboard, double-click the gangplank. If you're getting off, you don't even need to do that. Once the gangplank is down you can walk off normally.

Can I store stuff on a ship?
Yes. Each ship has a cargo hold in which you can store things. The usual limit of 400 stones applies.

How do I keep people from taking my boat?
You'll be given a key when you buy the boat. Using it on the boat locks the gangplanks and keeps people from getting on board. Note that there are gangplanks on both sides of the boat, and that you have to lock them both individually.

Even locked ships can be boarded from other ships, however, so you may want to buy a pet, or hire a hireling, and use it as a guard.

How do I sail around in a boat?
Notice the guy on the tiller of the boat. Give him orders by saying these things to him:

Ship Commands	
Command	Effect (if not self-explanatory)	
Name	Tells you the name of the boat	
Set Name <name>	Change the name of the boat to <name>	
Unfurl Sail	Move forward	
Furl Sail	Stop	
Forward	Move forward	
Stop		
Drop Anchor	Prevents the ship from moving	
Raise Anchor	Returns the power of movement to a ship after a "Drop Anchor" command	
Turn Left		
Starboard	Turn left	
Drift Left	Turn left	
Left	Turn left	
Turn Right		
Port	Turn right	
Right	Turn right	
Drift Right	Turn right	
Forward Left	Move in that direction	
Forward Right	Move in that direction	
Backward Left	Move in that direction	
Backward Right	Move in that direction	
Back Left	Move in that direction	
Back Right	Move in that direction	
Back	Move in that direction	
Backwards	Move in that direction	
Turn Around	Turn around and continue moving	
Come About	Turn around and continue moving	
Slow Forward	Move slowly in the indicated direction	
Slow Left	Move slowly in the indicated direction	
Slow Right	Move slowly in the indicated direction	
Slow Backwards	Move slowly in the indicated direction	
Slow Back	Move slowly in the indicated direction	
One Forwards	Move a bit in the indicated direction, then stop	
One Left	Move a bit in the indicated direction, then stop	
One Right	Move a bit in the indicated direction, then stop	
One Backwards	Move a bit in the indicated direction, then stop	
One Back	Move a bit in the indicated direction, then stop	

Yes, there is a lot of duplication in commands. I personally think it's so you can say pretty much anything close to what you mean during the heat of battle and get the correct response.

Note that any PC, even a ghost, can give the tillerman orders. This is true even if they don't own the boat. This is why you want to keep the riff-raff off your boat by locking it up with your key.

Where'd my boat go?
Boats can disappear after a while if you just leave them lying around, then log off. To prevent this you have to be at anchor, and have PCs of some sort (not necessarily you, or anyone who normally accompanies you) walk by it every now and then. In other words, anchoring it in a busy harbour will probably keep it safe. Anchoring out in the wilderness somewhere is kind of chancy.

In a harbour, however, it's entirely possible to have your boat boxed in by other boats.

If you want to guarantee the safety (and range of motion) of your boat, dry-dock it with a harbourmaster. Make sure there's no-one left on board, and no items on the deck (you can leave stuff in the hold, if you want). Find a harbourmaster, say "dock" to him, then click your ship. You'll be given a claim ticket which can be used to reclaim the ship later.

Dry-docking a ship costs 100 gold pieces.

When you are ready to reclaim your ship, walk back to more or less where you had it last, double-click the claim ticket, then click the water.

Regardless of whether or not you formally dock a ship, do not under any circumstances have everybody on board log out while still at sea. A ship which is not safely at shore will disappear after a while if no-one is on board. When you log back in you'll reappear on the nearest dry land to your last position. This could very well be an island with no connection to the mainland, so you are now the Britannian equivalent of Robinson Crusoe. Enjoy your stay.

Miscellaneous
How do I trade with another player?
Drag the item you want to trade on top of him, then let go. This will open a dialog on each of your screens. He will place his end of the deal in the dialog too. You can click any item on this dialog to confirm that it is what you think it is. If you agree with his offer, click the blue jewel next to your name on the dialog. If he then clicks his jewel, the trade is complete.

How do I give something to a player?
Giving is the same as trading. The receiving side just doesn't put anything on his side of the offer.

Credits
Previous versions of this guide were made better through the efforts of Faith LeFebvre, "Wags", Nick Sanders, Duane Fields, a Brit named Earl and "Feedback X of Vesper/Baja".

The earlier versions of the guide were much more numbers-oriented, as the "How many logs does it take to make a wooden shield?" kind of information was not generally available then. However, the UOSS (http://uoss.stratics.com) goes into excruciating detail on these matters now, so I recommend going there and checking it out. You may have seen it already, as it's the major site hosting this guide but if you haven't, go there now. I'll wait. Shoo.

Disclaimer
This material is copyrighted. Please do not reproduce it in any form without the consent of the author. I am amenable to seeing this posted non-commercially elsewhere, so feel free to drop me a line if you like at pdrye@idirect.com.

If you have some additional information or more questions that you would like to see included in this document, let me know. Oh, and if you're on Chesapeake and see Bolger the Archer, Irufan the Mage, or Svala the White, say "hi".