Ideas on Anatomy, Companionship and More!!!

Okay let me preface this by saying I have a lot of time while I work to conjure up ideas on how to make the style of play I like, which is more melee/PVM based above anything else, more in depth and enjoyable to play. So here are a few of the ideas I have been rolling around in this empty head of mine.


Anatomy: Have the anatomy skill function much like the Animal Lore skill does, but only work on brigands, pirates and any other npc based human, such as have the whole breakdown of skills and stats. Which will lead into my next idea of Companionship...


Companionship: Yes everyone has been asking about NPC warriors and mages, but why not take this a step farther...and introduce Companions? I will elaborate a little...
Have the regular npc warriors, mages and paladins available for hire to train or fight with as a new player, but then take it a step further once you start to grow as a character. Create a new deed for hire for the various types of melee fighters...swordsman, armsman, archer, fencer, duelest...to fight along side of you, help hone their skills(much like a pet or companion for the non-tamer). Here is how I propose to make this not over powered, and a few details:

• 1. Each Companion should take up 3 or 4 slots(as to not have more then 2 at any time)
  2. Using the skills Tactics and Anatomy to control them(much like taming and lore for pets)
  3. Being able to equip them with gear of your choice(hunting undead? give them a silver weapon!)
  4. Each Companion can GM the skills they use(much like a dragon or mare for a tamer)
  5. Have a place to house your companion while not online(Barracks Sergeant of sorts, but with a greater fee then pets for stabling)
  6. Eventually have a chance to bond with your companion and be able to res them upon death

Just a thought I had on the whole spin of hired NPCs, I love grinding out a living on slaughtering the lesser mobs of the land but would thought this would add a nice twist!

Armor: I know this has been thrown out there but a modification to the dexterity hit for wearing armor should be reworked. This was implemented to give use to armor other then plate, but the dex hits that take place are just reversing this, very few warriors run around in full plate anymore. This would not only effect the classes that are wearing the armor but give a boost to the smithing trade of armor.

This or even a cut in half would help wearing additional armor more useful again.

Melee 3.0 : Coming soon to a thread near you!!


Just my thoughts, feel free to add input...negative input is better than no input at all!

*pictures hiring two female wrestlers and eventually bonding with both of them at the same time

Good ideas. We'd have to make sure there were some checks and balances in place to make sure nobody was running around using three accounts and 6 archer companions to grief newbs in the cemetary. I can certainly get behind reworking the armor, though. Perhaps even lowering the effectiveness of leather armors could be in order?

LOL spam reported...

Would love to take 2 GM archers with 2 archer companions each, all equipped with vanq heavy x-bows and a nice "attack closest red" macro and just camp the entrance to Destard...or the teleporter by EG's.

More on-topic, I would love to see training and equipping of NPCs. I think at most, one per person to keep things within reason. It's not like it will be even as close as powerful as a tamer. Perhaps even build in some limiting mechanics vs players so they perhaps don't instant attack on command and have a certain delay or something.

Just a thought, but I love the concept.

VERY ULTIMA<<---------

what about era accuracy?! :?

What shard are you playing on again?

Mercs is a very Diablo concept, IMO, not very Ultima, and certainly not very Ultima Online.

And FWIW, I think you can train NPC hirelings (just like pets), except of course you can't stable them or bond them.

I dunno... I'm not a fan of where this is going. Hirelings in this game were always relatively week for balancing purposes, IMO. Your "mercs" were supposed to be your guildmates!

I'm with Pirul though... if it gets implemented, it's practically begging for archer bots on the shard.

Get ye a dwarf (such as kiln the dwarf). Train up said dwarf in all defensive traits such as parry, resist, weapon skill, max str.

Dress said dwarf according to your whim and fancy. I prefer to dress them in plate mail because it provides high armor and looks dashing.

Record several clever and comical phrases for your dwarf to shout.

Once all steps above are completed, set dwarf to auto follow your main character(I recommend that the dwarf rides a mount because they are reeeeeaally slow on foot)

badda bing you've got a companion who will do whatever you wants!


(please be advised this is intended for people not running UO from a commadore. most pc's manufactured post circa 2003 should be able to handle multi clients)

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Play some Ultima then. The only Ultima that didn't have NPC party members was Ultima VIII. I think IX maybe even had a tagalong or two.

NPC tagalongs are also Ultima Online because you very much could hire a group of them in this game for a long time. Not to the degree of training them up and equipping them, but the concept is decent given the limitations of 'Control Slots' here. It could very easily be applied where it would be no more deadly than having a summoned daemon or something along those lines.

This!

I think it not only makes sense that metal armor would protect better than leather, but it would also take away some of the OP mages have. Warrior versus a mage = mage wins 90% of the time or more. A side effect would result in the metal armor being used more often for melee classes even if the dex hits aren't adjusted.

play with other players?

I would love an NPC sidekick for PvM adventures. Sometimes I want pixelated companionship, is that a crime?

! Idea!

Don't be surprised if you see me role playing a hireling!

I'll be your sidekick any day wise!

"jupiter hire"

BEAT YOU TO IT WISE. Jupitor, you are obligated to accept, according to UO mechanics.

Are you sure you can afford his services?

Haha.
"I shall work for thee for 20 platinum a day." (that's UO days, and I should mention that I don't labor during dark nights, I also require all Sosarian holidays off with pay)

Don't forget the benefits!