Both barrels

[Rocklin]

I returned to UO about three weeks ago and I decided to try and focus on only a few aspects of the game. I have decided to concentrate on crafting as my main objective. I already have a "mule" character with rising BS, Tailoring, Carpentry, Arms Lore, Bowcraft, Mining and Lumberjacking. With the exceptions of not having 120 Tailoring and Blacksmithy (have the scrolls and am working on it), I am fairly set with him.

I realize that if I want to have a stong chance as gaining BoDs that are worth while, I am going to need extra characters. As my grandfather used to say, "better use both barrels". So I reactivated a second account that has 6 character slots open. The 5 year old account is ready to go.

So what do I need to achieve? *laugh*

How do you go about mass producing smiths and tailors anyway? Should I stop at 70 skill? Any hints or insight?

*places plate of cookies out for Basara and waits*

~ Rock

 

[RichDC]

What you could do (although probs quite boring) is leave maybe 1point of smith on all your chars, that way you can collect (nearly all small iron) bods.

Then you can fill them and turn them in with you actual mule to re-cycle for better bods.

 

[Setnaffa]

What you could do (although probs quite boring) is leave maybe 1point of smith on all your chars, that way you can collect (nearly all small iron) bods.

Then you can fill them and turn them in with you actual mule to re-cycle for better bods.

That's OK to start, but you have to log in all the time with that strategy, and filling BODs can be quite time consuming as well.

I took on the exact same strategy as the OP back in 2004. Since then I've created 12 Legendary Smiths and 16 GM Smiths. They are all GM Tailor.

It took me over a year to build them all up to GM. Initially, I only took 2 smiths to Legendary (1 on each of the two shards I play). But with the Change to BOD gathering last year, I've taken another 10 up to Legendary and I plan to take the other 16 there as well.

I suggest taking 1 character to Legendary Smith and Tailor right away (use and Advanced Character Token to speed it up). Start the other 5 characters at .1 Smith and Tailor so they can gather BODs. Have each character fill the BOD they received.

The Reason? The BODs they are gathering should be in the proper range for gaining skill. Gaining skill is one of the primary reasons for BODs at lower levels. You should be able to gain skill from every BOD you gather all the way to Legendary.

Of course you are free to train the old fashioned way as well. Just follow the tables found in the stickied posts in this forum.

 

[RichDC]

Thats probably a more efficent way, although would it not be better to give the bods to the 120smith to turn in so as to get a better bod return??

Then all the rest divvy up so as to raise there skill?

 

[BajaKurgan]

Start the other 5 characters at .1 Smith and Tailor so they can gather BODs. Have each character fill the BOD they received.

If the goal is to get as many characters to Legendary Blacksmithy and Tailoring as possible, why would you not start the characters on his second account at 50 Blacksmithy and 50 Tailoring?

 

[Basara]

My personal set of crafters are as follows:

Main account-
Lang: 120 Smith & elemental hunter - one of my oldest characters
Armbrust: my human Archer, who is GM Fletching - used him to work up arms lore for the account, via Heartwood bow quests and filling hat Tailor BODs with JOAT

2nd Account- Never intended to have more than one, but I got this one back when the person I bought it for lost internet for a year back in 2003 (he got to play it all of 1 week)
Daystrom: GM Carpenter/miner/tinker/alchemist/Lore, with enough Magery, Smith & tailor for the Carp craftables (puts me into colored BOD range
Andy: Primary Tailor. 120 Tailor/120 Smith/100 Lore, plus sufficient combat skills to gather my own leather. (and yes, the pun is deliberate - his guild title is Sheriff of Mayberry). Got to this level filling BODs (except for last 4.0 of smith, which came from royal circlets - see skill gain logs)
Fitz: 110s tailor & smith, GM Tinker, GM Lore. Other than a period working up smith using royal circlets (to get the 110-116 skill gain table info for the new logs), got to where he is filling BODs only. Currently used to fill all plate BODs (other than female plate, gorgets & gloves) I get, as well as studded leather BODs (and useful bone ones as needeD).

3rd account - This one came with the THB guildhouse.
Grimbod, Indie: previous owner's Bod runners (out of 5 - I deleted 3 others). Grim is in 90s tailoring, 104 smith (GM Lore); Indie is about 5 points behind in all three skills from Grim. Grim's Smith trainers are spear BODs, and low-end plate BODs. Fills the upper-end leather BODs. Indie can do things down to the Helmets, in terms of difficulty, for smith gains, and fills the small item leather BODs for tailoring (anything easier than leggings)

Granted, for the last couple months, I've been slacking a bit on my BODs (been finally working on my first tamer, after creating the character 6 years ago, and doing the Ilshenar Champ thing- will I EVER get anything from a champ not named Oaks?). Writing the new tailor Essay and dealing with family issues hasn't helped either.

But, I should be able to hop right back in where I was when I get back into them (and have been collecting leathers like crazy at the spawns), thanks to the tables I whipped up to tell what items one can gain on, based on skill and scroll used.

Tailor tables
Smith tables

And, yeah, I turn BODs in either with Lang, or with Andy (I generally use Andy only for the tailor BODs, as Lang had better carrying capacity; Andy keeps about 50 items worth of BODs in Books on him, in terms of junk cloth, tailor keepers to sort, and sets for spined kits to complete).

 

[Basara]

Personally, I'd use KR to start the 2nd account's characters as standard blacksmiths (30 mining, 30 tinker, 30 Blacksmith - and 30 Tailor, but only if started using KR - the template only gives the first 3 skills in 2D)

The New Haven quests for the first 3 skills are such that one can get to 50 in them in less than an hour, and the character can be used to supply itself with raw materials for the BODs. Tailor advances fast enough to not really need the advanced character boost to 50, especially filling BODs (which that level are usually things you can gain on).

Note, that, while it will take a while (cause gains will get REALLY slow over 50), but if you use a salvage bag, have studded or ring mining gloves added to GM mining, you can gain up to 59.6 Smith on daggers without losing a single ingot, except from crafting failures when under 49.6 skill.

 

[Rocklin]

Thank you all for posting. Alot of good ideas. I want to keep the main account to the higher skilled crafting. That way, if I have to close the secondary account for some reason, I only lose the BoD runners.

I believe I am going to use take Basara's advise and use KR to get the six characters to 70+ skill. Initially I think 70 will be enough, and I may bring them up afterwords depending on time and interest. The Haven method sounds like a great idea.

Thanks again, Rock