A New Event: A Storm of Storms

[RavenWinterHawk]

A storm of storms ripped through the oceans of Britannia. A powerful storm with black lightning. The storm was created by the energy released by the 1000's of pieces of blackrock that have been exploded across the lands. This storm was able to move within facets and shards. It was present in all places, in almost the exact same time. Hundreds of portals erupted throughout the storm, briefly connecting all facets and shards.

The storm turned the seas, dragging up relics that have been buried beneath the sands. The cross dimensional portals in the storm pulled objects from other lands depositing them in the ocean. This process encassed the objects in a strange cocoon. The storm briefly made it to land and as quickly as it came on, it was gone. What was left within the storm was scattered across the land.

What was left...

An encrusted relic: From the turning of the ocean depths.
A strange cocoon: From the movement of items through the portals.

How do you find them...

Fishing them up from your boat or shore. Chance is greater with 100 fishing. Because of the storm the tillerman often asks you to read coordinates for him. A box appears with skewwed/distorted numbers that you must enter (to prevent you know what): You can find an encrusted relic or strange cocoon this way.

You can find them laying around the lands. Explore. On the shores you might find a strange cocoon or an encrusted relic. In land you can only find the encrusted relic.

You may find an encrusted relic or cocoon on a monster.

Check the NPC's they mave have come across something.

Once you find one, it has to be placed in your house or bank box. You wont be able to find one if you have one in your backpack. They are too heavy and the stench is horrific. The must be removed from your pack.


What do you do with them.

Alchemists will need to create potions to remove the cocoon or encrusted casings. The ingredients are fairly common and can be found on monsters.

Alchemists will need to create stablizing potions to finalize the cleaning and eventually use of the object.

What is in them.

Well it would be a mix of 1000 items.

A chance for old EM items that have born on dates.
A chance for new items that are for eye candy with born on dates.
A chance for uniquely hued standard items such a rusted sextant.
A chance for unquely charged uber weapons, that have limited use.
A chance for unique armor.
A chance to find petrified food.
A chance to find petrified plants.
A chance to find ancient seeds.
A chance for treasure map to magnificant treasure.
A chance for sos to magnificant treasure.
A chance for a portal to a magic dungeon.
A lot of old clothing, painting, footware, that is unique.

*ADDED STUFF *
A chance for "a claim ticket".
A chance for weapons that look pretty with effects.
Conner: Got some armor that could be repaired and used in a limited fashion.


These items could be taken taken to an NPC for rarity verification. The cost to do so is 100k. Once verifed it will get a rating.

A basic plan for endless fun. I wanted to sum up what the game is missing in part. Everything doesnt have to be a mega event, overhaul of factions/systems or a massive programming venture. This is basically random rolling.

 

[Ender]

Sweet, when's it starting?

"Soon."

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Sweet, when's it starting?

"Soon."

Im doing a run though in my head. Ill update you shortly.

 

[Emil Ispep]

Very good ideas..

Makes 15 new plants look like... chocolate.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Okay,

So far my alcemist was able to craft 12 bottles of quality grade acid. It took my warrior 45 minutes to secure the ingredients. This will take care of about 8cocoons or encrusted items. Sometimes you need more then one bottle.

I was also able to craft 4 bottles of cleansing and stablizing solution. That took my mage about 1 hour to collect the ingredients.

Oh I was able to make 60k of my vendor. My alchemist sold 3 bottles of quailty grade acid for 20k. Not bad. Im not sure what to charge for the cleansing solution. Ill put one out at 40k. See what happens.

I havent found any cocoons or encrusted items. Ill let you know when I do.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

The potion sold for 40k.


I just found my first cocoon. It was in the woods just beyond my house. I treated it with the potions and found "a forgotten claim ticket". I noticed you could double click it. I took it to a banker and targeted the banker. The reply from the banker was "it looks like it for provisions".


I found a provisioner, double clicked my ticket, and clicked the provisioner.


"Ah this ticket is quite old. We do keep records. It is for a case of rot gut wine"

I got a crate without a lid and it was filled with bottles of rot gut wine. You cant take the wine out but the graphic is really cool.

It says "A case of rot gut wine. Claimed By Raven Winterhawk 81308"

I took it over to the NPC rarities mechant and paid 100k to have it evaluated.

I got this message.

"Ah a vintage case of rotgut wine. Rarity 7. Not much of that around"

The graphic now has a Rarity 7 tag on it.


Ill have to update the list of things you can find. I didnt know there was a claim ticket.

 

[Shamus Turlough]

I wonder how many people are frantically rushing to UOHerald to read up on this new event?

Nice job Raven!

 

[azmodanb]

Pretty much it reads as if it's a quest your only kicking ass on... LOL. But would be awsome none the less. I almost ran home from work ... heh.

 

[Kayhynn]

I'm trying to figure out if you're serious with this Raven and it's on Test, or if you're messing with my fragile mind.

Oh hey look a marble....

 

[Connor_Graham]

A basic plan for endless fun. I wanted to sum up what the game is missing in part. Everything doesnt have to be a mega event, overhaul of factions/systems or a massive programming venture. This is basically random rolling.

You know, if your Tailor reinforces that pair of Old Leather Gloves, they'd become usable for a short time. From the runes that can be seen through the grime on them, it appears they may have some magical properties. With the right Leather Cleansing Oil, followed by reinforcement with barbed leather, you might be able to use them for a month or 2.

That sword that was found buried up to it's hilt in the sand looks to be magical as well. With a mild acid applied by your Smith, then tempered with Valorite, it could be a servicable weapon for a short time.

For the gloves and the sword, if you can find a Legendary Tailor & Smith, the chances of them not breaking are increased, along with the length of time they'll last after they've been cleaned and repaired.

 

[RenaLynne]

Wow, can I play?

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Well fishing was cool. I didnt know a few new serpant types were added. I fished up 2 encrusted items.


This is what I got. I got "a smoldering axe". Of course I took it to the rares NPC. Cost me 100k but this is what he had to say.


"A smoldering axe. The rumor is a ancient gargoyle crafted 1 every know weapon and gave it a special fire ability. My friend you have the only double blade smoldering axe known to Britannia. To be safe I'd say not more the 2 or 3 exist of this weapon type. There are other weapon types with the smoldering abilty. But you have 1 of maybe 3 double axes. Rarity factor 15."

The axe now has a rarity 15 tag put on it. I didnt notice before but when I double click the axe. The NPCs comment show up.

It doesnt have any real special powers. It flames and smolders when held and flames up when swung.


If fished up another encrusted item. It was fabric. The rarity npc gave it a 3 rating. Well cost me 100k.

"I see you have some cloth. Its a rarity of 3. The color is unique but the odds of finding more like that is only a bit of a challenge. You see that color was widely used a few hundred years ago. What is interesting is how it held up in the waters. You may want to have a tailor look at it."

I took it to a NPC tailor, double clicked the bolt, and clicked the NPC tailor.

"I see the color is common. Rarity 3 is about right. The material is not cotton. Its a metal of some type. Clothing made from this would give you some protection. Nothing to write home about but 2% or 3% resistance might help."


This is awesome. I lot you know what else I find. If anyone else has luck. Post it.

Conners limited use items sound cool. And its a bit of business for crafters.

I keep a list of our fun and maybe EA will get the hint.

And maybe that could toss me a bone. As well as the other creative minds around here.

 

[Smokey of LS]

so is this real?? whats the deal is it on the test shard or where or what??? no info on stratics or uo herald that i seen.

 

[dielock]

"A basic plan for endless fun. I wanted to sum up what the game is missing in part. Everything doesnt have to be a mega event, overhaul of factions/systems or a massive programming venture. This is basically random rolling."

This is what the OP claims to be endless fun and what is missing from the game. I agree this would be great fun. There is a limitless amount of one of a kind artifacts that could be found. This should not be hard to program either.

Why can't our dev team come up with great ideas like this one?

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Event continues live in my head


SO i found some nice stuff over the last 4 hours. None of that garbage the more you do it the great your chance. Its all about exploring.


While I was leaving the npc shop, I decided to go over to the jewelers just for fun. The said keep an eye on the npcs.

I was looking through the lists of stuff the jewelers had (and being a 9 year vet, i know most of the junk). I FOUND 2 THINGS. The jeweler had something I never saw it was encrusted jewel coral.

The 2nd thing... what else a cocoon. Ill let you know what it was later. Dinner time.


VERY VERY COOL. WELL I BOUGHT IT.

It was only 15k. What the heck. After I bought it the jeweler said.


"I see you have an eye for the rare. Dont bother waiting for more. I wont be getting one of those back for a long time. I suggest you pester other NPC's."


Evidently the NPC have found objects too. I took it to the NPC rarity guy. I was like do I want to pay a 100k for a rating. YEP. Rarity factor 8.

"Every once in a while a blind squirrel finds a nut. You found some interesting treasure. Its still partly encrusted but I can tell you its a rarity of 8. Very hard to find. Probably from a sunken ship. Theres more where that came from but not much."

 

[Smokey of LS]

yea that is a great idea and sounds like alot of fun... but its kinda dumb the way its been posted makin everyone think this is happening when its just a story in your head!

 

[Amathist of PoC]

Event continues live in my head

Well you had me rushing to uoherald to find information on the event....sucks that its only in your head.

 

[Oriana]

Event continues live in my head

I'll have some of what she's having!!

Seriously though sounds like it would be a fun thing to do, and bring back some love to fisherfolk and maybe even a good gold sink.

Ori

 

[Conrad99]

I broke out my fisher and tried. Nothing
Then ran around the forest looking but nothing.

You had me tricked. I thought I missed something.

It would be great though.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Well read the bottom of the original post.

I found out what the smoldering axe does.


I had to got to fel. Maybe it had double resources for the events who knows. Well I ran around and luckily found and encrusted item right on the coast. I bank it and went back. You can hold more then 2 in your pouch.

Being greedy I kept going and ran into 2 red mages. Well I had my axe and never tried to insure it. I decide not to run and rushed the mage. I stuck the mage for 60 damage and engulfed him in a wall of fire. The other mage ran off after seeing this perma flame engulfing his friend. I finally ran too. I got this message.

"you released the power of the smoldering weapon. It will take 24 hours to recharge."

Im not sure if I killed the mage or not. It seemed more to paralyze him in fire. He stood there and couldnt do anything. I decided run.

I made it back to trammel and was able to insure may axe. I hear somethings cant be insured.

I have two items to take to my alchemist now.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

My last 2 items were pieces of a shipwreck.

I got a rusted cannon.

And this is really cool. Its the name of a sunken ship. Its the boards that held the name of the ship. This one is the Trade Winds of Vesper. You can mount it to your wall.

 

[Emil Ispep]

Well you had me rushing to uoherald to find information on the event....sucks that its only in your head.

Haha.

I posted above, and im reading the newer posts by Rav, and for a second i was about to log in and go sailing..

 

[hawkeye_pike]

RavenWinterhawk, outstanding ideas!

I always have fantasized about a more dynamic environment in UO. Where a certain portion of luck, investigation, riddle-solving and skill is needed to find something out. Where actually the QUEST is the goal, and it yields nice (but not overpowered) rewards.

Keep going!

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Just a few minutes ago, while digging in the sandy beach in front of my house for glassblowing ressources, I accidentally dug up an old tattered scroll. Things you find on the beaches these days! The scroll was very encrusted and indecipherable.

I remembered the past event (the massacre of the Royal Council) and went to find some speckled poison and some zoogi fungus. My alchemist actually managed to create a potion out of these ingredients (it took him a while and he burned a lot of poisons and fungi, although he is grandmaster). It was a yellowish liquid and was named Solvent. Using three of these potions on the scroll suddenly revealed an inscription.

It was a recipe! It contained a list of 10 ingredients, which are partly commonly available, partly found only as loot on special monsters. It took me some investigation and about 2 hours to gather 5 of each ingredients. Using the scroll while having 5 empty bottles and a mortar and pestle in my backpack, my alchemist was able to create 5 potions. Then I noticed that the document was charged, and now lost 5 out of 10 charges. After creating another 5 potions, the recipe scroll crumbled and vanished. I was not able to create any more of these potions.

I took a closer look at those 10 potions. The liquid was dark black. As I identified the taste of these potions, they said "Darkness Potion". I tested them in the Painted Caves and was amazed by the effect: When using this potion, an area of about 10 tiles around you became dark for approximately 10 seconds. During this time, my health, mana and stamina regeneration doubled, while the swing speed of the agressors around me was lowered a bit. However, I had to wait 5 minutes before being able to use another of these potions.

After some more digging, I found out that dozens, if not hundreds of different kinds of recipes could be found (only on rare occasions), each one of them yielding different kinds of potions. Some of them raised a certain skill for 5 points for a limited amount of time. Some of them caused monsters to go after their own kin for a short time. Some could be applied to my weapon and gave it 5 Mind Blast charges. Some would Incognito me for 10 minutes after drinking. Some would surround me by swarms of bees for my own protection for a minute. The list is endless...

Let's keep digging and exploring!

 

[Emil Ispep]

Oo i like the dark potion idea. Was kinda hoping since normal wisps give off light, that shadow wisps would absorb it, and "blacken" the area around them.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

I received word from other players who discovered more scrolls, yielding potions with very interesting effects:

• Earthquake Potion: When using this potion, an earthquake shakes the earth 10 tiles around you, and a few rocks are falling down on random tiles within this range. When hit by a rock, you (or other monsters/enemies in the area) are damaged by 20 points each. This potion can only be used once every 10 minutes.
• Lockdown Potion: Used on an item which is not blocking movement, it can lock down this item for 2 hours ANYWHERE in the wilderness. During that time, the item cannot be picked up by anyone. After the 2 hours are over, the item just vanishes. This finally will make player-run scavenger hunt events much more easy!
• Etching Potion: This potion allows you to etch a short inscription (20 letters) on any metal crafted armor or weapon. Very rare!
• Hover Potion: This potion will make you invisible and keep you invisible for 5 seconds, even if you are moving. Kindof like a short-duration stealth potion. Can only be used once every 10 minutes.
• Carnivore Plant Fertilizer: Using this potion on a pot full of earth, you actually have the chance (estimated 20%) to grow a carnivore plant. The required carnivore seeds can be acquired by cross-pollinating several other plants. When locked down in your house, the carnivore will bite anyone/anything getting close to it and do 10 points of damage. you better be careful before entering a room full of carnivores!
• Destabilizing Potion: Applying this potion to a weapon will destabilize it. Upon the next hit, the weapon will explode and do 50 points of Explosion Damage to your opponent. This only works on exceptional bronze weapons though. After using this effect, you cannot equip another destabilized weapon or cannot apply that potion again for 10 minutes.
• Underwater Breathing Potion: This is one of the most rare and exciting potions! A scroll will only yield one potion, plus the coordinates of a secret underwater cave. Upon drinking the potion, you can jump into the water at these coordinates (any member of your team can join, when they drank a potion, too). You will vanish in the water and suddenly find yourself surfacing in an underground lake. When walking ashore, you will have to face a series of new underwater monsters. Some of them carrying rare ingredients and interesting loot (no details yet about that). However, beware: Before you jump into the water, you have to make sure that your character including his inventory does not weigh more than 20 stones! If you weigh more, you will drown and your corpse (and ghost) will be washed ashore at the nearest coast.

I also heard rumors that some of the more rare scrolls can be found while mining in the lowest levels of some dungeons. Seems like the stealth miner would be a new common template...

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

I hear lots of lost potions are be cleaned out of cocoons.


Well I have been playing for a couple hours. I pulled a cocoon of a Demon and came across one traveling through ILSH.

My alchemist has made 400k selling potions to clean of the cocoons and encrusted items. That god, cause Im spending quite a bit getting the NPC rarity mechant to id them for me.

I think Ill put these on my vendors and try and sell them. At what price. Well 1 Million gold ofcourse.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Sold in 10 minutes. Nice.

Back to hunting. I think Ill go get some alchemey ingredients.


Thanks Devs. This is a great event.

Oh I heard runes are appearing to that take you to dungeon chambers.

 

[solina2]

I received word from other players who discovered more scrolls, yielding potions with very interesting effects:

• Earthquake Potion: When using this potion, an earthquake shakes the earth 10 tiles around you, and a few rocks are falling down on random tiles within this range. When hit by a rock, you (or other monsters/enemies in the area) are damaged by 20 points each. This potion can only be used once every 10 minutes.
• Lockdown Potion: Used on an item which is not blocking movement, it can lock down this item for 2 hours ANYWHERE in the wilderness. During that time, the item cannot be picked up by anyone. After the 2 hours are over, the item just vanishes. This finally will make player-run scavenger hunt events much more easy!
• Etching Potion: This potion allows you to etch a short inscription (20 letters) on any metal crafted armor or weapon. Very rare!
• Hover Potion: This potion will make you invisible and keep you invisible for 5 seconds, even if you are moving. Kindof like a short-duration stealth potion. Can only be used once every 10 minutes.
• Carnivore Plant Fertilizer: Using this potion on a pot full of earth, you actually have the chance (estimated 20%) to grow a carnivore plant. The required carnivore seeds can be acquired by cross-pollinating several other plants. When locked down in your house, the carnivore will bite anyone/anything getting close to it and do 10 points of damage. you better be careful before entering a room full of carnivores!
• Destabilizing Potion: Applying this potion to a weapon will destabilize it. Upon the next hit, the weapon will explode and do 50 points of Explosion Damage to your opponent. This only works on exceptional bronze weapons though. After using this effect, you cannot equip another destabilized weapon or cannot apply that potion again for 10 minutes.
• Underwater Breathing Potion: This is one of the most rare and exciting potions! A scroll will only yield one potion, plus the coordinates of a secret underwater cave. Upon drinking the potion, you can jump into the water at these coordinates (any member of your team can join, when they drank a potion, too). You will vanish in the water and suddenly find yourself surfacing in an underground lake. When walking ashore, you will have to face a series of new underwater monsters. Some of them carrying rare ingredients and interesting loot (no details yet about that). However, beware: Before you jump into the water, you have to make sure that your character including his inventory does not weigh more than 20 stones! If you weigh more, you will drown and your corpse (and ghost) will be washed ashore at the nearest coast.

I also heard rumors that some of the more rare scrolls can be found while mining in the lowest levels of some dungeons. Seems like the stealth miner would be a new common template...

Oh my god here I am going crazy at work, thinking, Oh I got to get home, I got to get home, maybe I can leave early!!

RavenWinterHawk, please post what you took, I want some of that as well.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

What did I take? A double dose of imagination and simplicity chased down by a strong shot of UO foundation. Also known as, the stuff people like.

Try it and start posting on what you charcture finds.

Keep in mind the whole theme is just exploring and finding stuff. What a concept.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Unfortunately, we found out that the Carnivore Plants do not yield any seeds! Although many players are complaining about that, it actually will help keeping this plant rare and not flooding the market. If the plant would yield seeds, it would make the quest for the right potion unnecessary.

We also found out, that the ingredients for the recipe scrolls appear to be random. Two players each found a scroll for a Carnivore Plant Fertilizer (5 charges), and each scroll listed different ingredients. It seems wise to only search for the ingredients when you decyphered a recipe, and not keep them stashed in your house.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Wow! Another discovery!
After finding another scroll and cleaning it with a solvent potion, The scroll seemed to be personalized! It said "A bloodbath recipe scroll discovered by Hawkeye Pike (25 charges). Remaining time: 30,000 seconds".

It seems that certain recipes are personalized and can only be used by the character who decrypted it. This means, the associated potion can only be created by me, and the recipe cannot be given to another player. This will make me a fortunate merchant! The bloodbath recipe actually is quite rare. There are not more than 5 of these scrolls available at the same time on a shard. After gathering all the required ingredients, I produced 25 potions:

Bloodbath Potion: When used, all enemies within a 5 tile range of yourself will begin to bleed. The bleeding cannot be healed with bandages, and it will last 30 seconds. It will do 5 points of damage every 2 seconds against a player, and 20 points of damage every 2 seconds against a monster.

However, the scroll has a limited life span. After 30,000 seconds it crumbles and vanishes. Just enough time to create the potions, but this scroll is not meant for hoarding. That's good, as the amount of bloodbath scrolls is capped per shard.

I heard that other personalized scroll types are out there. Rumor has it, that more than 200 different types of personalized scrolls are available. Each one limited to 5 per shard and with limited life span.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

A different type of the Underwater Breathing Potion has been discovered:

It allows you to breath underwater for 15 minutes. After the effect wears off, you have to surface quickly or you'll die and your corpse and ghost will be washed ashore.

The scroll also leads you to a certain location in the middle of the ocean. You and your team mates (who have to have used that potion, too) will then jump into the water at the given coordinates. You will find yourself in an actual underwater area, similar to a dungeon, but underwater. Instead of monsters, sharks, kraken, poisonous crabs and other dangerous fish can attack you. A shipwreck was found, and the group fortunately had a lockpicker with them. He managed to open an old rusty chest, but unfortunately died to the poison trap of the chest. The rest of the team looted the chest and found some very rare ingredients in it, along with gold and an artifact.
If you have to fight underwater, mind that only light one-handed weapons will work (dagger, skinning knife, darts [for archers]). Also, many spells will not work underwater. Especially fire- and energy-based spells will fail. You cannot summon underwater. And stealthing won't work either.

Remember, that weighing more than 20 stones will drown you. Should the loot exceed the weight limit, you immediately have to surface or you will die.

 

[Smokey of LS]

all this does sound like it would be tons of fun and give people somethin new to do for a looooong time, but think bout how much it would take to implement it. sounds like thousands of new items, for that you may as well add some new land and call it a exspansion... oh wait "under water dungeon" hmm and runes to dungeons being found. may as well call it a new exspansion anyways. which is where we still stand today after who knows how long..... waitin for new content.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

start with the storm

and random searching and finding of

encrusted relic
black cocoon

1000 items can be found inside them.

We find one, clean it, get it id'd, and go an use it. Not much programming there.




STOP and let us have fun. And work on programming the following.

Then add in a dungeon.
A few new recipes.
Some crafting stuff.

The problem is trying to do it all at once.

Start with the top part and lets us explore and find. And then add to it.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Evidentially the storm pulled vessles from other facets, dare I say dimensions. I came out of my home and found...


A ship washed up on the shore. Badly damaged. Im suprised they made it in. No signs of life, I walked on.

Items scattered everywhere. Chests, crates, things Ive never seen. Wish I had my thief. Looks like some complex lock picking and traps. Before I could look for booty. 2 orc like mages step out of the corners. I dont know what spell they hit me with but I was thrown from the boat. Quickly I healed, and met them at their advance. Very smart. They cross healed and attacked me between. I managed to take them out.

A bit more cautious, I entered again. Appears a full crew was there. After hacking my way through them, I believed I was alone.

The were orcs, I think. More humanoid but definately had orc features. Body searches left me with some interesting items. A map that didnt match our land. A few trinkets. And some odd currency.

I was able to find some items that where damage (locked down) and picked them up.

As I left the ship, I watched it slow sink into the sand and dissappear. It look like it dissolved. Hmmm.

Ill have to keep an eye on the shore. Rumor is that appear here and there.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Theoretical code (in extremely simplistic form) follows:

A storm of storms ripped through the oceans of Britannia. A powerful storm with black lightning. The storm was created by the energy released by the 1000's of pieces of blackrock that have been exploded across the lands. This storm was able to move within facets and shards. It was present in all places, in almost the exact same time. Hundreds of portals erupted throughout the storm, briefly connecting all facets and shards.

Set Area: 1000,1595,1200,1795 // Area is 200x200 square
RandomX = Random.Number(fromX1, toX2) // Generates a random number on X axis
RandomY = Random.Number(fromY1, toY2) // Generates a random number on Y axis
RandomInterval = Random.Number(from1, to5minutes) // Gives random interval
At.RandomInterval CallBlackLightning(RandomX, RandomY)

The effects of the storm still linger at sea, and certain other defined areas where blackrock was strong in presence.

Sub CallBlackLightning(X, Y)
If MobPresent(X, Y)
{Random Chance of Mob becoming Blackrock Energized}
If PlayerPresent(X, Y)
{Random Chance of Player Taking Damage}
{Random Chance of Player Getting Energized for 10-60 minutes}
{Extremely Low Chance of Player Being Transported to New Dungeon}
If !MobPresent And !PlayerPresent
{Very Low Random Chance of Something Cool Spawning}
{Random Chance of random appropriate plant type appearing as "Singed Plant"}
DISPLAY LIGHTNING STRIKE
End Sub

Rinse, Repeat

The storm turned the seas, dragging up relics that have been buried beneath the sands. The cross dimensional portals in the storm pulled objects from other lands depositing them in the ocean. This process encassed the objects in a strange cocoon. The storm briefly made it to land and as quickly as it came on, it was gone. What was left within the storm was scattered across the land.

What was left...

An encrusted relic: From the turning of the ocean depths.
A strange cocoon: From the movement of items through the portals.

How do you find them...

Fishing them up from your boat or shore. Chance is greater with 100 fishing. Because of the storm the tillerman often asks you to read coordinates for him. A box appears with skewwed/distorted numbers that you must enter (to prevent you know what): You can find an encrusted relic or strange cocoon this way.

On Fishing
{Chance to miss based on skill.}
{Calculate, based on skill, chance to meet various thresholds.}
If Meets Fishing Threshold {Check FishType // None, Shoes, et cetera}
If Meets TreasureChest Threshold {Check ChestType // Ancient, Normal, better by skill // Replaces Fish}
If Meets SOS Threshold {Check SOS Type // Ancient, Normal, better by skill // Replaces Chest}
If Meets Blackrock Threshold {Check Treasure Type // Encrusted, Coccoon, Etc. // Replaces SOS}
End On Fishing

On Encrusted
Determine Type: Clothing, Armor, Book, et cetera.
Set Weight ReallyHeavy (Random from 150 to 250)
Assign Category Type to Item from Parent
Record Creation of Item from ParentSpawnerProcess
End On Encrusted

You can find them laying around the lands. Explore. On the shores you might find a strange cocoon or an encrusted relic. In land you can only find the encrusted relic.

You may find an encrusted relic or cocoon on a monster.

Check the NPC's they mave have come across something.

Once you find one, it has to be placed in your house or bank box. You wont be able to find one if you have one in your backpack. They are too heavy and the stench is horrific. The must be removed from your pack.

Similar code to have them randomly appear in areas, greater time between spawns, et cetera, to that of the blackrock lightning strikes (or just have them spawn on strikes).

Monsters of various types would simply have them added to their loot tables.

What do you do with them.

Alchemists will need to create potions to remove the cocoon or encrusted casings. The ingredients are fairly common and can be found on monsters.

Alchemists will need to create stablizing potions to finalize the cleaning and eventually use of the object.

Potion ingredient spawn added to various monster tables; also various spawns on ground in harder to traverse/survive dungeons (say, ogrelord isle in Deceit spawns one type).
Code already exists.


Long story short... as long as the BASE CODE for UO is in a good, stable manner to add things, it should not be difficult to do so. And some of this would be fairly easy to develop -- given, again, no knowledge of UO's codebase, but knowing code development in general.

Which goes to another point in ths fantastic adventure. If it takes time to redo certain parts of the serverside code, then do it. Document the changes, document what each area touches, and fix the code to make it more expandable.

Just wanted to give a VERY basic overview of how I, as a programmer, would tackle the project.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Theoretical code (in extremely simplistic form) follows:



Set Area: 1000,1595,1200,1795 // Area is 200x200 square
RandomX = Random.Number(fromX1, toX2) // Generates a random number on X axis
RandomY = Random.Number(fromY1, toY2) // Generates a random number on Y axis
RandomInterval = Random.Number(from1, to5minutes) // Gives random interval
At.RandomInterval CallBlackLightning(RandomX, RandomY)

The effects of the storm still linger at sea, and certain other defined areas where blackrock was strong in presence.

Sub CallBlackLightning(X, Y)
If MobPresent(X, Y)
{Random Chance of Mob becoming Blackrock Energized}
If PlayerPresent(X, Y)
{Random Chance of Player Taking Damage}
{Random Chance of Player Getting Energized for 10-60 minutes}
{Extremely Low Chance of Player Being Transported to New Dungeon}
If !MobPresent And !PlayerPresent
{Very Low Random Chance of Something Cool Spawning}
{Random Chance of random appropriate plant type appearing as "Singed Plant"}
DISPLAY LIGHTNING STRIKE
End Sub

Rinse, Repeat



On Fishing
{Chance to miss based on skill.}
{Calculate, based on skill, chance to meet various thresholds.}
If Meets Fishing Threshold {Check FishType // None, Shoes, et cetera}
If Meets TreasureChest Threshold {Check ChestType // Ancient, Normal, better by skill // Replaces Fish}
If Meets SOS Threshold {Check SOS Type // Ancient, Normal, better by skill // Replaces Chest}
If Meets Blackrock Threshold {Check Treasure Type // Encrusted, Coccoon, Etc. // Replaces SOS}
End On Fishing

On Encrusted
Determine Type: Clothing, Armor, Book, et cetera.
Set Weight ReallyHeavy (Random from 150 to 250)
Assign Category Type to Item from Parent
Record Creation of Item from ParentSpawnerProcess
End On Encrusted



Similar code to have them randomly appear in areas, greater time between spawns, et cetera, to that of the blackrock lightning strikes (or just have them spawn on strikes).

Monsters of various types would simply have them added to their loot tables.

Potion ingredient spawn added to various monster tables; also various spawns on ground in harder to traverse/survive dungeons (say, ogrelord isle in Deceit spawns one type).
Code already exists.


Long story short... as long as the BASE CODE for UO is in a good, stable manner to add things, it should not be difficult to do so. And some of this would be fairly easy to develop -- given, again, no knowledge of UO's codebase, but knowing code development in general.

Which goes to another point in ths fantastic adventure. If it takes time to redo certain parts of the serverside code, then do it. Document the changes, document what each area touches, and fix the code to make it more expandable.

Just wanted to give a VERY basic overview of how I, as a programmer, would tackle the project.

Thanks for the insight.
Seems to go with my keep it simple philosophy.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Actually (above) the black lightning strike would be a cool addition. Why? Well sometimes lightning hits (wouldnt always happen for spawn). Well its followed by thunder. It be a cue to players within a few hundred tiles that something struck the land. Youll hear the sounds and maybe see a flash.

RUN: find the cocoon

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Inspired by Harlequins thread on seeds.


I was using my alchemist to clean off two more encrusted casings. I found some sort of mummified, not quite petrifed, fruit on plant matter. It was quite interesting. No need to get evaluated. Ill save the 100k. As I moved the the plant it seem to crumble leaving a seed. I couldnt make heads or tails of it. I took it to the NPC rares dealer and paid out my 100k. What the hell. He said.


"My friend, this is an ancient seed. Some how it has maintained its intergrity. I think you could find a market for it. Or perhaps bring it to life. Rarity factor 8."


Well after 7 days of growing, a small carniverous plant grew. The amazing thing is it moves.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

ah my other encrusted clump...

A handful of rare coins. Rarity factor 3 through 6. I got 7 coins in all. A very interesting cluster.