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Creature feature #24: The drake, baby dragon or species of its own?

E

Elyssar

Guest
(Quick Note: Sorry for the very delayed CF, but at times Stratics was running so slow I would have pulled my hair out trying to make one, then once it cleared up RL got me busy...) /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

The title's questions, first of all, is something I thought about after someone posted they were baby dragons on another froum. I have also hearc contentions they are their own species. So...which do you think? /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif



Drakes, a smaller version of dragonkin, roam some of the same places that their larger draconian family habitates . They can be found in Destard 1 and 2, Covetous 4, Avatar Isle (aka Fire Isle or Daemon Temple), and around the Valor Hero spawn in Ilshenar.

For loot, drakes drop around 250-300 gold, reagents, arrows, some magic items, scrolls, 20 hides and 10 ribs. Future tailoring proposals will most likely make drakes and their kin the bearers of special dragon leather, so drakes may find themselves slaughtered like cattle for this commodity. Drakes also drop Level 3 maps for prospective treasure hunters. Drakes require 95.1 taming for a first-tame, but recent proposals may drop this to 84.9.

On many shards, drake tourneys are increasingly popular activities. (If your shard hosts a drake tourney, please reply to this post with the name of the shard, how often the tourneys are held, what guild hosts them, and the location of the tourneys.) Drakes can be trained up to become incredibly tough, though they will currently never be able to average more than excellent combat training. (Drakes lack the magery, meditation, and eval int needed to exceed this level of combat.)

In my personal experience, drakes have proven to become admirable training partners, and much of the fun of a drake is watching its training progress. My own drakes solo poison eles, blood eles, dragons, lich lords, titans, cyclopian warriors, liches, all terathans and ophidian types, because I decided whatever a dragon can handle, a drake can too. /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif But a quick warning to prospective drake trainers, in order for your drake to be successful you NEED veterinary for some of the meaner monsters!

now it's your turn. /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
 

allis

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
well i just started taming 3 weeks ago or so, so i never realy owned a drake (only 90.7 skill atm) but whit the new changes coming it will give new tamers a nice pet they can actualy tame them selfs and hunt whit /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
 

Jaina

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
For Some Unknow Reason, I Don't Like Drakes And Never Bothered Training One...
*Scratches Her Head*
I'll Have To Think About That.....
 
P

Puppy

Guest
Drakes are great! They're not baby dragons, they're tough little guys related to dragons. I run the Chesapeake drake tournaments. The next one is this coming Saturday, April 6 at 5pm eastern time. Meet at about 4:30 pm at Nujelm Tram bank if you want to enter. For more information the tournament website is http://www.randomly.com/dazazel/drake.html.

My drake Deathscythe kills bloods, dragons, titans, daemons, efreets, cyclopeans, ogre lords, other drakes, etc. He can kill anything a mare can, he just needs a little more time and a few more bandages. I've had him since summer of 2001, my first-tamed drake. Most of my other tamer characters have drakes too. /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
 
E

Elyssar

Guest
Just a quick FYI Puppy, when i click the link to your site I get a message saying I'm not authorized to view it.

And I'm very happy to hear that there will be a chessy tourney this weekend...better take Panic out to stretch his wings.
 
D

Dragon Bait

Guest
A Drake is a cousin to the Dragon =} related, but not the same.

Here's a list of a Dragons growth

Hatchling or a young Dragon is 0-25yrs of age
Juvenile Dragons are 26-100yrs
Adult Dragons are 101-400yrs
Old Dragons are 401-1000yrs
Wyrms (Aye, the last stage of thier existance) 1001+yrs

Atleast that's the way old D&D catagorized thier growth....
 
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Guest

Guest
very nicely done, I used to hunt with drakes, but stoped when my favorite drake died two a lost connection. I am on a frenzied training kick now. those little things are tough!! =)
 
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Guest

Guest
I have slowly to learn with a drake that I dont need a dragon to make money anymore /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
I have learned that the drake can take out almost anything that the dragon can except AW and Balrons or other really tough monsters *With Vet!*

For The Chesapeake Drake Tournament, Go To My Episodes And You Can See Pics Of The First 3 Of Them
 
T

TrueRagoo

Guest
84.9?! god i hope not.. i love killing stuff with a pack of drakes... 84.9 is just too low:(
 
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Guest

Guest
I agree that with the level the drake will be at, the other tames at that level are nothing compared to the drake

Hell Hound - 85.5 Taming Needed,
*IF* Drake - 84.9 Taming Needed
hrmm which one to choose....
 
E

Elyssar

Guest
I think 84.9 is fine...think about it, after Publish 16 tamers will need some kind of incentive to go on if they get discouraged. A self-tamed drake, trained up nicely, will be a good companion! I don't think gains are going to be as good as they are with powerhour, and if I were at that level I would feel very discouraged to see how long away I am from owning dragonkin. And remember, Oaks said that tweaks will be made during testing. The second proposal did NOT list the skill needed for a drake (I took my info on that from 1st proposal) so for all we know they could make them PHC level (PHC would do better at 85ish skill as well.) Although the nice thing about a firebreather that has some "oomph" at this low level will give lower tamers a chance to get the feel of how to hunt with dragonkin...which is something a lot of people don't get now, as many people buy a dragon ASAP and all guard me on their way to fame and fortune.
 
P

Puppy

Guest
Yikes, can you PM me exactly what the message is you get? Is anyone else having a problem accessing the site? It's hosted on my brother's server and there shouldn't be any limits on hits or anything, or any access needed. If people are having a problem I need to let my brother know so he can fix it! In addition to the drake pages, I have two other websites, one for a fan club I run and another a new one I'm working on that I want to be pretty big, and I want to make sure everyone's able to access them!
 
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Guest

Guest
i had that access problem too but like 10 mins later i tried again and it worked
 
Z

Zirva

Guest
<font color=blue>I found out how tough these little guys are when I came home from a trip to Fire Isle with a fresh drake named Runt. Some inconsiderate treasure hunter had left a liche lord and an elder gazer sitting on my doorstep, and Runt took them both out in superb style. I only had about 60 Veterinary at the time.</font color=blue>
 
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Guest

Guest
how about
Direwolf 80
Hellcat 82
Hellhound 84
Steroid Hellcat 87
Drake 89
Kirin/Unicorn 92
Dragon/Mare 95
WW 98
just a different table that aint ne'er gonna be

Hmm but have noticed that training resist on drakes is slow.. dunno why but it is.. (someone suggested training kirin on drakes.. lets just say that i have tamed kirin that would destroy freshly tamed drakes in their mana dump before the drake notices it has claws so i think resist and drakes should be something that ought to be easy to train.. but no)
 
M

Molicious

Guest
Well for me drakes turned me off cus it was harder to tame than a drag, but weaker as well. The taming difficulty of drakes as of the moment puts it out of the loop. At 84.9 drakes will be at the proper taming level for their power and will be an important milestone in one's taming carreer rather than a ho-hum speed bum.
 
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Guest

Guest
I love the drakes, they're so cute! When I was training taming, I'd keep trying for a dragon over at the Daemon Temple, but they were always being attacked by warriors no matter what time of day I went, so I'd practice on the drakes, and have now had several reincarnations of Dante's. I lost one to a fight with a dragon while just trying to get him away from the Temple, one in a fight with a wyvern, when a wandering cyclops joined in and I was being attacked by something (can't remember what), and couldn't stay close enough to heal him, and my last Dante had to be put to sleep with he turned on me after I lost conn and he went wild. I was lagging so hard when I got back in that I couldn't get him retamed /php-bin/shared/images/icons/frown.gif

But I used to walk Dante up the road from Trinsic to Brit or Skara to Yew for exercise and take him up to play with the liches in the Yew Forest when I needed moonstones and ID wands. I never did try him on anything big, but my connection makes fighting the biggies rather like suicide missions anyway. At the moment, my stable's too full for another Dante, but I'm looking forward to someday maybe having two "Dante's" to roam around with at the same time.
 

Jaina

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Steroid Hellcats???!!!!
LOL
Cute Name/php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
 
V

Vasago

Guest
I guess I personally view drakes as baby dragons /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

I haven't had a drake for quite some time though...I had a beloved drake some time back, but I lost him /php-bin/shared/images/icons/sad.gif
It was a terrible day...I was in the Orc Cave with a couple of friends and my drake. A good way into the dungeon I got bad lag, because a griefer was luring all the orcs on us! Well...I lagged out for a bit, and of course got killed. We ran a few screens away, and I got ressed, but when I returned to the fight, my drake was all circled in by loads of orc bombers, choppers and scouts. As it was felucca, I could not push through them to vet, and I had no succes gating him out. In the end I just stood there casting GHs on him, while he fought bravely, but as I ran out of mana, he ran out of strength /php-bin/shared/images/icons/sad.gif

Well, it's long ago...but it still stands clear in my head! I think I'll get a drake for my ERC tamer in training! (just want a little more skill first, as he only has 82/100).
 
T

Taura

Guest
I beleive drakes are a species all on their own. Related to dragons but no more true dragon than a White Wyrm is. My first one was a red drake that no one wanted and so I took him. Unfortunately he decided that three liches sounded like fun and they all mana dumped on him at the same time.
 
W

WolfZbane

Guest
I don't know if they're a complete new species, but what I do know is that they are a lot more difficult to control than dragons and wyrms because they're the most agressive tameable creature in UO. When even a dragon won't attack, the drake will suddenly go after it's opponent, even when it's on the other side of the dungeon.

There were ideas in the proposal to remove that option, but as far as I know that idea has been removed.
 
S

seas

Guest
drakes are suicide for both my parry and non parry warrior. when i'm in the fire temple and i get targeted by a drake it's not much later that i'm down to 50 health. for my archer i've got it much easier with a dragon since they are so horribly slow, with drakes i'm hit with melee every 10 seconds or less even if i try to run away. they are much tougher more then daemons maybe mares too..i wonder why not more people hunt with them really. i wish they could develop better firebreath then dragons or maybe fire resistance to give them some advantage over dragons or mares..
 
W

WolfZbane

Guest
Drakes are pretty weak: even a unicorn without mana will easilly kill one. They're great for training frenzieds on though...
 
D

Dragon Bait

Guest
"I beleive drakes are a species all on their own. Related to dragons but no more true dragon than a White Wyrm is"

- 1st off A Wyrm is a Very Old Dragon, so they are a True Form of Dragon =P Read my Chart near the begining of this post on the stages of Dragons growth, all a White Wyrm would be is a Extremely old Ice Dragon..


Tho you were correct that a Drake is a species of it's own. =P

Although frequently mistaken on first sighting for a young dragon, the drake is niether as intellegent nor as powerful as it's dragon kin. This small dragonet has the features and proportions of a miniature dragon, but it's scaly hide is thinner and more translucent than that of even the youngest of true dragons. &lt;- taken from a book that has written more facts on these creatures of myth and lore than any other game =P plus the life span of a drake was only 100yrs, where a Dragon is almost immortal, living on the planet for over 1000yrs
 
G

Guest

Guest
I adore my baby drake Ming. She's taken out WW, bloods, OL and dragons so far. After just a few days she lored at "excellant combat training." And mordanna tells me she can't get superior, /php-bin/shared/images/icons/sad.gif.

I highly recommend people try out training drakes. They are very fun and gave my peace tamer some new life after 7xing out /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif.
 
D

DeadCal

Guest
I hunt exclusively in Ilshenar and never got into drakes because the similar-strength mare is much easier to get around (since you can ride it, obviously!). I'm not all that keen on the fire breathers, aside from mares, due to their tendency to go charging off at inconvenient moments. Even though I'm guilded I always use wyrms instead of dragons. A frost drake (like a mini-white wyrm) might be interesting though.
 
L

Lord Sartori

Guest
After reading this thread I decided to tame my first drake and tamed it first go with a bonus of a gain out of powerhour (now 97.4).
As usual I beat the $#%@ out of it before lead taming and nearly lost it when a dragon spawned on top of us before I had vetted it back to full health, it was still at half health when it fought and beat its first opponent - a dragon /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
"Tiny" was then taken training and easily survived 2 lich lords at the same time - I am quite impressed with the little bugger /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
 
B

Bjorn the Looter

Guest
A long time ago, drakes were my companions of choice. This was the time when we were forced to adventure in a land inhabited by ruthless murderers.

First, the drakes didn't have the nasty habit of casting the Mass Curse spell, like their bigger dragon brothers. This made them safe to bring along and safe to bandage at all times, even during a battle.

Second, drakes used to be deadly fast. They would jump and tear at any murderer unlucky enough to come around, and they would never slow down. They could keep up with any footman, but had trouble agaisnt horsemen. But horses were a rare commodity in those times, so most people walked. Drakes were moving/attacking faster than dragons. That extra speed made it difficult for their human opponents to concentrate on spells.

Also, moving around with many drakes was easy, and 2 drakes had the same damage potential as a single dragon, and, added together, more or less the same Hit points.

For some reason, at some point, the gods decided to balance the speed of pets, and drakes were slowed down to the dragon level, as were the dire wolves. I agree with those who say that there is now no benefits to own drakes over dragons, except for the fun of it.
 
F

Fatal_Beauty

Guest
On April 7th, 2002, A****aka, aka Archaeopteryx, asked me and SM if we'd like to go on a little "adventure". Being the nuts we are, we said sure and with Archaeopteryx's drake, Fireclaw, we headed to Ilshy to visit the almighty, AW.





My husband found a lone, homeless Grizzly. He tamed him and named him Joe. Fireclaw did so great, we brought down AW#2! Joe and Fireclaw readied for battle!





Winning again, we headed towards the Blood Dungeon...looking for a Balron!







Alas, as The Slayer's lifebar turned red, he ran. Joe valiantly chased after...surrendering his life in the name of honor...



A bittersweet victory, indeed /php-bin/shared/images/icons/frown.gif Fireclaw will battle on to avenge Joe and take down all evil in Sosaria!


There were 3 of us vetting the Drake, my tamer has 82 vet, my husbands has 87 and Fireclaws owner has GM Vet.
No offensive spells were cast on any of the monsters by any of us at any time. G-heal was used when me or my hubby failed applying a bandage and when the AW or Slayer were red lined and on the run and FC chased them down. The ocassional Bless was used on FC, but that's it! This happened on April 7, 2002 on Catskills
 
G

Guest

Guest
Hiya, nice to see that there is an ERC again and also nice to see that the Drake Tournaments are still going. Drakes are nice little things.. not as tough as a dragon due to the lack of magery, but especially good for younger tamers who want to learn first how to command a draconian animal properly. Its been a while since I had a drake or dragon, but I guess you never forget your first drake when you hunt with him. I remember that my first one was called "Drakey".
 
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