[Blacksmithing] Need BOD advice

[ColonelKurtz]

Hello all and I would like to "Thank You" in advance for your advice.:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

I have zillions of regular ingots and a fair amount of the rest of the other colors.

I am a long time UO'er but never really THAT into BOD's. After a few days I realize some things:

I need to be organized
This can be complicated
If I turn in a BOD I get another one faster
I could be turning in a BOD that I might need later

So I was thinking that I would turn in:
all weapon BOD's
all shield BOD's
all bod's copper and under???
Save in books all armor bod's bronze and over???
Do I save Normal Armor BOD's over bronze or do I do gold or agaphite?


Sorry to sound so dumb, but I could REALLY use some advice.

Thanks a bunch!!
The Colonel

 

[Basara]

It would be better to start with the basics - what rewards do you want?

1. If you want Powder of fortifying, you should fill any large BODs for normal 20 Fencing, exceptional Polearms & Exceptional Iron Ringmail, then keep 1 set of each in case you get another large (repeat as necessary).

2. The smalls that give Powder are:
Dull Copper 10Ex & 15Ex (20% chance)
Dull Copper 20 Ex (90% chance)
Shadow Iron 10Ex & 15 Ex (90% Chance)
Bronze 20N (normal) (20% Chance)
Gold 10N & 15N (20% Chance)
Gold 20N (90% Chance)
Agapite 10N & 15N (90% Chance)

3. All shield BODs, Norse Helm, Helmet, Close Helm, Bascinet, and Female Plate smalls should be done, regardless of color, unless you need the ingots more for filling larges, more to get new BOD than the rewards (though the above ones, and the ones in the next section are a bonus).

4. Next, do you want to try for the colored anvils any? They are a 10% drop from a very few BODs.
The Smalls that give them are
Gold 15Ex
Agapite 15Ex

The following larges can give them as well, but are only worth filling for the attempt if you actually have the full set on hand, and have spare ingots (and don't conflict with a better reward - for example, I left those larges off this list whose smalls give PoF). Of course, given the ingot cost, you might want to ignore the plate larges on the list as well.
15N Chainmail Copper
15N Platemail Dull Copper
15Ex Platemail Iron
15N Chainmail Bronze
15N Platemail Shadow Iron

5. If you've already gotten and used a 120 PS, you can ignore all Plate larges below Copper 20 count Exceptional (the BOD where Gold hammers start, and everything gold and above are definite keepers). Except for the anvil chances you can pretty much ignore Normal quality plate larges below Verite 20-count normal (where Gold hammers start).
Even if you want Bronze or copper hammers to play with, you'll get more than enough of them (as well as ASH +10 & ASH +15) from filling all the smalls you don't keep the larges for.

6. The point where Gold Hammers start for Chainmail is 20 Ex Gold Chainmail.
The point where Gold hammers start for Ringmail is 20 Ex Verite.

7. Fill everything else as smalls, tossing the larges. For the colored metals, start with the smallest items first, to maximize ingot usage - you'll be surprised how quickly even 10k ingots can be consumed by small BODs.

8. Also, start with the exceptional BODs, and stick any normals left over into the appropriate small BOD of the same color, whenever possible, to maximize resources. Only smelt when you have no normal BODs for that type. If you need to conserve iron, later on, remember that you can fill the normal iron BODs with NPC-bought items cheaper than buying ingots (except maybe on SP, where all the prices are triple, and mining ingots would be cheapest), and the few weapons the blacksmith doesn't sell, can be found on the weaponsmiths in some cities (like Jhelom & Moonglow)

 

[ColonelKurtz]

WOW!!! Thanks a bunch!!

You have by far given me the best and most thorough advice ever in my many year history reading Stratics UO Forums!!

Thanks again

!!

 

[Calla Lily]

Great info, Basara! Thanks for posting that.

 

[lanced77]

Another good site for tracking the rewards given for a BOD to determine if its worth filling/saving/throwing away is found at the following link.

http://www.towerofroses.de/bods-srw.htm

It was last updated back in 2005 but still holds true to this day. I believe it even covers tailor bods if interested in that.

Enjoy and good luck to you, and as you mentioned organization is a MUST. I think i have 100+ Bulk Order Books containing 100-300 BOD's each. If your not organized its a mess not nearly as bad as the old days before the books existed.

 

[Basara]

How I organized mine

1 book for the non-combinables that give desirable rewards.

then, do the colored BODs this way...

1. 9 paragon chests (one of each ore color)

2. One backpack or wooden box for each Large BOD type for that metal (3 each for the colors, 8 for Iron). It helps to engrave the BOD type and/or dye it to match the ingot type, in case you have multiple chests open or pull a pack out.

3. In each backpack, put markers for each type of that LBOD (10 15 & 20 count for both normal & exceptional - you can use 6 old vendor runes, renamed, for this, or 6 books). Do this all of the backpacks in a chest (one chest at a time, so you can reuse the markers in the next chest).

4. Look over your list of BODs you want to keep. Open the first pack, and check the LBOD type, quantity & quality against your keep list.
4.a. If it is on your keep list, name a BOD book for the ingot, LBOD, quality & quantity (example, "Iron Fencing Normal 20" or "Copper Plate EX 20"), and replace the corresponding rune with it.
4.b. If it isn't on your keep list, then pull the rune without putting anything in its place.
4.c. If ALL SIX runes are pulled as unwanted, then pull the container as well.
4.d. (optional) If only one BOD book is in the container, you can pull the container, and just put the book back in its place.

5. Repeat this procedure for all the containers within the chest, then set another BOD book named "(metal type) BODs to fill for more BODs" in the chest.

6. Go to the next chest in line, and repeat 2-5, until all chests are done.

7. Now, take up your unsorted BOD collection. Go back to the first chest, and open the containers (or look at the single books) there.
7.a. Filter your unsorted books for that metal (and for the count & quality of each book), and start sorting.
7.b. Remove only the BODs for each book in the container, one at a time, bringing the target book into your pack, loading it up, and returning it to its proper container before going to the next one (and changing filters as needed).
7.c. After sorting all the BODs you want to keep for good rewards out, and putting them in their proper books, now sort out all the unwanted larges of that metal type (all counts), and throw them away.
7.d. Take all the smalls for the unwanted larges, and put into the book of ones to fill to turn in for new BODs.
7.e. Repeat this process for all the metals.

The end result is a collection sorted so that you can find out if you want to keep a BOD, toss it, or just fill it for a new one, at a few seconds' glance in the appropriate container. No need to constantly refer to a web page or a handwritten/printed list, as you are sorting them as you put them up.

 

[Barry Gibb]

If you need to conserve iron, later on, remember that you can fill the normal iron BODs with NPC-bought items cheaper than buying ingots (except maybe on SP, where all the prices are triple, and mining ingots would be cheapest), and the few weapons the blacksmith doesn't sell, can be found on the weaponsmiths in some cities (like Jhelom & Moonglow)

This is a very good way to fill the normal weapon deeds (all except for warforks, because you cannot buy them). Any Blacksmith or Weapon Smith will sell you the weapons you need for your deeds. Skara Brae, Jhelom, and Britain are good places to go since they have many of these NPCs. This also works very well for normal Iron Helmet Deeds (Chain Coif, Helmet, Bacinet, etc..). However, this method can get very expensive when filling armor BODs. i would reccomend that you don't do this for armor ones. I would not discard all of your Large Weapon Deeds, just fill a couple and you have made back most of the money you spent buying normal items from NPCs, at the expense of a few deeds.

This method will not work on SP, the prices of NPC items is outrageous. I tried it when I started a new smith on SP and quicly found that out.

Stayin Alive,

BG

 

[Basara]

Barry, the weaponsmiths DO sell warforks (but not the blacksmiths) - I buy mine at the Moonglow weaponsmiths all the time (or do when I'm not training some BOD runners to 120 - currently 2 of the 3 characters in training can gain on warforks, so I'm crafting them for gains).

 

[Wilde1]

great info Basara, I cut and pasted into a word document until I master the rule set hehe

thanks!

 

[Barry Gibb]

the weaponsmiths DO sell warforks (but not the blacksmiths)

SWEET!!!

I guess I just never noticed, because I am just looking for the weapons that I need for the current deed I am filling. Thank you for the info, Basara.

Stayin Alive,

BG