Ship's Holds are a need for several uses for their ships.
Nonetheless, I would guess that -being fishing an activity which, especially after the High Seas expansion, introduced new Ships, fishing Quests, fishing Powerscrolls and a number of other things fishing related-, fishing is nowadays a very key element to need functional and proper Ships' Holds.
The question is, does the game have Ships' Holds adequate to the new tasks which today's UO requires, namely for fishing ?
My opinion is no and I will explain why.
If fishing is a key new element to sailing because of the fishmongers' Quests, then the Hold becomes a fundamental part of it since the crates are kept in the hold (up to 8) and, also the necessary fish and crustaceans "should" be kept in the Hold for better and more functional filling of the fishmongers' Quests crates.
But is it so ? Hardly, IMHO.
Let's take a Tokuno Hold, for example. Limit is 125 items as usual plus 16,000 stones weight capacity.
Now, fish and crustaceans weight a lot. Ten stones each for fish and 5 stones each for crustaceans.
Considering that a fisherman needs to hold a stock of each and any of the named fish and crustaceans which could be requested by a fishmonger's Quest crate, the max weight capacity is easily filled by using low numbers stacks of each and all of the named fish and crustaceans.
The fish and crustaceans needed for fishmongers' Quests are :
- 12 different types of Inshore Fish
- 18 different types of Deepwater Fish
- 12 different types of Dungeon Fish
- 7 different types of named Crabs
- 7 different types of named Lobsters
Let's assume that a fisherman, to handle filling Fishmongers' Quest crates, will want to have a reasonably sized stock of the above. Say 60 of each ?
The total weight for fish alone would be (42 fish types x 60) x 10 stones each = 25,200 stones !!
The crustaceans would add (14 crustaceans types x 60) x 5 stones each = 4,200 stones
It comes a total weight of 29,200 stones which is way, but way above the limit that the Tokuno Ship can carry of 16,000 stones.
To stay within that weight limit of 16,000 stones, a fisherman would be limited in keeping at most a quantity of 30 for each type which would still bring up a weight filled to [(42 fish types x 30) x 10 stones each = 12,600 stones] + [(14 crustaceans types x 30) x 5 stones each = 2,100 stones] for a total of 14,700 stones which is about filled max capacity of 16,000 stones of the current Tokuno Ship Hold.
Now, considering that orders can be for 20 quantity, having only a mere 30 stock of each type is clearly a very low number.
Yes, players can sure have their fish stock at home or in bank where there is unlimited weight capacity but I see this as a work around. A patched up solution to a problem caused by the current design which I'd rather see as solved by a change of the current design.
The game design introduced Fishmongers' Quests and they require that amount of fish types. Well, then Ships' Holds should be up to that Design addition and allow players to reasonably deal with their Fishmongers' Quests without having to use work arounds like recall to Bank or House with unlimited weight containers.
Because of this problem, I think, shortly after the release of High Seas Ships' Holds were made possible to work as a commodity container to turn items to and from Commodity Deeds which have less weight.
This brought some help to fishermen BUT, it also brought a different type of trouble, the facing of the 125 items current limit of Holds.
Why ?
Because, to avoid continuously having to change fish and crustaceans back and forth from commodity deeds to contain the weight, fishermen now need to have double the number of items as before : a number for fish and crustaceans needed to fill the crates (42 + 14 = 56) and the exact same number of them in commodity deed form so as to have a reasonable number of all fish (say 30 of each) AND a commodity deed for that fish or crustacean type for the rest of the stock.
Now, 56 actual fish or crustaceans + 56 of the same but in commodity deeds = 116 items.
Add to that the need of some containers to have all of the needed items organized for better finding and retrieval, clearly this shows how the 125 item limit is way below minimum need.
All this explaination, to bring up my point that I am convinced, looking at the current Design and what they would be needed for, that current Ships' Holds are both too severly limited in their weight capacity and number of items that they can hold.
They should be both, to be in line with the current game Design, be increased significantly.
Again, I DO KNOW that there are available work arounds to keep one's own stock at home or bank but I just do not see this as proper.
If the game Design has fishmongers' Quests needing all those types of fish and crustaceans with their respective Design weight well, then I think that Ships' Holds would need to be Designed accordingly. That is, with a weight and number capacity that players could play following the game Design without having to find work around in their homes or bank boxes.
That's at least how I see it.
Nonetheless, I would guess that -being fishing an activity which, especially after the High Seas expansion, introduced new Ships, fishing Quests, fishing Powerscrolls and a number of other things fishing related-, fishing is nowadays a very key element to need functional and proper Ships' Holds.
The question is, does the game have Ships' Holds adequate to the new tasks which today's UO requires, namely for fishing ?
My opinion is no and I will explain why.
If fishing is a key new element to sailing because of the fishmongers' Quests, then the Hold becomes a fundamental part of it since the crates are kept in the hold (up to 8) and, also the necessary fish and crustaceans "should" be kept in the Hold for better and more functional filling of the fishmongers' Quests crates.
But is it so ? Hardly, IMHO.
Let's take a Tokuno Hold, for example. Limit is 125 items as usual plus 16,000 stones weight capacity.
Now, fish and crustaceans weight a lot. Ten stones each for fish and 5 stones each for crustaceans.
Considering that a fisherman needs to hold a stock of each and any of the named fish and crustaceans which could be requested by a fishmonger's Quest crate, the max weight capacity is easily filled by using low numbers stacks of each and all of the named fish and crustaceans.
The fish and crustaceans needed for fishmongers' Quests are :
- 12 different types of Inshore Fish
- 18 different types of Deepwater Fish
- 12 different types of Dungeon Fish
- 7 different types of named Crabs
- 7 different types of named Lobsters
Let's assume that a fisherman, to handle filling Fishmongers' Quest crates, will want to have a reasonably sized stock of the above. Say 60 of each ?
The total weight for fish alone would be (42 fish types x 60) x 10 stones each = 25,200 stones !!
The crustaceans would add (14 crustaceans types x 60) x 5 stones each = 4,200 stones
It comes a total weight of 29,200 stones which is way, but way above the limit that the Tokuno Ship can carry of 16,000 stones.
To stay within that weight limit of 16,000 stones, a fisherman would be limited in keeping at most a quantity of 30 for each type which would still bring up a weight filled to [(42 fish types x 30) x 10 stones each = 12,600 stones] + [(14 crustaceans types x 30) x 5 stones each = 2,100 stones] for a total of 14,700 stones which is about filled max capacity of 16,000 stones of the current Tokuno Ship Hold.
Now, considering that orders can be for 20 quantity, having only a mere 30 stock of each type is clearly a very low number.
Yes, players can sure have their fish stock at home or in bank where there is unlimited weight capacity but I see this as a work around. A patched up solution to a problem caused by the current design which I'd rather see as solved by a change of the current design.
The game design introduced Fishmongers' Quests and they require that amount of fish types. Well, then Ships' Holds should be up to that Design addition and allow players to reasonably deal with their Fishmongers' Quests without having to use work arounds like recall to Bank or House with unlimited weight containers.
Because of this problem, I think, shortly after the release of High Seas Ships' Holds were made possible to work as a commodity container to turn items to and from Commodity Deeds which have less weight.
This brought some help to fishermen BUT, it also brought a different type of trouble, the facing of the 125 items current limit of Holds.
Why ?
Because, to avoid continuously having to change fish and crustaceans back and forth from commodity deeds to contain the weight, fishermen now need to have double the number of items as before : a number for fish and crustaceans needed to fill the crates (42 + 14 = 56) and the exact same number of them in commodity deed form so as to have a reasonable number of all fish (say 30 of each) AND a commodity deed for that fish or crustacean type for the rest of the stock.
Now, 56 actual fish or crustaceans + 56 of the same but in commodity deeds = 116 items.
Add to that the need of some containers to have all of the needed items organized for better finding and retrieval, clearly this shows how the 125 item limit is way below minimum need.
All this explaination, to bring up my point that I am convinced, looking at the current Design and what they would be needed for, that current Ships' Holds are both too severly limited in their weight capacity and number of items that they can hold.
They should be both, to be in line with the current game Design, be increased significantly.
Again, I DO KNOW that there are available work arounds to keep one's own stock at home or bank but I just do not see this as proper.
If the game Design has fishmongers' Quests needing all those types of fish and crustaceans with their respective Design weight well, then I think that Ships' Holds would need to be Designed accordingly. That is, with a weight and number capacity that players could play following the game Design without having to find work around in their homes or bank boxes.
That's at least how I see it.