Are there any good online articles that explain Siege's birth and history and why it is so different from other shards?
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Siege Lore/History
- Thread starter Tina Small
- Start date
- Watchers 3
kelmo
Old and in the way
Professional
Alumni
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Dread Lord
Here is just a little thing...
http://vboards.stratics.com/uo-siege-perilous/235435-siege-history-post-here.html
Not so long ago the former dev that built this shard posted... I will look for it later.
http://vboards.stratics.com/uo-siege-perilous/235435-siege-history-post-here.html
Not so long ago the former dev that built this shard posted... I will look for it later.
People used to listen to you?
Opdating Kelmo's link: Siege History... Post it here.
Here is some info about the the born of the shard, it was wiped once before it was up running permenent. Sadly alot did not restart after the wipe. The shard had changed alot sinse it was born. Not all chances was good for the shard. Runesable was the father of the shard
SIEGE PERILOUS Prepare yourselves brave travelers, for Siege Perilous truly will test your skills as a player. Aggressors who chose to alienate themselves from their fellow adventurers will find quickly it is a struggle to simply survive. Only those who can master the arts of teamwork, communication and trade, as well as combat, will prosper in this challenging world.
The true path to success on Siege Perilous is through making allies. As one cannot possibly have all of the skills necessary to obtain every resource essential to survival, setting up trade agreements with other players will often offer the best chance of prosperity. Those who shoot first and ask questions later could quickly find themselves alone and lacking in supplies.
Be sure to read all of the changes located in the above drop down box to familiarize yourself with this challenging world before creating your character. Future updates to Siege Perilous will be posted on Shard Issues and then updated here.
SIEGE PERILOUS - THE STORY
I was weak when I left the stronghold of Mondain, and were it not for my burning desire to drink, I might have taken to the ground, and slept the sleep of the dead. But I was parched, and so with my mind fixated on ale and wine, I climbed to safety, carrying only my sword and a small bag of crystal shards.
Inside each shard I could see, by turning them this way and that, little pockets or mirrors of movement. They were like one of the childrens’ toys that Nystul had shown me, with pictures of clowns or warriors that danced and moved when the light hit them from different angles. But then, they were not like that at all. For the movement I could see within each of the shards was different, both from the other shards and from the way the it looked itself in the light.
When I arrived at Lord British's castle, I assured all that Mondain had been defeated, and his evil ways would no more corrupt the land. With the Gem of Immortality destroyed, Lord British was quite sure that we were free of its influence. I showed Nystul the shards of the Gem. He was instantly fascinated and scurried off to his room to study them.
I’d forgotten about the shards over time, but many, many years later, upon returning to aid Lord British once again, I discovered that others had not forgotten about them. I arrived at Lord British's castle weary, but in good spirits, as I was assured that evil had once again been defeated, and the land would be corrupted no longer. In fact Nystul was quite sure that the evil spell that had covered the world would never again be rekindled. When I asked Nystul about the shards of the Gem, he became visibly upset and vanished into his chambers.
I spent the next week in the company of Lord British himself, and was pampered by wine, meats, and riches. I woke one morning to find Nystul in my room, waiting for me to awaken from my slumber. He bid me to wash up and come to his chambers, and I did so (but only after having a hearty breakfast). I found his chambers, as always, covered with musty tomes, books, scrolls, and the occasional vial or beaker of strange fluids. On a large table at one end of the room a rat ran dizzily back and forth through a glass maze. Next to the maze sat Kyndeera, Nystul's cat, keeping a close eye on the rat's progress.
At the other end of the room sat Nystul, awaiting my presence. On the table in front of him, he had several of the larger shards of the Gem being held up by wire stands, so that he could look at them from almost every angle without touching them. I’d forgotten how beautiful they were. He beckoned me to come over, and as I did I noticed that even from where I stood ten or so paces away from the table, I could see movement within them. I was startled as I approached closer, and using the glass end of one of Nystul's magic spyglasses, I was able to look deep into the gem. And what I saw astounded me.
It was Britannia, the same that I stand on now, the same that I stood on as I looked into the shard of a gem and saw what I could only think of as Lord British’s realm. And the movement! It was amazing. Farmers toiled in fields outside of Yew. Paladins trained in Trinsic to do battle with the orcs that I could see amassing just outside of Cove. Ships sailed the oceans. A dragon darted into a cave north of Minoc. It was tiny, but with Nystul's glass I could see it all.
What does this mean? I asked Nystul. He simply gestured at the other shards. When he finally did speak, it was like he was afraid of each word coming out of his mouth. His discovery had made him weak and as he spoke he grew weaker. He told me that each of the shards contained a copy of the world of Britannia. Complete with Lord British's castle, the dungeons, Blackthorne's castle, and even the shrines. He was fascinated to find that in many respects, the mirrored worlds were the same. Shopkeepers, shoppes, taverns, bars. These could be found by looking in each of the mirrored worlds.
But at the same time there were striking differences. Nystuls voice dragged as he told me that in some worlds towers and castles were being erected in the dangerous areas outside the guards control. In some worlds murderers ran free throughout the woods, killing innocents with no thought to the consequences. He went on and on, for he'd been watching the worlds constantly for the last few days. He'd dreamed of them, and he'd had visions of their fates. He would reveal none of this to me, but instead, collapsed onto his bed and slept.
It was days later that Lord British invited me to visit his trophy room. I'd tried to forget about the shards of the Gem by then, losing myself in the majesty of the palace, and all the wine and food I could stuff into myself. Seeing Nystul in the trophy room arguing with Lord British about something brought me back to reality, and I realized just before they saw me that one of the shards was displayed prominently in the center of the room. I vaguely recalled there being a picture there before, but before I could remember what it was I was shocked into the present by the booming of Lord British's voice.
He bade me come in and have a look at his newest trophy. A shard of the Gem in which you could see the daily life of Britannians in a distorted reflection of reality. He seemed very pleased with it. Nystul was disdainful, but in the presence of our ruler he kept his head and made no disparaging remarks. It was while glancing at the shard on display that I realized which picture was missing. On a plaque just below the dais on which the shard sat were the words: SIEGE PERILOUS, and I recalled that it was a painting of my first trip to Sosaria through a moongate of that name.
I spoke with Lord British for several minutes about the shard, and he explained that he was most curious about the world it contained. What if, he asked, the world inside this shard is the real world? And we are merely a copy of the truth. Perhaps our world would soon be crushed under the heels of a tyrant and with it’s destruction would come our doom. I spoke plain and true, explaining to Lord British that any world which I inhabited must be the true real world. I was surprised that he did not share my view. But he merely smiled and nodded and Nystul mumbled something about arrogance.
Lord British was called away soon after, and once I was alone with Nystul he unloaded his doubts and fears on me. He led me back to his chambers and showed me one of the other shards. One in which war had broken out all across the land. I was reminded of the time I spent in the Stygian Abyss as I watched the battles play out through the shard. When he thought I'd seen enough, Nystul took the shard and wrapped it in black cloth.
He told me that he planned to destroy it later, using a method he could not describe. He was fearful that the fates would make things worse in the worlds of each of the other shards. To me he gave the task of separating them. They have more power, he said, when they are together. They somehow remember their time spent as the Gem, and they try to force their way back together, he told me. I reassured him that I would distribute the shards out amongst the world. The shard of Siege Perilous would remain behind in Lord British's trophy room. The rest would be taken to the four corners of the world.
I arranged to have a couple of the shards taken across land to remote locations in the woods or mountains. The rest I put on ships, to be taken far to the east and west, and in some cases around the world to distant lands. I don't know what happened to the shard that reminded me so much of the Abyss, but if Nystul is to be believed (and he usually is) then it's doom is forthcoming. I wonder sometimes, even now, what happened to those who inhabited that world.
NEWS & SUPPORT ARCHIVES
Siege Perilous Test Shard Will Open on July 16th!
Jul 15 1999 11:30PM *
In order to properly test all of the changes to Siege Perilous, the shard will be opened on Friday, July 16th. Remember, that the Shard will be considered a Test Shard for the first week or two of its opening. During this time, we will be carefully watching Siege Perilous for any issues resulting from the differences. If and only if, we find a major problem will we wipe the shard. If all goes as planned, the Shard will become permanent and no wipe will occur. We will update you further on the status of Siege Perilous as it remains open.
Below are the changes that will exist on Siege Perilous. Those that chose to live in this altered shard are wise to read them carefully.
Your Character
There will be only one character slot available per account.
The advancement gates, once a feature of Abyss, will not be present. Character advancement must be made by traditional methods.
Townsfolk The shopkeepers on Siege Perilous hoard their gold greedily and will not buy items from players. They are, however, more than happy to sell their wares…at three times the cost of other shards!
Townspeople will also charge three times as much for training of skills, stabling animals, joining the NPC guilds, and for hiring them.
Player Vendors will charge 3x as much for their services.
NPCs will not have any gold in their backpacks and therefore, you will not be able to steal from them or kill them to get their gold.
Townspeople requesting escort will not travel with someone who is already escorting another, you may only have one escort at a time. As with all NPCs, they will not have any items on their persons either and the only way they will part with their gold is if you actually bring them to their desired location.
Considering these differences and the ones noted under “Your Character”, it would be very wise to befriend, rather than to attack, your local tradesmen. A skilled blacksmith, alchemist, tailor, or scribe can be a very powerful ally.
Magic Spellcasters adventuring in Siege Perilous should be wary of the changes to their trade. Most noticeably, the spell “recall” will not function.
You will not be able to mark runes in dungeons nor cast Gate while in a dungeon.
For those involved in faction or guild wars, it is vitally important to note that direct damage spells will work in towns.
The spells Blade Spirits and Energy Vortex have been weakened significantly.
Breaking the Law
The biggest difference that individuals of ill repute will notice about Siege Perilous is that there is no stat-loss of any kind for murderers. However, murderers should be careful when venturing close to town, as all towns are justice regions (except for Buccaneer’s Den) and the guards will kill murderers on sight!
Criminals can breath a small sigh of relief, as the Guards will not patrol the wilderness.
There will be wandering healers willing to resurrect those that stray from the path of good.
The shrines will no longer forgive murderers of their crimes (as they did on Abyss) and therefore, one cannot remove their murder counts by visiting a shrine.
Killing an innocent human NPC will result in a Long-term and a Short-term murder count.
You can not assign gold to a bounty when murdered.
The gate to the lawless town of Buccaneers’ Den will no longer be present.
Although you must still be in the Thieves Guild to steal from players, you will not be removed from the guild for collecting a murder count, nor are there any skill or time requirements to meet before joining. The NPCs will defend themselves against thieves and will attack any thief who steals from them outside of town. Also, one cannot steal an item randomly, you must actually “snoop” a pack and select a specific item.
Murderers and Criminals will not be able to kick/ban others from their home, nor will they be able to insta-log.
The title “Murderer” has been done away with, murderers will now show their karma/fame title.
The Good/Evil system will be present on Siege Perilous
Skills
Bards will find some monsters are provoked less easily since the skill “provocation” will now be difficulty-based. In addition to playing music, the use of provocation and peacekeeping, will wear your instrument down, requiring that you replace it from time to time.
In addition to musical instruments, fishing poles, herding crooks, scissors, axes used for lumberjacking, and other bladed objects will also wear down with use.
Fishermen will notice a decrease in the rate that they find SOS bottles and will not be able to fish up treasure maps at all.
Those seeking to gain treasure from chests are advised to have skill in “detect hidden” because all chests in dungeons, in the wilderness, and in towns will be trapped. Opening a chest without detecting the trap first could have deadly results.
Making leather armor will not require as much skill for Tailors as it does on other shards.
Wearing leather armor will not cause any penalties to Stealth or Meditation.
Rogues will find it a bit easier to sneak up on their marks as the chance to be automatically revealed when near player-characters while stealthed has been reduced to one tile.
Failing while tinkering will use resources. Also, when a tinker fails at making a trap, he will always take damage.
When using the Taste Identification skill, there is a chance that the item will be consumed.
The following skills will not unhide you when they are used: Snooping, Detect Hidden, Item Identification, Anatomy, Arms Lore, Animal Lore, Evaluate Intellect, Forensics Evaluation, and Poisoning.
While skill in the art of combat will certainly help one survive on Siege Perilous, the true path to success will be through making allies. As one cannot possibly have all of the skills necessary to obtain every resource essential to survival, setting up trade agreements with other players will often offer the best chance of prosperity. Those who shoot first and ask questions later could quickly find themselves alone and lacking in supplies.
Be sure to check the uo.com website for future updates and information about Siege Perilous!
Changes to Siege Perilous
Jul 20 1999 5:47PM There have been some changes made to Siege Perilous as of last night. Please make a note of these changes as they are active right now on the shard.
Wear and tear now effects scissors and other bladed objects.
Wear and tear now effects musical instruments when playing music and peacemaking.
Tinkering uses resources on failure.
Several skills have been tweaked to fix bugs in improper skill gain or resource usage.
Provocation difficulty was modified slightly. When there are multiple targets, the difficulty is based on the more difficult of the targets.
There is now a chance of consuming what you taste when tasting it.
Additional Changes to Siege Perilous
Jul 21 1999 12:43PM *
Some more modifications have been made to the Siege Perilous Test Shard. These and all others will be added to the original list of changes in the near future.
-The spell “Telekinesis” no longer works.
-Skills that do not require resources will now use mana or stamina depending on the skill. Below are the affected skills and their associated usage:
Anatomy: -10mana, -10stam
Animal Lore: -10mana, -10stam
Item ID: -10 mana
Detect Hidden: -10stam
Evaluate Int: -10mana
Forensics: -10stam, -10mana
Hiding: -10stam
Snooping: -10stam
Stealing: -10stam
Spirit Speak: -10mana
Tracking: -10stam, -10mana
Meditation: -10stam
Stealth: -10stam
Stealing: -10stam
Latest Changes to Siege Perilous
Jul 21 1999 8:44PM *
We will be removing the Stamina and Mana losses associated with skill usage on Siege Perilous when the server comes up from the next maintenance. Maintenance occurs in the morning, so this change should be in place as soon as the maintenance is over tomorrow morning.
Keep an eye out for an important announcement regarding Siege Perilous to be posted tomorrow afternoon-ish.
Latest Information on the Future of Siege Perilous
Jul 23 1999 7:31PM *
Prior to launching the Siege Perilous Test, we indicated that it might become necessary to wipe the shard after a short time, depending on what, if any, problems developed. Problems did develop. We discovered as the week went on that some of these problems have seriously affected the rate of advancement for a percentage of players on the shard. This imbalance allowed far too many players to reach high levels in too short an amount of time. Correcting the issues that had created the imbalance would impact a great number of players who would then have to compete against players who had the opportunity to play under an imperfect system. We felt that considering a wipe was the next logical step.
Prior to making a decision with such obvious impact, we wanted to determine if you, the players, were overwhelmingly in agreement on what to do. Your feedback is incredibly important to us and we sought your opinion through use of the in-game poll. If the results from the poll had shown any major inclination one way or the other, we would have definitely thought twice before moving forward.
After reviewing the in-game poll, the direct comments from players, and our own internal information, we have decided that Siege Perilous Test will be wiped sometime next week. The in-game poll resulted in 53% of players not wanting a wipe, with 47% believing it should be wiped. Due to the nature of the problems on Siege Perilous, and the fact that there was not an overwhelming consensus on behalf of the players either way, we made the final decision on this matter.
Siege Perilous was never intended to be an ‘easy’ shard to play on, but it was intended to be balanced. It is vitally important that balance in skills and stats is maintained on this shard. After reviewing Siege Perilous, it became apparent to us that we needed to implement some changes in order to achieve that balance. These changes will significantly affect both the rate at which some skills and stats advance and the importance of some stats. Given these changes, the results from the poll, and the players’ comments, we feel it is necessary to start everyone on a fair and level playing field by wiping the shard. Siege Perilous has the potential to be around for a very long time, and starting everyone off fresh on the shard is in the best interest of the shard and it’s players.
We would encourage you to continue to play on Siege Perilous prior to the wipe. While this is of benefit to the development team, by giving us a better opportunity to analyze the results of the new system, it is also of benefit to you. You will have the advantage of becoming familiar with the new advancement system in preparation for the permanent shard. Based on your experience with the new system, you will have unique insight when creating your one and only Siege Perilous character.
Speaking of these new systems, we’re sure that you’re curious about the details of these systems. While we are not planning to give out a great deal of detail on these systems at this time, we will explain them in only the most general terms.
Non-resource-based skills such as Anatomy, Evaluate Intelligence, and Hiding are moved to a rate-over-time system. Non-resource-based skills are different from the other skills, obviously, because they don’t use up any material resources. These skills should use a resource; this resource will be ‘time’. This new advancement system balances these skills with the other skills by using time as a resource.
The rate-over-time system will improve skill and stat advancement in Siege Perilous overall, for everyone. For instance, instead of focusing all of your energy raising the time-resource skills, you will be able to advance them during the course of normal game play.
The rate-over-time system helps smooth the curve of stat and skill advancement, and for the most part should not be very visible. In fact, it should be transparent to the majority of players, except in that normal game play will feel more effective for raising stats and skills. The system is being designed such that even a player who enjoys a reasonably long play session will still feel the benefits of the new system. The player who spends an exaggeratedly long time in any given play session will also benefit from the new system, but his gaming habits will not imbalance the shard.
Bear in mind, there is no rate-over-time system in effect for material-resource-based skills such as Mining, Alchemy, and Tailoring. Therefore players who chose to play for extended periods of time will still enjoy gains from work on material-resource-based skills. Those players who are dedicated to extreme play sessions can still find rewards from their efforts without creating an inflated imbalance on the shard.
Furthermore, all players will enjoy an improved system for stat advancement which equalizes the advancement of stats from either time-resource or material-resource skills. The rate of stat advancement from using either set of skills should be the same under this new system. Stat advancement is also handled by the rate-over-time system.
We will also be implementing a system whereby intelligence and dexterity will be more significant. Mages will find that dexterity affects their casting delay and warriors will notice that intelligence bears on the ability to successfully strike their opponents. These changes give mages and warriors more depth by adding an additional layer of specialization.
These new systems will be implemented over the weekend. During that time we will watch them carefully and tweak them as necessary to ensure that they are balanced and fair. After we feel that these systems have been sufficiently tested, we will make the official schedule for the wipe public.
We are very excited about Siege Perilous and believe this shard will be the focus of enjoyment for many Ultima Online players. Look for more information on Siege Perilous and on these new skill/stat systems in the near future.
Update on Siege Perilous
Jul 25 1999 8:20PM *
Siege Perilous will be brought down momentarily in order to update it with some new changes. The changes are as follows:
- Added minimum difficulty before advancing certain time-based skills. This means, you will need to attack better monsters or players at higher skill levels in order to continue advancing. These skills are:
Macefighting
Swordsmanship
Wrestling
Tactics
Fencing
Magic Resist
- The advancement time curve for time based skills is modified so that it is much more accelerated at the lower levels.
- The following skills are considered "time-resource" skills: Anatomy, Animal Lore, Item ID, Detect Hidden, Evaluate Int, Forensics, Hiding, Snooping, Stealing, Spirit Speak, Tracking, Meditation, Stealth, Stealing, Swordsmanship, Fencing, Tactics, Macefighting, Wrestling, Magic Resist, Parrying, Remove Trap
Siege Perilous will restart about 30 minutes after it goes down, after which these changes will be in effect.
Stat and Skill Gain on Siege Perilous
Jul 28 1999 5:09PM *
The Siege Perilous Shard is meant to be a very challenging shard to play on. It will require teamwork, specialization and communication to succeed in this difficult world. To raise the level of difficulty suitable for the types of players attracted to a veteran shard, the rate at which you will gain in time-resource skills and all stats will be slower than on the standard shards. The “rate-over-time” system and daily caps will curb the unbalancing effects of macroing, since everyone will be subject to the same rules.
It’s useless to compare absolute values of skills and stats on Siege Perilous to those of other shards. The inherent value of skills and stats is relative to the rate at which they can be gained. The effectiveness of skills and stats is relative to what the others around you have. What could be considered a low skill level on the other shards, may be quite competitive on Siege Perilous. Furthermore, this new system ensures that everyone will be subject to the same advancement curve, which creates a fair and level playing environment.
Part of this advancement system defines skills as either material-resource or time-resource based. Material-resource skills will not be affected by this new system and you will gain as you normally do on other shards. However, time-resource skills and stats will be influenced by the “rate-over-time” system. The following skills are considered time-resource based:
Anatomy
Arms Lore
Animal Lore
Evaluate Intelligence
Forensics Evaluation
Detect Hidden
Hiding
Snooping
Spirit Speak
Tracking
Meditation
Stealth
Stealing
Swordsmanship
Fencing
Tactics
Macefighting
Wrestling
Magic Resistance
Parrying
Remove Trap
The time-resource skills and stats are subject to the “rate-over-time” system. The system is broken up into two parts.
Firstly, there will be intervals of time limiting the amount you can gain in time-resource skills and stats. The time per interval at which a time-resource skill can advance will lengthen as the skill raises. For stats, the interval will remain constant regardless of how high your stats are.
Secondly, both time-resource skills and stats will have daily caps on the total amount of points you can gain in them in a given day. For time-resource skills, this daily cap does not come into effect until you reach 70.0 in that skill. This daily cap is cumulative and affects the progress of all time-resource skills of 70.0 or higher. Gains in time-resource skills below 70.0, or gains in material-resource skills, will not count towards the daily cap. For stats, the daily cap is set from the beginning and remains the same throughout the development of your character.
After you hit the daily cap, time-resource skills can still be used as normal, but no gains will be made on those time-resource skills above 70.0.
Ok, so what does all of this mean for advancing time-resource skills and stats on Siege Perilous?
Here’s an example.Make the following assumptions for a player: 1. His skills are at zero, and 2. He plays a good, hard 6 hours a day.After about 2 days, he could be at 50.0 in any and all time-resource skills he chooses to practice (limited only by the 700 point total skill cap). After about 3 days, he could be up to about 60.0 in these skills. After about 9 days, these skills can reach up to 70.0 points each.
At this point, the daily cap on the total amount of points he can gain in time-resource skills per day takes effect. Now, if he wishes to reach Grandmaster levels in some of these skills, he’ll need to plan carefully, and consider the daily cap, when choosing which time-resource skills to work on.
Note this cap only applies to skills that are at or above 70.0; any gain in time-resource skills below 70.0 will not count towards the cap. In total, under this system, one can reach Grandmaster level in two time-resource skills in approximately 49 days.
For stats, the “rate-over-time” system works a bit differently. During any given day, the maximum total stat gain that can be achieved is 6 points. Stats will advance at constant time-based intervals and the stat raised per interval will be determined by the skills that one uses.
This should give you a clear idea of how time-resource skills and stats advance on Siege Perilous. We believe that this system will foster a fair and level, albeit challenging, playing field on the shard. Citizens of Siege Perilous can be confident that their efforts are worthwhile, because everyone has to play under the same system which carefully balances advancement over time.
Siege Perilous will have its own section in the playguide on the uo.com website by Monday, August 2nd. We will release the new url for Siege Perilous section when it is ready. The newest information about the Siege Perilous Shard will be posted here in Shard Issues first and then updated to the Siege Perilous section a couple of days later.
Siege Perilous is Up!
Jul 30 1999 10:42AM *
The Siege Perilous Shard is now available and running as a permanent shard. Good luck and have fun!!
Siege Perilous: NPC Escorts
Jul 30 1999 5:10PM We have received many support calls on the Seige Perilous shard regarding escorting NPCs. A player may only escort one NPC every 15 minutes. For more information regarding the Siege Perilous shard,
Siege Perilous Update
Aug 13 1999 5:21PM *
After Siege Perilous returns from its 5am CST scheduled maintenance on Saturday, August 14, the following changes will be implemented:
You will no longer be able to mark any runes in a dungeon.
You will not able to gate into or out of a dungeon, even with a previously marked dungeon rune.
It will not be possible to place boats in a dungeon.
Any boats currently in a dungeon will be deleted automatically after the maintenance.
Here is some info about the the born of the shard, it was wiped once before it was up running permenent. Sadly alot did not restart after the wipe. The shard had changed alot sinse it was born. Not all chances was good for the shard. Runesable was the father of the shard
SIEGE PERILOUS Prepare yourselves brave travelers, for Siege Perilous truly will test your skills as a player. Aggressors who chose to alienate themselves from their fellow adventurers will find quickly it is a struggle to simply survive. Only those who can master the arts of teamwork, communication and trade, as well as combat, will prosper in this challenging world.
The true path to success on Siege Perilous is through making allies. As one cannot possibly have all of the skills necessary to obtain every resource essential to survival, setting up trade agreements with other players will often offer the best chance of prosperity. Those who shoot first and ask questions later could quickly find themselves alone and lacking in supplies.
Be sure to read all of the changes located in the above drop down box to familiarize yourself with this challenging world before creating your character. Future updates to Siege Perilous will be posted on Shard Issues and then updated here.
SIEGE PERILOUS - THE STORY
I was weak when I left the stronghold of Mondain, and were it not for my burning desire to drink, I might have taken to the ground, and slept the sleep of the dead. But I was parched, and so with my mind fixated on ale and wine, I climbed to safety, carrying only my sword and a small bag of crystal shards.
Inside each shard I could see, by turning them this way and that, little pockets or mirrors of movement. They were like one of the childrens’ toys that Nystul had shown me, with pictures of clowns or warriors that danced and moved when the light hit them from different angles. But then, they were not like that at all. For the movement I could see within each of the shards was different, both from the other shards and from the way the it looked itself in the light.
When I arrived at Lord British's castle, I assured all that Mondain had been defeated, and his evil ways would no more corrupt the land. With the Gem of Immortality destroyed, Lord British was quite sure that we were free of its influence. I showed Nystul the shards of the Gem. He was instantly fascinated and scurried off to his room to study them.
I’d forgotten about the shards over time, but many, many years later, upon returning to aid Lord British once again, I discovered that others had not forgotten about them. I arrived at Lord British's castle weary, but in good spirits, as I was assured that evil had once again been defeated, and the land would be corrupted no longer. In fact Nystul was quite sure that the evil spell that had covered the world would never again be rekindled. When I asked Nystul about the shards of the Gem, he became visibly upset and vanished into his chambers.
I spent the next week in the company of Lord British himself, and was pampered by wine, meats, and riches. I woke one morning to find Nystul in my room, waiting for me to awaken from my slumber. He bid me to wash up and come to his chambers, and I did so (but only after having a hearty breakfast). I found his chambers, as always, covered with musty tomes, books, scrolls, and the occasional vial or beaker of strange fluids. On a large table at one end of the room a rat ran dizzily back and forth through a glass maze. Next to the maze sat Kyndeera, Nystul's cat, keeping a close eye on the rat's progress.
At the other end of the room sat Nystul, awaiting my presence. On the table in front of him, he had several of the larger shards of the Gem being held up by wire stands, so that he could look at them from almost every angle without touching them. I’d forgotten how beautiful they were. He beckoned me to come over, and as I did I noticed that even from where I stood ten or so paces away from the table, I could see movement within them. I was startled as I approached closer, and using the glass end of one of Nystul's magic spyglasses, I was able to look deep into the gem. And what I saw astounded me.
It was Britannia, the same that I stand on now, the same that I stood on as I looked into the shard of a gem and saw what I could only think of as Lord British’s realm. And the movement! It was amazing. Farmers toiled in fields outside of Yew. Paladins trained in Trinsic to do battle with the orcs that I could see amassing just outside of Cove. Ships sailed the oceans. A dragon darted into a cave north of Minoc. It was tiny, but with Nystul's glass I could see it all.
What does this mean? I asked Nystul. He simply gestured at the other shards. When he finally did speak, it was like he was afraid of each word coming out of his mouth. His discovery had made him weak and as he spoke he grew weaker. He told me that each of the shards contained a copy of the world of Britannia. Complete with Lord British's castle, the dungeons, Blackthorne's castle, and even the shrines. He was fascinated to find that in many respects, the mirrored worlds were the same. Shopkeepers, shoppes, taverns, bars. These could be found by looking in each of the mirrored worlds.
But at the same time there were striking differences. Nystuls voice dragged as he told me that in some worlds towers and castles were being erected in the dangerous areas outside the guards control. In some worlds murderers ran free throughout the woods, killing innocents with no thought to the consequences. He went on and on, for he'd been watching the worlds constantly for the last few days. He'd dreamed of them, and he'd had visions of their fates. He would reveal none of this to me, but instead, collapsed onto his bed and slept.
It was days later that Lord British invited me to visit his trophy room. I'd tried to forget about the shards of the Gem by then, losing myself in the majesty of the palace, and all the wine and food I could stuff into myself. Seeing Nystul in the trophy room arguing with Lord British about something brought me back to reality, and I realized just before they saw me that one of the shards was displayed prominently in the center of the room. I vaguely recalled there being a picture there before, but before I could remember what it was I was shocked into the present by the booming of Lord British's voice.
He bade me come in and have a look at his newest trophy. A shard of the Gem in which you could see the daily life of Britannians in a distorted reflection of reality. He seemed very pleased with it. Nystul was disdainful, but in the presence of our ruler he kept his head and made no disparaging remarks. It was while glancing at the shard on display that I realized which picture was missing. On a plaque just below the dais on which the shard sat were the words: SIEGE PERILOUS, and I recalled that it was a painting of my first trip to Sosaria through a moongate of that name.
I spoke with Lord British for several minutes about the shard, and he explained that he was most curious about the world it contained. What if, he asked, the world inside this shard is the real world? And we are merely a copy of the truth. Perhaps our world would soon be crushed under the heels of a tyrant and with it’s destruction would come our doom. I spoke plain and true, explaining to Lord British that any world which I inhabited must be the true real world. I was surprised that he did not share my view. But he merely smiled and nodded and Nystul mumbled something about arrogance.
Lord British was called away soon after, and once I was alone with Nystul he unloaded his doubts and fears on me. He led me back to his chambers and showed me one of the other shards. One in which war had broken out all across the land. I was reminded of the time I spent in the Stygian Abyss as I watched the battles play out through the shard. When he thought I'd seen enough, Nystul took the shard and wrapped it in black cloth.
He told me that he planned to destroy it later, using a method he could not describe. He was fearful that the fates would make things worse in the worlds of each of the other shards. To me he gave the task of separating them. They have more power, he said, when they are together. They somehow remember their time spent as the Gem, and they try to force their way back together, he told me. I reassured him that I would distribute the shards out amongst the world. The shard of Siege Perilous would remain behind in Lord British's trophy room. The rest would be taken to the four corners of the world.
I arranged to have a couple of the shards taken across land to remote locations in the woods or mountains. The rest I put on ships, to be taken far to the east and west, and in some cases around the world to distant lands. I don't know what happened to the shard that reminded me so much of the Abyss, but if Nystul is to be believed (and he usually is) then it's doom is forthcoming. I wonder sometimes, even now, what happened to those who inhabited that world.
NEWS & SUPPORT ARCHIVES
Siege Perilous Test Shard Will Open on July 16th!
Jul 15 1999 11:30PM *
In order to properly test all of the changes to Siege Perilous, the shard will be opened on Friday, July 16th. Remember, that the Shard will be considered a Test Shard for the first week or two of its opening. During this time, we will be carefully watching Siege Perilous for any issues resulting from the differences. If and only if, we find a major problem will we wipe the shard. If all goes as planned, the Shard will become permanent and no wipe will occur. We will update you further on the status of Siege Perilous as it remains open.
Below are the changes that will exist on Siege Perilous. Those that chose to live in this altered shard are wise to read them carefully.
Your Character
There will be only one character slot available per account.
The advancement gates, once a feature of Abyss, will not be present. Character advancement must be made by traditional methods.
Townsfolk The shopkeepers on Siege Perilous hoard their gold greedily and will not buy items from players. They are, however, more than happy to sell their wares…at three times the cost of other shards!
Townspeople will also charge three times as much for training of skills, stabling animals, joining the NPC guilds, and for hiring them.
Player Vendors will charge 3x as much for their services.
NPCs will not have any gold in their backpacks and therefore, you will not be able to steal from them or kill them to get their gold.
Townspeople requesting escort will not travel with someone who is already escorting another, you may only have one escort at a time. As with all NPCs, they will not have any items on their persons either and the only way they will part with their gold is if you actually bring them to their desired location.
Considering these differences and the ones noted under “Your Character”, it would be very wise to befriend, rather than to attack, your local tradesmen. A skilled blacksmith, alchemist, tailor, or scribe can be a very powerful ally.
Magic Spellcasters adventuring in Siege Perilous should be wary of the changes to their trade. Most noticeably, the spell “recall” will not function.
You will not be able to mark runes in dungeons nor cast Gate while in a dungeon.
For those involved in faction or guild wars, it is vitally important to note that direct damage spells will work in towns.
The spells Blade Spirits and Energy Vortex have been weakened significantly.
Breaking the Law
The biggest difference that individuals of ill repute will notice about Siege Perilous is that there is no stat-loss of any kind for murderers. However, murderers should be careful when venturing close to town, as all towns are justice regions (except for Buccaneer’s Den) and the guards will kill murderers on sight!
Criminals can breath a small sigh of relief, as the Guards will not patrol the wilderness.
There will be wandering healers willing to resurrect those that stray from the path of good.
The shrines will no longer forgive murderers of their crimes (as they did on Abyss) and therefore, one cannot remove their murder counts by visiting a shrine.
Killing an innocent human NPC will result in a Long-term and a Short-term murder count.
You can not assign gold to a bounty when murdered.
The gate to the lawless town of Buccaneers’ Den will no longer be present.
Although you must still be in the Thieves Guild to steal from players, you will not be removed from the guild for collecting a murder count, nor are there any skill or time requirements to meet before joining. The NPCs will defend themselves against thieves and will attack any thief who steals from them outside of town. Also, one cannot steal an item randomly, you must actually “snoop” a pack and select a specific item.
Murderers and Criminals will not be able to kick/ban others from their home, nor will they be able to insta-log.
The title “Murderer” has been done away with, murderers will now show their karma/fame title.
The Good/Evil system will be present on Siege Perilous
Skills
Bards will find some monsters are provoked less easily since the skill “provocation” will now be difficulty-based. In addition to playing music, the use of provocation and peacekeeping, will wear your instrument down, requiring that you replace it from time to time.
In addition to musical instruments, fishing poles, herding crooks, scissors, axes used for lumberjacking, and other bladed objects will also wear down with use.
Fishermen will notice a decrease in the rate that they find SOS bottles and will not be able to fish up treasure maps at all.
Those seeking to gain treasure from chests are advised to have skill in “detect hidden” because all chests in dungeons, in the wilderness, and in towns will be trapped. Opening a chest without detecting the trap first could have deadly results.
Making leather armor will not require as much skill for Tailors as it does on other shards.
Wearing leather armor will not cause any penalties to Stealth or Meditation.
Rogues will find it a bit easier to sneak up on their marks as the chance to be automatically revealed when near player-characters while stealthed has been reduced to one tile.
Failing while tinkering will use resources. Also, when a tinker fails at making a trap, he will always take damage.
When using the Taste Identification skill, there is a chance that the item will be consumed.
The following skills will not unhide you when they are used: Snooping, Detect Hidden, Item Identification, Anatomy, Arms Lore, Animal Lore, Evaluate Intellect, Forensics Evaluation, and Poisoning.
While skill in the art of combat will certainly help one survive on Siege Perilous, the true path to success will be through making allies. As one cannot possibly have all of the skills necessary to obtain every resource essential to survival, setting up trade agreements with other players will often offer the best chance of prosperity. Those who shoot first and ask questions later could quickly find themselves alone and lacking in supplies.
Be sure to check the uo.com website for future updates and information about Siege Perilous!
Changes to Siege Perilous
Jul 20 1999 5:47PM There have been some changes made to Siege Perilous as of last night. Please make a note of these changes as they are active right now on the shard.
Wear and tear now effects scissors and other bladed objects.
Wear and tear now effects musical instruments when playing music and peacemaking.
Tinkering uses resources on failure.
Several skills have been tweaked to fix bugs in improper skill gain or resource usage.
Provocation difficulty was modified slightly. When there are multiple targets, the difficulty is based on the more difficult of the targets.
There is now a chance of consuming what you taste when tasting it.
Additional Changes to Siege Perilous
Jul 21 1999 12:43PM *
Some more modifications have been made to the Siege Perilous Test Shard. These and all others will be added to the original list of changes in the near future.
-The spell “Telekinesis” no longer works.
-Skills that do not require resources will now use mana or stamina depending on the skill. Below are the affected skills and their associated usage:
Anatomy: -10mana, -10stam
Animal Lore: -10mana, -10stam
Item ID: -10 mana
Detect Hidden: -10stam
Evaluate Int: -10mana
Forensics: -10stam, -10mana
Hiding: -10stam
Snooping: -10stam
Stealing: -10stam
Spirit Speak: -10mana
Tracking: -10stam, -10mana
Meditation: -10stam
Stealth: -10stam
Stealing: -10stam
Latest Changes to Siege Perilous
Jul 21 1999 8:44PM *
We will be removing the Stamina and Mana losses associated with skill usage on Siege Perilous when the server comes up from the next maintenance. Maintenance occurs in the morning, so this change should be in place as soon as the maintenance is over tomorrow morning.
Keep an eye out for an important announcement regarding Siege Perilous to be posted tomorrow afternoon-ish.
Latest Information on the Future of Siege Perilous
Jul 23 1999 7:31PM *
Prior to launching the Siege Perilous Test, we indicated that it might become necessary to wipe the shard after a short time, depending on what, if any, problems developed. Problems did develop. We discovered as the week went on that some of these problems have seriously affected the rate of advancement for a percentage of players on the shard. This imbalance allowed far too many players to reach high levels in too short an amount of time. Correcting the issues that had created the imbalance would impact a great number of players who would then have to compete against players who had the opportunity to play under an imperfect system. We felt that considering a wipe was the next logical step.
Prior to making a decision with such obvious impact, we wanted to determine if you, the players, were overwhelmingly in agreement on what to do. Your feedback is incredibly important to us and we sought your opinion through use of the in-game poll. If the results from the poll had shown any major inclination one way or the other, we would have definitely thought twice before moving forward.
After reviewing the in-game poll, the direct comments from players, and our own internal information, we have decided that Siege Perilous Test will be wiped sometime next week. The in-game poll resulted in 53% of players not wanting a wipe, with 47% believing it should be wiped. Due to the nature of the problems on Siege Perilous, and the fact that there was not an overwhelming consensus on behalf of the players either way, we made the final decision on this matter.
Siege Perilous was never intended to be an ‘easy’ shard to play on, but it was intended to be balanced. It is vitally important that balance in skills and stats is maintained on this shard. After reviewing Siege Perilous, it became apparent to us that we needed to implement some changes in order to achieve that balance. These changes will significantly affect both the rate at which some skills and stats advance and the importance of some stats. Given these changes, the results from the poll, and the players’ comments, we feel it is necessary to start everyone on a fair and level playing field by wiping the shard. Siege Perilous has the potential to be around for a very long time, and starting everyone off fresh on the shard is in the best interest of the shard and it’s players.
We would encourage you to continue to play on Siege Perilous prior to the wipe. While this is of benefit to the development team, by giving us a better opportunity to analyze the results of the new system, it is also of benefit to you. You will have the advantage of becoming familiar with the new advancement system in preparation for the permanent shard. Based on your experience with the new system, you will have unique insight when creating your one and only Siege Perilous character.
Speaking of these new systems, we’re sure that you’re curious about the details of these systems. While we are not planning to give out a great deal of detail on these systems at this time, we will explain them in only the most general terms.
Non-resource-based skills such as Anatomy, Evaluate Intelligence, and Hiding are moved to a rate-over-time system. Non-resource-based skills are different from the other skills, obviously, because they don’t use up any material resources. These skills should use a resource; this resource will be ‘time’. This new advancement system balances these skills with the other skills by using time as a resource.
The rate-over-time system will improve skill and stat advancement in Siege Perilous overall, for everyone. For instance, instead of focusing all of your energy raising the time-resource skills, you will be able to advance them during the course of normal game play.
The rate-over-time system helps smooth the curve of stat and skill advancement, and for the most part should not be very visible. In fact, it should be transparent to the majority of players, except in that normal game play will feel more effective for raising stats and skills. The system is being designed such that even a player who enjoys a reasonably long play session will still feel the benefits of the new system. The player who spends an exaggeratedly long time in any given play session will also benefit from the new system, but his gaming habits will not imbalance the shard.
Bear in mind, there is no rate-over-time system in effect for material-resource-based skills such as Mining, Alchemy, and Tailoring. Therefore players who chose to play for extended periods of time will still enjoy gains from work on material-resource-based skills. Those players who are dedicated to extreme play sessions can still find rewards from their efforts without creating an inflated imbalance on the shard.
Furthermore, all players will enjoy an improved system for stat advancement which equalizes the advancement of stats from either time-resource or material-resource skills. The rate of stat advancement from using either set of skills should be the same under this new system. Stat advancement is also handled by the rate-over-time system.
We will also be implementing a system whereby intelligence and dexterity will be more significant. Mages will find that dexterity affects their casting delay and warriors will notice that intelligence bears on the ability to successfully strike their opponents. These changes give mages and warriors more depth by adding an additional layer of specialization.
These new systems will be implemented over the weekend. During that time we will watch them carefully and tweak them as necessary to ensure that they are balanced and fair. After we feel that these systems have been sufficiently tested, we will make the official schedule for the wipe public.
We are very excited about Siege Perilous and believe this shard will be the focus of enjoyment for many Ultima Online players. Look for more information on Siege Perilous and on these new skill/stat systems in the near future.
Update on Siege Perilous
Jul 25 1999 8:20PM *
Siege Perilous will be brought down momentarily in order to update it with some new changes. The changes are as follows:
- Added minimum difficulty before advancing certain time-based skills. This means, you will need to attack better monsters or players at higher skill levels in order to continue advancing. These skills are:
Macefighting
Swordsmanship
Wrestling
Tactics
Fencing
Magic Resist
- The advancement time curve for time based skills is modified so that it is much more accelerated at the lower levels.
- The following skills are considered "time-resource" skills: Anatomy, Animal Lore, Item ID, Detect Hidden, Evaluate Int, Forensics, Hiding, Snooping, Stealing, Spirit Speak, Tracking, Meditation, Stealth, Stealing, Swordsmanship, Fencing, Tactics, Macefighting, Wrestling, Magic Resist, Parrying, Remove Trap
Siege Perilous will restart about 30 minutes after it goes down, after which these changes will be in effect.
Stat and Skill Gain on Siege Perilous
Jul 28 1999 5:09PM *
The Siege Perilous Shard is meant to be a very challenging shard to play on. It will require teamwork, specialization and communication to succeed in this difficult world. To raise the level of difficulty suitable for the types of players attracted to a veteran shard, the rate at which you will gain in time-resource skills and all stats will be slower than on the standard shards. The “rate-over-time” system and daily caps will curb the unbalancing effects of macroing, since everyone will be subject to the same rules.
It’s useless to compare absolute values of skills and stats on Siege Perilous to those of other shards. The inherent value of skills and stats is relative to the rate at which they can be gained. The effectiveness of skills and stats is relative to what the others around you have. What could be considered a low skill level on the other shards, may be quite competitive on Siege Perilous. Furthermore, this new system ensures that everyone will be subject to the same advancement curve, which creates a fair and level playing environment.
Part of this advancement system defines skills as either material-resource or time-resource based. Material-resource skills will not be affected by this new system and you will gain as you normally do on other shards. However, time-resource skills and stats will be influenced by the “rate-over-time” system. The following skills are considered time-resource based:
Anatomy
Arms Lore
Animal Lore
Evaluate Intelligence
Forensics Evaluation
Detect Hidden
Hiding
Snooping
Spirit Speak
Tracking
Meditation
Stealth
Stealing
Swordsmanship
Fencing
Tactics
Macefighting
Wrestling
Magic Resistance
Parrying
Remove Trap
The time-resource skills and stats are subject to the “rate-over-time” system. The system is broken up into two parts.
Firstly, there will be intervals of time limiting the amount you can gain in time-resource skills and stats. The time per interval at which a time-resource skill can advance will lengthen as the skill raises. For stats, the interval will remain constant regardless of how high your stats are.
Secondly, both time-resource skills and stats will have daily caps on the total amount of points you can gain in them in a given day. For time-resource skills, this daily cap does not come into effect until you reach 70.0 in that skill. This daily cap is cumulative and affects the progress of all time-resource skills of 70.0 or higher. Gains in time-resource skills below 70.0, or gains in material-resource skills, will not count towards the daily cap. For stats, the daily cap is set from the beginning and remains the same throughout the development of your character.
After you hit the daily cap, time-resource skills can still be used as normal, but no gains will be made on those time-resource skills above 70.0.
Ok, so what does all of this mean for advancing time-resource skills and stats on Siege Perilous?
Here’s an example.Make the following assumptions for a player: 1. His skills are at zero, and 2. He plays a good, hard 6 hours a day.After about 2 days, he could be at 50.0 in any and all time-resource skills he chooses to practice (limited only by the 700 point total skill cap). After about 3 days, he could be up to about 60.0 in these skills. After about 9 days, these skills can reach up to 70.0 points each.
At this point, the daily cap on the total amount of points he can gain in time-resource skills per day takes effect. Now, if he wishes to reach Grandmaster levels in some of these skills, he’ll need to plan carefully, and consider the daily cap, when choosing which time-resource skills to work on.
Note this cap only applies to skills that are at or above 70.0; any gain in time-resource skills below 70.0 will not count towards the cap. In total, under this system, one can reach Grandmaster level in two time-resource skills in approximately 49 days.
For stats, the “rate-over-time” system works a bit differently. During any given day, the maximum total stat gain that can be achieved is 6 points. Stats will advance at constant time-based intervals and the stat raised per interval will be determined by the skills that one uses.
This should give you a clear idea of how time-resource skills and stats advance on Siege Perilous. We believe that this system will foster a fair and level, albeit challenging, playing field on the shard. Citizens of Siege Perilous can be confident that their efforts are worthwhile, because everyone has to play under the same system which carefully balances advancement over time.
Siege Perilous will have its own section in the playguide on the uo.com website by Monday, August 2nd. We will release the new url for Siege Perilous section when it is ready. The newest information about the Siege Perilous Shard will be posted here in Shard Issues first and then updated to the Siege Perilous section a couple of days later.
Siege Perilous is Up!
Jul 30 1999 10:42AM *
The Siege Perilous Shard is now available and running as a permanent shard. Good luck and have fun!!
Siege Perilous: NPC Escorts
Jul 30 1999 5:10PM We have received many support calls on the Seige Perilous shard regarding escorting NPCs. A player may only escort one NPC every 15 minutes. For more information regarding the Siege Perilous shard,
Siege Perilous Update
Aug 13 1999 5:21PM *
After Siege Perilous returns from its 5am CST scheduled maintenance on Saturday, August 14, the following changes will be implemented:
You will no longer be able to mark any runes in a dungeon.
You will not able to gate into or out of a dungeon, even with a previously marked dungeon rune.
It will not be possible to place boats in a dungeon.
Any boats currently in a dungeon will be deleted automatically after the maintenance.
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Thank you for the links and thank you, Freja, for all that great information. It's always helpful and interesting (and entertaining) to learn more about the people who have actually played on the shard!
Does anyone have more information about the gate named Siege Perilous that is mentioned in Freja's post? I assume that the narration in that section of her post is done by the Avatar, but am not sure. I never played any of the old Ultima games and have only been playing UO itself for about 6 1/2 years. So much still to learn.
I guess one of my really burning questions is why Siege doesn't have a Trammel facet but Mugen, which also follows the same ruleset, does (with Siege-type rules). That's just never made any sense to me and I've never been able to find a good explanation for that difference. I also vaguely recall reading at some time that one explanation for the differences on Siege was that some battle/war ended differently on Siege than on other shards, but I cannot now find where I read that. If anyone has more information along these lines, I'd sure love to read it.
Thanks, everyone.
Does anyone have more information about the gate named Siege Perilous that is mentioned in Freja's post? I assume that the narration in that section of her post is done by the Avatar, but am not sure. I never played any of the old Ultima games and have only been playing UO itself for about 6 1/2 years. So much still to learn.
I guess one of my really burning questions is why Siege doesn't have a Trammel facet but Mugen, which also follows the same ruleset, does (with Siege-type rules). That's just never made any sense to me and I've never been able to find a good explanation for that difference. I also vaguely recall reading at some time that one explanation for the differences on Siege was that some battle/war ended differently on Siege than on other shards, but I cannot now find where I read that. If anyone has more information along these lines, I'd sure love to read it.
Thanks, everyone.
