UO Archer FAQ- Please Read Before Posting!

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

Bowcraft FAQ</center>
Table of Contents:

[*]Character Creation: Starting Skills
[*]Character Bowyer Templates

[*]Skill Overview
[*]Frequently Answered Questions
[*]VDP Guide
[*]UO Assist Macros
[*]Tips and Techniques
[*]Player Diaries with New Tools and Powerhour
[*]NPC Bowyers Around the Globe

[*]So You're GM, Now What?

[*]Credits

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

Character Creation

Starting Skills:

The "Pure" Woodsman/woman:

[*]50 Bowyer/Fletching
[*]49 Lumberjacking
[*]1 Magery (Use your 1000 newbie gold to buy up Magery skill to the 30's to help recall from scrolls easier)

*You will need wood for Bowyering - Currently about 40-50k if you gain skill solely in powerhour. So Lumberjacking can be a very versatile secondary skill, especially if you are starting fresh and do not have the funds to purchase your wood.*
*50 bowcraft gives you a boost into the skill right off the bat.*
*Magery is highly recommended for swift mobility while Lumberjacking in the deep forests of Britannia. Having the ability to gate yourself, the wood and perhaps some packies, is ideal.*

The Crafter:

[*]50 Bowyer
[*]49 Tinkering
[*]1 Magery (Use your 1000 newbie gold to buy up Magery skill to the 30's to help recall from scrolls easier)

*Tinkering will allow you to start making the Fletching tools, which are now needed in order to work the skill. GM marked ones are the highest quality a player can find. Being able to make your own tools is ideal for a starting player.*
*Magery will allow you to recall around the different towns selling your wares (bows) to NPC shopkeepers for hardearned gold.*

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

Character Templates

One of the best features of Bowcrafting is that it is a "stand alone" skill! (This means that another skill does not directly affect Bowcrafting. Example: Carpentry - you need secondary skills in order to make all carpentry items. (Smithing for anvils, for example)) This allows for a wide variety of template choices that can be both exciting and rewarding.

The Crafter:

Bowcraft + 6 out of: Magery, Meditation, Inscription, Alchemy, Carpentry, Smithing, Tinkering, Tailoring, Mining, Lumberjacking, Fishing, and Cooking.

Pure Crafter:

100 Bowcraft
100 Magery
100 Mining/Lumberjacking
100 Tinkering
100 Tailoring
100 Smithing
100 Carpentry

100 Strength 100 Intelligence 25 dexterity

Note: You can easily substitute any of the aforementioned crafter skills in for any of those listed, this is just the most widely used template for a crafter.

Fisher Bowyer

100 Bowcrafting
100 Fishing
100 Magery
100 Meditation
100 Inscription
100 Eval
100 Cooking

100 Strength 100 Intelligence 25 Dexterity

This is my crazy template for my Bowyer on Pacific - it's very fun and weird /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

The Adventurer:

The Ranger Warrior:

100 Bowcrafting
100 Archery
100 Tactics
100 Healing
100 Anatomy
100 Lumberjacking (or Resist)
100 Magery

90 Strength 40 Intelligence 95 Dexterity

The Ranger Mage:

100 Bowcrafting
100 Magery
100 Meditation
100 Inscription
100 Wrestling
100 Eval Int
100 Alchemy

100 Strength 100 Intelligence 25 Dexterity 

The Role Player:

The Elf

100 Bowcrafting
100 Archery
100 Tactics
100 Healing
100 Anatomy
100 Camping
100 Magery (or cooking)

85 Strength 50 Intelligence 90 Dexterity

The Druid:

100 Bowcrafting
100 Animal Lore
100 Animal Taming
100 Magery
100 Meditation (or cooking)
100 Camping
100 Vetrinary

100 Strength 100 Intelligence 25 Dexterity

Note: Because Bowcrafting is so versatile, there could be no end to the different templates one could create around this wonderful skill. So mix and match, and most of all: Have Fun with your bowyer!

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

What Bowyers can make and at what skill:

First things first: TOOLS. As of Publish 14, bowcrafters now need to use Fletching tools in order to make anything. These tools can be purchased from NPC bowyers or can be made by player tinkers. I highly suggest utilizing the latter for all of your bowcrafting needs.

Shafts:

Materials needed: Wood (boards or logs) and Fletching Tools

Materials Used: 1 wood per shaft

Minimum Skill Needed: 0.0 Bowcraft/Fletching, Although if you have low skill, there is a chance to fail at making these. At 0.0 fletching and 10 strength, you have a 52.7% chance of making them- which is the lowest anyone could possibly be, and is an unlikely situation.

1- Double Click Fletching tool to bring up the Fletching Menu.
2- Select "Materials" from Menu.
3- Select "Shaft" from menu.

The shafts will automatically be made into your backpack, and makes as many possible at once. (If you have 300 wood on you, you will make 300 shafts.)

Arrows and Bolts

Materials Needed: Shafts, Feathers, and Fletching Tools

Materials Used: 1 shaft and 1 feather per bolt or arrow

Minimum Skill Needed: 0.0 Bowcraft/Fletching, Although if you have low skill, there is a chance to fail at making these. At 0.0 fletching and 10 strength, you have a 52.7% chance of making them- which is the lowest anyone could possibly be, and is an unlikely situation.

1- Make shafts using the above method.
2-Make sure you have plenty of feathers and shafts on your character, as well as some fletching tools.
3-Double click your fletching tool.
4-Select "Ammunition" from the menu presented.
5-Choose either Arrows or Bolts. (Arrows- bows, Bolts- Crossbows and Heavy Crossbows.)

The arrows/bolts will automatically be made in your backpack, as many as possible at a time. Your limiting factor will be whichever is lowest: feathers or shafts. There is a 1:1 ration between shafts and bolts.

Bows, Crossbows and Heavy Crossbows... Oh My!

Materials needed: Wood (boards or logs) and Fletching Tools

Materials Used: Bow~ 7 wood; Crossbow~ 7 wood; Heavy Crossbow~ 10 wood

Minimum Skill Needed: Bows~ 30.0 Bowcraft/Fletching; Crossbows~ 60.0 Bowcraft/Fletching; Heavy Crossbows 90.0 Bowcraft/Fletching

1-Double click Fletching tool.
2-Select "Weapons" from the menu.
3-Choose either "Bow," "Crossbow," or "Heavy Crossbow" according to your skill and needs.

The bow of choice will automatically be made into your backpack.

Special Note: At 100.0 skill you will be able to place your Maker's Mark on exceptional bows. You can toggle this on your crafting menu to default to: "Mark Item," "Do Not Mark," and "Prompt for Mark."

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

Frequently Answered Questions:

How long will it take me to GM?

*It will take about 7-9 powerhours to GM from 0(or 30 bought up skill).

How many boards do I need?

*Currently with the new tools/menus and powerhour, only about 40-50k wood.

Where can I find feathers?

* Covetous - harpies
* T2A Desert - harpies
* Compassion Desert
* Ilshenar - the harpy nest or the area north of the Compassion shrine

Regular birds: any farm (i.e. Jhelom), woods south of minoc, any swamp

Feather Yields:

50 - Harpies
36 - Eagles / Phoenix
25 - Any other small bird

What is VDP?
Vendor Displayed Price. Read the VDP Section for more info.

Is there a difference between GM exceptional and non-GM exceptional bows?
Only the Maker's Mark. Also, the success rate for making exceptionals, especially high VDP ones, is higher as you rise in skill.

What are the bow/arrow prices for my Shard?
Prices vary greatly, please feel free to post to the UO Archer, UO Merchant or your home Shard forum for a price check. Looking at vendors in well-travelled areas will often show higher pricing than those of remote locations

How to get all the needed boards/wood?
This is the only pain for training a Bowyer--if you have 60k boards, it is no art at all to GM Bowcrafting. Chopping the wood is free, but slow. You can now buy in large quantities from NPC Carpenters and Tinkers. They spawn in 999 increments now for 3gp per board. This is a very nice and cost effective way to amass all the boards needed in order to GM and make bows.

Does eating help in working Bowcraft?
You will be more successful making items if you eat to the point where you "feel satisfied", but not "stuffed"

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

There are two types of vendor prices. The amount an NPC Bower will purchase the bow for is NOT the "VDP" people are referring to.

The default price given to an item when placed on a player owned vendor is referred to as VDP, or Vendor Displayed(default) Price

How to VDP an item?

On a vendor you own, just drop the item into their bag, and single-click the item to see what the price is displayed as. The price it shows is the VDP for that item.

VDP is a measurement of quality, the higher the Player vendor prices it by default, the better the item quality.

If, for example, one Bow prices at 53gp and the other at 60gp, the 60 will be superior.

(This holds true for other Player-crafted wares, weapons, armor, etc.)

Do Dexterity and Strength affect VDP?
There may be a slight edge to having the high Dexterity, but the samples were too small to be conclusive.

What is the highest VDP for each bow type?**

60 = bows
53 = crossbows
85 = heavy crossbows

**Note: Currently this is broken, and players are unable to craft the highest quality bows, as shown here.**

What is the average VDP when crafting bows at GM?

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

UO Assist Macros

Necessary Materials: Wood, Fletching tools, and a way to get rid of the finished product. See Tips and Techniques for quick methods on this. 

1-First "prime" your menu to make the bow you want.
2-Hit 'record' on your UO Assist, and when finished hit 'stop.'
3-Your macro should look something like this:

use item type: fletching tool
menu selection: 'last made' is usually easiest
pause: 1000

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

* Bowcrafting is not an 8x8 skill - you can stand in the same spot 0-100.

*Currently with PH and the new tools/menus it only takes about 40-50k worth of wood to GM. I suggest stockpiling at least half before you begin, so that you can add to it as you need it during the course of your skill.

*Use GM Tinkered tools if you possibly can. They last much longer.

*To conserve wood, only work bowcrafting in ph after 80 skill.

*Make the hardest thing your skill will allow you; don't worry about mixing different types.

*The 80's are a slowdown period - but the 90's zoom once you can make Heavies.

*Methods to "Getting Rid of the Bows"
[*]Sit with a packie (or packies) full of boards at an NPC shop. Make and Sell.
[*](Note: This method works best if you have a house) Get a stockpile of about 30-40 empty bags. Place empty bag into your backpack and then place wood and tools into that backpack. When you make the bows, they will be made into the inner backpack. When the pack is full, or you are out of wood - place the bag on floor and grab a new one - repeat til end of ph. After ph go out and sell the backpacks of bows to NPC bowyers around Britannia.

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

Bagheera's Bowcraft Gains:

Ph #1:

Starting Skill: 35
Ending Skill: 65

Wood Used: 4000
Gold Made: ~25k

*Made bows until 60, then made crossbows.

Ph#2:

Ending Skill: 78 real

Wood Used: 8000
Gold Made: ~25k

*Made crossbows the whole time. 

PH #3:

Ending Skill: 84

Wood Used: 8500
Gold Made:~ 35k

*Made crossbows the whole time, began to slow down.

PH#4:

Ending Skill: 87.5

Wood Used: 7500
Gold Made: ~30k 

PH#5:

Ending Skill: 93.5

Wood Used: 10,000
Gold Made: 30k

*Made crossbows til 90 displayed, then immediately jumped to Heavies. Gains rolled after this!

Ph#6:

Ending at: 99.2

Wood Used: 12,000
Gold Made: 35-40k

PH#7:

Ended at 100 in 10 minutes

Wood Used: 1200

Total Wood: ~50k
Total Time:~ 7 ph

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

To train Archery and Bowcraft skills from 0; to sell and to buy arrows, shafts, feathers, bolts, bows, x-bows, and heavy x-bows, visit:

* Skara Brae (Bloody Bowman).
* Yew (Great Oak Bowyer).
* Yew (The Sturdy Bow).
* Nu'jhelm (Nu'jhelm Bowyery).
* Serpent's Hold (Silver Serpent Bows).
* Britain (Quality Fletching)
* Vesper (The Ranger's Tool)

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

Congratulations! You have achieved GM status in a skill that few posess! But now you are probably thinking... Now What?

Set up a player vendor! Sell your quality wares to the playing public who most likely don't have GM bowyers!

* Bows and arrows can also be sold to any of the many Npc Ranger/Bowyer shops for a decent profit
* The prices in the Merchant forum for Arrows range from 5-14gp/arrow
* Player-made bows range from approximately 100-1100, depending on quality and if it's Bow/X-Bow/Heavy X
* An excellent Player-run Vendor will include the VDP (Vendor Displayed(Default) Price) on weapons and armor, so the customer can make a more informed purchase

Tips for sales

* Label the bows clearly with their VDP
* Make sure to keep the vendor(s) stocked
* Hand out runes to your vendor
* Price based on VDP (see the example below for a suggestion)
* Sell the high VDP bows only: customers will be satisfied with the quality
* Promote! Promote! Promote! Post to your local Shard Forum, the Bowyer vendor thread here in the Archery Forum, and get more specific ideas from the Merchants forum

An example of pricing based on VDP is:

Bows:

vdp: 58/60 59/60 60/60
price: 200gp 300gp 500gp

Heavy Crossbows:

100gp for 75/85s, +100gp for each +1 above 75...

Modify Slayer Bows

*In order to modify, you need gears and a GM bowyer.
*Charge people to modify their bows for a modest fee of 100-1000 per bow, depending on shard trends.

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

UO Archer Forum - Archery and Bowcraft FAQ

Before posting, please read the
Rules of Conduct
Forums FAQ

**UO Archer Forum FAQ**

Welcome to all, and happy posting.

Gwenllian
UO Moderator

Guest · Mar 22, 2002

First and foremost, I must thank Amidala. She left as UO Archer Moderator recently, but left a large legacy of great facts and ideas. I am indebted to her for much of the foundation of this FAQ.

I also want to extend a thanks to all the "regulars" who post here. You guys help make this place friendly, informative and fun. Thank you all.

Gwenllian
UO Archer Forum Moderator

Amidala in turn thanked many people who helped to contribute to the FAQ preceding the FAQ preceding this new FAQ(Say that ten times fast /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif.) Her extended thanks lays here:

camb_(GL), Chew, diangelo, Europa Ken, Lightwind, New Yankee and oogieB

The original bowcraft FAQ was written by camb_(GL), and his continuing contribution to us is wonderful. Thanks again, camb.

The fantastic VDP sample/chart is by New Yankee, an incredible body of work, danke.

Thanks also to: AnaisDeQuoi, Honest Abe, Spookysheep and rhaul for their assistance. =)

Thank you again for excellent work!!

Amidala
Moderator

Guest · Apr 14, 2002

Welcome to the UO Archer Forum! It is here for people to contructively discuss Archery and Bowcrafting.

New Policy:

Ok guys and gals, due to recent developments a few changes are in order:

1- The babble thread will have to go. This is not due to any of the actions of the people who enjoyed posting on this thread, it is due to other issues which must be addressed. I was very impressed with how the people composed themselves on that thread.

2- In its place will be a new policy of:

- anything UO related is ok
- anything prefaced with "OT" in the title is ok

The preceding are ok as long as they comply with the ROC and are fairly "constructive" in manner.

- If the forum starts getting overloaded with OT posts, or if people are not putting "OT" in their titles, then those posts may be locked.

Ammendment #1: Just to clarify things on the merchant post issue.

If you wish to sell or buy Archery and Bowcraft related items I suggest you use your appropriate shard forum and/or the UO Merchant Hall. That is what they are there for.

However, since there is not an extreme influx of buying/selling posts at this time - I will allow them. Please note: this could be subject to change in the future - but like all changes to the forum I would prefer to implement them slowly and with notice.

If there does seem to be an influx of too many buying and selling posts - I will have to deal with each post on a case by case basis - or ask that they not be posted at all.

Also, if you choose to post a buying/selling - please keep it as informative and brief as possible - include all relevant contact information, shard etc.

Since there seems to be a need for clarity in regards to Merchant posts- I thought adding this might be useful. If you have any questions in regards to this, please feel free to PM them to me. Thanks!

What will get locked:

- Any post that chooses to troll or flame another individual, group etc.
- Guild recruiting posts. There are more appropriate venues for this type of post, such as the UO Guild Hall.
- Any post that is blatently contradictory to the ROC.
- Posts testing signatures. The UO Pictures Hall is specifically designed to test signatures and show off pictures.

In case this forum starts getting overwhelmed with "OT" posts, I would like to remind everyone that the Archer forum isn't the only place where you can post on the Stratics network. If you feel you have to vent and are in the mood for posting a rant - try Spiels 'n' Rants. If it is more than a rant, and you want to write a page-long statement on a topic that bugs you, Spiel Essays is a good place to post it. If it is a general UO-related topic that has nothing to do with archery or bowcrafting, post on the U Hall forum. If your message is completely off topic and has nothing to do with UO, the U Hall OT forum is an exceptional place to post.

I'd like to deal with the OT posts on a case-by-case basis. If a post gets locked, and you have questions about it, please ask me over PM don't post about it. Odds are, that if there is a reason that that post was locked and another thread is started asking why that thread was locked, that new thread will be locked too.

Thanks for your time, and happy posting!

Gwenllian
Moderator

Some Further Guidelines for Posting:

Notes on Images, Signatures, Hosting & Resources
Directions Regarding Guild and Events Posts

Guest · Apr 14, 2002

Notes on Image-Hosting
I did a lot of searching and found that there is very little available in terms of free image hosts. I learned the trouble is many web-hosts will not serve images directly. This means that your image would be available if you made an HTML page and added the code to tell the server “this image goes here”, but not just by a plain URL.

Honestly, that is probably the preferable method – provide a link to an HTML page containing your image. The space is yours to manage as you like, and the forums will load much more quickly than if we post 100 large images a week into one thread –THAT can be a real showstopper.

But, that simply will not work for signatures, which appear directly in the forum, and are called by markup, not true HTML. Please note that the signatures will need to conform to the Statics standard, 35k max, and 115x600 max dimensions - if you need help on this let me know.

How do I take Screenshots?
Get yourself a good program to do it, and it becomes pretty simple. Typically I choose to take shots of only a section of the screen, to eliminate annoying hand cursors, bags, etc. and make post-processing easier. Most screenshot programs allow you to set a hotkey combination to copy the active window or a screen section to the clipboard, to save or edit. For instance, mine is CTRL-SHIFT-P, which pops open a window, and prompts me for what image type to save it as.

Two I have used with good results are:
Snagit - 3.21 MB – lot of built in features for post-processing like captions and highlighting - shareware

HardCopy – 234 KB – I used this for a long time before I needed the video capture of Snagit - shareware

How do I edit my images?
Brace yourself: time, patience, and an eye for the artistic not included in most software packaging, at any price. Pick a good graphics program, get familiar with it, and don’t ever switch--it will kill you to unlearn the quirks and shortcuts…

Photoshop 6.0 - 41.5 MB – Probably the most popular, pricey and functional graphics program out there.

Paint Shop Pro 7.02 - 28.5 MB - A favorite of many, works great - shareware

Fireworks 4.0 - 18.4 MB - my choice 50/50 along with Freehand for detailed graphics - demo

Flash 5.0 - 10 MB – I use this almost always, unless a lot of texture or detail is required. Why animate any other way? - demo

How do I make a simple webpage?
You will need a text editor, unless you chose a web-host with HTML tools for you to use online. Notepad in Windows is all you really need, but a lot of features available in more advanced software can really make life easier. A few I can suggest are:

First Page 2000 – 4.96 MB - lots of extras and frills, and Stratics seal of approval - free

Edit Plus – 970 KB - extremely small in size, nice features, and recommended by many pros - trial

CF Studio (Homesite) – 16.7 MB - freakin’ huge in size and cost, but all I ever use. - demo

For purpose of this information, I signed up for a free-hosting site called http://www.1avenue.com – simple to sign up, great online tools, and although it won’t let you call images just by URL, for showing images on a simple webpage, it works great.

Two sites with good tutorials are:

Tucows – select a server near you, then learn from beginning to advanced HTML
Webmonkeylearn intermediate to pro HTML

Where can I find more information?
http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/ - downloads
http://www.download.com - downloads
http://www.yahoo.com – search, with Google-power
www.dejanews.com – search newsgroup/message board listings
http://www.askjeeves.com – Natural language, no tricky keywords

How do I upload images?
Pretty simple! Get the older version of WS_FTP – free and makes FTP pretty easy to NOT mess up. –975KB

Information courtesy of Amidala