Castle
Castles are the largest homes in the game. At 31x31 tiles, they can hold a wide range of items and containers. They are known as "The Dump", "Personal Attic", or anything along the lines of meaning storage and normally depends on what shard/server you currently occupy.
The Castle is a 2-story structure plus flat roof space, has two sets of stairs, and 4 corridors on each story. A castle is also widely known for the unique trait of having natural grass on the inside of the castle walls without an elevated plot. Items may be locked down and secured in the grassy areas.
Historically, castles were paid for by a group or guild of players, especially with those shards/servers where it is difficult to accumulate money. They have been used for guild purposes, such as a King/Queen or Baron(ess) in charge of an entire estate castle and roleplaying "soldiers" or courtiers under his/her command.
Castles are placed by using the House Placement Tool and are found on the second page of the Classic Houses category.
Contents
Castle Statistics
- Must be placed using the House Placement Tool
- Footprint: 31 x 31
- Stories: 2
- Rooms: 11 (plus 4 catwalks & grassy court yard)
- Lockdowns: 4076 which may be changed with additional house storage add-ons
- Approx. Price: 865,252
New Castle Designs
Housing Customization left many Castle and Keep owners feeling neglected, as giving up the storage that comes with this larger building is not an option for many. Masonry was added with craftable "House Only" items to aid in customizing Castles and Keeps. This caused lag issues for visiting players. Players' growing desire to build custom castles and keeps inspired the developers to create a way to involve the community while bringing new static designs into the game.
New Castles are added into the game established Publish Cycles after a contest on the Test Center. Below is a list of links to UO's pages which display castle designs added to the game.
The prices for these new designs range between 30,000,000 and 50,000,000 gold coins for a castle.
Replacing a Castle with a New Design
The safest method to change an existing castle is by first removing any "house only" items and various add-ons. It is especially important to redeed any containers that originally come in a deeded form (see list below). A castle will not convert if these items are still placed.
Items to Re-deed for Customization
- Steward, Mannequin, Personal Attendant, Parrots
- Raised Garden Bed, Field Garden Bed, Garden House
- Aquariums of all types and sizes
- Davie's Locker, Jewelry Box
- Koi Pond, Water Wheel
- All Crafting Stations, Gadgetry Table, Woodworker's Bench
- Blessed Statue, Fountain of Life
- Lighthhouse, check for linked ships first
- Bulk Order Deed Books, Alacrity Books and Transcendence Books should be placed into chests
Items to Stow Away
- Carpet, snow, grass, sand, water, or lava tiles
- All Masonry crafted pavers, walls, steps, blocks, and secret doors
- All added doors of any type
- Teleport Tiles (both Veteran and Origin bought)
These are not comprehensive lists and may change. If in doubt about something, redeed and put it in your bank until you are satisfied with your selected design.
Secure Replacement
- Castles cannot be customized, only Securely Replaced or destroyed
- Double click the house sign, navigate to the Customization portion
- If the house is properly placed and the option to Securely Replace is visible, proceed
- Click the Securely Replace This House option
- A system check will be made to ensure the conversion can take place
- An error message will appear if any of the previously listed items are still placed in the structure
- Only one error type will display per check
- In the example gump, if the Steward is removed, then a new check is made and the structure is still in error state, the new gump will display what is causing the issue. This will continue until a successful check is made.
- When successful, a warning will appear to ensure the decision to change
- By clicking "OK", the structure will go into "customization mode" and a selection of available designs will be displayed.
- For castles, only available castle designs will show. For keeps, only available keep designs will show.
- This function does not convert the structure into anything smaller. Ergo, one cannot go from a castle to a keep with the Secure Replacement option.
- Once selected, the new design will be in place. All items will be located in the Moving Crate and the house owner will be alerted to the presence of Vendors that need placement.
Other Notes
- All Vendors will be removed, with their inventory. A message alerting the owner that vendors are available will be given.
- All items that are locked down, deeded, or secured will go into the Moving Crate which can be found via the House Gump
- See House customization for related information