Siege Perilous

Revision as of 05:31, 10 September 2008 by Tancred RedStar (Talk | contribs) (Updated Skill Gain rate for Pub55)

Siege medallion.jpg

Siege Perilous is a special ruleset shard that launched on July 15, 1999. The idea behind the shard was to create a more "difficult" and challenging shard for UO veterans. The main developer and created behind Siege was Runesabre.

Lore

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.

Features

Siege offers new or different rules from other shards which increase player challenge. It has become commonly referred to as the Siege Ruleset, which is also duplicated on the Mugen shard for Japanese players.

General

  • No Item Insurance
  • No Trammel facet
  • Felucca ruleset on all remaining facets (Ilshenar, Malas, etc.)
  • Each player can use a Personal Bless on one item, activated via Contextual Menu
  • Character Transfer is prohibited to and from Siege
  • Murderers and criminals will not be able to kick/ban others from their home, nor will they be able to log out instantly
  • The title “Murderer” has been done away with, murderers will now show their karma/fame title

Skills & Stats

  • Rate Over Time skill gain
    • Skill points for skills less than 70 points will gain as normal shards.
    • Skill points for skills between 70 and 79.9 points will gain a maximum of 5 points per day with a minimum of 5 minutes between points gained. (250 minutes min to gain 5.0 skill)
    • Skill points for skills between 80 and 89.9 will gain at a maximum of 4.0 points per day with a minimum of 8 minutes between points gained. (320 minutes min to gain 4.0 skill)
    • Skill points for skills between 90 and 99.9 will gain at a maximum of 3.0 points per day with a minimum of 12 minutes between points gained. (360 minutes min to gain 3.0 skill points)
    • Skill points for skills between 100 and 109.9 will gain at a maximum of 3.0 skill points per day with a minimum of 15 minutes between points gained. (450 minutes min to gain 3.0 skill points)
    • Skill points for skills between 110 and 120 will gain at a maximum of 2.0 skill points per day with a minimum of 15 minutes between points gained. (300 minutes min to gain 2.0 skill points)
  • Players will be allowed to gain 15 stat points a day.
  • 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
  • Arms Lore gives a crafting bonus every 12.5 skill instead of 20 on production shards

Spells

Items

  • Musical instruments, fishing poles, herding crooks, scissors, axes used for lumberjacking, and other bladed objects will wear down and break with use
  • 7th Anniversary Items are not blessed

NPCs

  • Shopkeeper NPCs do not buy items from players
  • Shopkeeper NPCs charge 3x more for the items they sell
  • Shopkeeper NPCs do not sell any resources (Ingots, Cloth, etc.))
  • Hireling NPCs charge 3x more for their services
  • NPCs do not carry gold in their backpacks, preventing it from being stolen or looted on death

Hero/Evil System

  • [Details Forthcoming]

UOStuff

Commonly known as 'the hard shard', Siege Perilous has a ruleset that differs greatly from all other shards except Mugen. The Siege ruleset can take some time to get used to, particularly if a player has spent considerable time on a 'production' shard, but while the danger is greater, so too are the rewards.

A well-known guild has made Siege its home for many years, existing exclusively to help newcomers to this harsh, yet challenging land. This guild is Newborn On Siege, commonly known as [NEW]. Through common agreement with most of the major guilds and veteran players of Siege, this guild extends a player-enforced version of other shards 'young' status to its members, as well as offering training advice, information, equipment, and much, much more. Any player starting out on Siege is strongly advised to seek out the leaders of NEW, and spend their first month there, getting to know the shard in relative safety. More detail can be found here.

Historically, the best places to meet were Moonglow, and Britain, specifically the West Britain Bank. However, that changed when the Britain Invasion flooded Britain with lizardmen, Ogre Lord Generals, and other hordes of monsters, and most of the players who prefer town life moved to Luna. Siege boasts several player-run towns, which tend to be 'run' by guilds, or alliances of guilds. Historic ones such as House Lynn'Dannae near Cove, are no longer present, but others such as Safe Haven, the frozen city of Wintermoor, the friendly towns of Wispwood Shire and Iantown, and the newer villages of Myth and Stonehaven are currently thriving. One of Siege's strongest traits is the sense of community, and the towns are a result of this trait.

It is possible to play 'solo' on Siege, but it will not be an easy life. Even with the creation of Soulstones, it is extremely hard for one person to have access to all the skills they need, without interaction with others. Therefore, not only are guilds abundant on Siege Perilous, but they tend to appear, and fade away, quite regularly as friendships and alliances come and go.

For players, there is not one single spot on Siege Perilous which can truly be considered safe. You can be attacked in town, even though guards can be called if you are quick enough. You can be killed within your house, if the attackers find a weak point in the house design, such as a missing rear corner piece, or an open window. So, the primary rule of Siege is, quite simply, if you don't want to lose something, don't carry it with you. Unlike players, items can be kept safe, by means of secure containers within houses, or the player's bank box. But, once in your backpack, almost any item is fair game for killers, thieves, and opportunist looters, unless you choose to Siege Bless it, or are able to Faction Bless it.

Ruleset

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 changes to Siege Perilous will be updated here.


Your Character

There will be only one character slot available per account.


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 (a.k.a. “ROT”) 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 system ensures that everyone will be subject to the same advancement curve, which creates a fair and level playing environment.


Firstly, there will be intervals of time limiting the amount you can gain in skills and stats. The time per interval at which a 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 skills and stats will have daily caps on the total amount of points you can gain in them in a given day. For 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 skills of 70.0 or higher. Gains in skills below 70.0 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, skills can still be used as normal, but no gains will be made on those skills above 70.0.


Ok, so what does all of this mean for advancing skills and stats on Siege Perilous?

Skill points for skills under 70 points will gain as normal shards.

Skill points for skills between 70 and 79.9 points will gain a maximum of 3.6 points total per day, with a minimum of 5 minutes between point gained.

Skill points for skills between 80 and 98.9 points will gain a maximum of 2 points total per day, with a minimum of 10 minutes between point gained.

Skill points for skills 99.0 points and up will gain a maximum of 2 points total per day, with a minimum of 15 minutes between point gained.


For stats (Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence), the “rate-over-time” system works a bit differently. During any given day, the maximum total stat gain that can be achieved is 11 points (For example, a character may gain 5 points in Strength, 4 points in Dexterity, and 2 point in Intelligence, equaling 6 total points gained). Stats will advance at constant time-based intervals and the stat raised per interval will be determined by the skills that one uses.


Using the training dummies for Stealing, Swordsmanship, Macefighting, Fencing, or Wrestling will stop producing gains in skill quicker than on other shards.


New characters on Siege Perilous will start out with the same equipment that new characters on normal shards start with. This applies to all character templates. Please see Profession Templates for specific information on starting equipment.


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!


Faction pricing is in effect on Siege Perilous, so if you search every town, you are likely to find one that is set at, or below the normal price for itms on other shards

They do not sell resources like logs, boards, shaftes, wool, bolt of clothes, hide, leather, ore, ingots or feather.


Townspeople will also charge three times as much for hiring them. Player Vendors will charge 3x as much for their services.

NPC's won't train your skills.


Townspeople requesting escort will not travel with someone who is already escorting another, you may only have one escort at a time. They will not have any items on their persons and the only way they will part with their gold is if you actually bring them to their desired location. You must also wait 15 minutes between each escort.


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 or Lost Land nor cast Gate while in a dungeon or Lost Land.

For those involved in faction or guild wars, it is vitally important to note that direct damage spells will work in towns.

Telekinesis will not work on trapped or locked chests.


Blessing and Item Insurance

Item Insurance do not work on Siege at all. However Siege do have Siege Bless.

Only a few items are blessed on Siege.

Spell, rune and BoD books are blessed.

Reward items are blessed.

The 7th AE items which were claimed at the time of release are blessed. Those combat items which have been claimed since mid-2006 are NOT blessed, but the decorative items are still blessed. There is a distinct possibility that the remaining combat items will be unblessed one day.

AoS clothes are blessed.

Clothing Bless Deeds can bless clothing items without magic mods.

'Newbied' clothes still exist, though are no longer created.

Peerless resources are not blessed.

Breaking the Law

Adventurers of ill repute will quickly notice that Siege Perilous has different rules for murders.

Characters that hue red will not be attacked by guards when they venture into town. Healing a red character is a criminal offence, but will not get you guard whacked.

Criminals may travel the wilderness without worry of guards, as they will not patrol the wilderness areas.


Additionally:

There will be Wandering Healers willing to resurrect those that stray from the path of good. (only on the old Felucca facet)

The portal to the lawless town of Buccaneers’ Den is not present, but a moongate does exist.

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 Hero/Evil system will be present on Siege Perilous as a part of factions.

Skills

In addition to the overall change in difficulty of skill increase, Siege Perilous also features changes to specific skills and items to create additional challenges.

Bards: 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. (not sure if this still are correct)

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. (This has not worked for many years, OSI never fixed it)

Wearing leather armor will not cause any penalties to Stealth or Meditation. (not sure if this is correct)

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.


Monsters and Players

Black wisps: These creatures appear as "a wisp," but are a noticeably darker color than their light blue counterparts. These behave as monsters and will attack players on sight!

Siege Perilous contains the Ilshenar and Malas facets. Both do have Felucca (SP) ruleset. No Trammel ruleset on Siege at all.

Siege Perilous is geared towards group PvP, with many large guilds of both PKs and Antis. One of the favorite expressions on Siege Perilous is that blue does not always mean innocent, and red does not always mean PK. Guild affiliation is a much more effective way to determine which side of the battle a person is on than hue is.

Factions

Factions is active on Siege Perilous, with a different ruleset than other shards.

The True Britannians and Council of Mages factions will be considered "Hero" factions. The Shadowlords and Minax factions will be considered "Evil" factions. All four factions will still be at war with one another, in addition to being integrated with the Hero/Evil system.

Killing faction characters who are in your own faction will incur a penalty. The killer in this case will lose 50% of his current kill points, lose 100% of the lifeforce accumulated, and be able to be reported as a murderer. An exception to this will be the killing of guild mates, thus allowing characters to spar with guild mates. Another exception is that if your character is attacked by another, you are allowed to defend yourself with impunity.

Faction characters will gain lifeforce equal to 20% of the life force of the character killed, and that character who was killed will lose an equal amount of lifeforce points.

Each Faction has its own allied monsters, which will, by default, ignore that specific Faction's members. These are:

Minax: Ogre Lords Council of Mages: Wisps True Britannians: Silver Serpents Shadowlords: Daemons

Summoned Daemons will behave in their normal manner towards Shadowlords members.

An enemy faction's monsters will appear in an orange hue.

Faction characters will gain lifeforce points and silver for each faction enemy monster which that character kills. All monsters give 30 silver, except wisps, which give 20 silver each. The amount of silver which the faction member receives will depend on the tithing rate which their commander has set at that point in time.

The maximum number of lifeforce attainable is 100 points.

Players will be able to spend lifeforce points toward special Hero/Evil powers. Players will be able to use a special phrase ("I invoke my good powers," for Hero characters, and "I invoke my evil powers," for Evil characters) to bring up a special menu through which they may control the following effects:

Colored Armor (5 lifeforce points; duration is permanent; turns an article of armor or clothing white for Hero, black for Evil) (items which have been turned "Hero" or "Evil" will only be equipable by someone in the appropriate faction.) While it was previously possible to obtain help from support staff to remove the hues, EA's current policy is to refuse to un-dye faction dyed items.

Detect Evil/Good (1 lifeforce point; duration is immediate; allows Hero character to scan the area for Evil, and Evil to scan for good)

Summon familiar (10 lifeforce points; duration is 30 minutes; allows character to summon a familiar to fight for the character, silver wolf for Hero or dark wolf for Evil)

Silver/Dark Steed (30 lifeforce points; duration is 30 minutes; creates a silver steed for Hero character to ride, or dark steed for Evil character)

Holy/Unholy Shield (40 lifeforce points; duration is 60 minutes; character is ignored by all monsters and faction guards while this power is active) (This has been a regular source of discontent on Siege, as it is generally used to attack non-faction members at Champion Spawns, thereby leaving those being attacked to contend with the spawned monsters AND the faction attackers.)


Faction Bless (60 lifeforce points, duration 30 minutes ; allows the member to bless any equipped item)

Evil characters will not automatically hue red, and any Evil character which kills a blue innocent may gain a murder count. The faction system hue will be in effect to handle aggression and flagging.

See Also