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Ultima Online Journal One
Finding the Britian Mines wasn't hard. I had rightly guessed
the approximate location was the same area the player-created
beta town of 'Mist' had been stationed. It should be
said at this point what a great achievement it was for players
and developers alike to have a player created town. Many things
like housing in UO did not at the time get the complete respect
that it deserved. People marveled at things like housing and
player created towns, but you still take for granted that someone
is going to come along and do it better. However, nearly 5 years
later, no one has done it all, much less better. To put it in
perspective, it would be like when Ford came out with the
Model-T, it was a great invention and people were in awe of it,
but imagine today if the only car still available was the
Model-T, you would really have to tip your hat to Ford for
creating something that 80 years later is still the only car in
town.
The mining camp consisted of two small houses about a player's
width apart and approximately 10 steps from the mines. The houses
if I recall correctly belonged to a grandmaster mage named
"The Old Man". He was nice enough to let other players
use his forges, and indeed the doors of those homes were never
locked as long as they stood. The forge placement was ideal for
smiths and miners. There was already quite a bustle of activity
around the forges already. Plenty of aspiring craftsmen had found
their way to the mines. I fit in easily among the other
tradesmen, who ranged from tinkers to carpenters and more. My str
had increased substantially during my time mining in Vesper. I
was up around 70 str at that point, which was actually a sizable
sum, stats did not go up fast yet plus strength was also a stat
that was slower than most. Even though I could hold a large
number of ore, like most people I used the ore hopping technique,
I would get about 50 big ore and hop it back to the mining camp.
There was a camaradrie between the workers, no one tried to steal
your ore or harass you. Most people ore hopped it in a bag or
chest so you didn't have to fiddle with the item counter
everytime you picked it up to make a step. The mining though was
excellent. Even with a number of people harvesting resources out
of the mines and mountains there was still plenty to gather and
then some. It wasn't long in fact that my smithing was
outdistancing my mining skill.
The Undiscovered Frontier
My character was primarily a blacksmith, but I raised tinkering
and some carpentry to make things that I needed. Like shovels or
smith hammer. Skill caps weren't a major concern at this point.
It wouldn't be until I tried to GM in blacksmithy that I'd have
problems with losing points in some areas that I didn't want to
lose points in. My character was very self reliant, which was
great about UO, I didn't need to bash monsters. If I needed
shovels I could make some out of ignots, then I could mine more
ignots to make armor to make money. I was also making alot of
money, not that I want to sound like I am bragging, but for a non
guilded player I had a very large sum of money and was always
outfitted in chain or plate, something most players couldn't do.
The mining camp continued to gain popularity through October. It
was a rowdy place, but not a dangerous one. Sparring to raise
combat skills was a popular pasttime in UO during these days.
Many craftsmen and warriors alike would take time out to spar, no
one tried to kill each other, they always ended before someone
died. We also stood around in energy fields to raise magic
resistance. I actually got up to adept swordsmen while playing
around, a skill that would help protect me from thieves. The
biggest trouble we had in fact were from thieves, they would try
to steal shovels or ignots or money. They didn't have any combat
skills for the most part though, and were easy to kill if caught.
I helped hunt down many a thief. Some would try to hide behind
the houses, because at the time there wasn't a circle of
transparency. However all you had to do was run into the house and
the roof would then disappear then you could attack the person hiding outside.
Once you got back out behind the house, auto-attack would engage. I gained a
good reputation as a blacksmith and a protector of the camp.
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