April 2017

Wall Hype

stargrace April 13, 2017 3 Comments

I love updates in Wurm Unlimited and I wasn’t expecting another for a while because we just had the enormous cooking update not too long ago – but then the developers went and announced that we’ll be getting some new wall types. Along with those wall types come new paving options, and I think I even saw some new fence options (all of them matching the wall options).

Excited? You bet I am.

They’re also updating hell horse models to have a few new colours, and while most of these updates are simply graphic changes I’m still excited. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to re-do any of my houses (I tend to like the stone / timber look) I am pretty sure I’ll be updating my roads.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and then this weekend is Easter, so I doubt I’ll be on too much (or if I am I’ll be AFK) but I still have some smaller goals in mind. I reached 70 in hot food cooking and ropemaking, bringing my total title count to 62. Today I’d like to get some pottery under my belt (I’ve never raised it) and make a few more coal piles. I transformed 4 peat tiles for Tomservo and now I’m creating 4 for Wreck, except the combines were frowned upon by the RNG gods of Wurm and it took a lot more than I was expecting, so I ran out of coal. Go figure. Sometimes it seems like even if you have high skills RNG can still mess you up.

Take for example my Vynora priest casts. I have really good channeling, wear cloth for the 30% cast bonus, have a deed bonus of 25, and have a 50ql gold altar – when I cast on other peoples things I get pretty good casts. Yesterday I landed my first 100 circle of cunning – on a tool created for someone else. When it came to casting on my own tools I managed to land a 10. The RNG of some skills is just too much.

Are you excited about the new wall types? Going to take down any buildings and redo them just because you want to try them out? Let me know in comments, and as always, happy gaming. No matter where you find yourself.

P.S. if you’re interested in learning how to create your own affinity meals, check out this amazing tool. Also, look into moonshine.

Making Affinity Meals for One

stargrace April 11, 2017 No Comments

Ever since cooking was introduced to Wurm Unlimited I have been obsessed with collecting as many recipes as I can – and figuring out what food granted me what affinity. As time went on I learned that this would be a lot more difficult than I thought because there are a ton of variables and it’s not quite so simple. The first thing I learned is that if you substitute any one ingredient in the list you altered the affinity buff it granted. If you used a chopped carrot instead of a tomato, or added a different type of grain you’d see a different result even though the meal may end up the same.

Then I learned that it varies depending on who cooks the meal, too. So you can’t just copy a recipe from someone else unless you’re going to have them making your meals for the rest of your life. A nice idea in theory, but not very practical.

I spent most of yesterday playing around with different meals trying to create a complicated base meal and then figuring out what my character ID was so that I could match it to the key list of available affinity. The whole basis for this was to create a semi-complicated meal that would grant me any buff that I wanted and have that buff last for at least an hour. In order to really accomplish this I need to get my cooking skills higher. Yesterday I reached 50 (yay new title) and I’m hoping to grind my way to 70-80 this week or next. It depends on how busy real life gets, lately all I have time for is standing around AFK.

I managed to improve all of my cooking tools to 80 (I could get them to 90 but it takes forever) and next I’ll need to improve the stone ones. I haven’t worked up pottery, but I really should. My oven doesn’t stay lit nearly as long as my forges even though it’s the same quality, and that bugs me. It seems like I’m constantly re-fulling it.

My list of recipes continues to grow. I am getting close to 200 learned recipes, a lot of those are drinks. Drinks also grant affinity, but I have no idea how that process works as far as finding out what drink grants what affinity. It’s enough that I’ve managed to figure out meals I suppose. I also spent some time making coal piles yesterday and transmuting some grass to peat, but I’ll get into that more in another post.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

If I didn’t have Bad Luck, I’d have No Luck at All..

stargrace April 10, 2017 2 Comments

It never fails.

I spend a day or two working on my own tools, improving them to 90, creating ones I’m missing and I don’t get a single rare (or above) roll. I don’t even pretend to look for them any more because it just doesn’t happen. Today was just like that. Moumix then put in a trowel of his in my forge to improve since he’s been working on the walls of Sybaris and BAM – I turned it supreme on the first action.

The only thing I’ve ever made supreme in my entire WO / WU time is a forge (which I absolutely love, don’t get me wrong). Of course after a day of creating tools to sell / improving my own tools I would happen to turn the ONE item I was improving for a friend supreme. THAT is my luck in Wurm Unlimited. I am lucky for everyone – except myself.

It’s not a bad thing I suppose. At least I’m lucky at something.

I re-stocked my merchants at Haven (I sell cooking recipes on one merchant and I sell rares & enchanted tools on another). I think I’m up to 40 silver of items sold now – and I’ve spent all of it on armour and other tools. I don’t sell a lot (it takes weeks for me to run out of stock) but it’s a little bit of pocket change here and there that really helps me out over time. Creating colossus for players is a great way to make some extra cash but it has been a bit of a lull lately.

There are a small tiny handful of people on Sklotopolis who rub me the wrong way but for the most part I get along with everyone and I don’t mind helping out where I can. I helped convert Reko to a Magnaron priest (and before that a follower) with my alt, and I lent another player a few silver so they could purchase a hell horse (fantastic animals for traveling the server). I like to help, and there are certainly people who have helped me out over the last year so it’s only fair that I return the favour. My mailbox was enchanted to 93 for no cost, and some horses were returned to me after my time away. I know if I need help with something I can call on folks to be there. It’s a nice feeling and one of the reasons why community in Wurm is so important. But, like I said above, sometimes a person comes along who just rubs me the wrong way. You can’t get along with everyone after all (even if you try). Usually these types of people are trolls who are purposely causing drama that I just don’t have the patience for. Sometimes it’s just a misunderstanding and all is well after things are cleared up. In both cases talking things out like mature adults is a good way to go about a resolution. Sometimes it just requires you to simply ignore the offender.

I better get back to improving someone else’ tools so that I can turn theirs supreme (or fantastic? I’ve never made anything fantastic before) because I know it won’t be one of my own tools at this rate.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Temple of Three and Server Events

stargrace April 9, 2017 No Comments

I’ve been revamping my deed on Sklotopolis, and yesterday I finished the outside of the Temple of Three building that I had been working on. I used a bridge as an arch over the doorway, and the entire thing is made of stone. There’s a rare rock slab in front of the door on the ground with a meditation rug on top, just to give it a little flare. The inside is filled with enchanted grass at the moment because this area used to be my pens, and I’ve enchanted all the altars so my priests have a place to hang out. A large magic chest with some food, and a barrel with some water, and everyone is set. I haven’t finished my craft hall yet (still needs a second floor and a roof) but I’m out of rock shards so that will have to come first. I’ve also been thinking about mining a tunnel from Quail Ridge to Dwarf Fortress. It would be quite large, but could be a fun project. Something to think about in any case.

There are a few events coming up on the server that I’m pretty excited about. The first one is a PVP Hunger Game type event. It happens next Saturday, and I’ve signed up to participate. I’m a bit worried about people using some mods that will give them a hefty advantage in finding the key to unlock a chest and grant them gear – but the prizes that are given out are random to participants, so at least it’s not a big deal if I come in last place (which I probably will). It should be a good time for everyone.

The next event is still being decided on as far as dates go and includes a double feature of dragon killing. One is a hatchling (drops drake hide) and the second one is a full grown dragon, drops scale. I’ve never actually won anything from the events that go on, but maybe my luck will change and I’ll get a chance at some dragon armor. Then again, knowing my luck, nothing will come of it. I’m expecting a huge turn out from everyone on the server, it’s usually a fantastic way to get people together. The date for that one hasn’t been decided yet, but it looks like it will also happen on Saturday. We’ll just have to see. Next weekend is also Easter, so there’s some family stuff going on as it will be my little guy’s first.

Busy? Yes. Things are busy, but always having something to do in game is not a bad thing by any means. If you’re playing Wurm Unlimited don’t forget to stop by the Sklotopolis server and say hello! I’m typically there as Stargrace, and you really won’t find a better server out there.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Lots and LOTS of mining

stargrace April 8, 2017 No Comments

Boat tunnels are pretty important things in Wurm Online – and the same is true when it comes to Wurm Unlimited. My alliance has been working on a boat tunnel for the past little while and I decided to go and help mine out some of the veins located in the way of the tunnel. I picked iron to start with since I can always use iron, 93 quality. My pickaxe is a glimmersteel rare pickaxe so I get ore 1ql above my mining level (and the level of the ore node). 91 mining is where I was at when I started and by the end of the first day I was at 92. Getting one point a day is pretty impressive for me. I also managed to walk away with:

• 5900 ore
• 7 rare ore
• 1 supreme ore
• 2 gems
• 2 moon metals

Not a bad haul! Especially since in my own mine I’m not nearly as lucky, some days I can mine vein after vein and never see a single rare, let alone 7 of them. I put them up on my merchant for now (if they don’t sell I can always try to create something from them like a pickaxe head) and re-stocked my recipe merchant.

I’m sitting at 174 learned recipes (besides the default ones that we all start with) which is still a far cry from the total amount available, but it’s a good start. I’ve been offering to trade recipes with people for ones that I don’t have, or buy ones that I don’t have. I’ve got a merchant set up with a full inventory of ones I’ve created and they’ve been selling slowly (10c each, not a huge amount. It’s mostly to cover the cost of making paper and dye).

I started working on my Temple of Three. Most of the building is completed aside from the front. I built three altars inside and blessed them with each of my priests so now everyone has a place to hang out. I improved the Vynora altar to about 50, but I have plans to take it to at least 80. I’ll need to raise my JC skill a bit for that but it will come with time.

I’ve completely re-worked Quail Ridge over the past few weeks. When I expanded it needed to be flattened, and then I removed all of the stone walls surrounding the old deed to give it a more open feel. I removed half of the indoor horse pens and created my temple there, then created pens outside for the unicorns and hell horses. Since I rarely use regular horses these days there was no need to have so many. I also removed most of the indoor fields and pens that I had. I moved the cows and sheep to maple hedge pens I created along the back of the expansion. I also moved fields out there (garlic and wemp for now). I still have a field next to my farm house for food items that I commonly use, and my herbs are growing well. All in all, it has been pretty productive lately!