This page details how to obtain, launch, and command ships in UO Outlands, including specifics on ship types, speed mechanics, and the control interfaces. Return to the main Ships page.
Obtaining a Ship
Crafting and Stat Randomization
Ships begin as deeds crafted using the Carpentry skill. Each ship type demands specific resources and a minimum skill level. Upon crafting, a ship's base stats (like Hit Points, Speed, and Cannon capacity) are randomized, varying from -10% to +10% of the standard value. A higher Carpentry skill reduces the chance of negative variations; achieving 120 Carpentry ensures stats only range from 0% to +10% of the base, guaranteeing no penalties.
Crafting Recipes
The following recipes are used to craft ship deeds:
The choice of ship impacts its cost and speed significantly. Note that Small Ships and Small Dragonships have no registration fee, making them ideal starter vessels. The table below provides a comparison of known base values:
The Stats Gump highlights speed exceeding the cap in Red with an asterisk (*).
While ships have different base speeds, their movement is constrained by universal caps: 6.5 Tiles/sec maximum for forward movement, and 3.25 Tiles/sec for strafing or reversing. Certain ship abilities, like 'Beat to Quarters', can provide temporary speed boosts that allow exceeding these standard caps. The boost percentage applies to the existing cap (e.g., a 15% boost on a 6.5 t/s cap results in 7.475 t/s). The ship's "Stats" page visually indicates when a cap is exceeded by displaying the speed value in Red text with an asterisk (*).
Deploying Your Ship
Ship Deeds and Registration
A newly placed Small Ship awaits its captain.
Before a crafted Ship Deed (the miniature ship item) can be launched, it must be registered. Double-click the deed to open the Ship Gump, navigate to the Overview page, and click "Register Ship". This deducts the required Doubloons fee from your bank (unless it's a Small Ship or Small Dragonship). Registration permanently links the deed to its stats and upgrades, allowing anyone holding the registered deed to launch it. You can inspect a deed's statistics and installed components via its Gump even before purchasing it from a vendor.
Placement Rules
Launching a registered deed is done by double-clicking it near a suitable water location. However, certain restrictions apply. You cannot launch a ship if any vessel on your Account or IP address has been sunk within the last 5 minutes; this delay increases to 10 minutes if a Contested Ocean Boss is currently active. Furthermore, rapid travel methods impose a restriction: using Recall, Gate, or Hike prevents launching a ship deed for the next 3 minutes. This restriction also applies to launching from Dockmasters, unless the Dockmaster is located at a house owned by the same account/IP. Interestingly, using these travel methods also temporarily Blesses any Ship Deeds in your backpack for 30 seconds, protecting them from loss upon death.
Controlling Your Ship
Multiple Ship Hotbars arranged for efficient command.
Commanding a ship relies on the comprehensive Ship Gump (accessed via the deed or the placed ship's Tillerman NPC) and the customizable Ship Hotbars. Note that since the removal of the "Fighting Party" system, core ship operations like steering, firing cannons, activating abilities, managing crew readiness, initiating boarding or ramming, and docking are exclusive actions of the Ship's Captain. Other players aboard act as passengers or co-owners with limited interaction capabilities (Co-owners can still access the hold). Captains (and their followers) display as Orange to other players.
The Ship Gump Interface
The Ship Gump provides tabbed access to all ship management features.
The Overview Tab offers quick access to common actions.
Overview Tab
This main tab provides buttons for essential actions such as opening the Ship Hotbars, embarking/disembarking yourself and followers, setting cannon targeting modes, reloading cannons, launching (from deed), managing crew readiness and orders (Ready/Below, Attack/Stop, Boarding), initiating repairs, and yielding salvage. The "Register Ship" button is also found here when viewing an unregistered deed. Buttons present include:
Throw Overboard: Immediately kills the player using the command. They reappear as a ghost at the location of the last town moongate they visited.
Clear the Deck: Removes all movable items currently on the ship's deck and places them into the ship's trash barrel.
The Crew Tab manages your hired hands.
Crew Tab
Here you manage your NPC Crew. You can view current/maximum crew size, add new crewmembers from contracts (when docked or as a deed), and view detailed information, location, and loyalty status for each member.
The Players Tab controls access rights.
Players Tab
This tab controls who can interact with your ship. You can grant co-owner status automatically based on Guild, Party, or Alliance membership, add specific players as co-owners, and manage an auto-join feature for boarding parties.
The Upgrades Tab is where enhancements are installed.
Upgrades Tab
Use this tab to install various Ship Upgrades into their designated slots, enhancing the ship's appearance, stats, and abilities. This includes Themes, Paint, Cannon Metal, Outfittings, Specialty Items, Abilities (Lesser, Regular, Greater), and Crew Supplies. A Remove Button allows for the removal of installed upgrades via this interface.
This two-page tab provides a detailed breakdown of all ship statistics, reflecting base values modified by crafting rolls and installed upgrades. It covers everything from Hit Points and Speed to Cannon performance, Ability cooldowns, Crew bonuses, Repair effectiveness, and utility stats like Fishing skill bonuses.
The Roles Tab (Largely deprecated).
Roles Tab
This tab previously managed the now-removed Fighting Party system. It may still display lists of friendly players aboard but has limited current functionality related to combat parties.
Ship Hotbars
Activated from the Overview Gump, Ship Hotbars offer a modular, customizable interface for quick access to ship controls during active sailing and combat. These draggable windows update every few seconds and can be closed if not needed. Key hotbars include:
Stats Hotbar:Stats Hotbar Displays your ship's name and current Hull, Sail, and Gun HP. Double-clicking another ship shows its stats hotbar.
Actions & Abilities Hotbar:Actions/Abilities Hotbar Allows activation of installed ship abilities and provides rotating access to nearly all ship commands via arrow buttons and a central execution button. Also includes a targeting pointer to open another ship's main gump.
Navigation Hotbar:Navigation Hotbar Provides intuitive steering controls, cannon firing buttons (which automatically determine the correct side to fire from based on target), ammunition count display, and cycling through cannon targeting modes (Hull, Sails, Guns, Crew, Accuracy).
Crewmember Hotbar:Crewmember Hotbar Shows hired crew, allows targeting for healing, displays their status via color-coding (White=Below, Blue=On Deck, Orange=Boarding, Grey=Recovering), and provides buttons for managing crew readiness, boarding initiation, and attack orders.
Embarking, Disembarking, and Movement
Using any ship command will reveal the player. Embarking and disembarking actions, performed via the Gump or Hotbars, will also reveal you. For 30 seconds after embarking, disembarking, or docking, you cannot initiate harmful actions against Innocent (Blue) players on land (though self-defense is permitted). Embarking also cancels any active targeting cursors and resets your melee swing timer to prevent instant attacks upon boarding.
Docking and Storage
Docking Procedures
Dockmasters offer convenient docking services.
To secure your ship, sail near a landmass or dock structure and use the Dock Ship command (via Gump or Hotbar). Alternatively, Dockmaster NPCs located at major town docks provide docking services. Be aware of a combat docking delay: if your ship has been in combat within the last 60 seconds, it must remain completely stationary for 10 seconds before it can be docked. Standard docking requires being stationary for 5 seconds. Upon docking, any Pending Salvage is transferred to the Captain's Salvage System.
Shipping Crates
Use a Dockmaster to request a Shipping Crate for easy unloading.
For homeowners, the Shipping Crate feature offers a convenient way to transfer the entire contents of your ship's hold directly to your house. Accessed via the Dockmaster menu for a fee of 250 gold, this sends all items to your designated Shipping Crate Tile or Ban Location. The ship must meet the standard docking requirements (being stationary for 5 seconds, or 10 if recently in combat) to use this service. This feature is unavailable to players who do not own a house or rent an Inn room.
