Everything Factions

[Countessa]

Everything Factions

Factions is a gaming system within UO consisting of four server-made groups - True Brittanians (TB), Council of Mages (CoM), Shadowlords (SL), and Minax. The groups (called factions, hence the name) battle for control of towns. Each faction is aggressive towards the other three. Besides pvp, the inclusion of other elements encourage a wide variety of characters to participate. Only those characters joined in factions may participate in faction activities.

Faction Stronghold

Each faction has its own stronghold (base of operations). Only players belonging to one of the four factions can enter a stronghold. Each faction has a sign-up stone by the base entrance to join the faction that is stationed there.
Within the stronghold is a faction stone. The faction stone has various functions used by the members of that faction. These functions will be discussed throughout this guide. The stronghold is also the location where faction members take a town sigil when one is obtained.

Two of the factions have their base in town. The True Brittanians are located in the Throne Room of Lord British's Castle in Britain. The sign-up stone sits outside the entrance of the Castle. The Council of Mages are located in Magincia in the Maginicia Parliament Building. The sign up stone is west of the stronghold by the Baker's Dozen bakery.

The other two factions have their base in the countryside. Minax is located within the Northwest part of the Destard Mountains. The mountain path leading to this stronghold is on the north (right) side of the mountain. The path ends at the stronghold with the sign-up stone right out front. The Shadowlords are located within the Yew Crypts found in the Yew Forest. The entrance to the crypts is northeast of the town center a good way. The sign-up stone sits outside the door to enter the crypts.

Joining a Faction

Players who join factions will be able to participate in faction trade, politics and battle. Players require a minimum of 300 skill points to join any faction. There is a restriction of one character per account in any faction. There is no ip restriction so each account owned can have one character in factions.

To join a faction with a non-guilded character, locate the sign-up stone for the faction you want to join. Double-click the stone and choose Join This Faction.

Guilded players cannot join a faction on their own. A guildmaster can join a faction, joining the entire guild in the process. Any player belonging to the guild with another character already in factions will be removed from the guild. This follows the one character per account rule. The ejected guild member will need to leave factions on the other character to rejoin the guild. Characters with less than 300 skill points will also be ejected from the guild. These characters can rejoin when their skill total reaches 300 or more.

- Faction Reprieve

Faction reprieve releases a player from pk status, turning them from red to blue. This is offered once per account, to the first character joining factions on that account. It does not matter if the character is red or blue or if the first character is later deleted, the red reprieve will not be offered to any character but the first to join on any one account.
The reprieve does not remove the kill counts. Kill counts will still need to expire normally. Any unlawful kill will return the reprieved character back to a red character, the reprieve no longer applicable.

Players not joined to a faction will be unable to participate in faction battle, nor can they enter the stronghold of any faction. In fact, they cannot cast any beneficial spell including resurrection and invisibility on any faction member at any time. Faction members are still attackable by anyone. Faction members can heal and cast other beneficial spells on non-faction characters.

Quitting a Faction

To quit a faction, the faction member must go to their stronghold and use the faction stone within the base, choosing Leave This faction. Once a player leaves a faction, it will take three days for the character to be dismissed. That is, the player remains in the faction for three more days before they are truly out of factions. The player must login to be released.
Guilded players cannot resign from a faction if the guild remains factioned. Guilded players will need to resign from the guild first, and then follow the normal procedure for leaving a faction.

The guildmaster can resign his entire guild from a faction. When this occurs all players in the guild quit the faction and are released at the next login after three days has passed. Players in the guild who want to remain in the faction will need to resign from the guild, wait for the three days to expire and then rejoin the faction.

During the three-day resignation period, the resigning player will not be able to use the faction stone to check faction information or to participate in faction voting. The resigning player will still be a faction member for the purpose of battle and can be attacked by opposing faction members.

Players who have resigned can use the phrase What is my faction term status? to see how much time is left before dismissal.

Faction Scores and Ranks

- Kill Points

As faction members battle, kill points are assigned to players defeating an enemy faction member. Kill points determine a character's rank in their faction. Kill points can run in the negative to -6. Negative kill points are called a deficit.

Kill points are earned when a player successfully kills a faction enemy. The victim loses 10% of their points to the killer, to a maximum of 100. Percentages are rounded down when they are not a whole number. A minimum 1 kill point is given if the victim has 19 kill points or less.

Examples:
The killer has 15 kill points, the victim has 20 kill points. The victim would lose 2 kill points (10% of 20) and the killer would gain the 2 kill points. Results: killer 17 kill points, victim 18 kill points

The killer has 45 kill points, the victim has 34 kill points. The victim would lose 3 kill points (10% of 34 is 3.4, rounded down to 3) and the killer gains the 3 kill points. Results: killer 48 kill points, victim 31 kill points

The killer has 44 kill points, the victim has 12 kill points. The victim would lose 1 kill point (minimum 1 kill point loss) and the killer gains 1. Results: killer 45 kill points, victim 11 kill points

Players that lose points once they are at 0 kill points move into deficit range (deficit points). Deficit points max at -6.
Killing a player with deficit points to -5 awards the killer 1 kill point. The victim moves further into deficit by 1 deficit point. Killing a player with -6 deficit points awards the killers no kill points and no loss to the victim.

The killer has 11 kill points, the victim has -2 deficit points. The victim loses one deficit point and the killer gains one kill point. Results: killer 12 kill points, victim -3 deficit points

The killer has -2 deficit points and the victim has 90 kill points. The victim would lose 9 kill points (10% of 90), and the killer would lose the two deficit points, the remaining 7 points become kill points. Results: killer 7 kill points, victim 81 kill points.

The killer has 22 points and the victim has -6 deficit points. The killer would earn no kill points from this victim, nor does the victim lose points since they are at the max deficit of -6.

No kill points are exchanged if a player kills a member of their own faction.
You can only receive kill points and silver from a victim once every three hours.
If there are multiple players contributing to the damage of a victim, the player inflicting the final blow takes the kill points and the silver reward. If the resulting blow is dealt by a non-player (monster, town guard) or by a non-faction member, the silver and kill points are awarded to one (only one) of the faction players contributing to the death, with the greater chance going to the players contributing the most damage.

for example: minax victim dies after being attacked by tb killer 1 (gives 10% of the damage) and tb killer 2 (gives 85% of the damage), dies to a guard for the last 5% of hp. Tb killers 1 and 2 are both eligible for the kill points/silver from minax victim (should there be any awarded), with tb killer 2 having a greater chance of taking the points.

In order to lose points, the victim must be damaged, at least partially, by a faction player.

To view your character's faction score, use the command Punkte, Showscore or Montrerscore. The score can also be seen by viewing the personal gump information.

- Point Transfer

Once per day faction members can transfer kill points to another player in the same faction. In order to transfer points, the player giving the points must have at least 10 kill points. The transfer takes five kill points from the giver and gives four points to the receiver. One point is lost. To transfer kill points use I honor your leadership and target the player who is to receive the kill points.

- Atrophy
Atrophy is a silent distribution of points, taken from inactive players, over a repeating two day cycle.
Every two days the server will check the activity of all faction members. Any member who has died in faction battle within the past two days will be considered active and not lose any points to atrophy. Any player who has killed another faction member in faction battle has a 33% chance of being considered active (and hence, not lose any points). Any player who has not died, nor counted as an active player from killing another is subject to atrophy. Atrophy will take 10% of each inactive player's points. Points taken by atrophy are collected in one 'pool' and then are distributed one at a time randomly, among all active faction players. It does not matter which faction the points are taken from nor which faction the active players belong too.

- Titles
A player's faction score assigns faction rank. The faction member's rank is determined by the percentage of points they have, compared with the faction's total kill points. Titles vary from faction to faction with each rank. Faction rank is updated immediately as points are gained or lost.

Faction members can choose to display a title rather than their rank. This is done at the faction stone, with the option Declare Faction Merchant. Faction members can choose from Scribe, Tailor, Blacksmith or Tinker. The player needs min 100.0 in the skill to use the skill title.

Consequences of Dying

Skill Loss
When a faction member dies at the hands of a faction opponent, further penalty is applied to the victim in the form of skill loss. Faction skill loss only occurs to faction members dying from a faction opponent or from suicide. No loss of skill occurs if the faction member dies to a non faction member, a faction-mate or a non-enemy/unaligned monster. Players not joined to factions will never incur this penalty.
The skill loss amounts to 1/3 of the players skills for a specific period of time. If the faction member dies in a town controlled by their faction, skill loss lasts 5 minutes. Anywhere else it lasts 7 minutes.

Looting
Players in opposing factions are unable to party (and therefore unable to loot each other according to party rules).
The rules for looting follow the order of lawful aggression - reputation, guild, faction.
For example, faction members cannot freely loot a faction mate. If the faction mate is red or criminal however, reputation takes precedence and the faction mate would be lootable. Likewise a faction mate would also be attackable and lootable should the faction mates be in warring guilds (guilds taking precedence over factions.)
Following these rules, faction members can only loot faction opponents whom they helped kill. Faction members killed by faction guards are lootable by any member in the same faction as the guards.

Faction-Specific Items
When a faction member kills an opposing faction member, the killer has a random chance to obtain a faction-specific item. These items and their use is as follows:

• Blood Rose - Gives +5 to all stats for a short amount of time.
• Gem Of Empowerment - Removes skill-loss.
• Urn Of Accession - Resurrects an ally (skill-loss free).
• Clarity Potion - Protects from concussion blows for 5 minutes. If used after receiving a concussion blow, the mana and stat loss from the concussion disappears.
• Storm's Eye - Does Area of Effect damage. Unlike the earthquake spell, a Storm's eye can kill a player.

 

[Countessa]

Re: Everything Factions

Faction Silver

Silver is the currency used in factions. Each faction and faction members can earn silver by various means. When a player earns silver, it is placed in the player's backpack. When a faction earns silver is it placed in the faction stone in the form of credits. The silver is used for various faction needs and perks. The following describes the different ways to obtain silver, and the various uses for it.

Silver usage - Players

-Craftable Items
Craftsmen in factions can create faction-blessed clothes, armor and weapons (with some restrictions).
To craft a faction item, the player must be in a faction and that faction must control a town.
The item must be made in the faction-controlled town and in the correct shop.
Once the item is made a gump will appear asking if the item is to be faction blessed. Each item takes a specific amount of silver to bless. The silver must be in the crafter's backpack to get the bless option.
Once blessed the item will show as blessed/faction item in the description for two weeks.
Archery weapons, and carpenter-made armor and weapons cannot be faction blessed.
Faction blessing last two weeks after which the item becomes an ordinary non-blessed item.
Items costs the following amounts of silver for each item faction blessed.

• Clothes: 500 silver
• Leather Armor: 1 250 silver
• Metal Armor: 1,750 silver
• Weapons: 3000 silver
  - Runic weapons cost an additional 650 silver per runic resulting in:
  Dull Copper 3650 silver, Shadow 4300 silver, Copper 4950 silver, Bronze 5600 silver, Gold 6250 silver, Agapite 6900 silver, Verite 7550 silver, Valorite 8200 silver

Some faction blessed items take on the hue of the faction's primary or secondary color. The option is always given to the crafter to choose from either color. Faction colors are as follows
Minax - primary blood red, secondary black
Council of Mages - primary blue, secondary white
True Brittanians - primary purple, secondary gold
Shadowlords - primary black, secondary green

The use of faction-crafted items is limited by rank.
Ranks 1-3: 4 items, Ranks 4-6: 5 items, Ranks 7 & 8: 6 items, Rank 9: 7 items, Rank 10: 8 items, Commander: 9 items.

- Faction Traps
Faction members with 90.0 tinkering or more are able to make faction traps and faction-trap removal tools. The traps can be placed in faction-related locations (see further) to damage opposing faction members. Faction Traps cannot be placed in any other locations than those specified. Traps will not harm faction-mates of the trapper. Traps will harm all opposing faction members; the trapper cannot direct the trap against, nor exempt, a specfic faction.
There are four types of traps:

• Explosion Trap - 3000 silver, 10 ingots, 1 greater explosion potion. Can be placed in any faction town.
• Gas Trap - 3000 silver, 10 ingots, 1 deadly poison potion. Can be placed in a faction stronghold.
• Saw Trap - 3000 silver, 50 ingots, 1 gear. Can be placed in a town the trapper's faction controls.
• Spike Trap - 3000 silver, 50 ingots, 1 spring. Can be placed in a town the trapper's faction controls. In addition to damage, this trap will cause a victim to dismount.

Other restrictions and requirements include:
Each faction is allowed a maximum of 30 traps (total)
Traps cannot be stacked - one per tile.
Using the detect hidden skill on a trap will reveal its location to anyone in the area for one full minute.
faction mates of the trapper will see a message alerting them to a trap in the vicinity any time they come within the radius of the trap.
To remove a trap, the opposing faction members must use the remove trap skill with a faction-trap removal tool. Any trap not removed with this skill and tool will continue to reset itself forever.
Minimum 80.0 in both tinkering and remove trap is needed for any kind of success with removing the trap. Below these skill levels, and you'll only fail.
To remove a trap placed by your own faction requires the faction Commander. He is able to remove the tool without the remove trap skill.

The faction-trap removal tool is craftable by a faction tinker with 90.0 min skill, 10 ingots and 1000 silver coins in the character backpack. If the requirements are not met, the item will not show in the tinkering gump.
The tool comes with 25 uses that decrease by one per use, whether a trap removal attempt is successful or fails.

- Faction War Horses
Faction War Horses can be purchased from a faction stablemaster for 500 silver coins or 3000 gold coins. Rank 2 is needed to ride a faction war horse. Horses come in both the primary and secondary color, the option given when the horse is purchased. War horses cannot be ridden nor tamed by players in opposing factions. War horses have a high strength, dexterity, and a higher fighting ability than a regular horse. Faction members can only buy from a stablemaster placed by their faction.

Silver usage - Factions

- Town Improvements
When a faction has control of a town, they can spend some of their silver on faction guards and faction vendors. These guards and vendors are placed within guard zone of the controlled town. They cannot be placed on a boat.

Faction guards have four different levels. A maximum of 10 per faction-controlled town can be placed.
Level 1 are dexxers (Henchmen) for all factions. They cost 5000 credits per guard.
Level 2 are also dexxers (Mercenaries) for all factions. They cost 6000 credits per guard
Level 3 are a mixed group. Minax have Berserkers, Com have Sorcerers, Knights for TB and SL has Death Knights. These guards cost 7000 credits per guard.
Level 4 are casters/tanks. Minax have Dragoons, Wizards for CoM, Paladins for TB and Necromancers for SL. Level 4 guards cost 8000 credits per guard.

Faction vendors placed by a faction can only be used by members of the same faction. Non-faction players can never purchase from a faction vendor. A maximum of 10 of any one type of vendor per town can be placed by the faction. Vendors are available for reagents, ore and wood. Reagent vendors cost 5000 credits (as do stablemasters, limit of one per town). Ore and wood vendors cost 3000 credits each. Faction vendors are subject to faction tax (explained further).

Earning Silver - Players

Besides kill points, killing an enemy faction member also earns silver. The killer will earn 40 silver for each kill point awarded from the victim. For example, a victim giving two kill points would net the killer 80 silver. A victim giving 8 kill points would earn the killer 320 silver coins.

If the killer belongs to a faction with a tithe rate, the tithe percentage is taken from the silver and given to the faction as credits on the town stone.

For example, if the killer has earned 100 silver from killing a faction enemy and the tithe rate is 0, the killer receives the full amount. If the tithe rate was set to 30%, 70 silver would be paid to the killer, 30 credits would be added to the faction. See more about tithes below.

Killing a faction monster is another way to earn silver. Each faction has a specific monster which is aligned with the faction. These monsters will show as orange to all opposing faction members. These monsters are not aggressive against members of the aligned faction unless attacked. Killing a monster aligned with an opposing faction earns the killer silver coins. If a tithe rate is set for the killer's faction, the amount he receives is reduced by the tithe percentage (which goes to the faction in the same manner as killing a player would). The following shows the monsters aligned with each faction.

• True Brittanians - Silver Serpents - 30 silver
• Shadowlords - Deamons - 30 silver (cannot be summoned daemons)
• Followers of Minax - Ogre Lords - 30 silver
• Council of Mages - Wisps - 20 silver

- Faction Traps
When a faction trap damages or kills an enemy faction member, the trapper is awarded silver. Damage to an enemy earns 20 silver coins and death to an enemy earns 40 silver coins.
Disarming a faction trap earns the disarmer 300 silver coins.
Faction trap silver from damage, death and disarm is subject to faction tithe.

Earning Silver - Factions

- Tithe
A tithe is a faction tax placed on its members. The tax is kept by the faction in the form of credits on the faction stone. As touched on above, when a tithe is set for a faction, a portion of all silver earned (through enemy kills, faction traps and faction monster kills) is kept from the earning faction member, for the faction. The tithe can be set from 0% - 100% by the faction commander and the rate can by changed no more than once every 24 hours.
On a silver award of 100 silver coins: A tithe of 0 gives 100 coins to the player, none to the faction.
A tithe of 50% would give half of the silver award to the player and half to the faction.
A tithe of 100% would keep all silver for the faction, the player awarded no silver at all (although the player does still receive the kill points).


Faction Towns
There are eight faction towns. The four opposing factions battle each other for town control. Each faction town has a town stone and a town pedestal. Town stones are used for a number of reasons (explained further on). Town pedestals hold the town sigil, used to capture a town. The eight towns, and the location of each town's stone and pedestal are listed below.

• Britain - located south of the mage shop on the east side of Britain
• Skara Brae - located north of the provisioner's shop
• Magincia - located southwest of the tavern
• Vesper - located west of the docks
• Minoc - located south of the tavern
• Moonglow - located east of the provisioner's shop
• Trinsic - located east of the meeting hall
• Yew - located west of the healer

Capturing a Town

To capture a town, a faction member steals the town sigil. The sigil is a little gem on the town pedestal. The faction member needs at least 80.0 in stealing to steal a sigil. From there, the sigil must be transported to a stronghold within 15 minutes or it returns back to the town pedestal.

The sigil can be passed to a faction mate by dbl clicking the sigil and targeting the faction mate; it cannot be passed with the normal drag and drop method. If a player is killed by an opposing faction member while in possession of the sigil, the sigil moves to the killer's backpack. If the player possessing the sigil dies by another means (for example, a monster), the sigil returns to the home location (the home location is the last stronghold tile/pedestal the sigil rested on).

Once the sigil is set on the stronghold tile, the sigil's corruption begins. The corruption time last 8 hours, during which time the sigil must stay in the stronghold. It can be stolen by other factions during this time so it will need protection by the faction members. If it is successfully taken, it must be returned to the stronghold tile within 15 minutes or the corruption timer will need to be restarted.

Once the sigil is corrupted, it needs to be returned to the town pedestal. The faction members have one hour to return the sigil to the town pedestal. If the corrupted sigil is not returned in an hour, it moves back to the faction tile where it last corrupted. While corrupted, opposing factions are able to steal the sigil. If the sigil is stolen, the opposing faction members can take the sigil to their base to restart the corruption process for their faction.

If a sigil is corrupted and successfully returned to a town pedestal, the faction takes control of the town. This control last for a minimum of three days. During this time the sigil cannot be stolen, nor corrupted and the town is safe from further conquest.

After the three days is up, the sigil again becomes available to steal although the faction still owns the town. They will continue to own the town until another faction corrupts the sigil and returns it to the town.

Other related rules and restrictions
The player with the town sigil temporarily hues purple while in possession of the sigil as does all the equipped items on that player.
The player in possession of the sigil cannot teleport, cast gate, recall, cast polymorph or incognito, nor use a disguise kit. Public moongates will not take them to the Delucia destination.
The sigil cannot be placed in a container on the ground.
The sigil can never be passed to a non-faction member nor a faction enemy.
If a player logs out with a sigil, the sigil returns to the last home location.

Town Control

Once a faction has control of a town they can set tax rates, make town improvements by placing faction guards and faction vendors, and craft faction items within that town. Faction politics come into play here somewhat, with the various faction office positions and the duties assigned to each position.

Faction Tracking
Faction tracking allows faction players to track other faction players. Faction tracking can only be used from within a town or stronghold. all towns apply, not only faction towns. Outside of towns or strongholds, a faction player will get the normal tracking options.
Faction tracking covers double the distance from a stronghold. Likewise, a city controlled by a faction will track double the distance for members of that faction.
Safe zones do not show faction members in faction tracking.

Office Positions.

There are three office positions in factions. Faction Commander, Town Sheriff and Town Finance Minister. There can only be one Faction Commander but each faction controlled town can have a Town Sheriff and a Town Finance Minister. The Commander is elected by the faction members. The Town Sheriffs and Town Finance Ministers are appointed by the Commander.

- Faction Commander
Only faction members ranking level 6 or higher, or a player already a faction commander, are eligible to be elected as faction commander.
The faction commander appoints the Sheriff and Finance Minister for each town (controlled by his faction) through use of the town stone.
The faction commander sets the tithe rate (0% - 100%), also with the town stone.
The faction commander is the sole controller of faction credits and it is he who determines which towns will receive faction credits for improvements and how many each town will be awarded. The Commander has access to his commands on the faction stone by choosing commander menu. Transfer credits is used to move credits to a specific faction-controlled town for use in the town. Once the credits have been moved to a town stone (controlled by same faction), the credits are also accessible to the Town Sheriff and Town Finance Minister.
The faction commander can send a faction- wide message twice per hour by speaking the words message faction. A prompt will ask for the message, which is to be typed in (hit enter). This message will be sent to all online faction mates.

- Faction Sheriff

Each town under faction control can have one sheriff. The sheriff is appointed by the commander through the town stone.
The commander cannot select himself for Sheriff duty.
The commander must choose a sheriff from faction members in the same faction
The faction sheriff accesses official duty options with the phrase I am Sheriff.
The Sheriff is responsible for hiring faction guards for the town.
The Sheriff is able to control the guards with the word Orders. Once Orders has been spoken, the Sheriff follows with one of the following commands
Follow, Patrol, Attack [faction], Ignore [faction], Warn [faction].
For example, if the Sheriff of a CoM-owned town wanted one of his faction guards to attack anyone in the Minax faction, they would say: Orders attack Minax.
Default of all placed guards is to attack any opposing faction member on sight.
The faction sheriff also has access to view the town treasury to allow for planning of expenses.

- Faction Finance Minister
Each town under faction control can have one Finance Minister. The Finance minister is appointed by the commander through the town stone.
The commander cannot select himself as Finance Minister.
The finance minister must be selected from faction mates
The finance minister accesses the town finance options by speaking "I wish to access the city treasury"
The finance minister is responsible for purchasing faction vendors and setting town taxation rates.
Towns with a tax rate of 0% have standard pricing. Taxation affects the cost of items in town shops and on vendors within that town.
The taxation rate in any one town can only be changed by a faction once every 24 hours. If a town is taken by another faction, the 24 hour wait resets.

Elections, Campaigning and Votes

The election process in factions is an ongoing nine-day cycle - five days for election pending, campaigning for one day, and three days for voting.

Election pending is a five day phase in which faction members do not run for office or vote for candidates. This is the time when the last-elected faction commander rules the roost.

Once the five days is past, campaigning takes place for one day. During this day, players from the faction with rank 6 or higher can elect to run for commander through the town stone. There are ten spots available for candidates, first come basis. If the election ends in a tie, the first player in the list wins. If there are no candidates, the campaigning continues for an additional day.

Voting lasts three days. If there is only one candidate on the list, voting is skipped and the candidate is appointed Commander. If there are two or more candidates, each faction member can cast one vote for one candidate. Votes cannot be changed once submitted. All candidates and their current vote total are visible to all faction members. Votes are limited to one vote per IP.

Once voting has completed and the Commander's selected, the five-day election pending process begins.

Any player who quits factions while in office will be immediately removed from office.

A very big thank you to Luigi for answering multiple pm's of questions and to Mark for clearing up the final, answered questions.