Custom Housing

Description

One of the most unique and exiting parts of Ultima Online and it's sandbox environment is it's housing and custom housing features. Houses can be placed or purchased by players and everything inside of it is safe from other players unless specifically granted the permissions. Custom houses can be designed and prebuilt houses can be placed already done. Houses cost gold and you must have 1200 skill points gained on the account to place a house, this is to prevent alternate accounts from hoarding houses.

Getting a House

There are two ways to get a house. You may build your own or purchase one from another player.

Building a Home

To build a house, you must first purchase a House Placement Tool from an NPC Architect (Usually located around Carpenters). They cost under 1000 gold. Some characters choose to always carry one since they are Blessed, in case a good spot turns up on their adventures.

Once you've got enough gold in your bank, you need to find a location to place a home. Finding a spot can be difficult because of the heavy population on the server but houses do decay over time when players go inactive. Search for your spot!

When you are at your spot, select the house size/style and target the ground where the steps would go. Either the house will appear or it will tell you something is blocking. New housing requires no blocking objects under or within 1 tile of the foundation. The house must also be 5 tiles away from any other player house from front and behind.

If you see the house appear, simply click the confirmation button and congratulations! If not, keep trying. Placing houses can be tricky.

Buying a Home

Some players choose to sell their old homes and buy new ones. Some players find houses just to resell them to other players. Whatever the case, you can purchase houses from other players. One of the main advantages of buying a house from another player is that you don't have to go through the tedious process of placing one yourself. For buying large plots such as 18x18's, you'll almost always likely buy one from another player unless you witness one "fall".

Finding a house to purchase can often be done from the forums in the buying/selling section. These threads will often include the location, a description, the size and images. Once you've settled on a price with the seller, you must both travel to the location of the house and stand under the sign of the house. The seller must open the house sign and begin the transaction. A Neon glacial blue deed will appear in the trade window with the house information. Simply place your check in the trade and click the check. Congratulations! The house now belongs to you.

Home Security

In the security menu of the house sign, you can give other players certain privileges in your house. There's three levels of security:

Owners (all characters of your account)

Co-owners

Friends

Friends can do the following:

Ban other players, lift a ban

Access secure containers, doors and teleporters with the access level set to 'friends' or 'anyone'

Co-owners can do the following:

Inherit Permissions from Friends

Lock down items, and release items locked down by themselves

Release locked-down items or secure containers, even those placed by other players

Access secure containers, doors and teleporters with the access level set to 'co-owners', 'friends' or 'anyone'

Place house add-ons

Rename the house

Owners can do the following:

Inherit Permissions from Co-Owners

Make other players a co-owner of the house, or remove them from the co-owners list

Place secure containers

Set the security level on doors and teleporters

Access secure containers, doors and teleporters with the access level set to 'owner', 'co-owners', 'friends' or 'anyone'

Remove house add-ons

Place barkeeps and write out vendor contracts

Trade the house to another player

Demolish the house

Change the house foundation style, hanger and sign

Customize the house (if the house is of the customizable type)

Change the house to Public or Private

Secure containers

Locking Items Down

Secure containers differ from those that are locked down in that you can easily remove items from them without having to "release" them first. Secure containers provide secure storage without locking down the objects that stored within them. Locking items down

Once an item is locked down in your house, it becomes securely locked in that location. Locked down items cannot be moved by anyone and do not decay. This lets you decorate your house with the peace of mind that ruffians or petty chair thieves will not be able to wreck or steal your furniture, and that your decorations won't simply vanish after being left unattended.

House Commands

Command	Description
I Ban Thee	Friends, co-owners and owners of a house can issue this command. It will bring up a targeting cursor to ban and eject someone. Friends and owners cannot be banned.
Remove Thyself	Friends, co-owners and owners of a house can issue this command. It will bring up a targeting cursor to eject someone. Friends and owners cannot be ejected.
I Wish To Lock This Down	Locks an item down in your house. Only the owner and co-owners can issue this command.
I Wish To Release This	Removes lockdown and secure status on an item. Only the owner and co-owners can issue this command.
I Wish To Secure This	Locks down a container in your house and makes it secure. Only the owner and co-owners can issue this command.
I Wish To Place A Trash Barrel	Will place a trash barrel inside a house, at the position where you are standing. Only the owner or co-owner