UWO General Guide & Overview

UWO is such a vast game, so many features and mechanics... So I would like to give you a brief overview of those features.

If you are a complete newbie, check my beginners guide.

Career

You should know by now that this is a game that mixes Adventure, Trading and Maritime / Battle.

But the fact is, you can take on roles that are much more specific:

Maritimers (Battle oriented players) may be a pirate, privateer or bounty hunter.

Adventurers may be salvagers, treasure hunters, cartographers and others

Traders may trade (Buy low and sell high) or produce stuff from raw materials.

Jobs

Do not confuse roles with jobs. You may do piracy in many different jobs, including trader jobs (Not recommended).

A job will let you have favoured skills that may help you in your role (More on this below).
You may change back to any job you had at any Guild Master (of that job type - Adv, Bat or Tra). Changing to a previous job will be more expensive without the job card.
Example: Guerilla without a card is 50 million ducats but with the card it is 2.5 million ducats.
Each job has a unique set of Favoured skills, and may include an Expert skill.
You need the a job card to unlock new jobs. You get these cards by doing the job's quest.
Beginner job cards can potentially unlock lots of jobs but only one at a time.
Most job quests have prerequisites of skill ranks, fame, or both.
The type of job you have will double the amount of experience and fame you receive of that type. For example: Being in a trade type job will double all trade experience and trade fame you receive while being in that job.

Next I'll talk a bit of things adventurers, maritimers and traders do.

Things Adventurers do

Quests

Questing is a great way to explore the world, rank skills, and get rewards.

Quests can unlock new content of the world like dungeons, Atlantis, SOW and new cities.
Quests also give unique gear that cannot be crafted nor bought in any other way.
Every Quest Mediator has a different set of quests that can be obtained but some quests can be obtained from multiple locations.
The skill rank prerequisites can be bypassed by joining the fleet of a friend that has the required skill rank.
You can get a new list of quests by sailing to another city or by sailing far enough so that the city is no longer visible on your compass map (Quest reset). Quest Mediation Permits (QMPs) is a quicker method of resetting the quest list. It lets you obtain a new list of quests at the Mediator without leaving the port.
Using a Special Quest Mediation Permit will give you a new list of quests that are considered rare and difficult to obtain or choose by quest destination.
Quests can be shared by a Fleet Captain with other fleet members up to four times.
Other members do not need to meet requirements to obtain a shared quest.

Maps

You get maps by browsing books in archive / scholar. You may also earn proficiency in the subject you are reading.

During the browsing, and once in a while, you get maps. You will not get the same map if you already have it or if you have not reported the discovery of it.

Weather Phenomenon

Unlike the discoveries above, there is no need for Maps or Quests.

If you meet certain conditions and happen to be in the right PLACE and TIME, you will have a chance to see a weather phenomenon.

Discover it with your recognition skill and report it to Robert Boyle at Oxford College.

Folklore Discoveries

Folklores are a new type of discovery.

You get a clue (hint) and go to Sagres (Henrique) to take that specific quest.

Check my folklore guide for more information.

Treasure Hunt

Work in progress

Salvaging

Hunting shipwrecks for its treasures can be exciting.

First of all you need shipwreck map pieces, a consumable item that will reveal a map.
Once one piece has been used, the map has been picked but will not be shown until it is fully built.
A full map will require multiple pieces to complete.
A map can be discarded to try for a different map at any time.
When a map is fully revealed it will show a small area of the world.
You need to locate this based on land masses but there are NPCs that will give you clue.
High crew count will help raise a ship faster as well as having fleet members help by using Salvage skill or items.
After a set number of pulls, the shipwreck will fail and sink again. You will need to try again.
An aide set to lookout will help locate shipwrecks in several ways.
When the aide spots flotsam, you are very near.
After raising the shipwreck you will need to haul it to the nearest port.
While moving you will receive a message saying the rope that is hauling the shipwreck is about to snap. You will need to stop and drop anchor immediately.
You will need to move to a port in this fashion or the ship will sink and need to be salvaged again.
Once in port, you can access your shipwreck from any other port.
Thieves (NPCs) will most likely sneak in after opening a chest.

Check my salvaging & shipwreck guide for more information.

Sea of Wonders

Check my sea of wonders guide for more information.

Legacy

Check my legacy guide for more information.

Charting

Adventurers may do land, sea or star charting:

Atlantis Exploration

The lost continent is not always available.

Check my Atlantis guide to get ready when it is.

Things Maritimers do

Dungeons

Most dungeons require adventure quests to unlock.
Dungeons have an entry point in the world, either in ruins at landing points or in churches.
There is a consumable item called Expedition Ship Boarding Ticket (ESBT) that allows you to instantly enter the dungeon.
Dungeons have multiple floors that you will have you descend.
Each floor will have NPC to fight via land battle. The number of enemy will increase if there are more players in your fleet.
The final floor will have a stronger boss type enemy.
Each floor will have multiple treasure chests that can contain trade goods, consumables or traps.
Traps can burn gold, consumable items, or even durability of your equipment.

Land Battle

It consists of your character engaging in close range combat against NPC or other players.

Check my land battle guide for details.

Agent

Agents are willing to perform numerous activities in favour of their nation, including attacking other nation's agents.

Agents will have a green name.

Check my agent guide for more information.

Naval Battle

Naval battle is a fun and challenging battle that requires patience and planning to do well. Ships have limited movement speed and maneuverability which makes positioning essential during a naval battle.

There are two main strategies in a naval battle, cannon fight or melee fight.
Cannon fighting uses your ships cannons to sink an enemy ship at range.
Melee fighting means you need to catch an enemy ship in melee combat and use your crew to kill the enemy’s crew.
There are three size classes of ships: Light, Standard, and Heavy. The larger size classes can be upgraded more and have more parts equipped.
During a naval battle, only 3 skills can be active at a time. 4 with you use a "letter of skill use" (Doesn't work in PvP).

Typical skills used in naval battle:

Evasion
Accuracy
Penetration
Ballistics
Reloading
Aboardage
Aide skills - Aides can give defense buffs to certain types of cannon shot. These will dramatically reduce damage of one type of cannon.
Ship skills - There are many ship skills that give a large variety of bonuses.

There are six basic types of cannons:

Normal - Standard cannon shot.
Double Shot - Higher damage cannon shot with longer reload time.
Incendiary - Lower damage than Normal shot but can set fire to enemy ships.
Grape - Lower damage than Normal shot but can kill enemy crew.
Chain - Lower damage than Normal shot but will destroy enemy sails much easier.
Smoke - Lower damage than Normal shot but can create a smoke cloud around the enemy that will lower their cannon accuracy.

There are new types of cannons but I'll leave that to an advanced guide.

Phantom Monster Hunting

Did you know you can hunt the fierce beasts that lurk in the Sea of Wonders?

Phantom monster guide.

Piracy / Privateering

Pirating is a major part of the game.

All waters outside of Europe can be hostile waters where other players can attack you at any time.
Pirates will have a red name and Privateers will have an orange name.
Privateers are pirates that have not killed their own nation.
Pirates can be attacked in safe waters but cannot attack others.
Pirates gain Notoriety by sinking other player ships.
The pirate’s bounty is determined by its notoriety. If the pirate is sunk by any other player, that player will receive a bounty that is paid by the pirate.
Notoriety will automatically decrease each day spent sailing at sea.
Pirates will also become hostile to the various nations and may receive penalties to enter a city or be hunted by NPC fleets.
Tribute goods can be used to end a fight with a pirate (player or NPC).

There are some other consumables that are related to piracy.

Pardons: Each pardon will remove 50 notoriety.
Discharge Petition: Lowers the negative status of a nation towards you
Secret no-war pact epistle: Gives you a blue flag next to your name that will stop all battles, player and NPC, for a set amount of time.

Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunters will have a blue name.
Bounty hunters are maritimers that attack (hunt) pirates and privateers.
They cannot be attacked in safe waters but can attack pirates while in it.
BHs gain bravery points by sinking pirate players (Previously honour points). Now they need to initiate the attack.
The pirate’s bounty is determined by its notoriety.

Things Trader do

Besides buying low and selling high (Nanban, Franban, "spice runs" and RTG), traders can do a lot of other stuff.

Check this how to make money guide if you need guidance in making money in the game.

Production

The production skills let you create your own items in game. You can create different types of trade goods, consumables, equipment and ship parts.

Casting - Used mostly for crafting cannons, ship plate armor, personal weapons and armor and freestyle ship improvement parts.
Cooking - Used primarily to make vigour foods.
Handicrafts - Often used to craft freestyle ship improvement parts, figure heads, and many kinds of tools.
Sewing - Mostly used to make ship sails and clothing.
Storage - Used to stop item loss when killed. Makes preserved foods and Tribute goods.
Alchemy - An advanced crafting profession that is mostly used to improve equipment (Alchemy Experiments, Transmutation and Sophia Awakening).
Linguistics - Used to create language books that can substitute for languages. Currently useless.

Gathering

Collection and Procurement are very similar skills that will collect trade goods at sea or in landing zones.
Each skill has a different set of trade goods that it will be able to gather depending on your location.
While in a landing zone, using these near a landmark will give best results.
Fishing - Catches fish while sailing or while standing near the sea.

Investments

Investing in a town will increase your nation’s influence on the town and also increase the development of the town.
Many cities have rewards for investing (Like books / recipes).
At various amounts of investment, items can be given to the player by the town.
Trade goods, townsman recipes, and NPC shops can also be unlocked through investing.
A city may increase in size as its development increases (including extra buildings).
Lima will get a church at high development, which unlocks the Lima Dungeon. Please note that Lima and caribbean territory have a unique development mechanic.
Each nation’s colonial territory will gain additional craftsmen and shops with high development.
Investing is slow at first but you can invest more with each successive investment in a city.
Request Investment Book is required to re-invest in a town without leaving it.
Otherwise sailing to a nearby port or far enough to not see the town on the in game compass will reset the investment option.
The nation with largest investment in a city will gain control of the city.
This gives advantages such as lower taxes.
Capital Cities and Territory-type cities can only be invested in by a member of that nation (Or during certain events like ESF victory).

Private farms

You can claim an island for your own to produce trade goods and obtain specialized crafting recipe.

There are five possible islands that can be claimed as farmland.
When you claim the land the game creates an instance of the island just for you. Many people can claim an individual island.
Each island has unique features, facilities and trade goods that either can’t be obtained on other farms or can only be obtained through farms.
There are four types of land to build on: Farm, Mine, Fishery, and Ranch.
There are multiple types of Facilities that can be built on the land to determine the trade goods that are produced.
Once a day you can develop the land of one type of land to increase the technology/productivity level, same stat different names used in different places.
This can be done at your farm or from a bank for a penalty in development points.
Developing the land is done by building a Facility or by performing maintenance on an existing Facility.
Stocking items at the farm will increase the amount of development points that are given.
A maximum of 3 items can be stocked at the farm. All three items can be the same type to maximize development.
Raising the productivity increases the amount of trade goods produced. But decreases if no item is stocked that gives a bonus to that type of land.
Facilities with different production lists will be unlocked as the technology level increases.
The trade goods produced can be withdrawn at the island or through a bank in a Capitol city for a fee.
Craftsmen in the farm have unique recipes that are only found on the farm.

Check my Private Farm guide for more information.

Reselling

The "dark side" of trading. I talk about reselling in this post.

Status

Stats are part of the RPG element of UWO. This is how it looked when lvl 90 was the max:
You may evolve your character (toon) in many different ways:

Levels

Levels define what ships you can or not sail. What jobs you may or may not have.

It also defines how much vigour you have (It's like a "mana" or MP - for skills). In the example above 1380 is the maximum vigour and 1310 is what's left to use.

You have levels for the 3 different roles. Check my Adventure, Trade or Battle grinding guide to learn how to get levels fast.

Fame

Fame is required for port permits (More on this below), court ranks, and quests.

Check my Adventure, Trade or Battle fame grinding guide to learn how to get fame fast.

Formality

Formality is required to talk to influential people in the game like kings and famous persons.

It's improved by:
Certain equipments while equipped
Court Ranks (Passive / Permanent)

Disguise

Disguise is required to enter ottoman ruled ports (Black Sea Ports + Near East Ports + Egypt + Arabic Peninsula +Tripoli + Tunis + Algiers).

Note: If these ports are ruled by another european power then disguise is not required.

Quick source for disguise equipment.

Court Ranks

Court ranks gives you formality and are required to upgrade your quarters, give you bank vault space.
You earn court ranks by engaging in maritime, trade and adventure activities, like:
Participating in the Epic Sea Feud
Sinking ships.
Investing in towns.
Reporting discoveries (Including port discoveries)
Royal Fleet Service.
Check my court rank guide for more information.

Royal Fleet

Gives you the following benefits:
Gain court ranks based on your performance.
Obtain a commercial battle license.
Become an agent of your nation.
Receive special titles and nicknames (As your licence's rank increases).
NPC from you capital, territory and allied port will greet you more properly.
Unlocks officer's gear in Florence.
Your vote has more value for your country.
Check my royal fleet guide for more information.

Notoriety

Notoriety is earned by attacking (and defeating) white name players or NPCs that carry a nation's flag.

Honor points

Honor points are earned by attacking (and defeating) player pirates (Not NPCs).

Cultural contribution

Allows you to take more than one quest at the same time or buy stuff from the guild shop.
The higher the quest level the more cultural points you will need.
Costs Cultural points when used
Check my cultural contribution guide for more information.

Number of discoveries (and their difficulty)

Adventuring is count in discoveries.

Discovery cards are also used in academy debate battles.

Nationality

Each player starts with a nationality of their choosing (Exception to the ottomans that cannot be chosen in the beginning).
Your nationality will determine lots of things that happen to you, whether you know it or not. Like paying higher taxes when selling goods in a different country.
If you are looking for a nation overview, check my brief guide to understand each nation's advantages.

Defecting

Defecting will let you join another nation. There are two directions of defecting.
Check my defection guide for more information.

Title & Nicknames

Titles are another game mechanic that gives you extra powers or perks.

Nicknames, on the other hand, are purely cosmetic. They are cool nicks that appear above your ign (in game name).

Check my Titles & Nicknames guide for more information.
Nation Storyline
Each nationality has its own storyline (with the exception of the ottomans, which has none).

It's a well concatenated guided quest. It really embodies the spirit of UWO and the age of discovery.

I recommend you try to do it on your own but, if you get stuck in the story, check these guides.

Skills

UWO has dozen of skills but you only a few slots per character (toon). Using alts is one way to go about experiencing all UWO has to offer.
Here are the "must have" skills:
Sail Handling – Increases sailing speed.
Surveying – Gives you a mini-map of the area around your ship including coordinates.
Caution – Completely eliminates the chance of invisible NPC attacks (Ambush).
Body Language – Allows you to talk with NPC of any language at the expense of Vigour.
About skills:
All skills require proficiency to rank up. You gain proficiency by using that skill.
The maximum rank of the skill is determined by your current job.
Unlisted skills have a max rank of 10.
Favored skills have a max rank of 15.
The proficiency requirements for Favored skills are half of the same unlisted skill.
Expert skills have a max rank of 16.
The proficiency requirements for Expert / favoured skills are half of the same unlisted skill.
Expert skills also have an inherent bonus of +1 at all times.
All skill ranks are saved on job change but will be modified to your current job. Example: If you have a favoured skill at rank 12 and change job so that it is unlisted, it will be lowered rank 10. However when your job is changed to have that skill be favoured again, it will be its true rank of 12.
The maximum combined rank of most skills are rank 20. You can get this by having equipment that gives skill bonuses. Any points past 20 will have no effect. The exception are some battler related skills which may go higher than R20.
Skills can be acquired from various NPCs around the world by meeting their requirements, such as levels and other skill ranks. Or you can also acquire new skills based on your job. Any listed skill in your job can be acquired at any Guild Master.
You can also "forget" a skill at a GM, if you need room for another skill. Language skills are my most common candidates in this situation.
Unlocking East Coast of Latin america will give you +1 extra slot per aide you have recruited.
The scholar in St. Petersburg can give you an extra +1 skill slot.
A premium consumable called "Skill Training Request" gives +3 skill slots.
Some skills are refinable (Permanent +2 and additional effect). Also at St. Petersburg. Just browse the skills pages to check if the one you are in doubt is refinable (Adventure, Trade, Maritime)
Some skills can have their max rank limit increased by the epic biography storyline.
Tip: Plan what skills your toons will have in advance.

Most skills may be replaced by an item / consumable equivalent or ship / pet skill.

Some people value inventory space, others value skill slot space and there are others that will value ship skill slots more. It's up to you balance it.

Port Permits

UWO has a specific mechanic to guide you through the game: Port permits.
The first port permits are given to you based on your total fame, others require Imperial quests.
Each nation has a different storyline and will give you port permits in a diffrent order.
The only requirements for these storylines is your total fame.
Completing your nation's storyline will give you Port Permits at a lower fame requirement.
After concluding your nation's sotyline (or having all the fame port permits), you will be able to do Imperial Quests.
Imperial quests are used to unlock the more port permits.
Check my port permit guide for more information.

Passive Boosts

This game has a wealth of ways to obtain passive boosts that can greatly enhance your playing style role.

Aides

Aides are special npcs that will join you. They can give you unique skills, skill bonuses, captain a ship, open a bazaar, produce stuff at your quarters or join your company's aide fleet.
Aides can be hired when you reach level 20.
Aides can be fired at any time but will not rejoin with the same traits level, should you hire them again.
They can be hired at the barkeep in major cities. Some need to "rescued" first before being available.
There are Cash Shop specific Aide tickets. They normally get their skills earlier (less levels and traits required).
They gain all experience that you do and may obtain extra XP from premium consumables like AVL, AVR.
They gain extra experience each day at sea based on what job you assign them.
An aide will automatically translate any language it knows.
Some aides have passive skills that will either stop or remove disasters when at sea.
Aides also have active skills that you can use.
Skills are only usable if the aide is in the correct job (not greyed out).This means that only a portion of the Aide’s skills can be active at any time.
There are six jobs an aide can have and each has the aide passively perform a bonus for you. Navigator, Lookout, Paymaster, Storekeeper, Lieutenant, Surgeon
When you have two aides, they must have different jobs.
You can hire up to a maximum of five Aides. Two can be with you while sailing. The other three will be stored in your quarters, if your quarters is big (Upgraded) enough.
Aides can be changed at any Port Official, Port Guide, bank or quarters.
Aides may receive trust every 30 days at sea. The maximum trust is 100.
An aide with 50 trust can be promoted to Captain and be given a ship.
The aide must meet all required levels for the ship. The ship will have its own crew and require provisions.
Natural disasters will not occur on an Aide’s ship.
The cargo of the Aide’s ship will be added to yours. There will not be a distinction between your cargo and that of the Aide’s.
During battle the Aide can join combat as an NPC.
The ship of your Aide Captain can be changed in a port.
The Aide can be demoted from captain to normal Aide at a cost of 10 trust.
You may hire an additional aide if you unlock the East Asia port permit.
Check my aide guide for more information.

Oxford University

The Oxford University is a mini game in itself. There is a storyline that progresses as thesis are turned in.
Note: Take the carriage in London to get to Oxford.
Each quest is a thesis paper. Each thesis has a progress bar that is measured in pages.
There are often multiple activities for a thesis that give different amounts of pages.
Completing a thesis will unlock a passive skill and give you credits.
Credits are used to equip new college-type skills.
All thesis have skill requirements that show multiple skills. Only one of the listed skills needs to be obtained to unlock the thesis.
You cannot borrow skill ranks from a fleeted friend to unlock more advanced thesis.
You can obtain and turn in thesis at the college in Oxford or at a Scholar in the Archives.
Oxford university storyline can only be advanced at the college in Oxford.
The more advanced thesis and higher research buildings will unlock as you complete and turn in thesis.
The amount of college skills that can be active will increase as you accumulate credits up to a maximum of five.
The college skills are all passive abilities that will augment other skills or give various bonuses.
Check my oxford university guide for more information.

Boston Academy

Unlike the oxford university, you have job specific passive skills.

You can only equip and use these powerful skills while you are at the right job.

Check my boston academy guide for more information.

Companies

Other MMORPGs call it guild but we cannot do it here because we already have a "guild" mechanics that is needed to keep the game more historically accurate.
Companies may have a colony, shop, real game address, perks, specific storage, exclusive chat room, specific recipes etc....
Company Shops allow you to sell your goods or buy from others very easily. There are price limits based on the type of item, as does the aide bazzars.
Company shop search is a useful tool to quickly search all companies registered in that city. Search requires a court rank higher than 5th Knight or to be a member of a company that is ranked in the top 10 of your City.
All searches require full name and spelling of items including proper capitalization and punctuation. Any mistakes or partial names will not return anything with a search. All results will be shown in order of lowest unit price.
Check my company guide for more information. Or how to choose a company to join.

Storage

You may have an Inventory, Captain's Bag, Binder, Bank Vault, Quarters, Strongbox and Extra Storage.
Check my storage guide to learn how to expand them.

Thanks to...

This guide was made thanks to players like you.

Would you like to make a contribution to our UWO community? Why not become my patron?