In Ultima 3, if you recall, you can spend your money to boost your stats, but only in Ambrosia. My question is, which stats do you boost first when you reach this point?

I used to focus on pure caster's casting stats first to get the good spells, but I think I might now prefer to raise my thief character's dexterity so that she can hit reliably and so that I don't get hit by as many traps when opening traps. (For anyone suggesting to use Appar Unem (Open in NES version) to open chests, that's slow.)

I always start with my cleric and wisdom to start opening chests in a certain treasure room. The more I can do that without waiting around, the faster I can build up gold to raise everything else. I recently did the calculations and it'll take 90~ thousand gold to get all your stats all the way up for every party member if you don't switch them out.

I have found that, particularly in the DOS version, using the spell is much slower than just using the 'G' command to open the chest out right. Also, I note that I prefer Perennian Depths for my money gathering; I don't need a key or a ship, and with a thief, I can use this strategy right away if I'm careful. Actually, come to think of it, the version I am playing does affect my strategy a bit. I am thinking of the following:

DOS: In this version, opening a chest is quick, poison gas traps are rare and I don't remember poison being slow, and casting the spell to open chests is slow and unreliable. In this case, I raise the DEX of my thief, or if I don't have one, my ranger or barbarian. In fact, there's no guarantee that I will be using a cleric, as I think I like the party of thief ranger wizard druid, with the thief possibly replaced with a paladin or lark.

Amiga: I am actually playing this version now. Opening a chest is still quick, using the spell is still slow and unreliable, but there's the problem of poison gas traps. Poison is *slow* in this version, especially if the damage hits while you're going through a door in a dungeon, so I *really* don't want to hit that trap. I am wondering whether using magic to open chests in this version makes sense; it's slower, but it avoids poison gas traps. I think I like my thief ranger wizard cleric party in this version, replacing the thief with another ranger later on. Alternatively, I could start with two rangers and use magic to open chests. (One thing of note: Rangers are really good in this version, as they cast spells about as well as druids, complete with fast MP regen, making druids (and alchemists/illusionists) obsolete and paladins/larks less important. I gave my cleric enough Wisdom to cast the unpronounceable spell so that they could get some more HP (allowing them to tank more bomb traps), and then started to work on thief Dexterity; if using spells, I would want to focus on casting stats.

NES: In this version, which I haven't played in a couple decades (maybe I should give it another go after all these years), opening chests is slower, while open spells are reliable. There's also the issue that traps can cause the cold status ailment which can't be cured with a spell (but can, I believe, be cured for free with a dungeon fountain). For that reason, I think boosting cleric Wisdom first makes more sense, especially since druids are lousy in this version (they don't get fast MP regen). There's also the strategy of farming money on the overworld before anyone reaches level 3; the 0 MP spells can be tried repeatedly until they work (unlike other versions), and every overworld enemy that appears at level 1 or 2 is vulnerable to one of them. (Of course, it is necessary to raise someone to level 5 so that you can get ships.)

So, in short: DOS: Thief dexterity up to reduce damage from chest opening. NES: Cleric wisdom first to open chests with magic. Amiga: Could go either way, mainly because of those annoying Gas traps..

If you turn off the volume you're really only slower by a keypress. c3b instead of g2. You then don't worry about any damage, bomb traps ruining the chest, etc. For the C64 I never had the sound on. I loved the music, but there is no point in hearing the whine of a spell getting cast.

The other side benefit for the wisdom on the cleric is casting 'O' and finally getting their XP up. Before then they have a hard time getting kills in, this starts to level the playing field.

That keypress does get annoying, however, particularly since the keys are so far apart. Also, I haven't noticed anything about bomb traps ruining the trap, and because I am in Perennian anyway, damage can easily be repaired with the fountain on the second floor, and is therefore only an issue at low levels.

Also, don't forget that the spell can fail, which takes more time, while when you get a chest without the spell you are guaranteed to open it and get the contents.

In the Amiga version I don't think you can turn off the sound; the 'V' key can reduce the volume down to 1/4, but not eliminate it entirely.

That's interesting about the Amiga. I'll have to give it a try sometime. But in Dos and C64 having the volume off eliminates the wait while a spell casts.

As for bombs, check it out, but I never seem to get money when the bomb trap goes off.

The perinian fountain is a good catch though. That would change everything except poison, which wouldn't be a problem if you give your cleric their MP. So, I'd still start there.

That said, it is interesting to see another take on it. I'll have to give it a try next time I play.

It turns out that, on the opposite corner of the map, there is a fountain that cures poison. Looking at a map online, there's also another by the stairs down (this is B2, by the way), as well as one on the first floor.

(In the NES version, I *think* those fountains can also be used to cure the "Cold" status, which is annoying because you can't cure it with a spell.)

Incidentally, here is a money saving trick: Don't worry about food. If you're starving, you will take damage, but the damage occurs only 1/10th as often as poison damage, and it's only 5 points at a time. Having a druid with at least 20 in their lower casting stat helps, as does having multiple characters who can cast healing spells, and being able to reach the healing fountain.

I decide to pay attention while farming money, and I do indeed get no gold when the trap goes off. However, I note that, if my thief (or ranger, since I got rid of my thief) manages to evade the trap, I still get gold. (Amiga version, in case it matters.)

With that said, such traps are a minority; the following need to happen for you to lose out on the money from the chest:
* The chest needs to be trapped in the first place (50%?)
* The trap needs to be a bomb trap (25% if all traps are equally likely)
* The character opening it needs to not evade the trap (around 1 in 8 for a thief with 99 DEX, I believe)

Hence, with a 99 DEX thief, you only have about a 1 in 32 chance of losing the money from a trap, assuming my figures are at least approximately correct.

I believe the chance of evading a trap, taken out of 256, is equal to DEX + K, where K is 128 for thieves, 64 for thief hybrids (like Barbarian) and rangers, and 0 for the other 6 classes.

Question for you both - do you actually have functioning Amigas, C64’s, etc? It sounds like you’re about as old as me, and recall the good old days when Sosaria and Britannia seemed like these awesome huge worlds, and NPC’s to whom you could speak was a novel concept. Wish I still had my C64 and original U4, map, ankh, etc.

No, I use emulators for these older games.

I probably have my NES and Ultima 3 cartridge around somewhere, but I have no idea if they work, or if the Ultima 3 cartridge survived a flood some years ago. It was the only version I played back in the day, and the first Ultima I played was the NES version of Ultima 4.

(The NES version of Ultima 3has a fair number of differences; two that I don't like are that Druids don't get fast MP regen and that world map enemies scale with your level. The NES version of Ultima 4 is *very* different from other versions of that game, but still worth playing. The NES version of Ultima 5, on the other hand, is trash.)