Xenowars | Defense, Dungeon, And Dung
Wurm Unlimited | A New Start
While scrolling through some games I noticed official support for further updates for Wurm Unlimited has come to an end a while back. Wurm Unlimited was an official solo/private server version of Wurm Online. They for many years ported over many features from the game and now that has come to an end.
It has been many years since I've dived into Wurm Unlimited. Usually, I just like setting up a little camp and just do lots of mindless mining. One thing I never did a lot of was a proper exploration of the main map. I also never tried to reach the end of the storyline that was added as something special for Wurm Unlimited.
The game looks like mud and since I've been on kick this year for playing some quite old titles. This has a special place in my heart so I decided to jump on in on a fresh adventure.
I decided I would be playing at much higher rates than Wurm Online. After all, I don’t want to spend a year just to be able to get some rather basic stuff done. Since it’s just me on my solo server and there is an endless list of things I need to get done. Increased experience rates are just a given.
I also decided on no mods. The developers before stopping official support ended up making some decent quality-of-life changes. So, I decided I didn’t need any mods for the game.
I will however be creating alts. While they did remove some of the priest restrictions on what they can do. Playing a single character as a main and a priest is still not something that works out well. Since I want a priest for enchanting tools, weapons, and armor I felt allowing boxing and alts was more than a reasonable thing to permit. Even more so since some of the encounters I will be facing are more made for a large group. It is however Wurm Unlimited and certain server settings were changed to make those encounters hopefully possible for me to engage with.
One thing I have never explored much in was kingdoms in Wurm Unlimited. I do believe once I start exploring enough and end up in someone’s faction they might attempt to kill me. For now, I'm with the Jenn Kellon kingdom.
I have not decided yet if I want to become my kingdom. I do lack the proper player count to do so. I do believe there are some commands and edits I can make to make it happen. For now, I'm keeping it as a possibility in the future. I'll just play nice with Jenn Kellon since they can kill me without a second thought.
The first order of business was working on the tutorial as quickly as possible. I just wanted full access to the game and once that is done, I'm free to do whatever I wanted in Wurm Unlimited.
With that out of the way, I did a quick exploration of the local area. In Wurm Unlimited there are some special items scattered all over the place. They try and help somewhat you being a possibly solo player.
The biggest issue with these items is they can rot over time. Since I'll be spending quite a lot of time leveling my mining and crafting skills. There is a good chance if I don’t look around now in my local area for what I can. They will be gone before I go on any kind of adventure.
I ended up finding some basic tools. Along with some keys that I have no idea what they are even for. It was however good enough to shift my focus over to just finding a place to set up a base for the time being.
I wanted to be close enough to my starting point since it was marked on the map. When I do go off on some grand adventures, I have a chance of finding my base once again. While there is an in-game map you don’t show up on that map.
That means I'm going to need to become quite familiar with the local area. Thankfully there is a massive mountain peak behind where I'm building my base. Along with another easy-to-spot, one near the kingdom I'm in the starting point. It will become quite critical in my ability to find my base in the future.
I was a little disappointed I could not find a flatter and wider piece of land than I did. It also needed to be next to a mountain where I could set up a mine. I do however believe I have enough space to get a small house and a farm down a little further going.
At some point, I expect I'll want to relocate elsewhere and build some massive city. For now, however, my sights are just on survival and getting a mine opened up.
The first spot I hoped to have a mine at I ended up hitting water. Thankfully the amount of digging I did to uncover the rocks and create a bit of a flat space for a building raised my digging skill high enough to be able to dig on a higher slope that is above where my base will be. I’ll just need to work on having some ramps into a mine above.
I ended up trying out a few spots. Some of them just seemed to keep hitting dirt or sand for quite a depth. So, I'd move and try again. Then I found the spot. I cleared off any dirt on the remaining tiles. I then started to spam mine open a mine.
Hauling everything out with just my inventory will take forever. So, after making a fire and cooking some food I found. I set out to chop down some trees and make myself a small cart.
Once I have higher fine carpentry skills, I'll work on a bigger cart with the end goal of having a wagon pulled by horses. For now, a tiny cart I push around in the mine will have to be enough.
Some of the first tools I'll be making will be what is required to improve my mining pickaxe. One such thing I'll be needing is a pelt. I however can’t craft or repair a pelt. I need to loot one off a certain type of creature.
Since I needed some meat to cook on the fire anyway. I went off on a short little hunt hoping to find myself a low-quality pelt. The first couple of creatures I defeated that could yield one did not drop any. This was a bit of a bummer as not having a belt will become a bottleneck when improving items.
After exploring the little area, I was in. I ended up accepting defeat and headed back to my makeshift base. I’ll just try again in a couple of in-game days after things have hopefully respawned.
Final Thoughts
I ended up spending some time in the mine getting a bunch of low-quality iron. While they lose some quality using a fire to smelt them down into lumps. This was my only option for the time being till I increased my skills enough to build myself a proper forge.
For the most part, I just wanted a few basic tools and building materials like nails. For now, low quiet iron was more than good enough. I’m just glad I ended up even finding some iron. I ended up clearing quite a decent little mine before finding any at all. I’m hoping the rest of my mine is not as barren as the entry point was.
Information
Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Wurm Unlimited.