[HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

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[Uhh] Eo
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[HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by [Uhh] Eo »

Houses on UOSA will decay if not refreshed within 14 days. The final stage is known as IDOC, or "In danger of collapsing". This period always lasts the exact same amount of time, for each house that decays. Because of this, it is possible to know exactly when the house will actually decay, disappear, and leave its contents and land open for all.

IDOCS, while time consuming and demanding in their schedule, are incredibly easy.

Here is how it works:

1. We know how long house signs say certain things

eg.. we know that once a house becomes Fairly Worn, it will stay that way for four days.
eg.. we know that once a house becomes Greatly Worn, it wills tay that way for three days.
eg.. we know that once a house becomes In Danger of Collapsing, it will stay that way for 17 hours and 20 minutes*.

2. If you catch the exact moment that the last stage (In danger of collapsing) starts, you therefore know when it ends! 17 hours and 20 minutes later.*

3. It is easy to determine this exact moment, because we can use Razor to find it for us while we are off doing other things in game or sleeping.

* If the server resets during this period, add the entire time from Last Save until when the server returns. eg, if server saved at 7:00am, went down at 15 minutes, and is back up at 21 past, you add 21 minutes. This is why idoc windows fluctuate between 17:19 and 18:00 hrs in length.

So what is the macro, you wonder? Well - again, very simple. You tell Razor to take a screenshot when it sees the sign change. When you return to your computer, you can check the screenshot for a timestamp (either Windows or Razor timestamp). Here is a basic one:

Use skill: Hiding
Pause 10 Seconds
Use skill: Item ID
Target 'Greatly Worn' Sign
If 'Collapsing' = Exec Take Screenshot Now
Pause 60 minutes
End if
Pause 10 Seconds

AAAaaaaannnndd that is pretty much it. You don't even need GM item id, but it helps. Here is a template for one of my main IDOC chars:

1. Hiding
2. Item ID
3. Stealth
4. Tracking
5. Magery
6. Meditation
7. Wrestling

When I get home I'll post a picture to help you divide the map into portions, keep track of where you've inspected, and divvy up the scouting work between friends.

If you find this guide benefits you (it will), feel free to drop me a line and invite me to your nicely timed IDOCS.


On placing large houses:
If you're trying to place the entire land plot for example, a Keep, the best way to do it is to take some kindling/bedroll and log out 3-4 characters in the area, with house deeds in their pack. This means you can just place houses and instantly run in them, log out and then in on another char. Start with three accounts there and three logged out is pretty good odds. I've placed entire castle/keeps in this way. Personally, I never bothered holding grudge/blocker houses as its better for everyone if you just let em go and keep your housing slots free for whatever IDOC comes next.

On placing any house:
Your UO window needs to be in the absolute top left of your Windows window. Push it ALL the way up there. This will calibrate your house placing mechanic.

How do I go about scouting for IDOCS?
Run through the world single clicking house signs. Mark a rune if it is Fairly, Greatly or In danger of collapsing. Ideally, you find them Greatly. If you find them at fairly you have an even better idea of when it will turn IDOC or when to leave your Item ID char there.
I always marked my runes into three bags which I stored in a shared Patio with my guildmates.
One bag for FW, one bag for GW, one bag for IDOC. Name the runes by their location and date/sign status.

Alright y'all. Good luck!
Last edited by [Uhh] Eo on Tue May 21, 2013 5:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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plz.die.irl.kthx
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by plz.die.irl.kthx »

playing a game in a style that waits for people to quit

:(

Sadistik
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Sadistik »

haha the secret hath been revealed to all
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Lambo
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Lambo »

Good post +1 for sharing secrets helping the server as a whole.

Along with many other things I really believe the short idoc timers (compared to most other freeservers) keeps this server afloat. You can join this server and become incredibly rich fast.
Buying Charged Hallys/Bards
Buying +20 Power and above Hallys
Buying Reflect Items 30 Charges and above

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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Khazym »

+1 for Vega spitting half flat Coca-Cola all over his keyboard and furiously trying to figure out how to put a curse on your unborn children.

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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Capitalist »

I don't care. I'm not idocing right now.

Edit: In fact, I should give a few tips to those who want to get rich idocing just to spite my old opposition.
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Sadistik
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Sadistik »

hey hey now no reason to get mean vega :P
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by [Uhh] Eo »

[Uhh] Eo wrote: When I get home I'll post a picture to help you divide the map into portions, keep track of where you've inspected, and divvy up the scouting work between friends.
Despite the server having around 3000 houses, it is easier than you think to stay ontop of the majority of decent decays that occur on UOSA!

If you split your time scouting doing a few areas at a time, it is easy to keep track of where you've been. You can also split the entire map up and check every house in just a couple of hours between a few people.

Image

Bigger version of this map: http://i.imgur.com/TFMtn.jpg
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Pirul »

Cool info.

All this had been revealed by Telamon before, but I guess that was lost. Hope this last for posterity.
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Sadistik
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Sadistik »

NOTHING TO SEE HERE PEOPLE MOVE ALONG MOVE ALONG..... lol

jk i think it wont change much tbh especially with the idoc posters
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Menkaure »

Sadistik wrote:NOTHING TO SEE HERE PEOPLE MOVE ALONG MOVE ALONG..... lol

jk i think it wont change much tbh especially with the idoc posters

I doubt the idoc life will change much. I would LOVE to IDOC, but I dont have the time. Some people do, some dont. Some people have the time, but just find looking around for IDOCs boring. I dont find it boring, but if Im going to waste a few hours of my gaming time, Id rather waste it dueling for 3 hours. There are the few, who have the perfect amount of free time, and enjoy the euphoria of placing another house/looting the idoc when it falls, that are great idoc'ers. Whether some of you love him or hate him, Vega is probably one of the, if not one of then the, best idoc'ers this shard has seen. For guys like him, IDOC'ing is an artform. Maybe if Im lucky he will shoot me a pm on IRC when he goes to his idocs? Hint hint....
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Tony Costa »

Lol there is nothing really here that he "revealed" to anybody... Its common sense and organization....

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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Menkaure »

Tony Costa wrote:Lol there is nothing really here that he "revealed" to anybody... Its common sense and organization....
Well, some of us arent very good with anything Razor does, so the screen shot thing definitely is something I didnt know. As for the timer from Gworn to IDOC, to this day, I talk to vets who think its 17-24 hours, and not a "set time"
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Pirul »

Menkaure wrote:Whether some of you love him or hate him, Vega is probably one of the, if not one of then the, best idoc'ers this shard has seen.
Great IDOCers have come and gone. Certainly Vega is likely the best NOW, but you probably didn't see Telamon at the height of his IDOC success. Or the [Uhh] crew when Abbot was around. I think those were the best "groups" of IDOCers. Cavewight, Kelektra, Brother Tabius, and many others have also been very successful IDOCers.
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Re: [HOW TO] Get a perfect IDOC timer + Place your own house

Post by Capitalist »

I've seen screenshots of old IDOC crews that make me cringe. People wouldn't run the map and thus could be easily tricked by Telamon. He would gate people to weak IDOCs and then be like 1 of 3 people at a huge castle. (1 being his partner from WL or muscle from cr3w) It's lol :D
Denis the Menace wrote:Vega for me you are just exploiting the uosa system with your vanq charged spellreflect recall invis pink boobi pvp trammel style which never existed on osi, so stfu.
Jakob wrote:Regardless of douchebag, fair player or Vega.

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