UO Second Age

Chests are only to be dug up by the cartographer who decoded the map
http://wiki.uosecondage.com/index.php?t ... 01/19/1999

hiicha wrote:I've purchased several tmaps that didn't say tattered and was still able to dig them up, even though I knew they were previously decoded.

The maps only become useless when someone digs up the chest, which is a *duh*.

"When you find the location of the treasure, you can use any mining tool to dig for it. How wide an area you search with a given attempt will depend on your Mining skill, but your skill will not advance from digging. IMPORTANT: The person who used the cartography skill on the map must also be the miner. "-patch quote

What that means is that Player A cannot decode a treasure map then hand it over to Player B so they can go dig it up. Only the player with the appropriate cartography skill can dig up the treasure map.

It does not imply that once decoded, only the person who decoded it first can dig it up.

How do you get that from that? Doesn't it say in Large text....Important the person who decoded the map must also be the miner, or to say the one who dug it up?

This places an important emphasis on cartographers, having their services...not their wares being more in demand and having them play more an active role in the scheme of things.

I don't think treasure hunters should be put on the backshelf as your stay at home type alongside your crafters and merchants.

This is verified again in the T2A wikki on cartography.
http://wiki.uosecondage.com/index.php?title=Cartography

Under the "Where Can I Find Treasure Maps?" section the last parargraph states...
Be very wary when purchasing these maps -- maps that have been decoded or dug up already are labeled differently than virgin maps. If you are thinking of purchasing one, the map must read "a tattered treasure map" when you single-click on it. If it does not, then do not attempt to purchase it. It will be useless to you.

archaicsubrosa77 wrote:How do you get that from that? Doesn't it say in Large text....Important the person who decoded the map must also be the miner, or to say the one who dug it up?

I think the implication that's being made, and this matches the current implementation, is that the map can be re-decoded, by another treasure hunter of sufficient skill.

A character without sufficient cartography skill cannot dig the map.

check the edit with link in the prior post...it says if a map has been decoded or dug up it will say something rather then decoded. Then it warns if the map does not say "tattered" it is of no use to you. It doesnt say if this map says "completed by"don't buy it because that's obvious.

This is speaking directly to people with the cartography skill. So even to them it says, the map is useless.

archaicsubrosa77 wrote:check the edit with link in the prior post...it warns if the map does not say "tattered" it is of no use to you.

Point well made. Thanks.

I always remember that if a map was decoded it was useless to anyone besides the persont hat decoded it... I don't ever recall being able to re-decode a map like hiicha described above in his post.

Faust wrote:I always remember that if a map was decoded it was useless to anyone besides the persont hat decoded it... I don't ever recall being able to re-decode a map like hiicha described above in his post.

http://wiki.uosecondage.com/index.php?title=Cartography

In decoding a treasure map section in the last paragraph it says the first person to decode the map must be the one to dig up the treasure...meaning it couldnt be passed over to any other player even if that character had cartography.

If you had a map and decoded it just for gain but were too lazy to dig it up it was useless to anyone else.

archaicsubrosa77 wrote: If you had a map and decoded it just for gain but were too lazy to dig it up it was useless to anyone else.

Yes, that is the way that I remember it working...

If the map was decoded only the person that decoded it can use it making it useless for anyone else besides the original decoder from that point on.

The same patch that introduced named treasure maps by level also introduced the changes to who could decode a map. Here is the particular line item noting the change:

Treasure Map Changes Aug 20 2001 2:32PM CST

• A treasure map will be able to be used by those who do not own it, providing that they have enough cartography to decode it.

These changes, removing level information from maps, and allowing only the decoder to dig up the chest will be in the next publish. The publish is on hold to give an opportunity for people to know what's coming, as the existing maps will not be grandfathered.

eek... so there is literally no way to know what level a map is until you dig up the chest itself and see what spawns?

You wold be able to tell if you had a lower level cartographer that couldn't decode it.
I do remember guessing what level map it was by how many times i had to attempt on my GM. 5's were usually pretty obvious. I also recall getting a group of guys together to do a 5, and having it turning out to be well less than that.

It's my personal recollection as well that creatures did not also drop the same level map, and that it was possible to get a level 4 or 3 from a Titan; but this is a personal recollection and could easily be incorrect. I've seen nothing to verify this.

Treasure maps were ruined by a player who didn't have enough skill to decode it if it was double clicked on. This should be added.

Werthers Chewbackas wrote:Treasure maps were ruined by a player who didn't have enough skill to decode it if it was double clicked on. This should be added.

I have never heard of anything like this. Please elaborate.