UO Second Age

if you were in combat (you would attempt to swing if standing next to comatant), someone else casting on you or attacking you would not cause you to switch combatants. I hear this talk of the demo proves it, etc.. etc.. I would really prefer all of us to head in the direction the way we did before, osi patch notes, server info, etc..
I guess i'm off on the whole e-bolt dmg dly, but i was never awar of it being a 1 second delay. i played on dial up during t2a ( i spoke to faust about it, he said it was confirmed via demo)- still even on dial up i don't remember it taking 1 second for dmg to hit, Fireball was damn near instant dmg, lightning had a minor delay. Please keep in mind i mean delay as in from the time you target till the damage registers. You could spam cast all first circle spells, the delay wasn't 2 seconds, I believed it went off the actual cast time for the spell, which is why you could basically spam all 1st circle spells and damn near do the same with 2nd circle.
what is the formula for being able to fast cast? Finish casting spell (target cursor), and holding target cursor for previous spell's casting time- If you casted magic arrow you'd have to hold it for about .5 or is it .75? seconds- then you could target and instantly recast. even if you didn't you just had to wait the remained of time that you didn't hold it for. Fast casting wasn't very useful for the lower circles because they had very fast recast and cast time anyhow- it was however important for all spells 4th and up (generally speaking).
I also specifically remember being able to magic arrow items and containers, it would actually take the regs and mana, hell you could cast explosion ebolt on a box if you wanted, tho it would do nothing except take regs and mana. You could however cause explosion pots to explode by casting fire spells on them, does anyone else remember this? or am I taking it to far back on that one, it's a little hazy, but that seems to be around the dread lord days as well, which is prolly pre-t2a, anyone know what i'm talking about? I do remeber dbl hits - they existed in t2a, but not here /ponder
Anyhow. I wish i could find some notes on this. it's all from how it was for me and others i played uo with during t2a on OSI. I played the from release to uo:r and some things do blend together to much, it's hard to determine what was active at what time.
just a few things to throw out there, would love any and all feedback.

The demo is probably one of the best sources that there is for this server. You compare the mechanics that exist on the demo with patches, modern UO, and articles to re-affirm the position of the mechanic. For example, the damage delays on spells... It exists in the demo and in modern UO, which means that it would have existed in the t2a without a doubt. At least unless someone can prove other wise.

The demo is a complete compilation of the exact code that OSI used... It was last compiled around August-September of '98 a good month or two from the t2a era...

Auto defend is functioning exactly how it did during the pre-uor era. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it besides possibly a throttle for packet flooding. It works the same way that it does on the demo, and the way it's described inside of the 2nd edition t2a manual that was sold with the 800x600 client cd in late '99.

The only thing that never used a 1 second damage delay for spells is the RunUO code... This is nothing but a shard thing that you are obviously used too.

Ebolt had a delay, I'm not sure if it was 1 second, but it feels pretty good here imo. I do not remember switching your combatant though. if I am attacking an orc with a spear, and someone ebolts me, I should still be attacking that orc, not standing there like a moron.

Auto defend is pretty simple and straight forward... If you're not in combat you will auto defend whoever attacks you.. So let's say Player A attacks you making you auto defend. You tab out and Player B attacks you making you auto defend since you're not in combat. However, if you did not tab out you will stay in combat with Player A since you're in combat when Player B attacks you. You don't switch combatants unless you're not in combat.

The spell damage delays are easy to test out even for yourselves.. I recorded a video of the delays on the demo for spell damages. I loaded the video up in a video editing program and broke the frames down to 7/100 of a second. The damage delays were in fact exactly one second long... This can easily be tested without using a program to get direct results. If you cast a fireball spell on yourself and immediately begin casting another you should be able to get the spell off before the damage hits. However, this would not be possible if you casted a 4th circle spell. Why? Third circle takes exactly 1 second long to cast, while fourth circle spell takes 1.25 seconds to cast. If the damage delay was less than 1 second it would disturb a 1 second spell. With both of these approaches it's definitive that the spell delay is in fact 1.0 seconds.

Again, the only Ultima Online scene that doesn't use a damage delay of 1 second for spells are player ran shards.. This is especially the case for shards ran on RunUO. The spell damage delays has always been 1 second from the very first day of Ultima Online and still exists to this very day...