Ultima III: Exodus/Britain city and castle

You start the game near the town of Britain and Lord British's castle.

First of all, enter the town of Britain and purchase weapons for your characters. Afterwards, pay a visit to Lord British.

Town of Britain
''This city has grown up around the castle of Lord British. It is both well guarded and populous, as well as being a safe haven for the harried traveller. While it lacks the exotic amenities of some townes, Britain is well served by its pub, grocery, weaponsmith and armourer.''

Services: Armor shop, Weapon shop, Pub, Grocery store

Every character starts with 150 Gold Coins, a dagger and clothes. Right now, purchase only one bow/blowgun (F), then one sling (D) for every character who can equip it, then one mace (C) for who can use it. Finally, give all the throwing daggers to the wizard or the alchemist.

Best weapon by profession:
 * Sling or bow (NES blowgun): thief, ranger, lark, paladin, barbarian, fighter;
 * Mace: cleric, druid, illusionist;
 * Throwing knives: wizard, alchemist.


 * The armory and the weapons dealer: buy fine armour, or trade in captured booty for gold. Please note that anytime you sell armor or weapons, you need to re-equip yourself afterwards. The two shops of weapons and armors are
 * In the NES port, no enemy drops weapons or armors.
 * The grocery: while the typical fare here would never be considered gourmet, the food does not spoil on long adventures.
 * The Pub: Relax from a hard campaign and enjoy a cold draught. Bartenders head strange rumors some times. A few pieces of gold may loosen a tongue. Remember though, gossip is rarely totally truthful.

NES notes:
 * The girl Sherry (Noriko Hasegawa) gives you a Heart Compass if you bring her some flowers (found in ../Ambrosia/.
 * Sherry (Noriko Hasegawa): Once you have visited the lost continent of ../Ambrosia/ and collected a flower, go to "Royal City" (town of Britain) and give the flower to Sherry. In return she gives you a Heart Compass. Details in the ../Ambrosia/ page.

Cizitens:
 * Merchants: The mainstay of Sosaria's prosperity. They operate the shops in town to the benefit of all. Some are not very clever, and if a sharp Thief is in your Party, then a chest or two might be stolen from under the Merchant's nose. If the Thief is caught stealing, the entire town guard will assault you.
 * Guards: They resemble big bouncers at tough bars: all brawn and no brains. If a crime is detected within a town, or Lord British's castle, each Guard will pursue you to the boundaries of the place. Most Guards are very difficult to overcome, but rumors have been circulating that some Guards are not completely honest.
 * Monster type: Very rarely are renegade monsters seen in towns. These monsters no longer serve the Dark, but now serve Light.
 * Jesters: They entertain Lord British with their antics. Occasionally they even harass visitors.
 * Player type: Any of the regular Player types may appear in the towns and castle. Speak to all of them, some hold valuable clues to the locations of hidden items.

Castle of Lord British
''The Capital of Sosaria during these troubled times, this Castle is the home of Lord Cantabrigian British. Within its strong walls lies a Healer, an Oracle, and those who may possess knowledge of value to thee. Lord British himself will grant thee increased skill as thy deeds warrant it.''

Services: King, Healer, Oracle, (NES: Inn)


 * Lord British: The august ruler over all the People. Widely regarded as a fair ruler, he will richly reward those who serve by his side. Talk to Lord British in order to raise levels and the maximum health points. However, you need the mark of Kings to increase past 550 HP (obtained later in the game).
 * Some rooms are beyond locked doors. They can only be accessed with keys, which can be bought later at guild shops.
 * Avoid the fire and force fields unless you have the respective marks.
 * The healer: his restorative powers can be purchased, although the tariff is steep; a healer can cure poison, "heal health points", and even resurrect a dead patient; if the resurrection fails, the patient turns into ashes: he/she can still be revived by "raising" the remains.
 * In the NES version, the healers cannot resurrect a patient turned into ashes; you have to go to the Temple in Moon for that.


 * NES only
 * Give Blood: You can give blood to the some healers (notably, the one in the castle): the character lose 100 HP and earns 30 GP. Repeated giving blood & healing allows to raise money faster.
 * Inn: Exclusive to the NES versions of the game, you must manually opt to save your game by staying at an Inn. The original computer versions of the game save your progress every time you enter or exit a town, castle, or dungeon.

Fighting and exploring Sosaria
As soon as all characters have a weapon, their first goals should be to earn experience points (EXP) and gold pieces (GP). Every 100 EXP gained, a character gains a level; then, he/she should talk to Lord British, and the king will increase the max HP by 100. The four attributes are improved in a different way (later, in ../Ambrosia/.

Gold pieces can be used to purchase food and armor. Occasionally (not in the NES port), defeated enemies will also leave behind some equipment. Equip the better armors and sell the rest; sell melee weapons, as they are less useful than ranged weapons.

Best armor by profession:
 * Clothes (but shooting spells): wizard, druid, alchemist, lark;
 * Leather armor (but innate dodging bonus): thief, illusionist, barbarian;
 * Chain armor or better: cleric, fighter, ranger, paladin.

Most services are available in Britain and in the nearby castle. Therefore, there is no need to visit the other towns right now. Actually, the result would be to consume food, thus increasing your expenses.

Leave Britain and explore the mainland of Sosaria.


 * Always use four characters. Despite what the manual says, you can't recruit from the game ( never trust a game manual!). There are no advantages to playing with less and many disadvantages.
 * If your party gets poisoned near Castle Britannia anyone with the clerical skills to cure and don't want to spend the gold at a healer, you will find a curing fountain almost immediately inside the Dungeon Dungeon of Fire, hidden in the alcove directly south of the towne of Britain.
 * The quickest way to gain experience is to kill first level enemies (goblins, orcs, skeletons, and ghouls) using the A rank spells (Repond and Pondori) which will kill multiple enemies simultaneously.
 * Cast B rank Cleric spell Appar Unem on the chests left behind by enemies and in the dungeons to avoid the traps.
 * Increasing your levels will make more powerful monsters appear. In most versions, you have no control over the moment you rise in levels, but in the NES version, you cannot level up until you speak with the king. You can use this fact to control the rate at which more powerful enemies appear.
 * You will obtain health points automatically when you talk to Lord British as your experience increases. You can get up to 550, unless you have the Mark of Kings, in which case you can get up to 2550.

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Combat tactics
Some enemies are more powerful than others. Every enemy can move and attack diagonally, but the four heroes cannot.

An effective tactic is to put your characters in a square formation: two characters with maces or daggers on the front line, two characters with ranged weapons behind them. This way, a character can be attacked by no more than two enemies.

Of course, this formation shows the priority when purchasing and equipping armor. That is, the "frontmen" need an armor as soon as possible.

In the NES port, the artificial intelligence of the enemies is more limited. If you put your characters in a vertical line, all enemies will line up to attack the frontman. The other party members can then back up the first one with ranged weapons and magic missiles.

Pirate ships and sea enemies

 * From the manual: Ships are very scarce. The Pirate fleet has sunk most of the regular ships. When you have a ship, you need to maneuver it. To sail a ship, one must learn the ways of the winds. Your ship may not sail against a wind, but must tack around it. Watch out for sudden shifts in the wind for the wind is a fickle elemental force.

In order to get a ship, you have to fight a pirate ship. Approach the pirates so that their cannons cannon cannot hit the party (no cannon fire in the NES port).

While onboard a ship, you can [F]ire cannons to wipe out enemies that are too strong for your party, or enemies that won't drop a chest. The characters earn no experience when they fire cannons. Fighting coast enemies from aboard a ship gives a tactical advantage to your party: enemies have to line up on the boarding bridges. On the other hand, enemy encounter rate is sensibly lower when travelling by ship: the gold you earn will barely cover food expenses. Better leave the ships where the whirlpool cannot easily engulf them (e.g. a river) and proceed on foot.

Not so in the NES port. First of all, enemy encounter rate is not lowered onboard a ship and food consumption is slower. Secondly, pirate ships (and some strong enemies) start appearing only when a party member reaches level 5. Therefore, it is advisable to stay onboard as much as possible when you conquer a ship. In the NES port, the party can only have one ship at a time.


 * In spite of the scarcity of ships, it will often be to your advantage to park one between the mainland of Sosaria and the island where the town of Death Gulch is located. Because of the convoluted water ways around here, you can often leave a boat at this location for a long time before it is swallowed by the whirlpool and it is very convenient to just walk across the boat and gain access to the place where all the gold is. It is also handy to have a boat waiting near castle Britannia. Even given this advantage though, it's not recommended to place one there unless you have at least one reserve boat parked in the safe area near the Castle of Exodus.

Next goal
As soon as all the party members are well equipped with weapons and armors, and they all reached level 5 and 550 health points, it is time to start the next step in your adventure.