Quick Guide to Ultima IV on the Apple II

Q: What is this guide for?
A: This guide is to get you up to speed to the basic gameplay of the original Ultima IV on the Apple II. This guide should be for the most part compatible with other versions of the game, except for the hex editing guide at the end of this document. If you want to play the Apple II version on a Windows PC, I recommend using the Applewin emulator.


Q: What do I need before I start playing Ultima IV?
A: Ultima IV came packaged with a lot of feelies, like manuals and maps which are absolutely essential to beating the game. They can be easily found and downloaded as free pdfs online, and even the GOG DOS release provides you with such supplementary material. You will need quite a list of graphical and text material to supplement your game to make the experience seem authentic, and/or easier. It is very important you read the manual, 'The History of Britannia'(even the game itself at the opening insists you read it), because it will get you up to speed on the basic geography of Britannia and some early leads for several clues.  Here's a list of all the stuff I recommend getting and having before firing up Ultima IV for the first time:

1. Quick Reference guide (control guide)
2. The History of Britannia (lore book and class and monster descriptions)
3. The Book of Mystic Wisdom (spells book)
---the last three documents can all be download in this single convenient PDF. Note that the last section of the pdf, "The Liturgy of Truth" is NOT part of Ultima IV. It's actually a spellbook for Ultima III, and in this guide it is irrelevant: https://archive.org/download/ultima_iv/ultima_iv.pdf
4. Cloth Map of Britannia: https://www.mobygames.com/images/covers/l/345909-ultima-iv-quest-of-the-avatar-apple-ii-map.jpg
5. The Way of the Avatar cluebook(It's really not an obscene or revealing cluebook that gives you everything on a plate, but you will definitely need advice and information on towns and dungeons enclosed within the clue book): http://www.starehry.eu/download/rpg/docs/Ultima.4-Cluebook.pdf
6. A paper notebook and pencil(Seriously, you will need one. I'm not kidding. There's pages and pages of info you need to write down and there's no way you can memorise all the game's clues.)

That is the core supplementary material you need, but I also recommend getting these:

7. Complete Apple II in-game map: https://i.imgur.com/XJfGILx.png
8. Complete dungeons maps: https://i.imgur.com/VuDvOKK.png
9. Dungeon walkthroughs(because for some dungeons a map just ain't enough): https://ultima.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Stygian_Abyss_(Ultima_IV)
10. Apple II solvedisk text dump: https://pastebin.com/ERfSN1Xs
11. Copy II+ for the Apple II(Version doesn't really matter, but I use v8.2): https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/images/disk_utils/copy_ii/


Q: Does the Apple II version have any music?
A: Yes! I'm begging you to turn it on! The music in this game is amazing and adds so much to the experience. You can turn the music by pressing A on the main menu(which stands for *A*ctivate Mockingboard), and you are free to select (T)wo Mockingboards, option 3(Mockingboard A or C) from slots 4 and 5. I know it's a complicated process and the annoying thing is doing it every single time you start a game from Ultima. Slots 4 and 5 can be arbitrary but they are the default Mockingboard slots on the AppleWin emulator.


Q: Okay, I'm starting the game. What's with these questions and cards at the beginning?
A: It's a personality quiz. Best thing to do is be honest and answer the questions like you ordinarilly would. Don't worry, there is no right or wrong answer. The final answer would reveal you your dominant virtue and designate to you your starting class and starting location. It doesn't really matter what class you start in and you're not missing anything if you pick one particular class over another. Most of the classes generally have the same trappings, and 6 out of 8 of them can all cast the same spells for example. There is no "canonical" starting class in the game either, although if you want ascribe an epic rags-to-riches story to your game, then you can start with the Shepherd, the overall weakest class in the game.


Q: But I want to start as [this class]! How do I get it?
A: Then you're gonna have to intentionally pick and win out a particular virtue during the card game. The virtues you need to win in order to gain the starting classes are:
Mage - Honesty
Bard - Compassion
Warrior - Valor
Druid - Yew
Tinker - Sacrifice
Paladin - Honor
Ranger - Spirituality
Shepherd - Humility


Q: Okay, now I'm in the game world and I'm lost. What do I do?
A: First explore your hometown, talk to the people there and gather clues. It's best that your next destination be Castle Britannia. You will find out many important hints there, and you will also get the benefits of Lord British, who can heal your party for free, and of the seer Hawkwind, who can tell you how well you're progressing on your virtues. It is likely your starting location would be very far from Castle Britannia(unless you're a Bard, in which case it's right next to you), so you will have to employ moon gates to warp yourself to the castle and the town of Britain.


Q: I met up with Lord British. What's next?
A: Well, now you gotta have to travel around the world, visit towns and talk to people. This is what 90% of the game is going to be like. The game is essentially a huge fetch quest where you need to get a list of items, key words, and all 7 of your remaining party members. If you don't have a single one of these, you won't be able to complete the last dungeon in the game, the Stygian Abyss(you will be booted out of it and be told to go get anything you might miss). You can visit the towns in any order you want because Ultima IV is so decidedly unlinear, but if you want a good order of the places you need to visit, then follow the order of towns in the hintbook.


Q: What are the key items or clues I need to get in towns?
A: It's best that you end up with these things every time you get to a town:
-A new party member
-A rune, or at least find out the location of a rune
-A location of one of the 8 shrines
-A mantra of one of the 8 virtues
-Location for one of the 8 magic stones
These things you will not consistently discover and find within the cities, but they should be the things you need to focus on at first and try to find around the world. Later on you are going to need other things and items if you hope to gain entry into the Abyss:
-Attained avatarhood of all 8 virtues
-The pass words of truth, love and courage
-The sacred items of truth, love and courage
-The Skull of Mondain
-A Sextant, the Magic Wheel, and Mystic Arms(actually optional but greatly help)

If you got all this stuff, then great, you are elligible to enter into the Abyss and beat the game!


Q: What do I ask people in towns?
A: You have some stock subjects in the Quick Reference Guide. I like asking them for NAME, JOB, and HEALTH before pressing any further topics. Usually they will leave a key word which you can ask them about to further conversations.


Q: Why won't [this party member] join me?
A: The reason could be two-fold. One, it might be that you are doing badly in the virtue the party member embodies, and the party member expects you to do better before he can join you. The other reason(and by far the most common one) is that you are not experienced enough. The way it works in Ultima, the max level your characters can attain is 8, and the level of your starting character is always equivalent to the number total of party members you can have. So if your starting character is level 3, you can have three party members, if you're level 4, you can have four party members and so on. Since you have to level to 6400XP to get to level 8, you will have to go through a whole lot of grinding to get the full ensemble of 8 party members.


Q: How do I get good at [this virtue]?
A: The virtues are all tracked in numerical scores of 0 to 99, which the game will never reveal to you. Only the Seer Hawkwind in Castle Britannia can tell you if you're doing well, badly, or if you've attained the perfect 99 points and are elligible to meditate at a shrine to become a part-way Avatar.

HONESTY: Don't lie when people ask you questions and pay the exact amount at the herbs store. Not more, not less. Honesty is best leveled if you repeatedly use the herbs store.
COMPASSION: Talk to beggars and say 'GIVE' to donate them money. I usually like giving them 10gp, but the amount doesn't really matter. You can level it easily with even just 1gp.
VALOR: Don't flee from combat situations when fighting evil creatures(such as orcs, balrons).
JUSTICE: Again, use the herbs store and pay the exact amount. Also pay the exact amount or more for ale houses. Never ever steal from chests within castles.
SACRIFICE: Talk to a healer at any town and refuse healing service. Often times the healer will ask if you would like to make a blood donation. Say yes, and it will take 100hp from your leading character, and also level you your sacrifice score.
HONOR: Do not kill non-evil creatures(such as rats or sea horses). Either damage them so they can flee, cast them to sleep, or just outright flee. You won't get valor penalty if you flee from non-evil creatures.
SPIRITUALITY: Just go and talk to the Seer Hawkwind really often and ask about your virtue statuses. That's all there is to it. Alternatively you can level spirituality every time you go to shrines and meditate.
HUMILITY: Be humble whenever you're being asked about something. In questions such as 'Are you proud', or 'Are you the best/strongest person in the world', always say "no" to impress your humbleness.


Q: How do I differentiate good and evil creatures?
A: The manual, The History of Britannia, with its monster descriptions should give detailed indication if a creture is good or evil. Sometimes even that won't be enough, but a general rule of thumb is that real-life, everyday creatures such as rats, snakes, or insects are non-evil, but crooks, fantasy races and fantastic animals, such as rogues, orcs and giant serpents, are evil.


Q: I need gold. What's the best way to grind gold?
A: If you're an unscrupulous individual, at the very beginning of the game you can loot Lord British's treasury as much as you want with no repercussions, and the chests will respawn every single time you exit and re-enter the castle. Only do this at the BEGINNING of the game beacuse such a robbery will tank your Honesty and Justice down to 0. But hey, when you're at the start of the game, you're already starting from the bottom, right?
The other way of not compromising your virtues is to grind in dungeons. The dungeon Despise just a short distance north from Castle Britannia is a good place to grind for both gold and experience, because the first level has two monster rooms with 3 and 6 treasure chests respectively. The skeleton room has 3 chests but the much harder headless room has 6. Loot them and re-enter these rooms as many times as you want, and the floor also has a nifty health fountain to boot!


Q: What are some good spells to bring into dungeons?
A: In my experience, Cure, Dispel, Heal, Light, Quickness, Resurrect, Sleep, Tremor, Wind Change, Xit, Y(Up) and Z(Down) are all absolutely essential. Cure especially, make as much of Cure spells as possible, because there are marshlands everywhere in Britannia and you will get poisoned a lot. You also won't do wrong if you stock up on Awaken, Blink, Gate and Negate, and chances dictate you will have use of these at some point in your game.


Q: What are the best weapons to get in the game?
A: The mystic arms and armor are the best equipment in the game and every class can wield them(including Shepherds!), but the mystic arms are actually swords, and thus melee weapons which can be very limiting in a lot of combat situations. If you have a need for ranged weapons that are powerful, get the magic wand for the Mage, Druid and Bard, and the magic bows for the Tinker, Paladin and Ranger. Even if you don't get the mystic arms, you'll be perfectly okay with any kind of magic weapons in the game, although if any of your characters doesn't have a magic weapon by the time you get to the Stygian Abyss, you're going to have a VERY tough time.


Q: How do I get a ship?
A: You can't buy a ship like in earlier Ultima games, so you're gonna have to steal one from pirates. When you're well into the game, wander around the coastlines of the land, and at some point a random pirate ship encounter might approach you. Defeat them, and you get to take their ship.


Q: Any other advice?
A: Yes. Buy a horse as soon as you can! Horses are a great help because of their speed, and you can avoid many of the bothersome random encounters on land this way. The only place you can buy horses is in the town of Paws, a coastal town just a little west and then south from Castle Britannia. Be sure to pay a pretty penny, cus the horses cost 600gp, but make the long-term investment so worth it.



Q: Grinding in this game sucks. Is there any way I can cheat?
A: At some point, when the game stops being fun, you will inevitably want to speed the process and edit your stats. And yes, and if you've gotten the CopyII+ v8.2 disk for the Apple Ii I've mentioned in the beginning of the guide, you can do some sector-editing! The way it works is you place the CopyII+ disk in the first drive on Applewin, and the Ultima IV Britannia(overworld) disk in drive 2.

Boot CopyII+. If you're asked about setting the date, press Esc, and say 'Y' if asked about the 80 column mode. From the main menu, go to 'Copy', then 'BitCopy 5.25', press Enter, and as the slot number for your disk drives type '6'. Next go to 'Sector Editor' and pick the drive(either 1 or 2) where you've placed the Ultima IV Britannia disk.

Press (R)ead to jump to particular sector. In this case, Track 14/Sector 03 is for general gold, food and items data, and Track 14/Sector 04 is for party members data. You can use the keys I, J, K, M to move the cursor around, press (H)ex to select the byte underneath the cursor and input your own value and press Esc. Once you've edited all the values you wanted to in a sector, press (W)rite to the same sector to actually commit these edits, and then you're safe to do a cold reset on your Apple II.

The important bytes for Track14/Sector 03(from the Solvedisk) are:
Byte             What
----             ----
14-15            Food
17-18            Money
3C-43            Reageants (this order:Ash,Gins,Garl,Silk,Moss,Pearl,Night,Man)
44-5D            Spells (44=Spell A, 5D=Spell Z)
0C-0E            Torches, Gems, Keys
1D-23            Armour (NA,Cloth,lth,chn,plte,Mag Chain,Mag Plate,Mys Robe)
25-33            Weapons(NW,Staff,Daggar,Sling,Mace,Axe,Sword,Bow,X-bow,
                         Flam oil,Halberd,Mag Axe,Mag Swo,Mag bow,Wand,Mys Swo)
04-0B            How you're doing in each virtue of Avatarhood.
                 (Honesty,Comp,Val,Just,Sacr,Honor,Spirit,Humil)
                 00=Part avatar,99=ready for elevation,01-98=bad to good.
10               Stones...FF=all of 'em!
11               Runes....ditto^^
12               "Items" ???

And for Track14/Sector 04:
Byte             What
----             ----
04-12            Character #1's Name
17               Character #1's Strength
18               Character #1's Dexterity
19               Character #1's Intelligence
1A               Character #1's Magic points
1C-1D            Character #1's current HP
1E-1F            Character #1's current level(first number) and max hit points(last three numbers)
20-21            Character #1's XP
22               Character #1's Weapon equipped
23               Character #1's Armor equipped
24-32            Character #2's Name
37               Character #2's Strength
...
The data categories repeat for each subsequent party character at the same intervals of 20. So XP for Character 1 is in byte 20, for Character 2 in byte 40, Character 3 in byte 60, and so on.

Obviously this sector-editing advice does not apply to ports of the game on other systems(like the C64 or the Amiga), although save-editing tools for the DOS version should be relatively easy to find on the Internet.





Hopefully this should be it to get you playing Ultima IV! If you have any other questions or suggestions, ask me on Glitchwave, or email me at clownboss@gmail.com.