Batmud Ferry System

 

Introduction:

How Ferries are Used in Batmud:

• At one time, all of Batmud resided on one giant continent. While this was simple, it caused problems as traveling between areas took a long time. This went double if your character didn't have the hiking skill and a small number of hit-points (cough, mages, cough).
• To simplify things, the Badmud wizards caused a giant cataclysm that broke Batmud up into five different continents.
• Laenor: The starting continent for new players. Most (but not all) low level areas are here, and the outerworld monsters tend to be a bit tamer.
• Desolathya: This will likely be your next most traveled continent as you level up. Truth be told, this continent has a bit of an identity crisis as there are some very early (as in less than player level 20) newbie areas as well as tougher areas.
• Lucentium: Lots of good areas as your character get closer to player level 40. Be warned, this is one of the wilder continents with lots of different creatures wandering around the outerworld.
• Rothikgen: Midbie focused continent. If you are a civilized background player you'll likely find yourself visiting the main city of Shadowkeep quite often. 
• Furnachia: The most unfriendly of the continents filled with lava and wastelands. Bring extra water as your character will quickly become dehydrated if you venture off the main roads. Home to joining most evil religious guilds and a few tough early level quests. Most areas are geared towards end game content.
• While there are many different ways to travel between continents, the most reliable way is the Batmud Ferry system.
• Go to the ferry port on your current continent, and select "travel <continent>" with the name of the convenient you want to go to.
• If you want to type less, you only need to specify the first four letters for all the continents except Laenor. For example you can type: "travel Deso"
• When a ferry going in the right directly arrives, you'll be loaded upon it and it will take you to the port at your destination.
• This costs a bit of money which is calculated on a sliding scale based on your character level.
• For players under level 40, it'll likely cost you less than 200 gold.
• Also, it takes that gold from your low value coins first, so this is a great way to get rid of all those mowgles you've been carrying around.
• Ferries usually arrive every 5 minutes or so. So expect a ferry ride to take around 10 minutes from start to finish.
• While this may seem like a lot, that's much faster than the old days trying to travel across the mega-continent.
• One minor complication is that all ferries stop by Laenar where you will have a short layover if you are traveling between two other continents.
• For example if you are traveling from Desolathya to Lucentium, you will go from Desolathya to Laeonar where your character will switch ships. One the ferry for Lucentium leaves you will automatically be loaded back on it.

Relax and Enjoy the Ride:

• The ferry system was one of the big reasons why I quite Batmud the second time. When the change happened I hated it.
• Now that I have the Batmud mud client and have an easier time navigating the outerworld map, I've come to enjoy ferries, and can see why the change was made.
• The nice thing about ferries is they are fully automated. So once you queue up some travel you can walk away from your computer and do something else for a bit, and when you come back your character is closer to where you want them to be.

Exploring the Ships:

• Feel free to explore the ferry as you are traveling. Once the ferry docks you will be kicked off regardless of where you are in the ship.
• Warning: If you are riding a mount if you stay in the main room on the ship you will dismount with your mount. Otherwise you will be dismounted and your mount will remain on the ship!!!
• These ships do not offer explore EXP, so exploring is solely something to do if you are bored.
• There are several ships that ply the lanes around Batmud and each one is slightly different.
• In the hold there are usually slot machines where you can gamble to pass the time.
• Finally if you ever really want to get off, you can "jump overboard" from the helm.
• I really recommend against doing this, but hey, you do you.

Ferry Locations and Maps:

Laenor Ferry:

Quick Overview and Directions:

• From the main city of Arelium use the "travel" command to follow the road west and then north. Eventually you will come to the ferry.
• If you are starting from the Newbie starting city of Dortlewall, then you need to get to Arelium first. Travel south, and then west to get to the main road, then continue traveling in the south/west direction until you hit Arelium.
• The Laenor Ferry is pretty basic but it has an inn for resting (which is helpful if your starting location is on a different continent and you want to start your game the next day on Laenor, and a stable for storing your mount.

Quests:

• Area Quest: Balloon Ride
• This is where you finish this area quest.
• For this quest you need to rent a balloon from Conner's Balloon service in Arelium (which costs 500 gold), and then successfully land it in the Laenor Ferry location without crashing.
• When piloting the balloon, higher you are the faster you go, but also the more likely you are to crash.

Map:

Desolathya Ferry:

Quick Overview and Directions:

• This is the most complicated ferry of the five in Batmud. It's really a full fledged hamlet to explore!
• From the main city of Calythen head south and east to get to the ferry
• Once you enter the ferry station go east until you hit the ferry master to catch a ride. If you find yourself in the ocean you went too far ;p
• There is a wandering aggressive monster (Insane Magus) that is worth around 10k experience. So be careful when moving through the town and I'd recommend against idling there.
• I've never seen them in the ferrymaster room though so you probably are safe there.
• Sometimes they are not aggressive, but will cast annoying spells like Hallucination at you.
• There is a fountain one room west of the ferry room, so you can drink before heading out.
• There is also a job board in the room one west of the ferry room for taking on continent quests. 
• I need to spend some time doing these quests so I can learn more about them.
• There's actually two stables, one for normal mounts, and one for aquatic and amphibious mounts.
• This is the only stable that I'm aware of for fully aquatic mounts.
• In the bar, "The Olde Petrel", you can "look at list" to see exotic drinks to order, and then order drinks by number
• I've never seen any of the drinks in stock though. I suspect this may be linked to the continent quests...
• The temple of Stormsea is the inn for this ferry location
• If you idle here, the mermaid priestess will cast "remove scar" from you!!!
• This is a lot easier (and cheaper) than trying to find some player merchant or healer to do this for you.
• The priestess will also cast Satiate Person which will fill you up.
• All in all, 5 stars yelp review. Would recommend!
• There are armour stores, weapons stores, and general stores in this ferry location / hamlet
• These stores also let you sell directly from your ship if you have a player ship.
• In the wine cellar of Windham Keep there is a winemaster that is looking for something
• If you ask them about wine, they mention they need some rum.
• Hmm. I wonder if this is related to the missing drinks in the Olde Petrel...
• In the Duke's chambers the duke complains about problems befalling the land
• The Duke does not respond to your questions
• Thee Duke says if you meet Gedth, to ask him for information regarding the recent events.
• The Duke also says that people have been going missing in the northwest
• The Duke mentions rumors of an ancient evil emerging in the village of Buckthorn
• The Duke also says his daughter hates it on this continent
• Sounds like a quest.... :)

Kill Tracker:

• A confused old geezer with a wild look in his eyes
• 10000 exp
• A strong lad is standing here
• 8000 exp
• A hardened sailer with a dire look
• 16000 exp
• A dreamy girl, pining for the winter storm
• 16000 exp
• A servant man is working here
• 8000 exp

Map:

Lucetium Ferry:

Quick Overview and Directions:

• From the main city of Lorenchia basically travel north on the main road and you will hit the ferry
• The Lucetium Ferry is pretty basic but it has an inn for resting and a stable for storing your mount. While the room descriptions are fancier than those in Laenor, the fees are the same.
• In addition in the main area you arrive in, there is a "Welcome Slot Machine" where you can "pull lever" once a day and gives you a free chance to win money
• The money you win will be between 0 and 1000 gold coins.
• It's not much, but it's free money and will pay for a couple of ferry rides which is nice.
• A couple of things about Lucetium. The continent is really a series of islands.
• Newbie focused areas are off the main road, but most areas do not have roads to them and require some serious travel to get to.
• Also there are a ton of exotic wildlife across the continent. Most of it isn't aggressive, but be careful as you travel through the wilderness

Map:

Rothikgen Ferry:

Quick Overview and Directions:

• This is the most complicated ferry to get to/from as it is off a path and not a main road
• For most characters, you can not use the "travel" command to follow paths.
• Instead you will manually need to type directions, or use capitalized travel commands like "N", or "E" to follow the current environment until it changes
• WARNING: Using the capitalized travel commands can get you in a lot of trouble if you are not careful. Make sure you are on a path before using them.
• If you are traveling from the main city of Shadowkeep, be careful using the travel command that you don't overshoot the exit to the path.
• One option is to limit distance traveled by a specific amount. For example "travel s 50"
• The Rothikgen ferry itself is very basic. There is the standard inn and stables but not much else.

Map:

Furnachia Ferry:

Quick Overview and Directions:

• This ferry is right next to the main city of Rilynt'tar. You will probably need to pass through the city itself to get to the main roads from the ferry location.
• If you are trying to join an Evil Religious guild, or participating in one of the newbie (lower than level 40) level quests then you want to continue east through the city and head out the eastern gates.
• The Furnachia ferry itself is very basic. There is the standard inn and stables but not much else.

Map: