Mounts (Objects Help)

Mounts are the primary transportation option in Arda, and you will find that there are plenty available from players. You may either simply buy a mount, complete a quest to gain one, or even tame a wild animal you find on the plains.

All mounts in the game share the same commands; most of them are only available on *your* mounts, though.

Commands that you can use while not mounted

• tame <mount> - You can tame certain wild animals for your own use.
• lead <mount> - Lead the mount. This is having the horse follow you as you walk through rooms. Horses may enter most of 'outside' rooms in Arda, however you will generally be unable to lead them to indoor areas (with the exception of stables). If you enter a room where the mount cannot follow you, you will be notified with an appropriate message. When you come back to your mount, you will start leading it again automatically.
• lead - Stop leading your mount.
• mount <mount> - Start riding the mount. While astride a mount, you will move together with it, similarly to leading. And as with leading, you won't be able to ride in indoor areas - attempting to do so will have you automatically dismount. Note that there are certain areas in game where you can lead a horse into, but where you cannot ride it, like for example dense forests.
• hitch <mount> - Hitch the mount to a hitching post, a specially coded object which is meant to keep mounts from wandering off when left unattended.
• unhitch <mount> - Reverse of the above.

Commands that you can use while mounted

• spur/whoa - Increase or decrease the mount's speed. The higher you set the speed, the less time you will spend on long 'do' aliases and traveltos. However, riding fast makes your mount tired, which in turn makes it slow down again.
• dismount - Get off the mount. If you have 'autolead' setting set to 'on', you will start leading it right after dismounting.

Additional commands

The 'mount' command has many sub-commands through which you can interact with the mounts you own. See 'help mount' for more details.

Mount 'levels'

Through the 'mount evaluate' command, you can gauge how good a particular mount is. The better the result, the stronger your horse will be in combat, and the more endurance it will have - it will tire slower. From best to worst, these are the mount levels:

• Horse is an extraordinary mount. You will not find a better mount anywhere.
• Horse is magnificent! Strong, fast, and unafraid of combat, it is a true prize!
• Horse is well-trained and will serve its master well in both travel and combat.
• Horse is a very good mount, with advanced training.
• Horse is a good mount, moderately trained.
• Horse is an average mount, and could use much more training.
• Horse is very inexperienced and won't be able to fight or run for very long.

Combat

Apart from very special quest-obtained mounts, your mount will not take a direct part in any of your fights. However, if you are astride it, it will 'shield' you, taking part of the damage.

As for you, the rider, you will find that while on a mount, you can only use some weapons effectively - they need to be long enough for you to be able to do significant damage to your opponent. When you have such weapon, your mounted combat skill will factor heavily in the ongoing fight. Experienced riders with a proper weapon can be really dangerous when mounted.

When you receive serious damage while on a mount, there is a chance that you will be thrown off it. It can be a painful experience - you will lose some HP, and will become 'busy' for several rounds of combat. Only high balance skill can lessen the effect of falling; the most skilled riders are even known to be able to re-mount right after being thrown off their mount!

PvP combat

Attacking mounts in PvP combat follows the rule: 'you may attack a player's mount when you either have your PvP flag on or can attack that mount's owner'. In specific, this means:

• If your PvP flag is on, you may attack all mounts. Bear in mind, though, that killing someone's mount counts as a 'theft' crime against them, for which you can be reported.
• All mounts in Mordor are attackable.
• You can attack mounts belonging to members of a guild being in mutual war state with your guild.
• You can attack mounts of people you are sparring with. Note, however, that if a mount is killed during a spar match, it will *not* be reportable as theft.

Interaction with environment

You will find that you may not perform all actions while mounted - for example, climbing will usually not be an option. However, you will be able to pick up items from the ground; it is assumed that you just quickly dismount your animal, get the item, and mount again.

Customization

There are few settings (environment variables) that control how mounts work for you. See 'help sets', or use the 'settings' command for more details.