| A) | Attack - Attempt to engage thy foe with the weapons thou hast readied (Ready Weapon command); must be followed by the direction of thy foe. |
| B) | Board - Board a vessel or mount a horse. |
| C) | Cast - Cast a magical spell; must be followed by the number of the player who wishes to cast it (not needed in combat or in dungeon rooms), and then the first letter of the desired spell. Note: All spells must have reagents mixed in advance of casting. |
| D) | Descend - Climb down ladder to next level of dungeon or building. |
| E) | Enter - Go into such places as villages, townes, castles, dungeons, and shrines. |
| F) | Fire - Fire a ship's cannons (once thou hast Boarded); must be followed by a direction. Note: Broadsides only! |
| G) | Get Chest - Attempt to open (and disarm, if trapped) chest; must be followed by the number of the player who wishes to open the chest, except during combat and in dungeon rooms. Note: 'Tis wisest to use the player with the highest Dexterity when examining potentially dangerous chests as this lessens the chances of setting off any traps. |
| H) | Hole up and camp - Set up camp to rest and recover from thy wounds. Note: This command may only be used with limited frequency. |
| I) | Ignite a torch - Light a torch for illumination in dungeons. Requires a special item. |
| J) | Jimmy lock - Use a magical key to unlock a sealed door. Must be followed by the direction of the door that thou dost wish to unlock. |
| K) | Klimb - Climb up a ladder to the next level of a building or dungeon, or to reach the surface from the topmost level of a dungeon. |
| L) | Locate position - Requires a special item. |
| M) | Mix Reagents - Prepare material components of spells for later use. Note: Thou must have reagents mixed ahead of time in order to cast any spells. When asked "Reagent:", type the letter corresponding to the reagents desired, and then type [Return] when thou wish to mix them. |
| N) | New order - Exchanges the position of two players indicated within thy party, except for player #1, for thou must lead the party. |
| O) | Open door - Open a door in the direction indicated. |
| P) | Peer at gem - Requires a special item. |
| Q) | Quit & Save (Usable only whilst in the outdoors of Britannia) - Saves the current game status to disk; thou may continue after this command or power down thy computer. |
| R) | Ready a weapon - Equip a player with the weapon of thy choice (if owned) for use in combat. |
| S) | Search - Search thy exact current location for unusual items. |
| T) | Talk - Allows a player to converse with merchants or townsfolk in the direction indicated. (See Special Note)* |
| U) | Use - Use an item thou hast found during play by means of the "Search" command. |
| V) | Volume - Toggles Music On/Off. |
| W) | Wear armour - Outfits a player with the armour of thy choice (if owned) for defense in combat. |
| X) | Xit - That's (e)xit thy current form of transportation and continue on foot. |
| Y) | Yell - Yell "giddyup" or "whoa" to speed up or slow down thy horse. |
| Z) | Ztats - Displays the status and attributes of a selected player; If 0 is pressed instead of a player number, this command will display the lists of weapons, armour, items, reagents, and mixtures. The [F5] and [F7] keys will scroll through these lists, while pressing any other key will return thee to game play. |
*Special Note: Talking with the people found in the game is one of the most important features of Ultima IV to master. It is virtually impossible to solve thy quests without talking to virtually all people in each towne. Each person with whom thou dost Talk is capable of a full conversation. They can be asked about their "Name," "Job," and "Health." You may "Look" again at their visual description. From this information thou shouldst be able to discern what else they might know, hinted at directly by use of the precise words in the conversation. E.g., if thou were to ask Dupre about his "Job" and he were to respond "I am hunting Gremlins," thou might think to ask him about "Hunting" or "Gremlins" - about either of which he might offer some insight.
Each of these people might ask of thee a question as well; be sure to answer the question honestly, for dishonesty will be remembered and not reflect well upon thee for the rest of the game. Often thou shalt not know what to ask a townsperson until thou hast been told by another. E.g., Iolo the Bard might tell thee to ask Shamino the Ranger about swords. Even if thou hadst met Shamino earlier thou wouldst not have known to ask him about swords, and thus thou wouldst have to seek him out again if thou dost wish that knowledge.
During thy conversations with people in Ultima IV, thou may feel the impulse to show thy generosity to less fortunate fellows. Thou may do so by saying: "Give".
Some of the people that thou shalt meet may be willing to become thy travelling companions. If thou dost wish for a character to become a player in thy party, thou must ask them to "Join" thee. 'Tis most wise to strengthen thy party as rapidly as possible, up to the seven companions thou shalt need to complete the game. When thou art through with a conversation, then speak the word "Bye" as an accepted means of politely ending thy conversation.
Be sure to keep a journal of thy travels! Many of the clues to solving the quests of Ultima 'IV are contained in the various and diverse conversations thou might have with the various townsfolk. It would be next to impossible to solve this game without some means of referring back to prior conversations held during play.
Be sure to thoroughly explore the cities and townes! Many of the quests within Ultima IV are contained entirely within individual cities. 'Tis wisest to spend a great deal of time seeking out the answers that lie hidden in each one of the various townes of Britannia, before moving on to another.
NOTE: Ultima IV has a built-in keystroke buffer that permits thee to type up to eight (8) keystrokes ahead. The keyboard is not being scanned during disk access and sound effects. Should thou wish to remove characters that are already in the buffer, press the Spacebar once, and all characters will be cleared.
Thy party is seen here standing on a point of land that juts into the sea. To the North is a castle, while a ship rocks gently on the waves to the Northwest. Just above the ship one can see a towne. Thy party consists of three travellers - British, Iolo and Geoffrey - whose names appear in the Party Window. Their current status is also therein displayed: British has 372 Hit Points and is in Good condition; Iolo has 380 Hit Points and is suffering from Poison; and Geoffrey has 380 Hit Points and is in Good condition. The narrow window below indicates that the party has 24 units of Food and 1823 Gold pieces. The symbol in the center indicates if any spells are currently active.
Paused to cross a bridge, thy party can see an approaching band of Skeletons to the Northeast. At the top of the view window thou can see the current status of the twin moons Trammel and Felucca, which is Crescent Waning for Trammel, and Felucca is in its Last Quarter. The moon phases are represented as follows:
Thou art currently checking on the status of the traveller Iolo and his attributes show in the Party Window. Thou can see that he is a Male Bard whose condition is Good, he is possessed of 13 Magic Points, 16 Strength, 19 Dexterity, 13 Intelligence; he hath attained Level 4; currently has 376 Hit Points, with a Hit point Maximum of 400, and has 714 Experience points. His current weapon is a Sling, while he wears Cloth Armour.
Thy party can be seen at the bottom part of the view window, engaged in mortal combat with four Pirates who are aboard their ship. Note that as each member of thy party has the opportunity to strike a blow, their current weapon is displayed below their name. The direction of the wind is indicated at the bottom of the view window. If thou were to win this combat and take possession of the vessel, the Hull Strength of the ship would be displayed in the narrow window where thy gold would normally be displayed.
Magical ability is directly related to the Profession and Intelligence of thyself and thy travelling companions. Magical strength is twice the intelligence of the spellcaster, with potential modified by profession. The enchantment potential of the various professions is:
| Mage - Full | Paladin - One half | Fighter - None |
| Druid - Three fourths | Ranger - One half | Shepherd - None |
| Bard - One half | Tinker - One fourth |
| " @ " - North/Advance | " ; " - East/Turn Right |
| " / " - South/Retreat | " : " - West/Turn Left |
To begin play:
Insert the Ultima IV Program Disk (Side A) into the disk drive.
Type: LOAD "ULTIMA", 8 <Return>
Type: RUN <Return>
At the menu, type 'N' if thou dost own two drives (see 'Note to Two Drive Owners' below).
Next type 'I' to Initiate a new game. Read The History of Britannia book when indicated.
Use the [F1] key to acknowledge disk swaps.
Note: The Britannia disk (Side C) may be copied for archival purposes or to permit the playing of simultaneous games. Use any sector copy program to copy the Britannia disk.
Note to two drive owners: If you have a hardware implemented device 9 drive, simply turn on both drives and boot the game as instructed above. If not, see your Commodore 1541 Disk Drive User's Manual for details on changing your second drive to device 9.
