Uniforms

Gear

It never hurts to carry a rune to the Tower, and to a bank. A recall scroll always helps in emergencies too. Mages, you should try to bring a decent supply of reagents (although it hurts when they are looted) and archers a supply of bolts/arrows. Try to balance it... too much makes you and those around you PK targets... not enough gets you killed.

As to keeping your loot in a single bag, vs keeping it strewn all over your pack, there are 2 philosphies. If you keep it in a bag, it is easier for other group members to grab it and hold it for you to make sure your gear is not left behind. It is also easier for an unfriendly looter to grab it as well. This choice is up to you (but be aware of the risks of both descisions). If you choose to store your loot in a single bag, make sure you dye it the current dye color, so your allies know which bag to grab!

Formations

No formation

This is the "natural" formation (i. e. pure chaos). This seems to be the most typical formation, and is unfortunately also the least effective one. Just try to stay close to the other members of your party if possible. This formation frequently results in left behind characters, people getting killed as a result of lost connections, and rampant looting when you do die.

Fire teams

The "fire team" or squad approach works well when you expect separation between crawl participants: e.g., travelling cross country, Cyclops Valley, the City of the Dead/Orc Fort. Without other people looking after you specifically, it is easy to lose connection, get lost, get left behind, get outnumbered, etc. It is also extremely helpful when working with large groups. Ideally, teams should contain 3 members. If there are not enough people to form teams of 3, form a teams of 2 to take up the slack. Teams of 4 are sometimes hard to manage. Team members need to organize themselves into fighters and support. The ideal fire team ahs a pure melee fighter, a support character (healer or mage) and a mixed melee/support character. The fighter will attack, and will be backed up by the support members as needed. Fire team members MUST keep their teammates health meters up at all times. A fire team needs to be ready to act as a unit at anytime. If one of your teammates lags out, for example, it is YOUR job to defend them. Don't leave your teammate behind!

Battle Lines

A battle line is essentially a MOBILE HUMAN WALL, and works similarly to the old box or flour bag exploit, except you have to keep your wall healed. A group of 8 can easily survive an onslaught of multiple snow and ice elementals, ice trolls, and orcs, as long as the front line holds and the support mages use their mana for healing the line and casting firefields.

In general, the wall needs to advance slowly and as a group. If you see an ice troll appear, DON'T run at it. There may be several right behind it, and now they are all slamming you. The better tactic is to call for a wall to be formed on you ("LINE UP") and wait to see what is attacking. If there are multiple creatures, hold fast. If only a singleton, then wait until it gets right up on the wall, then envelop or swarm it (so to speak) to get the maximum advantage of numbers. Forming a wall also ensures that the target will be out in the open. If you attack a monster up against a wall or in some other similar location, you effectively are blocking off other melee attackers from getting to it.

Battle lines are MUCH more effective with foot, rahter than horse. Horses tend to block the view. If you are on a horse, turn so you are on the NW-SE diagonal (i.e., point your horse's head towards the top of the screen). This minimizes your profile, and is much safer for you (that Ebolt that was targeted at the monster is much less likely to hit you when your horse's rear end is not in the way!). This works even when not on horseback. Look at the monster on the screen while you are fighting it, and think about whether other people can see it. A simple turn in direction (autocombat turns you back to face the monster, of course, so you may have to repeat this) can make a big difference in visibility.

It is also important to form lines that are orthogonal, not diagonal. By orthogonal, I mean that people should line up like a row of chessmen at the start of the game. On the UO screen, where north is to the upper right, this is North-South (bottom left to upper right) or East-West (top left to bottom right). This is because Firefields ALWAYS form along the orthogonals, never on the diagonals. If you have a choice, form a North-South line. Why? Field spells prefer the North-South alignment. A minor point, but one that makes it easier for the mages to support you.

If you can, ANCHOR the line to some impassable object, like a wall, pillar, outcropping, etc. Monsters like to walk out of Firefields, and can easily get around the line and flank you. Ideally, you want the monsters contained as much as possible to let the fields do their work. A wide bridge makes the perfect anchor for BOTH ends of the line.

And when you form a line, make sure it IS a line. All too often someone is advanced one tile ahead of the line. Be aware of where you are, and move forward or backward as appropriate. When a line is formed, you can expect firefields shortly after. The casters WILL target you if you stand ahead of the line. Save yourself some damage and the casters an agressor flag, and STAY IN LINE!

Establishing a perimeter

Establishing bases and goals

General orders

HEAL HEAL HEAL
Heal the one that is yelling this. This is the single most important order to learn, and it is vital to call when you are involved in a large battle. You CANNOT assume anyone has your health meter up, and it also helps as a target for casting (sometimes you are obscured behind the creature or player you are fighting). Macro this one, and if you are a fighter, DON'T RUN!

SUPPORT
This is similar to heal. You can call for support when you are a mage, and some creatures spawn near you and there is no one to pick it up. You can call this one when you are healing and you run out of mana or reagents. Basically, this is a call for help, when the help you need is something other than healing.

SWITCH
Calling SWITCH is a request to rotate out of your position... fighting to support or vice versa. Be careful with this one... there may be no one that can switch with you. Do NOT leave your position until someone acknowledges your request, and agrees to switch positions with you.

FORWARD
Advance towards the goal. Try to advance as a group... running off ahead tends to get people killed.

HALT or HOLD
It means stop moving. Don't use this as an excuse to explore, please. Stop advancing or retreating or whatever, and get close to your group. This is frequently followed with a call for a HEAD COUNT, or a FORM UP order.

RETREAT
Go back to your base point. This is usually the Tower, but it may be a predetermined base point, or it may be a base that you agreed upon while passing thru. ALWAYS KNOW THE BASE POINT!

FORM UP
This is an instruction to reform the current formation. It might be a front line formation, it might just mean find your fire team members and stand by them, or if there is no current formation, it means gather together and stop wandering off.

FIRE TEAMS
Everyone should break up into their pre-assigned fire teams. If you don't have a fire team, this is your last chance to point that out.

LINE UP
Another simple instruction: this tells everyone to form a battle line. Warriors to the front, support elements to the rear. It doesn't hurt to have some tanks in the support area, in case of a spawn or a rear attack.

HEAD COUNT
Everyone count the number of your compatriots. This is an easy way to make sure no one is ever left behind (something that is WAY too easy in the heat of battle).

RED [character name]
This is a call to attack. EVERYONE attack the named target. EVERYONE. Scorched earth. If ANYONE is called as a RED target, and they live thru it, there are lots of folks not doing their job. It is VERY important to repeat this call again and again until the target is dead.