Speed
Speed in Wurm Online is measured and expressed in kilometers per hour (km/h). Beside every player who can move at a speed, be slowed down or accelerated by certain conditions, there are vehicles and animals that move at various speeds that you can ride, like cows and horses on land, ships on water, or crocodiles that can do both. Yes, you can tame, or as a priest of Libila, re-animate crocodiles and ride them on land and water.
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Walking or running
You can not run in Wurm like in other games, where you can perhaps toggle between walking and running, or even temporarily sprint at an even faster pace. Your walking speed is affected by the weight you're carrying, any armour and clothing you're wearing, any player status effects you might have, the slope you're walking up or down, and largely the type of map tile you're walking on. Your speed can be anywhere between 4.90 km/h on tar to 17.3 km/h on cobblestone when not encumbered and on a flat surface.
Roads
Travelling on roads and highways is one of the fastest ways to get around. They usually have pavement that allows you to walk at the highest speeds. Established servers more often than not, have a well developed road infrastructure entirely built by players. If you find a place to settle in a speck of wilderness, you will have to build your own roads.
Riding
While mounts are technically vehicles, they're commonly rather referred to as a living creatures that can age and die, be killed in combat, and move at slower speeds when hungry, instead of a mechanical vehicle.
There are a number of animals and monsters you can ride as mounts if you meet the requirements. Once tamed or dominated, some can wear animal equipment that can make them move and turn considerably faster. They are not affected by tile types and pavement, and move at their regular speed, even on tar. Mounts ignore the amount of stamina you have, and won't slow down if their rider is exhausted. They are however affected by slopes you're riding up or down.
Some bred animals with speed traits and good animal equipment can reach speeds in excess of 30 km/h on any terrain. Others, while still useful for dragging carts, are only able to move at speeds slower than a walking player. But you're not riding your scorpion through town because you want to go fast, do you?
You can not take passengers on mounts at this time.
Vehicles
Vehicles, with the exception of the wagon, can take 2 to 13 passengers, in addition to the driver. To control a vehicle, you will have to embark it as commander, it's generally referred to as to sail a boat or to drive a cart. Passengers to embark as passenger. They are controlled by the player's movement keys, sped up by walking forward, slowed down or backed up by walking backwards, and turned by strafing left or right.
Carts
Small carts can not be embarked, they can not be dragged by animals, they can only be dragged by players. The weight you can drag is limited by your body strength.
Large carts can seat up to 3 passengers, they can be dragged by players, or be pulled by up to 2 animals like horses, or brown bears if you're an able animal tamer for example.
Wagons can not be dragged by a player, they need to be dragged by up to 4 animals and can not seat passengers. Bison are very good at dragging wagons.
While their speeds are not very high, and often slower than a walking player, their ability to transport large amounts of items and heavy loads makes them very useful. Bred horses with speed traits and good equipment though, can drag your sports cart at over 20 km/h.
Rafts
Rafts, although able to float on water, can not be embarked and used as a vessel. They can only be dragged by players like a small cart.
Boats and ships
Rowboats can drift slightly in the wind, but are mainly propelled by walking as the commander. They're overall the slowest vessel to use. Sailboats make much more use of wind while not largely dependent on it, but like bigger ships still make use of the commander's walking. Larger ships are highly dependent on wind, and can reach speeds in excess of 30 km/h in a gale, but can still receive a small boost from the commander.
Every passenger will passively speed up the boat or ship a little, helping to reach its maximum speed.
