So, I didnt see any conversations on this topic, I have a surface pro 3 and would love to sit down on the couch or in bed and be able to play any of the ultima games just using touch controls. Any ideas on this?

Thanks!

This is not going to work for at least the first 5 games in the series. These games are designed around using the keyboard and actually use most of the keyboard. Touch controls are not going to work.

Ultima 6 and onward might be playable; I'm not actually sure.

Last week's podcast over on the Ultima Codex covered options for getting the games running on various mobile platforms. It's a pretty long episode, but it along with the short-version show notes can be found here.

Ultimas VII and VIII (including Serpent Isle) would probably be the easiest to play using solely touch controls, as they're mouse-driven engines in the first place (although I don't remember how much right-clicking and such ended up being necessary, it's been a while since I've played any of those), but Ultima VI and the Worlds of Ultima games come pretty close, as movement and action controls all have on-screen buttons to do that with, too - the only thing you'd have to consider is conversations.

I can't imagine how Ultima VII would be playable only with touch controls - sure, the game can be played completely mouse driven, but things like browsing in backpacks, sacks and chests, searching tiny items in the inventory and similar actions that need very accurate controls have to be a real pain with touch controls imho. Same thing for Ultima VIII.