Learning the commands

[caruso]

I've wanted several times to try out Angband, but the high number of commands is quite discouraging. Could you add an in-game tutorial and a printable key manual (maybe after this layout http://www.abandonia.com/files/extras/Key%20Manual.pdf)?

The latter would actually be useful for all *bands, assuming that they have controls similar to Angband.

[Merlin]

I might be the only one saying this, but i found the commands quite easy to learn using the '?' command, especially because of the identical command key and the first letter of the action your character is doing. Remember, 'n' is the repeat-last-action command.

[buzzkill]

There's always this.

[takkaria]

I've wanted several times to try out Angband, but the high number of commands is quite discouraging. Could you add an in-game tutorial and a printable key manual (maybe after this layout http://www.abandonia.com/files/extras/Key%20Manual.pdf)?

The latter would actually be useful for all *bands, assuming that they have controls similar to Angband.

If you hit Enter in V, you get a menu with each key and its action.

[caruso]

@Merlin: True, but before learning commands by heart, you need to know that they actually exist.

@Buzzkill: That will serve as well, thanks! Didn't see it because I searched the forum for "key manual" and "quick reference"

@takkaria: This is good to know as well! Additionally, I suggest including the image that Buzzkill has linked to into the download.

Thanks again to all

[d_m]

@takkaria Even though it's contentious I would still like to unify/remove commands to try to reduce this problem (and make the game easier on handhelds, phones, etc).

I would remove:
(b)rowse book (gain spell + cast spell should make this redundant with the new UI)
(B)ash down (doesn't work well + paralysis... tunneling works better)
(j)am door (and iron spikes)
(!) interact with visuals (i don't think anyone uses this ever)
(V)ersion (probably no one uses this)

I would create a "use item" command to replace:
(a)im wand
(A)ctivate item
(G)ain spell
(E)at food
(F)uel lantern/torch
(q)uaff potion
(r)ead scroll
(u)se staff
(z)ap rod

I would create an "alter terrain" command (bound to something more convenient than "+") to replace:
(c)close door
(D)isarm
(o)pen door/chest
(T)unnel

I would add:
a command that tries to display all the game commands people need in 80x24 characters (which would disappear when the user pressed any key).

I would especially like to collapse the commands. While veterans do benefit from telling the game "I want to use a wand, show me the wands" I think it would be easy to adjust to "I want to use an item, show me the items" instead, and everyone I've introduced angband to has struggled with figuring out which command to use with which kind of item.

[Antoine]

I would create a "use item" command to replace:
(a)im wand
(A)ctivate item
(G)ain spell
(E)at food
(F)uel lantern/torch
(q)uaff potion
(r)ead scroll
(u)se staff
(z)ap rod

Suppose I wanted to quaff a potion, could I hit "use item" and then another key (perhaps !) to get a list of potions?

A.

[takkaria]

My initial reaction is to be conservative...

@takkaria Even though it's contentious I would still like to unify/remove commands to try to reduce this problem (and make the game easier on handhelds, phones, etc).

I would remove:
(b)rowse book (gain spell + cast spell should make this redundant with the new UI)
(B)ash down (doesn't work well + paralysis... tunneling works better)
(j)am door (and iron spikes)
(!) interact with visuals (i don't think anyone uses this ever)
(V)ersion (probably no one uses this)

Can't argue with these, really.

I would create a "use item" command to replace:
(a)im wand
(A)ctivate item
(E)at food
(F)uel lantern/torch
(q)uaff potion
(r)ead scroll
(u)se staff
(z)ap rod

How about just introducing, say, U as a unifed use command? I see the harm in having these commands as well as a unified one.

I would create an "alter terrain" command (bound to something more convenient than "+") to replace:
(c)close door
(D)isarm
(o)pen door/chest
(T)unnel

I would have thought that close and tunnel would be the more straightforward commands, right? Disarm/open aren't necessary for most people now, because easy_open is on permanently.

[Antoine]

Disarm/open aren't necessary for most people now, because easy_open is on permanently.

Hahaha the best thing to do would be to put easy_tunnel and easy_close on permanently. So whenever you touch a wall you tunnel it, and whenever you try to walk through a door you close it.

People would look back to the good old days where you only got knocked out if you deliberately tried to bash

A.

[d_m]

@takkaria

Yeah, (U)nified use is a good start, just to see how it plays.

The terrain part probably wasn't thought through as carefully, so I will retract that part.

I will go ahead and start moving on removing some of the unneeded commands. At one point I wanted to make (B) do some kind of shield bash/special attack to give warriors slightly more to do. But I think it would be better to have a whole framework for using "other powers" than just having a single other power bound to a key.

[d_m]

Hahaha the best thing to do would be to put easy_tunnel and easy_close on permanently. So whenever you touch a wall you tunnel it, and whenever you try to walk through a door you close it.

People would look back to the good old days where you only got knocked out if you deliberately tried to bash

Hilarious! I'd laugh harder if I didn't secretly fear introducing bugs like this into V

[Antoine]

At one point I wanted to make (B) do some kind of shield bash/special attack to give warriors slightly more to do.

As long as I'm being silly,

'B' should be a 'Bitch Slap' command, to be used at times of frustration with the game. Functionality would be the same as a normal attack, but a silly message would result.

The salamander breathes fire!
The Staff of Healing burns up.
You slap the salamander like the bitch it is.
The salamander screams "PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"

A.

[Derakon]

More seriously, the 'D'isarm and 'o'pen commands are still needed for chests.

[Antoine]

More seriously, the 'D'isarm and 'o'pen commands are still needed for chests.

Use the 'U' command on the chest, and get a message "Do you want to try to disarm the trap on this chest before opening it? (y/n)"?

A.

[Timo Pietilä]

@takkaria Even though it's contentious I would still like to unify/remove commands to try to reduce this problem (and make the game easier on handhelds, phones, etc).

I would remove:
(b)rowse book (gain spell + cast spell should make this redundant with the new UI)

Elaborate, please.

(B)ash down (doesn't work well + paralysis... tunneling works better)

I was possible to bash monsters at some point in distant past. That stunned the monster if successful, which could have been useful.

(j)am door (and iron spikes)

I think problem is with doors currently, not the jamming itself. Jamming doors is useless currently, I think you should be able to do that without spikes and there should be doors that can resist bashing.

(!) interact with visuals (i don't think anyone uses this ever)

Not anymore that interacting with visuals has been moved to knowledge menu. However saving your settings is not there (at least in 3.2.0).

(V)ersion (probably no one uses this)

I have used it when I have been playing some development version.

I would create a "use item" command to replace:
(a)im wand
(A)ctivate item
(G)ain spell
(E)at food
(F)uel lantern/torch
(q)uaff potion
(r)ead scroll
(u)se staff
(z)ap rod

That would ruin macros/keymaps. You would need to use more than 0-9 to distinguish all the items.