ANGBAND

by
SNOWARE

version 1.0 user’s guide.


Contents:
	1.0 Copyright stuff
	2.0 Installation
	3.0 Quick start
	4.0 Ideological concepts
		4.1 The plot
		4.2 The ‘roguelike’ concept
		4.3 The ‘roguelike’ concept in Snoware Angband
	5.0 INSTRUCTIONS
		5.1 What to do in general
		5.1 Controls
		5.2 Fuel and such
		5.3 Equipment
	6.0 ADVANCED INSTRUCTIONS
		6.1 Steering
		6.2  Elements
		6.3  Workshops	
		6.4  Advanced Control 1
		6.5  Advanced Control 2
		
	7.0 Hints and tips
	8.0 Registering


1.0	Copyright stuff

	All the files in this package, including ANG.EXE, ANGINTRO.EXE, and all 
the graphics files are Copyright 1995 Benjamin and Jonathan Peterson.  The sound 
files are not copyrighted... we scrounged them off other people.

	Angband was written using Themie Gouthas’ Xlib graphics library and 
VAT by Ground-Up software.  Words cannot express my gratitude to the people
who produce these things.  There’s a hundred times as much cleverness in these as in 
my game, ne?  In fact, this game was really written by the people of x2ftp.oulu.fi, the 
game programmer’s site, and rec.games.programmer.  Thank you.

	In addition, Snoware would like to thank Alex Voice, and Peter Cartwright of 
the North London Internet Centre (http://nlic2.questint.com/), for computer time, and 
the University of London for having security staff too stupid to kick us out.

	Snoware’s physical mail address is:

12, Vereker Road,
London W14 9JR
ENGLAND

	And our email addresses are:

Staff1@nlic2.questint.com
jon@nlic2.questint.com
azathoth@zippy.spods.dcs.kcl.ac.uk

	Aaaand our web page is:

http://nlic2.questint.com/snow/snow.htm


2.0	Installation

	If you got Angband on a floppy disk, or downloaded it, use pkunzip to unzip 
the file ANG-10.ZIP into whatever directory you want.  If you have the registered 
version of Angband, there will be extra zipfiles, FLX1.ZIP, FLX2.ZIP and FLX3.ZIP.  
These should be unzipped into whatever directory Angband was first installed in.

	Once the files are unzipped, type ANGSETUP.  This will give you a series of 
choices.  Cutscenes are only available if you have the registered version.  It is also 
advisable always to choose to be allowed to ‘Run’ when it asks you -- the game can 
get a bit slow otherwise.

	Having run ANGSETUP, just type ANGBAND to run the game.

3.0	Quick Start

	Remember that you can press ‘?’ in the game or run the program ANHELP 
for more instructions.

	Angband is a complicated game.  This section is designed to allow you to begin 
playing it without having to learn all the rules.
	To begin playing as soon as possible:
	1- After the introduction, you get a menu of pilots.  The currently selected one 
is shown in white.  Click on ‘Play Pilot’ to start the game with that pilot.
	2- The game begins.  You’re the round blue ship.  You travel along the 
platforms.  You use the keys like in Doom, except that ‘Alt’ doesn’t make you go 
sideways, it makes you fire all three of your guns at once.
	3- The writing on the left of your control panel shows your weapons.   Press 
‘1’ for weapon number 1, and so on.  Weapon number 1 has unlimited ammo...
	4- Move around a bit.  Kill something.  Press space to enter a building or go 
down some stairs.  Be creative.  Pressing ‘?’ gives you a list of keys.  Press them all 
and see what happens.
	5- Sorry, but this isn’t a pure arcade game and at some point you’re going to 
either get bored or learn the rest of the controls.


4.0	Ideological Concepts

	4.1 The plot

		Plot?  You mean it wasn’t clear enough in that giant intro you just sat 
through?  *Sigh*  The plot is an attempt to justify the name ‘Angband’ for a game 
which has nothing much to do with Tolkien.   But why was this attempt necessary?

	4.2 The ‘Roguelike’ concept

		Because of the Roguelike factor.  In the beginning, long ago when the 
ability to display lowercase letters was considered graphical power, there was Rogue.  
It was a game based entirely on text characters.  It’s descendants were Moria, 
Angband, and Nethack.  When graphics came, they didn’t quite die.  They had things 
no graphical game could ever have -- the sheer variety of enemies and equipment!  The 
subtle refinements to your character to maximise efficiency!  Boring to some, maybe.  
Even boring to most.  But ask yourself -- if it’s so dull, WHY HAVE THEY STAYED 
AROUND LONGER THAN YOU?

	4.3 The ‘Roguelike’ concept in Snoware Angband

		Ahh, Text Angband.  The greatest of the roguelike games.  Damn it’s 
good.  This game, Snoware Angband, is a humble attempt to cross it with a graphical 
arcade-style game.  I tried to keep the best of Text Angband -- the randomly-generated 
levels, the huge number of different monsters, and most of all the complex task of 
refining and optimizing your ship.  Hence the complex equipment and control systems.  
Hopefully this game has the visual impact of an arcade game, but the cerebral nature of 
a roguelike game.  Hopefully.  I might not quite have managed it.

5.0	BASIC INSTRUCTIONS

	5.1	What to do in general

		Your aim is to eventually get to level 100 and kill Morgoth, so have 
two immediate objectives:  first, go down as many downward stairs as you can, and 
second, pick up and install the best possible equipment.  As your ship starts, it’s 
hopeless -- by the end, you should have a ship that can wipe out the entire population 
of level 1 just by cruising through, without you even pressing the fire button!
		So travel over the platforms, killing things, getting their equipment, and 
descending when you’re feeling strong enough.  It’s almost impossible to die for the 
first two or three levels.
		Oh, and watch it -- this is one of those games where you keep running 
out of ammunition.  Working out your equipment so that this doesn’t happen is in a 
way the main point of the game.
5.2 	Controls

		I tried to keep them Doom-like to be convenient.  With the engine you 
start with:

	Cursor/Keypad --- turn left, turn right, go forward.
	Space --- enter buildings and stairs
	Ctrl --- fire
	Alt --- fire EVERYTHING! Yay!
	Shift --- go faster (i.e. use secondary drive)
	Numbers --- change weapon
	Function keys --- activate electronic devices

also...

	I --- show inventory
	E --- show equipment.
	ESC --- the escape key quits menus, leaves buildings, and quits the game too.

You pick things up by running over them.
You can steer with the mouse -- left button makes you go somewhere, right button 
makes you fire.

	5.3	Fuel and stuff

		You got your fuel, your missiles, your remaining armour and your fire, 
water and lightning.  All these are displayed on the right-hand half of the dashboard, 
and all are replenished mainly by running over appropriate icons.  Fuel is for the 
secondary drive.  Armour is obvious, and so are missiles.  The three elements are for 
using electronics and firing weapons.

	5.4	Equipment

		Run over it.  Press ‘I’ to see your inventory.  You can read scrolls with 
‘R’.  You can eat things to replenish your elements with ‘E’.  You can install things on 
your ship if you are at the surface or in a workshop with ‘S’ (S for swap, you see).  
You can install pods, which increase your carrying capacity, with ‘U’ in the right sort 
of shop.
		Different items have different characteristics.  For instance, guns have 
muzzle velocity and rate-of-fire.  Engines have speed and fuel consumption.




6.0  	Advanced Control

	6.1	Steering

		Okay, well, the first engine’s simple enough.  Later you might get a 
dogfight engine.  That’ll allow you to go backwards and sideways with the keypad 2, 9 
and 7 keys.  Very useful.
		Eventually you’ll get a flying engine.  Some of these have different 
controls entirely -- you press the keypad key for the direction you want to go.
		Then there’s the mouse.  What clicking the left button REALLY does is 
position the Location Marker, of which more later.  You can also use it to move.  The 
right button, for firing, is sensitive to whether your current weapon is a turret.  If it is, 
then there’s no reason to turn the whole ship around, and it just aims the turret.
		I guess steering is pretty simple.
		Your two engine slots are different.  The ‘motor’ slot takes motors, 
which do not consume fuel, while the ‘drive’ slot takes drives, which use up fuel.

	6.2	What’s this ‘Fire Water Lightning’ stuff?

		Okay, right.
		ELEMENTS are colour coded.  Watery things are green, fiery things 
red and lightningy things blue.  Hence the red, green and blue bar graphs on your 
dashboard.
		ELEMENTS are more common on appropriate levels.  For instance, 
the levels made of metal struts abound in electronics shops and electronic robots, so 
lightning is most common on them.  This is worth bearing in mind.
		ELEMENTS power your electronics, but more importantly they power 
your guns.  Or to be precise, your AMMO GENERATORS.  If you have a superbullet 
generator which says:

		F:1 W:2 L:0 +3

then every bullet it fires -- and you can end up firing a lot of them in one go if you play 
your cards right -- costs one point of fire and two of water (and does 3 extra points of 
damage).  You have to balance your different guns so that you don’t depend on any 
one element.  Otherwise you’ll die horribly.
		ELEMENTS are affected by rings.  If you have a Fire Ring, you’ll find 
that fire tends not to get used up so fast.  So if you have a fire ring, get more fire 
ammo such as napalm.
		ELEMENTS can be resisted.  If, say, a lightning ball hits a lightning-
resistant vehicle, it’ll do almost no damage.  There are many ways to acquire 
resistances.






	6.3 	What do I do in these workshops?

		You hardly ever need a workshop.  They’re mostly for hiding behind.  
You should usually use a scroll of recall to go to the top of the tower where there are 
all kinds of workshop together.
		In a workshop you can:
		EAT an item which is relevant to that workshop, getting more elements 
		than normal.
		SWAP items -- that is, swap an inventory item with one in your 	
		equipment slot.
		VIEW your equipment.
		USE pods -- you’ll see that they increase you maximum armour and 
		element capacity.
	
		How?  Just click on an item in the inventory (and if necessary on an 
equipment slot) and then press a key to perform the action.  Press ESC to leave the 
shop.

	6.4	Really advanced controls 1 -- menus

		Okay.  Rings and turrets.
		The ‘R’ for Ring and ‘F’ for Fire Control keys give you little menus.  
These are similar, so I’ll deal with them both at once.  
		You can set a RING to ‘Smite your foes’.  That means it stops 
maintaining your element levels, and hangs around as a little ball of light shooting at 
things.  This is good when you don’t expect much shooting, you just want the ring to 
clear away a few small enemies without you thinking about it.
		You can set GUIDANCE to be at an enemy or at the Location Marker.  
See?  Told you I’d mention it again.  Usually you want the former, but if you’re 
fighting a big group of turrets and your missiles keep guiding at some tiny tank miles 
away,  just place the Marker on the middle turret and watch missile after missile slam 
into it!  Ha ha ha ha ha!  Ahem.
		TURRETS AND RINGS can fire in various set directions and at 
various things.  This should be pretty straightforward.
		But more soon about that OBEY AUTODEF option...

	6.5 	Really advanced controls 2 -- ECM, Guidance, Autodef

		ECM stops enemy missiles guiding at you.  Useless at first, but vital 
later on.  Either an electronic ECM or a Ring of Defence will do it.
		GUIDANCE makes your missiles guide at the enemy.   Darn near 
essential, and especially useful if you have a missile turret and want to connect it to...
		AUTODEF, available by itself or in the form of a handy Computer 
which also does ECM.  Autodef allows your turrets and rings to select and fire at their 
own targets.  Very very nice to have.
 

7.0	Hints and Tips
		
	Okay,  here’s a few:
	Don’t go down too fast... you may find yourself too deep for your current 
equipment, which leaves you without anything much to do but die repeatedly.
	Balance your element use.  No matter how good your ammo generators are, if 
they all run entirely on fire you are going to DIE.
	Get a turret, give it the cheapest ammo you can find and connect it to the 
Autodef.  It’ll get rid of the tinier enemies for you.
	When you go over a stair, a word appears in the middle of the dashboard.  If 
the word is ?????, the stair leads somewhere either very nice or very very nasty.
	Watch out for mines when running.
	Your bullets go on being dangerous even when far off the screen.  Using radar, 
you can kill things long before they get near you.

8.0	Registering

	If your version is unregistered, why not register it?  Email me at 
azathoth@nlic2.questint.com .  Or snail mail me at the Snoware address given above.  
For $15 or 10 English pounds, I’ll send you the key that’ll make the game realize it’s 
registered, and the cutscenes.
	In the registered form you’ll be able to descend all the way to level 100 and 
fight the Enemy himself  --  and you’ll do it to the accompaniment of some rather 
ingenious clips!
	The only reason you have to register for the cutscenes is that they’re so big.  
The reason you can get so far in the game without having to register is that... I just like 
the idea of folks playing it.  
	

