Beginner Tips

Starting on TFE can seem a bit overwhelming at first so these are some suggestions for new players after they start create their first character.

1. Setting your prompt up

    Your prompt is going to be your information at a glance when you are playing on TFE.  As soon as you create your character it will look like this:

<20hp 52e 100mv NS>.

     As you go you can learn to customize this a bit more and 'help prompt' will be a great source of information in doing so.  For now typing in the command "prompt complex" or "prompt color" will expand your prompt to show a little more information and look like this:

<20hp 52e 100mv 100wm 250xp NS>.

    The new prompt added two additional bits of information but I'll quickly go over the whole prompt and then I'll show you an example of a customized prompt along with the command to use it if you decide you like it better.

         The first thing you see on the prompt is your current Hit Points.  During battle this number will decrease as you get hit so keep an eye on what your HP is at!  Next is energy.  Energy isn't useful for ever class, Fighters and Thieves don't use any.  Energy is going to be your magical power, or your Mana in other games.  Beside energy is your movement points.  Your movement is your stamina as you explore the world of TFE before your character needs to rest.  Beside your movement is the lowest movement score count for your group.  This is useful for the person leading the group so they don't leave a party memeber behind.  Next is the experience required to level.  Complete quests and kill monsters to gain XP and get stronger!  The final item on the prompt currently reads "NS".  This stands for North/South and are the current exits available to my player in the room I'm currently in.  The available exit paths are (N)orth, (S)outh, (E)ast, (W)est, (U)p, (D)own.  If they are lower case that typically means the exit is blocked or the door is closed.

   My prompt is slightly longer but basically shows the same information with two additions.  It looks like this:

1455hp/1455hp 746e/746e 313mv(313mv) 23503217xp NEW || perfect

2.  Options

  If you type in options into your command line a list of Channel Options, General Options and Option Levels will pop up.  One with an asterisk are turned on, ones without are not.  I'll go over more common ones really quick .  For more information you can type "Help Options" in game for the full list.

 The first one I highly recommend turning on is Auto.Assist (turn on by typing opt auto.assist).  This will make your character automatically join combat when you are partied with someone once a battle is started.  Auto.Skin can be useful when killing monsters as well.  This will have you (if you land the killing blow) automatically skin the monster if possible.  Some monsters have skins that can be used to make items, some just for money, just be careful not to get burdened by weight!

 The final three from general options I recommend are Pet.Assist, Auto.Split, and Join.Fight.  Pet assist will, like the name says, will have your pet automatically join combat.  This is especially useful for rangers who are notorious for having pets.  Auto.Split will share the coins you loot with your entire party the best it can (it can't split one gold coin between three people!).  Finally, Join.Fight.  If someone you assist is in combat this won't let you leave the room while they are fighting.

 The next options I'd recommend changing have different levels you can set them to instead of just on or off.  The two I would recommend changing when you start out is autoloot and autoscan.  Autoloot I would set to 2 (autoloot 3 will loot all items on a corpse which can quickly weigh your character down).  Autoloot 2 will only loot the money from monsters you kill but still list the loot dropped on the monsters corpse (if you land the killing blow).  Autoscan I would set to 3.  As you move this will tell you what are in the room beside you so you do not walk into a group of hostile monsters!  Just make sure you have enough light to be able to see ahead of you!

3.  Aliases

 On TFE you can create aliases to quickly perform actions instead of typing out the full command.  Putting an asterisk at the start will only trigger the alias if its the first thing typed in a new command.  Some start aliases I use are:

alias \*sk skin corpse     alias \*dw drink water     alias \*ef eat food     alias \*ga get all     alias \*gac get all corpse

You can create and delete alias as you wish so use them at times when it is convienent to do so and as often as you wish.  You can see a full list of aliases you have created by just typing alias.  To remove one just type in the "Alias command" or using an example from above "alias \*sk" would remove the skin corpse alias.

4.  Other Commands to know

Some other commands you'll want to know are Map (or atlas), Journal, Typo, Area, Abilities, and Catalog.

Map is a command that will grow as you explore the world  It will track rooms you've walked through (while being the one leading).  Remember though the world of TFE is big so this command will only show you a very small portion of what is immediately surrounding you.

Journal is a useful way to take notes.  Just typing Journal followed by whatever note you would like to take will add an entry.  Typing journal again will list all entries you've made.

Typo will show you the current room number, and for the most part will be the main reason you use this command.  Each area in TFE has its own group of room numbers.  Paying attention to these room numbers can show you where a zone starts and ends.  Resting outside of a zone you are currently running will allow the zone to repopulate faster.

Area is a command that will show you a list of all the areas in the game (though there are still monsters scattered throughout the world outside these zones).  Typing "Area -L" will allow you to find a zone near your level so you can explore new parts of the world without walking into certain death! Please note that the level indicated for each area is recommendations for a small party of that level.

Abilities is a command to show you what each class can train and what you can currently train.  Different categories are Language, Physical, Spell, Weapon.  You can also search by class.  For more on this type "help abilities" in game.

Finally, Catalog.  As you explore TFE you'll find magical items with special properties.  Once you identify these items (or even non-magical ones) the item stats will be stored into your catalog.  For weapons this could tell you the level required, value, weight, and damage of the weapon for example.  There are also sources around that have a list of other peoples catalog that you can search through.

My final Tip is don't forget to ask questions in game!  The ooc (out of character) channel and newbie channel are great ways to get in touch with someone who may have the information you want.