The way the screen looks for you depends on your platform.
%.BR 2
+% (Either generated by hand or else the composite of two different
+% situations. Originally the character had only reached a second room
+% (unchanged here) by turn 257 (now changed to 752) and was already
+% Weak from hunger (now changed to just Hungry) and also lacked any of
+% Tourist's starting gold. Confusion is added to include a condition.)
+%
+% Width is forced to match similar figure in Guidebook.mn where it is
+% constrained by the margins of plain text output (Guidebook.txt).
\vbox{
\begin{verbatim}
The bat bites!
- Player the Rambler St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15 Neutral
- Dlvl:1 $:0 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:257 Weak
+ Player the Rambler St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15 Neutral
+ Dlvl:1 $:993 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:752 Hungry Conf
\end{verbatim}
\begin{center}
Figure 1
\end{center}
}
+% 3-line status includes trailing spaces to force the width to match the
+% 2-line data above; unlike Guidebook.pm, we can't add a trailing comment
+% to make them visible
+\vbox{
+\begin{verbatim}
+ Player the Rambler St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15
+ Neutral $:993 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 Hungry
+ Dlvl:1 T:752 Conf
+\end{verbatim}
+\begin{center}
+Figure 2
+\end{center}
+}
+
%.hn 2
\subsection*{The status lines (bottom)}
+The bottom two (or three) lines of the screen contain several cryptic
+pieces of information describing your current status.
+Figure 1 shows the traditional two-line status area below the map.
+Figure 2 shows just the status area, when the {\it statuslines:3\/}
+option has been set (not all interfaces support this option).
+If any status line becomes wider than the screen, you might not see all
+of it due to truncation.
+When the numbers grow bigger and multiple {\it conditions\/} are present,
+the two-line format will run out of room on the second line, but
+{\it statuslines:2\/}
+is the default because a basic 24-line terminal isn't tall enough for
+the third line.
+
%.pg
-The bottom two lines of the screen contain several cryptic pieces of
-information describing your current status. If either status line
-becomes longer than the width of the screen, you might not see all of
-it. Here are explanations of what the various status items mean
-(though your configuration may not have all the status items listed
-below):
+Here are explanations of what the various status items mean:
%.lp
\blist{}
-\item[\bb{Rank}]
-Your character's name and professional ranking (based on the
-experience level, see below).
+\item[\bb{Title}]
+Your character's name and professional ranking (based on role
+{\it experience level\/}, see below).
%.lp
\item[\bb{Strength}]
A measure of your character's strength; one of your six basic
A measure of how effectively your armor stops blows from unfriendly
creatures. The lower this number is, the more effective the armor; it
is quite possible to have negative armor class.
+See the {\it Armor\/} subsection of {\it Objects\/} for more information.
%.lp
\item[\bb{Experience}]
-Your current experience level and experience points. As you
-adventure, you gain experience points. At certain experience point
-totals, you gain an experience level. The more experienced you are,
-the better you fight and withstand magical attacks. Many dungeons
-show only your experience level here.
+Your current experience level.
+If the {\it showexp\/}
+option is set, it will be followed by a slash and experience points.
+As you adventure, you gain experience points.
+At certain experience point totals, you gain an experience level.
+The more experienced you are, the better you fight and withstand magical
+attacks.
+(By the time your level reaches double digits, the usefulness of showing
+the points with it has dropped significantly.
+You can use the `{\tt O}' command to turn {\it showexp\/}
+off to avoid using up the limited status line space.)
%.lp
\item[\bb{Time}]
The number of turns elapsed so far, displayed if you have the
Go down to the next level (if you are on a staircase or ladder).
%.lp
\item[\tb{[yuhjklbn]}]
-Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure 2). If you sense
+Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure 3). If you sense
or remember
a monster there, you will fight the monster instead. Only these
one-step movement commands cause you to fight monsters; the others
\end{center}
%.ed
\begin{center}
-Figure 2
+Figure 3
\end{center}
%.lp
\item[\tb{[YUHJKLBN]}]
\nd You can also wear other pieces of armor (cloak over suit, shirt under
suit, helmet, gloves, boots, shield) to lower your armor class even
further.
-You can wear at most one item of each category (one suit of armor, one
-cloak, one helmet, one shield, and so on) at a time.
-Most of these provide a one or two point improvement to AC but can be
+%--too obvious to mention unless we include polymorph into ettin or maralith
+% You can wear at most one item of each category (one suit of armor, one
+% cloak, one helmet, one shield, and so on) at a time.
+Most of these provide a one or two point improvement to AC (making the
+overall value smaller and eventually negative) but can also be
enchanted.
Shirts are an exception; they don't provide any protection unless enchanted.
Some cloaks also don't improve AC when unenchanted but all cloaks offer
projects / nethack / commitdiff