Angband 4.2 variant with less grind and more tactical depth.

• About the game
• Keyboard controls
• Saving your game
• Tips
• New player's guide
• Playing in the browser
• About this version

About the game

Tactical Angband keeps Angband's look, items and monsters, but cuts out the grind. The dungeon is half as deep, each level is a quarter of the size, and you see only 10 squares. Fights are decided by positioning, not by teleporting away.

• You hit once per turn, multiplied by your might. Monsters work the same way, so single big hits and critical hits matter.
• Almost all long-range teleportation is gone. Wands and staffs of wind and swap places, plus items of running, give you new ways to reposition.
• The Black Market always sells Acquirement scrolls, so saving gold has a clear payoff.

What is different from Angband

• The dungeon is 50 levels deep, and each level is a quarter of the usual size. Levels are numbered 2, 4, 6 … 100.
• Line of sight is reduced to 10 squares for you and for monsters.
• Melee uses a single blow multiplied by might instead of several blows per round, for both players and monsters.
• Phase Door is rarer and long-range teleports are gone (apart from Deep Descent and teleport curses). New wands, staffs and rods of wind and swap-places replace them, along with items of running.
• The Black Market always stocks Acquirement scrolls.
• You can still cast memorised spells while blind.

Keyboard controls

Essential keys

Auto-explore, stairs and the item lists

• p explores: it walks to the nearest unexplored place, one step per turn, and keeps going until a monster comes into view, a new message appears or you press a key. It avoids known traps and opens doors but never picks locks: it stops in front of a locked door, and p again skips that door. (It needs the autoexplore_commands option, on by default for new characters; older characters turn it on under =.)
• < / > take the stairs you stand on, or walk to the nearest known staircase of that kind and take it.
• Enter opens a menu of every command, grouped, with its key.
• In the inventory (i), equipment (e) and quiver (|) lists an item's letter runs its main action (eat, quaff, read, use, aim, zap, cast, wear, take off, refuel), Shift+letter drops it, Ctrl+letter inspects it, and Enter, Space or a click opens the menu of all its actions. Numpad: 8/2 move, 4/6 switch lists, 5 menu, + use, - drop, * inspect, 0 closes. The list opens again after an action unless a monster is in view.

Saving your game

• Saving is automatic. The game is stored in this browser (IndexedDB) every two minutes while it waits for your next command, whenever you switch to another tab or window, and on every level change. Reloading the page continues from there.
• Ctrl+S saves right away. Ctrl+X saves and ends the session; reload the page (or press Play again) to continue.
• When your character dies, the next start rolls a new one.
• Each browser keeps one character. New character deletes it and starts over.
• Export save downloads the savefile; Import save loads one. Use them for a backup or to move a character to another browser or computer (the Mac app reads the same file: put it in ~/Documents/Tactical Angband/save).
• Options, window layout, zoom and the sound/music switches are stored in the same browser storage.
• Private/incognito windows and "clear site data" delete the stored game. Export first if it matters.

Tips

• Levels are small and sight is short: monsters show up close, so look before you step round corners.
• Long-range teleportation is almost gone. Phase Door is rare, so treat wands and staffs of wind and swap places as your escapes.
• One blow times might: a heavy weapon that raises might is worth more than many light hits.
• Save gold for the Black Market's Acquirement scrolls.
• Use > from anywhere once you have seen the down staircase: it walks there and descends.
• Flasks of Oil (v) are the best early ranged attack, as in Angband.

New player's guide

Your first steps

1. Press p to explore and > to walk to the stairs; Enter shows every command if you forget a key.
2. Shop in town as in Angband: Flasks of Oil, Cure Light Wounds potions, and Phase Door (rarer here, so buy what you see).
3. Take the > stairs. Levels are small, so clear them quickly and keep moving down.

Finding your way

• Small levels mean the stairs are usually close: > walks to the nearest known one and takes it.
• Level numbers go 2, 4, 6 … so an item or monster "from level 20" appears on your 10th floor.
• The Enter key opens a command menu if you forget a key.

Things to try

• Use a wand of swap places to pull yourself out of a surrounded spot.
• Try a melee character: the might system makes heavy weapons feel good.
• Save up for an Acquirement scroll from the Black Market.

Staying alive

• With short sight lines, monsters appear close. Move carefully around corners.
• Escapes are scarce: decide early whether to fight or leave, and don't wait until you are nearly dead.
• Corridors and doorways are your best friends.

Playing in the browser

• Windows: the tiled map (Shockbolt tiles); Inventory, Visible monsters and Visible items on the right; Messages and Recall along the bottom. Menus, stores and help pop up over the map.
• Resize windows by dragging the gaps between them. Reset windows puts everything back.
• Zoom: A− / A+ on the Map title bar (shown on hover) change the size of the map tiles. Hover over a text window's title to show its A− / A+ buttons; click a title to rename the window.
• Sound and Music are off until you switch them on in the top bar. The sound effects are the game's own sound events, played with the Dubtrain Angband Sound Pack; music plays in town.
• Keys: the arrow keys or the numeric keypad move you; Shift+arrow runs. Center map and auto_more are on by default here (change them under =).
• Mouse: click a square to walk there, click yourself or a monster for a menu.
• Browsers keep a few shortcuts for themselves (Ctrl+W, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+N, and Cmd shortcuts on a Mac), so those never reach the game. Ctrl+S and Ctrl+X do.
• If the game ever crashes, a message appears at the top; reload the page to continue from the last save.

About this version

• Based on Tactical Angband 0.9beta2 (itself based on Angband 4.2.6), commit 06a3ea6aa.
• Original source: tomm/tactical-angband at 06a3ea6aa
• Our changes (auto-explore, stair walking, command menu, inventory item actions, tiles, sound, web build): memmaker/tactical-angband