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Standard Keyboard Commands

These commands should be available in all versions of Xconq. Additional commands may be defined for some interfaces; see the interface's documentation below for more details.

You may specify a command in two ways; by typing the single letter for the command, or by using the 'o' command and typing in a long command name followed by any additional data, as appropriate to the command.

You may also specify a numerical prefix argument by entering a sequence of digits 0-9 before entering the command. The interpretation of the prefix argument depends on the command; typically it will be a repetition or size. Negative prefix arguments are not possible.

Xconq uses the "standard" letters to specify directions. While the positions of "yubn" are all analogous to their respective directions from "h" on a normal keyboard, the rationale for "hjkl" is lost in the mists of time; but those of you who are already programmed from years of vi, rogue, nethack, etc will appreciate the compatibility!

                       y  k  u
                        \ | / 
                       h- . -l
                        / | \ 
                       b  j  n

As commands, lower-case letters [yubnhjkl] indicate that the unit(s) should move one cell in that direction. Upper-case letters [YUBNHJKL] tell the unit(s) to move repeatedly in that direction, either forever, or to a distance specified by the prefix. Control-case letters are reserved for future definition.

The following list is generally in alphabetical order.

' '
(reserve) Reserve unit. Put selected unit(s) into reserve for the remainder of this turn. Units that are in reserve may still be selected and moved by direct order, but will not insist on being moved before the turn can end.
!
(detonate) Detonate.
?
(help) Display help info.
#
(distance) Display distance to selected place.
.
(recenter) Center around the current point. For interfaces that can zoom, this command also focusses on the current point, so that it will still be in the middle as you zoom in.
@
(angle) Set view angle.
a
(attack) Attack.
A
(add-terrain) Add terrain.
C-A
(auto) Set AI control of unit.
b
(southwest) Move southwest.
B
(southwest-multiple) Move southwest multiple.
C
(clear-plan) Clear unit plans.
d
(delay) Delay unit. Postpone doing anything with the selected unit(s) until after all others have moved in this turn.
D
(disband) Disband unit. Make the selected unit(s) do one disband action.
C-D
(detach Detach a unit from the selected multi-part unit. The prefix argument gives the number of parts of detach; by default, the unit will be divided in half.
e
(embark) Embark on transport.
f
(fire) Fire unit.
F
(formation) Set formation. You will be asked to designate a unit to lead the formation. Then the selected unit(s) will get a goal to maintain the same relative position to the leader that existed at the time the command was entered. The prefix argument says by how many cells the following unit may vary from its designated position; for instance, if the value is 1, then the unit is in formation if it is in any cell adjacent to its nominal location. The variation defaults to 1.
C-F
(fire-into) Fire into a location. Fire indiscriminately into a designated location, whether any target units are visible.
g
(give) Give supplies. Transfer non-essential supply from the selected unit(s) to occupants and others in same and adjacent cells.
G
(give-unit) Give unit to side.
h
(west) Move west.
H
(west-multiple) Move west multiple.
i
(in) Cycle through cell's interior. Use this command to cycle through all the units at the location(s) of the selected unit(s). Successive commands eventually go down through all occupants and through each unit stacked in the cell.
j
(south) Move south.
J
(south-multiple) Move south multiple.
k
(north) Move north.
K
(north-multiple) Move north multiple.
l
(east) Move east.
L
(east-multiple) Move east multiple.
m
(move-to) Move to a place. You will be asked to specify a location to move to. The prefix argument specifies how closely will be satisfactory; the default is 0, meaning that the unit must actually be in the chosen destination cell.
M
(message) Send a message to another side or sides. The default is to broadcast to all sides; if you wish to send a message to only one side, prefix the command with the side's number (1 for the first side in the list of sides, and so forth). The message %reveal is special; if you send this, then the receiving sides will receive information on the positions of your units. This is obviously useful for allies; it is useful for enemies, if you want to convince them to resign. (Of course, if they're stronger than you think and don't resign, then you just gave away your secrets!)
C-M
(end-turn) End activity for this turn. (This is the "return" key.) This command indicates that you are done with your moves, and that the game may proceed to the next turn. If sides are moving sequentially one-at-a-time, then the next side will become the only one actually moving, and you will not be able to have any of your units do anything more (although you may set orders to be executed during the next turn). If sides are moving simultaneously, then you may still do actions, but you will have to select the units manually.
n
(southeast) Move southeast.
N
(southeast-multiple) Move southeast multiple.
o
(other) Do other commands. This command brings up a dialog or prompt that lets you enter a long-name command and additional data for it, all as text. When you indicate that you are done composing (either by typing return or by clicking OK, as appropriate), Xconq) will attempt to interpret and then execute the command.
p
(produce) Set material production.
P
(produce-unit) Set up unit construction. Xconq will ask you for a unit type to construct, then sets up a construction task to produce one or more of that type. You can use the prefix argument to request the number to build; the default comes from the side's doctrine, and is usually 99.
Q
(quit) Quit the game.
r
(return) Return to a resupply point.
R
(remove-terrain) Remove terrain.
C-R
(refresh) Redraw display. For various reasons, an Xconq) display might become incorrect. This command will erase all windows and redraw them.
s
(sleep) Sleep. Put selected unit(s) to sleep. A sleeping unit will not ask to move again until it wakes up. Units may be woken explicitly, or may wake up if an unfriendly unit gets too close.
S
(save) Save the game. Xconq) will save the complete state of the game into a file. You may or may not get a choice of file name, depending on the interface you're using.
t
(take) Take supplies. Transfer materials from a "nearby" unit into the selected one(s). First choice of donor unit is the transport if there is one, then units stacked in the same cell, then occupants.
T
(take-unit) Take unit from another side.
u
(northeast) Move northeast.
U
(northeast-multiple) Move northeast multiple.
w
(wake) Wake up. Selected units that are asleep or in reserve will be woken up. The prefix argument specifies a radius of effect around each unit, in which all units not in transports will also be awakened.
W
(wakeall) Wake up all. Similar to "wake", but all occupants will be affected also.
y
(northwest) Move northwest.
Y
(northwest-multiple) Move northwest multiple.
z
(survey) Switch between survey and move modes.

The following commands are not guaranteed to be available except by using their long names, but some interfaces may have shortcuts for some of these.

add-player
Add a player into the game.
ai
Toggle the AI.
copying
Display the copying rules.
distrust
Distrust the given side.
draw
Declare a willingness to draw. If all players are willing to draw, then the game ends without any losers or winners being declared.
follow-action
Follow the action. Scroll the map or view to any place where combat actions are happening.
name
Set the name of a unit.
print
Print the current view of the world.
rate slow fast
Set AI play rate. The command's data must be of the form "<slow> <fast>", where <slow> and <fast> are plan executions per minute. The slow rate is for when human players are still actively moving, while the fast rate is for when only AIs are doing anything.
replan
Make the AI replan.
resign
Resign.
surrender-to
Be controlled by the given side.
trust
Trust the given side.
version
Display the version and copyright.
warranty
Display the lack of warranty.

The following commands are intended for game designers, and are only available if designing has been compiled into Xconq. See the chapters on game design and GDL for more information.

design
Toggle design mode.
gdl
Evaluate a GDL expression. Note that some values derived from GDL forms are precomputed and cached, and it is not guaranteed that they will all be recalculated.

The following commands are intended for debugging, and are only available if debugging support has been compiled into Xconq.

They act as toggles, and are independent of each other, so you can control what kind of information is output. The transcript will go to standard output or to a file, depending on the interface and system. These commands are really only of use to Xconq hackers and sometimes to game designers.

D
Toggle general debugging.
DG
Toggle graphics debugging.
DM
Toggle AI debugging.

The current set of commands is somewhat different from that of Xconq 5.x. The most common ones have generally been retained, but others have been renamed or dropped.


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