Guide to online play
====================

The following guide explains, in layman's terms, how to access server
play for Dungeon Crawl. It is directed at Windows users as we expect 
Linux and OS/X users to have simple access to ssh and telnet.
Written up by Archibald.

Goal: learn how to "ssh to crawl.akrasiac.org (cao)". If you know
this already, you can stop reading.

Before we go any further here's what playing on the akrasiac server
allows you to do:

*  play the latest version of crawl stone soup online
*  watch other players' games
*  have the ability to chat and comment in-game
*  have your game stats uploaded/recorded on the homepage
*  encounter and kill/be killed by other players' ghosts

----

So you've downloaded the latest version of Crawl Stone Soup and have
been playing offline (or 'local') and you thoroughly enjoy it.  You
may have noticed from the akrasiac homepage, http://crawl.akrasiac.org/
or posts in forums that there is a way to enhance your gaming experience 
by playing 'online' using something called 'SSH'.

If only you could figure out how.  Well, if like me (to begin with)
you really are at a loss as to where on earth to start with all this
stuff, what you need is some assistance.  Wouldn't it be nice if
someone could take the time to write an 'Idiots Guide' - a step by
step list in easy to understand language, telling you from the very
beginning exactly what to do...

Oh look! somebody has - done just that! Great, then let's get started.

----

1. Get the PuTTY program
------------------------
Firstly you will need a means of accessing the server.  The easiest 
and most common method is by using an SSH (Secure SHell) connection, 
we are going to learn here how to use the 'PuTTY' terminal to do this.  
In laymans terms PuTTY is simply a small programme that acts as your
interface between you (the player) and the server (the host).

In order to download PuTTY, simply click on the following link:
  http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

As you can see, this is the homepage for 'PuTTY: A Free Telnet/SSH
Client'.

Now go to the downloads section.  Scroll down to the Windows downloads 
section and look for the first option down - you will see that it is 
called 'PuTTY'.

That's the one you want, so click on the 'putty.exe' download link and 
choose to save it to your desktop (well, that's how I did it anyway).  
This should place an icon on your desktop that resembles two blue screens
with a yellow connection/electricity bolt joining them - it should be 
named 'putty'.

2. Configure PuTTY connection: SSH, port 22
-------------------------------------------
So far, so good?  Good.  Okay, now double click on the putty icon to
open the interface which is called  'PuTTY Configuration'. Here you
will be presented with an interface in a small window.  On the
left-hand side you will see a 'Category' tree and on the right-hand
side a series of boxes and radio buttons under the heading 'Basic
options for your PuTTY session'.

Don't be daunted here by all the technical looking jargon, we're only
concerned with a couple of easy to do actions and then we're almost
there!

You will see the cursor flashing in the following box: 'Host Name (or
IP address)'.  Here you need to type in the following:

crawl.akrasiac.org

Done that? We next need to set one option: There are five radio buttons
underneath the 'Host Name (or IP address)' fields, called 'Connection 
type:' Here you need to choose the SSH button; it should be highlighted
green.  If it's not already, simply click on it so that it is green.  
When SSH is selected, the Port field will automatically change to 22.

Finally, enable SSH compression by using
Category: Connection > SSH > Protocol Options > Enable compression.
It's disabled by default but helps on a busy server as akrasiac.


3. Set controls to 'Nethack'
----------------------------
That is all we do for the connection part.  Next we need to ensure our
keyboard will work properly, once connected.  So, to the left of the
interface (the 'Category' tree) you need to click/select the 'keyboard'
option.  Doing this will change the options on the right-hand side to
'Options controlling the effects of keys'.  Mid-way down that section
under 'Application keypad settings:', click on the 'Nethack' radio
button so it is highlighted.

4. Saving these options
-----------------------
Now, to make life easier for ourselves we are going to save these as
the default settings, so that every time PuTTY is opened you can dive
straight into it.  Click back onto the Category tree's top heading
('Session') and you will see it has taken you back to your initial 
display.  Look to the right-hand side of the interface under 'Load,
save or delete a stored session', in the second box down, ensure that 
'Default Settings' is highlighted and then click on the 'Save' button
to the right.  That's it - done!

5. Connecting to akrasiac
--------------------------
We're ready!  Make sure you are connected to the internet and simply
click on 'Open' and you will have a black console screen open up and be
asked to 'login as:', here you need to type in the word 'joshua'. This
is the default log-in name set by the administrator to connect to CAO.
Once entered, you will be asked to enter 'jos...@crawl.akrasiac.org.'s 
password:' - again, type in the word 'joshua' (yes, you guessed it - the 
default password!).

The screen will refresh and you will now be presented with the
following initial display:

________________________________________________________________

 ## DGL source code available on ftp://ftp.alt.org/pub/dgamelaunch/or
 ## http://dev.triplehelix.org/?root=dgamelaunch (development version)
 ## ** Games on this server are recorded for in-progress viewing and playback!
 ##
 ## This crawl server hosted and maintained by Rachel Elizabeth Dillon;
 ## more information available at http://crawl.akrasiac.org/

   Not logged in.

   l) Login
   r) Register new user
   w) Watch games in progress
   q) Quit

________________________________________________________________


6. Creating an account
----------------------
Now all you need to do is create an account.  Hit the 'r' key and
continue as prompted.  When you have chosen your player/user name,
this will be the name of every character you play with on that
account.  The rest should be self explanatory and easy to follow.

7. Playing online
-----------------
Each time you want to play all you have to do is open PuTTY, log-in to
CAO with (joshua/joshua) and then log-in with your player details.  
Dead easy!

For in-game instructions hit '?' and you may need to toggle the
Num-Pad in order to use it.

Happy Crawling


A note on telnet vs SSH from Rachel Elizabeth Dillon: "Using SSH means
that the data is compressed in transit, reducing bandwidth usage and
hopefully making the experience a teensy bit faster as well."