Beginners Guide : Syntax

The devil is in the details. Pay attention to detail. Don't drink the salt water. Heard these before? They hold especially true in Dartmud.

With any computer you have a certain way data is entered, and a certain way it is received. A mud is no different and each one seems to have a unique way for processing and determining what exactly you are trying to do. First we'll talk about ordering.

Order

When you see a handful of identical items in a room how do you determine which to grab?

An iron longsword, an iron longsword, an iron longsword.

Each longsword is numbered, the first is longsword 1, the second longsword 2 etc. So if you wanted to pick up longsword 2, you would type:

get longsword 2

The same applies to bins, wagons, tables, chest, cabinets, cupboards or any other container.Items inside bins are also counted if the bins are open. You want the first longsword in the third chest? If there are other longswords in the first two chests you may grab that one first unless you specify which bin.

Open the proper bin, examine it, and type :

get longsword from bin 3

If the longsword you wanted was in the third bin.

Things get interesting when you have multiple items in multiple locations. Say you are making roasts, and have some in a wagon, and some on the ground. If you type :

get roast

You may get it from the wagon. Not very useful if you're loading the wagon. So instead you would type :


get (floor) roast

You've specified the location, and can then put it in the wagon like this :

put roast in wagon

That wasn't too bad now was it?

What if you are wearing the item? Putting that roast into your pack, and not the one on the table would be :


put roast in (worn) pack

One area where this can be potentially lethal is with drinking water. What if you are fishing at the beach and are thirsty? You can type drink water but that is ambiguous. There is saltwater there and maybe a fresh water cask. The safer route is to type :

drink fresh water

Crafting is another place where the syntax is important. If you type :

craft robe

You will sew a robe, using the materials in front of you, that is your size. That's cool if it's for you, but what about your braman friend? Then you'd measure him up with a tape measure and type :

craft robe size=250

Now you will make a robe that is size 250 for that giant braman. Some items size is important, others it won't make a lick of difference, a storage bin for example.

There are times when just knowing the name of an item can be frustrating. If in doubt track down a crafter and ask.If in doubt just watch someone work for a bit. 

Lumbering is pretty simple :

lumber tree s=size

Tree being the type of tree you want to chop down, and size being how big it is. You could then chop it to make firewood, or mill it to turn it into board.

Gathering is another one that's pretty simple :


gather item

Item being what you are looking for. This is one of those cases where knowing what to look for can be tricky. Learn by observation, trial and error or asking. You can also practice looking for an item by :

gather ! item

Fishing is also self explanatory. You first bait pole and then cast direction. On the beach? Try casting out. Have a net? try cast net but how to retrieve? pull rope !

Check the helpfiles too, all of the information you see here is listed there.

Want some syntax detailed further? Let me know!