The mainland can be a bit of a daunting place, especially when you are fresh from the islands. With the multitude of options available, you may be wondering what in the world you should be doing. Well, read on. This guide will give you some general pointers, and will help you get started in Egypt.
All conversations in-game are text based, using the small window in the bottom right of your screen. Once your guild membership application is approved you'll notice that a new chat tab has appeared. This is the guild chat window, and it gives everybody in the guild a chance to get acquainted. For that reason, the window can often get rather busy when many members are on at once. So, to keep things easy to read for everyone, we ask that people type using full sentences. Fragmented sentences can be very awkward to follow, and also lead to "spamming" the chat window.
Fragmented Example
<Player 1>: Can someone tell me
<Player 2>: Hmm... I need to do some mining.
<Player 3>: Sounds good, want to go together?
<Player 1>: where I can get
<Player 2>: Sure thing. It should speed things up a bit.
<Player 3>: Ok, I'll meet you at Zokar's mine. Remember your Grilled Fish!
<Player 1>: a fishing pole so i can
<Player 2>: Hehe... I never forget them.
<Player 1>: go fishing?
Even when you're typing full sentences, however, there might be two or three separate conversations going on, so if an entry doesn't look like an answer to your question, it's probably not. You can, by the way, resize the chat window by dragging the boundary. Each chat buffer contains the most recent 50 entries.
Use the /ts command to toggle a timestamp, so that you'll have a better idea if the other person is still paying attention. Disjointed conversations are pretty much the norm, especially so if somebody is operating several pieces of equipment.
Be alert to the conversational patterns of the guild. In some guilds everyone routinely says Hi! and Bye! every day, while in other guilds the chats are more subject oriented. Both approaches are common, but you should respect the established pattern for that particular guild.
Another useful chat tool is the Private Chat option. To start a private chat type "/af <playername" and then use F11 to bring up your Friends List, or simply type "/chat <playername>" (without quotes), and a new tab will appear with the player's name as a title. One use it has is for Mentors to talk to and teach Students in private, without the need to use the guild chat window. Of course, it can be used for anything, such as telling little secrets to people!
If you want to leave a message for someone, use /chat. Messages are likely to scroll out of the guild chat windows.
It's up to you to decide what your goals are. Your mentor should explain the Principles and Level system (Similar to your task list on the Island), and these should help guide you through the early part of the game.
It's up to you what you specialise in within the game, and your mentor should discuss various options and ideas with you.
One of the most important aspects of ATITD is teamwork and community. Feel free (and it will become increasingly necessary) to work with other players, trade goods and ask advice.
Your mentor should also provide you some basic tools and resources to help you find your feet a little more easily
This should be one of the very first thing you do. It will get you valuable skills you will be needing to perform many tasks later on, and is a very simple process.
First, press F3 to bring up your mini-map. You will notice black dots on the map, with labels such as "UBody" and "SWorship". These dots represent Universities and Schools. There is at least one School and one University for each of the seven disciplines in each region.
So whats the difference between a School and a University? Simple. Universities teach for free any skills which have been researched there (a mass community effort). Schools have set skills that can only be learnt by paying them a fee in resources.
As the name of this section suggests, you are interested in the Universities.
At this point, I recommend travelling to Karnak using the Chariot system. Some of ATITD's more hardcore players live there, and tend to be on the cutting edge of available technology. They'll likely have a much larger range of skills available.
When you get to a University, select "Learn" from the building. You will then see a list of skills offered by that University. Simply click on each skill to learn it.
On the main University menu, you will also likely see a "Tests" option. Each University offers a series of tests in its own discipline that can be performed for various bonuses. At this stage, only a handful of basic principles will be available to you (Note: Some principles are only available from schools). You will be presented with the list of things you need to do in order to complete the principle of the discipline. Finishing the list gains you a level, a warm fluffy feeling of accomplishment, and a taste of the nature of that discipline.
When you have learnt all the skills available, head back to the Caldera and really get to know your way around. You should have an idea of where you want to start with a couple of principles, and you should talk to your mentor about how to progress from here!