For you console players

[moocowmoocow]

Do you watch mostly the map window or the text below? How do you decide if a ) ( or [ is worth examining if not constantly reading the text?

What font and size settings do you guys prefer?

I'm trying to transition from tiles to console for the speed but I get such a headache trying to mentally translate symbols into their various objects. I miss being able to tell at a glance if an item is a falchion or greatsword, chainmail or platemail etc. Also having the healthbars in the map... my eyes would rest on the map most of the time with just occasional glances at stats and minimap. With console my eyes are going map, text box, monster list, map, and I get fatigued. Halp?

[jejorda2]

I like DejaVu Sans Mono at 20 points.

I can't tell the tile for a great sword from a kobold or a scroll, but at least in console I can tell a weapon from an enemy.

I read the text to find what is what, and at the end of most levels I search for my weapon type and armour in case I missed something. But with autotravel set to explore instantly, I just read the message to find out what was important enough to stop autotravel and go from there.

[Blyxx]

I use different fonts on different comps, this one I seem to have set to Courier New, 10 point (my crawl window takes up about 3/4 of the screen from top to bottom and from left to right on a widescreen monitor, 1366x1068 screen res).

I transitioned to console from tiles because I wanted to play online at work (they used putty as an interface for the inventory system at that job), plus at the time webtiles was just an April Fool's joke the devs did (they really did! http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/tiles-server ). To get used to it, I played very slowly, and examined everything with "x" and "v" that I had trouble absorbing from the map.

Nowadays I do like jejorda2 said, keep an eye on the text during autoexplore so I know what things are stopping me, and scan it when it auto-pickups too so I have an idea of what potions and scrolls I'm picking up. I still play really slowly I think compared to a lot of people, I guess I'm a Cheibriados follower in real-life, though I've never found following Chei particularly fun in-game...

[dpeg]

I use Ctrl-X quite often: when there are several items around, it is faster and a more convenient display than x.

[Dingbat]

Lucida Console, size 17. I tend to focus mainly on the window and the stats, only glancing at the messages if I pass by a unique or a randart or something.

Use Ctrl-V to view the health status of each enemy.

[jejorda2]

Use Ctrl-V to view the health status of each enemy.

How long has that been in? It's crazy how easy it is to miss something little like that for years.