Official Spiral Knights Chat/trade Topic! - Topic

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Jul 24 2011 11:35am

Welcome to my official guide for new players on Spiral Knights.
I've written this guide to help all the new players understand about the game to create the best gaming experience possible!

Creating your Knight!

After you've created an account and installed Spiral Knights, you need to create a knight before you start playing. You can choose your knight's beginning helmet and armor, as well as the design color of your gear and your personal color. Your design color will be used as the base color in helmets and armor that you wear, depending on the design of the gear. Your personal color will be the highlight color on your helmet and armor, and it will also be the color of your name in game. Once you've created your knight and start playing, you will be able to buy and craft new gear to wear, but your design color and personal color cannot be changed.

You must also choose a single-word name which follows these guidelines:

- Names can only be 18 characters long and can have no more than 2 consecutive letters (e.g. Moo, but not Moooooo).
- You can have up to two dashes in your name, but there needs to be a minimum of two characters between dashes. Each new word is automatically shown with a capital letter. (e.g. Knight-Of-Purple)
- When you click on the "Confirm" button to create your knight, if the name you tried is already in use by another player, you will get a message saying "Sorry, that name is already in use." and you will need to try another name.

Basic Controls

You should find yourself equipped with a standard issue Proto Gun and Proto Sword. There is always the possibility that you will come across hostile creatures, so familiarize yourself with their use. You may need to switch between weapons on the fly in order to effectively neutralize different threats!

Move - Hold the Left Mouse Button down to move. Your character will always follow the mouse cursor. You can also maneuver around using the WASD keys of your keyboard.

Attack - Click the Right Mouse Button or the Z key to attack with your currently equipped weapon. Some weapons will allow you to combo several attacks together if you click continually. In addition, most weapons eventually gain the ability to perform a Charge Attack by holding down the Right Mouse Button and releasing it once your character appears fully charged.

Switch Weapon - You can switch between your currently equipped weapon using the Mouse Wheel or the Spacebar. Your character can equip 2 weapons, with the option to purchase 2 weapon upgrades, for a total of 4.

Advanced Controls

All recruits are also issued a Proto Shield for their protection. Do not forget about it! It just may save your life if you are attacked by the local wildlife.

Defend - Press and hold the X key to protect yourself with your currently equipped shield. The shield will defend a 360° area around you, but will temporarily break if it absorbs too much damage. Pay attention to the colored circle around your character while defending: if it starts to turn red, be careful!

Chat- Press Enter to open up the chat interface, and then press Enter again to submit a message to all other nearby characters.

Strafe- Hold the C key to keep your character facing in his current direction, even if while moving about. This is useful if you are facing a group of enemies and would like to attack them with a ranged weapon while dodging.

Disable Auto Aim - Your training will help your ranged attack fire focus in on nearby threats, but you can ignore this aiming assistance by holding the Shift key. You may find this useful if you are attempting to shoot a stationary object, like a block.

The Game Window

The game window consists of a few different parts. Most of the window is taken up by the world view. Here you can see your knight walking around (use your left mouse button to move or the WASD keys), or other information such as your knight information, arsenal, mail, etc.

The top left corner of the screen is the icons for settings, social, mail and help.

The top right corner of the screen is the minimap. This provides access to your character, arsenal and crowns.

The bottom right corner of the screen shows your energy.

The bottom left corner of the screen displays your chat. Type ENTER or / to initiate chat.

Rescue Camp

All new knights begin at The Crash Site. This will give you basic instruction in the game controls. Proceed through this area to find the Rescue Camp. Here you will be able to interact with other players, play the tutorial gate, and learn more about Cradle. The Training Gate (Abandoned Depot) elevator costs 5 energy. Once you are ready, proceed to the final gate (The Final Test) and cross the chasm to Haven. You will not be able to return to the Rescue Camp, but there are more adventures and items available in Haven.

Haven

Haven is the headquarters for the Spiral Knights while they are exploring Cradle.

- The Town Square has an alchemy machine and a variety of Strangers to talk to.
- The Bazaar has a variety of Strangers selling equipment, an alchemy machine, a Spiral Quartermaster selling recipes for crafting, and a Token Trader taking tokens for materials.
- The Arcade is the location of the gates that knights use to enter and explore the Clockworks.

The Clockworks

The Clockworks consist of many levels grouped into three tiers that are divided by two subtowns, Moorcroft Manor and Emberlight. Knights can enter a gate and explore the levels with a party of 1 to 4 knights.

It costs 10 energy to use an elevator to go down a level. Taking the elevator to the Clockworks Terminals or a subtown does not have an energy cost. While exploring the Clockworks, knights will find crowns, materials and heat.

The entrance to each subtown is guarded by the Spiral Warden. To proceed to the next tier requires a certain star level of equipment as well as experience in the previous tier. You can check your progress toward gaining access to the next tier through the P key and choosing the progress tab, or speaking to the Spiral Warden.

Energy

Energy is a special power source that is constantly emanating from the core of the world. This energy can be used for a variety of things: to power elevators in the Clockworks, in crafting, to buy upgrades for your knight, and to activate devices found in the world

Mist Energy

Due to the intense power source at Cradle's core, the entire planet's atmosphere is imbued with loose, airborne mist energy. Each knight's armor has a reserve tank which will automatically distill mist energy from the air, but can only store 100 units at any one time. If you run out of mist energy, you can either take a break from exploration and allow your tank to slowly refill themselves, or you can obtain some more stable crystal energy. A unit of mist energy recharges in approximately 13.2 minutes; it takes 22 hours to recover a full 100 mist energy.

When first starting the game, your knight may be rewarded with a Mist Tank for completing certain tasks. After accepting the Mist Tank, it may be "activated" from your arsenal. Mist Tanks will not allow a knight to have more than 100 mist energy.

Crystal Energy

Crystal energy is a form of energy that can be stored permanently, and in greater quantities than the 100 units of mist energy a knight's armor can hold. Crystal energy is purchased with U.S. dollars from Three Rings, or with crowns from other Spiral Knights players via the Energy Depot. To purchase crystal energy, simply click on your energy meter, or visit a Stranger who sells energy. Crystal energy can be traded between players.

I hope this guide helps all the new users, who are a little confused, even people who like the look of the game and wish to start!