Command Line Tools

[ShortCircuit]

Up until now I've been using Xilinx ISE and would like to start using the command line tools instead of the ISE front end. The ISE really doesn't feel very well integrated, and appears to be trying to bring a bunch of isolated tools together.

Can anyone tell me which tools I will need to be running?
Also I would appreciate what people's opinions are on the effectiveness of using the command line tools?
Are they relatively easy to use outside of the ISE?

Thanks,
Jason