Learning symta

I'm trying to learn symta by reading the WCII implementation but the syntax is nonsensical and unintuitive.

Try reading

doEffect U
 = A:U.with = T:A.dst = D:Units,T = N:A.effect
 = {N |a D,targetable?
     = E:U.damage
     = N,<\hit = !E+A.damage = {U.effects.bloodlust,pos? = !E*2}
         ;[\heal X] = !N:\hit
                    = {MC:A.uCost.mana
                         = S:X,sign = V:X*S = H:{S≤0=D.hp-D.hits; D.hits}
                         = X:(H+V-1)%V = C: min U.mana+MC MC*X = V:(C+MC)%MC*V*S
                         = !U.mana+(MC-C) = !E:[0 ~V-1]
                      ;√ = !E:[0 ~X-1]}
         ;[A B] = !N:A = !E:B>
     = M: u A dst:D.id src:U.id qualia:N effect:E ttl:A.cycles
     = S:{A.shards;1} = MS:16M.size = DC:D,centerDisp = WH:A.area = O:A.offset
     = rng S | e <I = Dst:{WH = WH|m:X randRng ~X X | 32?+DC
                          ;√ = DC}
                    = Src:O,<n = U,centerDisp
                            ;\circle = X:I*2PI/S = !M.angle:X = angled D 32 X
                            ;O = Dst+O>
                    = spawnMissile M U.owner Src-MS Dst-MS Sound:I≤1 Delay:S,rand>}
 = U

without a syntax highlighting and making sense of it.

Also, am I to understand that symta files cannot be ASCII encoded because of a couple of Unicode characters Nikita wanted to use in the language?
This is the most troubling thing about symta