Combat 101

Setting Up and Running Combat

So you want to run some combat. Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Starting Combat

The first thing you'll need to do is decide who is going to start the combat, and what sort of combat it will be. Mock combat is for spars, holo-sim sessions, tournament melees, OOC tests, and any other time the characters involved aren't actually trying to hurt one another. Real combat is for battles, skirmishes, duels, and any time when the characters are trying to do actual injury to one another. Code-wise, the difference is that all damage from a Mock combat is wiped away when your character leaves the combat.

Only one person has to start the combat.

+combat/start mock
+combat/start real

Step 2: Joining Combat

Everyone else involved in the combat will have to join the combat at this point, and if the person who started the combat intends to fight, they will have to leave the combat and join again themselves. The reason is that there are two types of participants — observers and soldiers — and the person who starts the combat is automatically joined as an observer. A character may only join one combat at a time.

You will need to know the combat number to join it. You can get that number by checking the overall list of combats currently running on the game.

+combat/all
+combat/leave
+combat/join #<number>/soldier
+combat/join #<number>/observer

Step 3: Setting Weapons and Armor

Everyone is automatically set with a Sword when joining combat as a soldier. Any player who wants their character to use another weapon should check our weapon list and the individual entries for each weapon to decide which one they want their character to use.

+gear/weapons
+gear/weapon <weapon name>

Once they have decided on their weapon, they will need to set it in the code. Please keep in mind that two-handed weapons cannot be used with a Shielded stance and many particularly heavy weapons cannot be used in a Mounted stance (we'll get into stances later). Weapons with an ammo clip have to be reloaded for a round after they have run through all of their ammo.

+combat/weapon <weapon name>

Each character will also need to be set with armor as appropriate. Just like weapons, there is an overall list and detailed entries for each type of armor.

+gear/armor
+gear/armor <armor name>

Please note the various restrictions of stances, horse options, Awakened use, and Stealth modifiers for each type of armor. Each knight character may have one set of heavy armor (Aggressor Armor or Defender Armor ), or a set of medium armor (Combat Armor or Protector Armor) and a set of light armor (Light Combat Armor or Scout Armor). Nobles who are trained combatants (Marines, soldiers, commanders, Naval officers) often have a set of Defender Armor, while nobles who are less expected to see combat are likely to have Protector Armor or Light Combat Armor. Men-at-arms and archers tend to wear Combat Armor and Light Combat Armor respectively, while Arborenin rangers usually wear Scout Armor and light cavalry wear Light Combat Armor. All characters have access to a Skinsuit if they would rather wear that than their usual armor.

Whichever type(s) of armor you select for your character will stick with your character throughout their lifetime, unless they make the IC arrangements to get a new suit of armor made for them (which should involve a +request at some point, given the demand placed upon armorsmiths during wartime). Once you have chosen your character's armor, set it up in the combat system.

+combat/armor <armor name>

Step 4: Add NPCs

Any command that can be used for a PC can be used for one of the numbered Hostiles or Knights (although the numbered knights should only be used during tournament melees — during an actual fight, any NPCs should use the Knight or Man-at-arms NPCs without numbers). The combat organizer will probably want to set the enemies on Team 2, and friendlies on Team 1 just to make things easier (PCs are automatically added to Team 1, including Hostiles and Knights with full +sheets).

+combat/join Hostile1=#<number>/soldier
+combat/weapon Hostile1=Launcher
+combat/armor Hostile1=Scout Armor
+combat/team Hostile1=2

Step 5: Choose Stances

Everyone enters the combat in Normal stance. If your character has access to a hard light or Psychometric shield through armor or abilities, you may use the Shielded, Def_Shield, or Agg_Shield stances. If your character is riding, you may use the Mounted or Mount_Shield stances (as well as the appropriate Aggressive and Defensive stances). Only those with the Riding skill should use the Mounted stance in combat. If they do not have the skill, they should +roll Riding every time they try to attack or defend while Mounted — Failure means that the character has fallen from their mount. Any character (except someone wearing Super Heavy Armor) may use the Aggressive or Defensive stances. Reserve stance is used for those who are neither Aggressive nor Defensive, and are behind the lines, out of range of melee. It usually takes a turn of passing (not attacking anyone) to reach someone in Reserve stance. Out of Sight stance is used for those entirely hidden from view — they may neither attack nor be attacked. The effects of those stances can be seen in the collapsible on The System page.

+combat/stance Aggressive
+combat/stance Normal

Step 6: Choose your actions

At the beginning of combat, and any time you switch weapons, use a non-attack action, are KOed, or your target is KOed, you will have to choose a new target.

By default, all attacks are aimed at the chest (although they may hit elsewhere), but a character can aim for another body part to avoid armor or attempt to strike a Vital target (or just to fit the RP) by calling their shot. This gives a slightly greater chance to miss, but sets the attack's aiming point as the chosen location.

+combat/attack <name>
+combat/attack <name>/called=<location>

In addition to attacking, you can reload an empty weapon; attempt to rally a KOed teammate (giving them another Brawn + Brawn roll to recover); spend a turn aiming at a target to increase your chances to hit; treat a recently-wounded ally (attempting to remove the damage mod from one of their wounds — only the ones taken in the last RL hour can be treated), or pass to close the range with a distant target, gain range from an attacker, or finish off a downed foe.

+combat/reload
+combat/rally <name>
+combat/aim <name>
+combat/treat <name>/<woundnumber>
+combat/pass

Step 7: Roll a Turn

The person running the combat can roll a new turn at any time, but it is good to give a minute or two of warning so that people can make last-minute changes to their stances and actions. The first new turn in any combat will set random targets to any NPCs (Knight or Man-at-arms, not numbered Knights or Hostiles) — you will have to start another new turn to actually roll the first round of combat.

+combat/newturn

At any time, any character in the combat can use +combat to see a general over-view of the state of the combat. Keep in mind that the colored Xs representing wound modifiers are not a precise measuring tool — a character can be KOed from a Light wound, or go well beyond the total number of Xs shown. For more detailed information you can check their combat settings or damage.

+combat
+combat <name>
+damage <name>

Step 8: Repeat 5-7

You can use Luck to add 3 dice to a single attack or defense, but perhaps the most powerful use of Luck is to instantly recover from a KO. You should still pose being knocked down, staggered, badly wounded, temporarily disarmed, or otherwise stymied, but by spending a Luck point, you can get back into the fight without having to make the Brawn + Brawn check that accompanies a rally attempt (and you don't have to have anyone rallying you).

+combat/luck <attack, defense, or initiative>
+combat/hero (to immediately recover after being KOed)

You can also see who has yet to pose in a given turn (numbered knights and hostiles will show up here even if the GM has posed, just ignore them).

+combat/slackers

Step 9: Close it Down

When you're done with the combat, each player can leave individually, but the organizer will still have to stop the combat as a whole.

+combat/leave
+combat/stop <number>

Healing happens every night at midnight Central Time, but only to characters who are not currently in a +combat. Your character will automatically make a Brawn + Brawn roll (and any character +healing you will make a Medicine + Wit roll). Successes will shorten healing times. Only one character may heal a given character at a time and a given healer can only tend to a number of characters equal to half of their Medicine skill.

+heal <name>
+stopheal <name>
+healing

GM's Guide to Using Hostiles

We've included a large number of Hostile +sheets to the game, allowing players to run skirmishes against the Hostiles at their leisure. Before using Hostiles, we suggest reading through some of the STAFF-run combat events to get a feel for what weapons they use and how they act. Some examples are First Clash and Annihilation on Primus. As you get into your Hostile scene, here are a few important points to keep in mind:

Use the guidelines on the +sheets
Each of the +sheeted Hostiles lists their type, as well as the armor and weapons that they use in combat. These have been chosen to fit the Hostile theme, as well as to aid in balancing encounters — a single Hostile Soldier (Hostile2, 20-29, and 200-209) is approximately a match for a PC Havenite Knight, a Hostile Scout (Hostile1 and 10-19) needs about 3:2 odds against Havenite Knights (unless fighting from ambush, in which case they can do better), a Hostile Elite (Hostile3 and 30-34) can take on even the most specialized Havenite Knight one-on-one or take on multiple lesser foes, and a Hostile Priest (Hostile4 and 40-44) is a suitable combatant for a highly-skilled PC archer or Awakened.

Remember technology differences
The Hostiles do not have yet have access to Hard Light shields (and do not use metal ones), so they cannot use the Shielded stances. They do not have cavalry, so they cannot use the Mounted stances. In fact, Hostiles rarely use any stance but Normal, using Defensive or Aggressive only when pressed by superior numbers, pressing an advantage, or driven by some rare emotion. Their ranged weapons consist of Launchers, Crossbow-analogues, and High Frequency Pulses (Priests only), and they don't use Bows or Psychometry.

Hostiles rarely speak Anglic
Although sometimes a Hostile will make a comment or two during a fight, they don't engage in bantering contests, with a few rare exceptions. They don't use chants in Anglic to psych themselves up, and they mostly speak to one another via comms in their own coded language. Of course, if there's a particularly dramatic moment to have a particularly menacing Hostile speak a few words in Anglic, go for it, but keep it simple and to the point, without slang. Elites are the most likely to speak, but even they aren't known for being chatty.

Don't be afraid to adjust balance during the scene
Unless your combatants are fighting in an enclosed area, you can always have further Hostiles join the fight from somewhere out of sight, or have some of the Hostiles move off to attack other targets. This is especially easy if the +combat is part of a larger fight, when it's easy for Hostiles to move between the larger battle and the +combat. This can be useful if you misjudge the difficulty of the encounter or if the dice are simply rolling hot or cold for one side or another. Alternatively, you can let the dice fall as they may, and allow the PCs an easy win or force them to retreat in failure.

Have some fun with ambushes
If you have some stealthy characters, or stealthy enemies, or both, feel free to have one side or the other make a single round of attacks with the other side all passing. If the ambush was particularly good, you can even have the attackers set Aggressive stance for a turn, since they won't be getting any counter-attacks that turn. If the ambush was amazing, you can even set the 'defenders' to Aggressive stance, to give them penalties to their defenses for a round (and of course still not allowing them to attack for the first round).

Control the flow of movement
It can be useful to determine who can attack who by using the Teams feature of +combat. One way to do it is to set Team1 as the PC starting point, Team2 as the nearest Hostile forces, Team3 as further Hostiles, and so on. Then infantry can move to an adjacent Team by Passing for a turn, ranged combatants can attack adjacent Teams or their current one, and cavalry can move to an adjacent Team without missing an attack. This allows for some tactics as to which forces are engaged, and how they are engaged. It will also allow the GM to provide more targets for the PCs, but control how the Hostiles are able to gang up on them.

House Rules

While the combat system will allow many nonsensical things to be done codely, here a few rules that STAFF uses in their scenes and which we strongly suggest all GMs use in their own:

  • You cannot +combat/treat a dismounted character while mounted, or vice versa.
  • A character being +combat/treat-ed must Pass their action for the turn — you can't do first aid on someone who is currently trying to hit someone else.
  • If a character is KOed by a Hostile or multiple Hostiles, and the Hostile(s) is not engaged by someone else, the Hostile(s) may Pass its action and finish the KOed character off in the next round.
  • You cannot +combat/aim if you are not in range of your weapon. If you want to aim with a melee weapon, you have to wait until you're actually in melee range, if you want to aim with a ranged weapon, you have to be within bowshot of your target.
  • Remounting after being knocked off your horse requires both a Success on an Animal Handling test and on a Riding test, although both can be made during the same turn of Passing.
  • Switching to a bow or crossbow from another weapon requires Passing a turn. Switching to Psychometry does not require an action to Pass unless the character was using a shield the previous turn. Switching to a Hand Crossbow (or a Launcher or HFP in the case of Hostiles) does not require Passing. Switching to a melee weapon from a bow, crossbow, or lance requires Passing a turn unless the previous weapon is simply dropped or left where it is. This represents the time it takes to sheathe one weapon and ready another. Hard Light shields may be turned on and off without passing.
  • +combat/subdue is not available. It's simply too easy to take someone out of the fight this way.

The seven points above are not hard and fast rules (except the last one), so if you don't want to use one in a scene you're running, just don't use it.

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