From FiranMUX

This page includes all the text of the "Combat" Advanced Firan Survival Guide tutorial. It's on one page for ease of searching, reading, or printing.

Contents 1 Combat Introduction 1.1 Introduction to Combat 1.2 Online help files to read 1.3 Situations where you fight 1.3.1 Training Center 1.3.2 Battle Royales 1.3.3 War Season 1.3.4 Hunting 2 Combat Styles 2.1 Styles Key 3 Melee Fighting 3.1 Wield 3.2 Engage 3.3 Attack 3.4 Disengage 3.5 Unwield 3.6 Capture 3.7 Tactics and Tricks 4 Ranged Fighting 4.1 Aim 4.2 Unaim 4.3 Shoot 4.4 Throw 4.5 Reload 4.6 Hiding and Ranged Fighting 5 Timers 6 Weapon Stats 7 Damage

WARNING! The information contained here is based on the state of the game as of this writing. Since FiranMUX is an evolving game the combat system is, as with everything, subject to change. Currently in the works are version 3.0 of the combat system[1] which will pretty much change everything written here. There is no ETA for when this will be complete. Also, opinions on strategy and tactics are my own, and I have less combat experience than some others on the game, so take anything aside from the bare mechanics with a grain of salt.

You really don't need to know these details to fight. These are advanced details for people who want to understand the combat system, though soldiers in particular are advised to learn these advanced topics. All you strictly need to know is what's in help combat in a hurry. You can pick and choose to read up on topics of interest below for some advanced tactics, or an idea of how the mechanics work. Incidentally, pretty much all this information can be ferreted out from the dozens and dozens of help files on the game, except for my entirely subjective opinions found in some of the sections.

On the subject of code mechanics, rolls are done according to a modification of the original White Wolf dice rules. You can read more about the dice system elsewhere on this site.

Combat Introduction	Some general information about the combat system on Firan.
Combat Styles	Different stances for fighting, and what they mean.
Melee Fighting	Information specific to melee (swords, spears, etc.) fighting.
Ranged Fighting	Information specific to ranged (bows, javelins, etc.) fighting.
Timers	How to determine the speed at which you can fight.
Weapon Stats	An explanation of what the various weapon stats actually mean.
Damage	A detailed explanation of all that affects damage in combat.

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Combat Introduction

Introduction to Combat

The combat system is fully coded and operates in real time. Instead of being strictly turn-based timers are used in between combat actions. Just as some characters may be stronger than others, some characters may be faster than others, or better skilled than others. Time between actions should be spent in posing. Even a very short one-line pose is better than no pose at all, and people are understanding about the harried nature of posing during combat.

There are no such things as called shots -- hit locations are randomly decided. There is also only a very limited concept of distance or range within a room, so that any character is considered to be within range if visible. The exceptions are that those flying on griffons cannot be engaged by someone standing on the ground, for obvious reasons, and the limited 'faking' of distance inherent in the archery combat styles.

You need energy to fight, in the form of EPs. If you run out of EPs you will either need to stop fighting, or use the adrenalin command to attempt to convert ERPs into EPs. The only action you can take without EPs is to use the disengage command to try to extricate yourself from the current combat situation. As you fight you suffer damage. Though the damage will not affect your combat ability via the code, once you take enough of it you will pass out and may even die. Be careful out there.

If you're going to be fighting you'll want to see the coded results of combat as it happens. You can turn the combat toggles on through use of the @toggle combatstatus on (this will show you your damage levels after being hit) and @toggle combatstats on (this will show you dice rolls as you attack) commands.

Generally speaking combat actions involve an aggressor and a defender. The aggressor rolls a certain number of dice, and the defender a certain number, and whoever has the most successes 'wins'. Greater margins of victory lead to greater results -- more damage dealt, less energy used, and so forth.

Finally, there's an on-game channel for the discussion of combat issues. Just use the addcom com=Combat command to join it if you have specific questions.

Online help files to read

The combat system may well be the most extensively documented system on the game. Pretty much everything you need to know, including the actual dice mechanics, is referenced in an online help file. These are listed below for the sake of reference. Really, though, the best way to learn the combat system is to read through the files for the theory, but then use the code for the practice.

combat in a hurry combat readiness combat wielding combat energy combat engagement combat attacking combat posing combat styles combat misc combat details weapon stats surrender

engage disengage wield unwield attack aim unaim shoot capture throw reload whip

@combat @sheet/damage combat skills combat weapons combat things combat system details combat armor style styles styles/details style mods spank

Situations where you fight

Fights can, in theory, break out anywhere at anytime, though they usually don't (with the exception of an occasional unarmed fist fight, for which you can see news brawling). Common activities or places to fight also include the following:

Training Center

The training center (located in the Palace District at the Army Post, which is at @coord 3.1) is for combat training. It is open to all citizens. Fights in the training center are considered to be IC, though you may at times find people OOCly discussing the code mechanics in there. Those in the Old City have access to other places to train.

As fights inside the training center are for training purposes only, deaths do not occur. If your character 'dies' (as determined by the code) in the training center, you will receive a permanent injury, or perm. The standard rule of taking a permanent injury at 60+ points of damage is not in effect within the training center. If you fall unconscious you can wake up immediately with the revive me command, though if your character dies, you'll need to ask a wizard to revive you. To reset your damage to 0 simply leave the training center and enter again. The IC explanation of how all this is possible is somewhat vague but centers around training techniques, use of non-lethal blunted weapons, availability of healers, and the wizards being nice in providing a place to practice without risking death or months recovering from injuries.

Battle Royales

Battle royales are held during all of the festivals and at other times throughout the year. These are mass battles, usually 'every man for himself' events but sometimes with teams, where any sort of melee weapon can be used. The last man standing wins. Usually these are chaotic affairs with a lot of actions taking place at one, so they can be a bit overwhelming your first time around. There are different rules in place that are explained before the start of these events. As far as death and injury go, the same rules apply as with the training center: a death via the code will result in a permanent injury, but otherwise, all damage will be healed at the end of the event and no coded damage will be sustained. Again, this isn't possible through 'super healing' but through the assumed use of blunted weapons designed for competition.

War Season

War is continual between the Firans and the shamibelians, but every IC summer seasonal reinforcements journey to the warfields west of Ellish for the summertime war season. Some of these war seasons are RPed. When this happens military members, both regular and seasonal, deploy to the forts west of Ellish and spend, typically, about two RL weeks there. This is real fighting. Your character can die. Military protocol should be observed or else you risk the consequences. In general if you are in the military you will receive a lot of information about the war season before it actually happens.

Hunting

Hunting involves venturing out into the lands around Anarinuell, finding cute furry animals, and killing them. Animals can be found by those with the hunting/trapping skill via the find command, or they may already be in a room. They are actual objects in the game environment. They do not, however, attack without provocation (though using the find command counts as provocation), so don't panic if you walk into a room with 10 bears. Assume they're elsewhere in the great expanse of terrain and you can safely avoid them.

Hunting does not involve the use of timers. Because of this, the accurate style is a good choice when hunting. Every time you attack an animal, it will attack back, without the need of an engagement roll. (The exception to this are birds, which can only be attacked with a ranged weapon and do not fight back.) Some animals, like rabbits, don't hurt at all. Others, like bears, can be quite deadly. Animals can strike any random body part, which leads to bits of amusements where oppossums spring into the air to attack someone's left eyelid. Even if you attack at range with a bow, the animal will fight back. Note also that if you're wielding a bow as you attack, under the current system your combat/staves skill (if any) will be used to counter as a defense.

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Combat Styles

Combat styles apply modifiers to your various dice pools (attack, defense, engagement, etc.), combat timers, and archery difficulties. They are used to simulate different strategies in fighting. To see what style you are currently in use the style command. To see an overview of all available styles, use the styles command. To find out modifier information on the different styles, use the combat/styles (with help combat/styles explaining the key) or see the table below. (For a description of the modifiers on the top row (ES, ER, etc.) refer to the styles modifications key at the bottom of the page).

Style

ES

ER

EE

DS

DR

DE

AS

AT

DF

DM

TS

TR

TD

SS

SR

SD

Accurate	-2	+1	+0	-2	+1	-1	-4	+3	+2	+2	-4	+2	+0	-4	+2	+0
Aggressive	+1	+1	-1	-2	-2	+1	+1	+2	-2	+1	+1	+2	-1	+1	+2	-1
Archlong	-5	-5	+4	+0	+2	-3	-4	-3	+3	-2	+0	-2	+2	+0	-2	+2
Archmid	-1	-2	+2	+0	+1	-3	+0	-2	+1	+0	+0	+0	+1	+0	+0	+1
Archshort	-1	+0	-2	+0	-1	-2	+0	-1	-3	+1	+1	+1	-2	+1	+1	-2
Berserk	+2	+2	-2	-5	-2	+2	+3	-1	-6	+5	+3	-1	-1	+3	-1	-1
Defensive	-1	-1	+1	+1	+2	-1	-1	-2	+2	+0	-1	-2	+0	-1	-2	+0
Lightning	+2	-2	+0	+1	-2	+2	+4	-1	-1	-2	+4	-2	-0	+4	-2	-0
None	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0
Passive	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20	-20
Turtle	-2	-2	+2	+2	+3	-2	-9	-9	+6	-2	-9	-9	+1	-9	-9	+1
Zero	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0

TABLE 1: Combat Style Modifiers

Which style to use in a particular situation depends on a number of factors, such as your own combat statistics, the skill and strengths of your opponent, how injured you are, how reckless you feel, and so forth. If you're using a ranged weapon (a bow, throwing javelins, throwing knives), however, you need to be using one of the archery styles (prefaced by 'arch') or no style at all. Additionally, the archery styles cannot be used when wielding a melee weapon. Note, however, that it is still possible for someone to engage you in melee combat while you're wielding a ranged weapon and in an archery style. The training center is good for sampling different techniques against different opponents to judge their effectiveness. The following is my extremely subjective impression of the various styles:

• Accurate has the main drawback of being very slow. If speed isn't of the essense it's not a bad style because of the balance between offense and defense. Accurate style can be quite popular at war season, and it works exceptionally well if hunting animals with a melee weapon (where the drawback of speed doesn't really matter).

• Aggressive is another popular style in melee. It works really well if you're better than your opponent, as the defensive drawbacks won't matter quite as much. When in aggressive style you typically want to be the one who engages for the combat, as disengaging in aggressive can be difficult. Even better is engaging someone with a differing weapon length who is unable to fight back. Similarly, however, being engaged by someone with a different weapon length, when you're in aggressive style, is always a thing to avoid.

• Archlong makes it a whole lot harder to be engaged in melee combat, as it represents standing at about the maximum distance for your ranged weapon. Once engaged, there are defensive benefits in avoiding attacks and getting away (though keep in mind that being engaged with a ranged weapon in hand has its own difficulties, especially bows). Don't try to melee attack if you're engaged in this style as you're at huge attack penalties. Really, the most worrisome thing about this style is that the negative dice to shoot/throw makes it less likely to hit, and more prone toward 'friendly fire' accidents. As this is a new combat style it isn't as well understood by me as some of the others.

• Archmid is a more balanced archery style. There's a bit of a benefit in avoiding melee engagements, since you're still at range, but not nearly as good as with archmid. I tend to favor this style simply because it's a middle ground, and if things don't work out, I can (hopefully) retreat and switch to archlong. Again, this is a new combat style so I'm not as familiar with it as others.

• Archshort is nothing to use if you think you might be engaged. You're easy to engage, easy to shoot, easy to damage once engaged, and hard to disengage. I avoid it unless I'm at war in "mop up" mode and the battle is mostly won, or if I'm truly feeling gutsy, or if the situation is very desperate. Again, this is a new combat style so I'm not as familiar with it as others.

• Berserk is a really good style -- unless you get hit, and then it's really awful. I tend to only use it if I'm truly acting in a berserk fashion. Hits landed can be brutal with the +5 damage, but your defenses are really horrid and it can all be over in a flash.

• Defensive makes hitting people really hard, but keeps you from getting pummeled. It's not a bad tactic at all if you have little hope of hurting your target and are biding your time until you can escape, or just killing time in a battle royale waiting for other more skilled people to make their attacks (though hopefully not against you!). At war, if you're one of those 'picked on soldiers' or especially hurt, going to defensive style can give you a little breathing room, but still allow you to cause some damage to your opponent.

• Lightning I hardly ever use. Maybe it's useful. The decreased damage can really hurt if you don't normally deal out much damage in the first place, and your defenses are a little open. It might be good if you're skilled and powerful, and fighting some pesky fast person, maybe. I've also seen people use it in brawls. This is all just theory, though, since I never really use it.

• None or Zero is what I use when nothing seems to work. Or, I might use it if I want to go slightly defensive, but not fully defensive, and don't want the speed hits of accurate style. Or sometimes, if I just can't pick a style, I go to no style.

• Passive is a style I recommend rarely going into voluntarily, even if you're acting passively. You're completely at the mercy of others with no dice to roll for defensive purposes. In theory even if you're passive you're likely to twitch if someone starts lopping at your head with an axe. This is, however, the style you go into when you're immobilized (captured or stocked, for example) or unconscious.

• Turtle is really, really defensive but you're not going to hit anyone. It's your classic duck and cover. I use this when overwhelmed and waiting for reinforcements, or when cowering under a table or something. You can't use it in battle royales, and typically only the commanding general can use it on the battlefields (where it represents the protection of subordinates).

Styles Key

Abbreviation

Full Name

What it does

ES	Engage Speed	Modification to time to wait before engaging
ER	Engager Roll	Bonus to your roll when engaging someone
EE	Engagee Roll	Bonus to your roll when someone tries to engage you
DS	Disengage Speed	Modification to time to wait before disengaging
DR	Disengager Roll	Bonus to your roll when disengaging someone
DE	Disengagee Roll	Bonus to your roll when someone tries to disengage you
AS	Attack Speed	Modification to time to wait before attacking
AT	Attack Roll	Bonus to your roll when attacking someone
DF	Defense Roll	Bonus to your roll when someone tries to attack you
DM	Damage Dice	Bonus to the weapon damage score
TS	Throw Speed	Modification to time to wait before throwing
TR	Thrower Roll	Bonus to your roll when throwing at someone
TD	Throwee Roll	Bonus to your roll when someone tries to throw at you
SS	Shoot Speed	Modification to time to wait before shooting
SR	Shooter Roll	Bonus to your roll when shooting at someone
SD	Shootee Roll	Bonus to your roll when someone tries to shoot at you

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Melee Fighting

Melee fighting is anything that's not a ranged weapon: brawling, swords, daggers, clubs, and so forth. See help combat in a hurry for a quick overview of the steps involved in melee combat. Typical you need to wield a weapon if you're using one, engage or be engaged by someone, and attack. There are, of course, a number of subtleties that can improve your odds of winning if you understand them and employ the proper tactics.

Wield

You can only yield one weapon at a time, and if you're not wielding anything, you're using your fists. You can only wield something if you're not engaged at the moment. There's no combat check required, you simply need to be holding the weapon. You can see what (if anything) a person is wielding by looking at them. And that's all there is to it.

Engage

Before you can attack a person in melee you need to either engage them, or have them engage you. The person who engages has the advantage in combat. This is for two reasons:

1. Whoever engages has the luxury of disengaging whenever they like, without having to wait on combat timers and without having to make a roll.
2. If weapons of mismatched lengths are being used (i.e., one person has a dagger while another has a sword) only the person who originally engaged will be able to attack. The other person can only disengage or get hit.

You can only engage one person at a time. However, you may be engaged by multiple people at once, and it may be that you have multiple opponents you can attack because of this.

When you engage somewhere you'll see a combat message. In the case of unequal length weapons it will look something like this:

COMBAT: Unsel gets into a position to attack Inarus.

If the weapons were of equal lengths, the message would look like:

COMBAT: Unsel gets into a position to attack Inarus. Inarus may attack also.

Engaging a person uses the combat timers. When you engage someone, their own combat timers reset. There is also a roll required. Engagement timers are affected by reflex and intuition, along with any combat style chosen. The details of the engagement roll can be found in help details engage. In general, it's based on agility and/or reflex, size, your combat still with your wielded weapon, and any style modifiers. If you're the person being engaged you can substitute your dodge skill for your combat skill, if it's higher.

Attack

Attacks work off the combat timers, and require a dice roll to determine success. If you were the person who engaged your opponent, you are always allowed to attack. If you were the person engaged, you can only attack if you have a weapon of a similar length. If by some unfortunate chance you are engaged to multiple people and have a choice of targets you can choose who to attack by typing attack <player>.

Details on the stats involved in attack rolls can be found in help details attack. Attack timers are based off reflex and luck attributes. In general, attack rolls for the attacker are based off agility, a relevant combat skill, and a style modifier. Defense is typically based off reflex, the relevant combat skill of whatever you're wielding, and a style modifier. Note that the dodge skill is not used to avoid attacks. If the attacker has more successes they hit. How much damage they do is determined by a number of factors including number of successes, damage factor of the weapon, combat style of the attacker, muscle of the attacker, and luck of the dice.

Different weapons function in different ways, as outlined in the section on understanding weapons. Some hit quicker, and some hit harder. Some are likely to bruise, while others are likely to cut. On a successful attack damage will be computed, and if your opponent is armored some of it may be soaked up by the armor. See the section on armor and damage for information about this.

Disengage

If you're the person who engaged someone in combat you can disengage at any point, without a check. Otherwise, disengagement runs off the combat timers and is subject to a dice check. If you're engaged to multiple people you can select who to disengage by using the disengage <player> command. Otherwise the code picks at random. Disengaging is the only combat maneuver you can perform if you're out of EP.

Details on the stats involved in disengage rolls can be found in help details disengage. Disengage timers are based off reflex and attention attributes. In general, to disengage you roll a combination of reflex or agility, your combat skill, and a style modifier. The person who's being disengaged from counters by rolling similar stats. Whoever has the most successes wins. If you're the person disengaging, you can substitute your escape skill for your combat skill if it's higher.

Unwield

You can unwield a weapon at any point in time, even while engaged in combat, by using the unwield command. There's no timers involved. There's no checks involved. It's pretty straightforward. (Note that when you have no weapon wielded you use your combat/brawling skill and are now considered to be using short weapon length.)

Capture

By capturing a character, you completely subdue them and there is no further hope for escape (without wizard intervention, via a @911 call). A captured character cannot use combat commands, cannot move at will, and is utterly defenseless. It is assumed that they're restrained in some fashion to make escape impossible. It takes another character's use of the uncapture command to free a captured character.

Captures are very hard to do. The wrestling stat is involved, as is dodge and/or escape skills on the defender's part. The exact details aren't clear (as I think the code on the web site is old) but in general it seems to be a reasonably tough thing for most people to do. It's also relatively expensive in terms of EP, which makes repetitive attempts costly.

You can only capture another character when you are engaged to them.

Tactics and Tricks

As you utilize the combat code, and watch others fight, you can pick up on a number of tricks and tactics. I make no claims as to the utility of these tactics. I'm simply reporting what I've had luck with, and what I've seen others do.

1. One tactic centers around what skills to learn, an issue particularly of interest with new players with combat-oriented characters. Different weaons have different advantages. Knives, for example, can be very quick to use, but do less damage than swords. Some weapons cost more XP to learn than others. Some, like the staff, are better defensive weapons. Others, like the spear, are better offensive weapons but suffer defensive penalties. Some are better geared to different stat combinations. If really depends on your character's strengths and desires.As a matter of comparison, swords are very popular weapons to learn, followed by spears, especially amongst soldiers going to war and fighting with melee weapons. Staves are a very good defensive weapon and fast, but they aren't going to make anyone a powerhouse on the battlefield given their relatively small amounts of damage. Though some small number of infantry fighters use them, they are mostly favored by archers (who tend to avoid melee combat if possible, but also because they are the companion weapon skill used when engaged with a bow in hand). Daggers and knives are small and quick, but are seldom seen at war given their relatively small amount of damage and short length. Axes are another sometimes but rarely seen weapon; they do a tremendous amount of damage but are very slow and poor defensively. Brawling is good for boxing competitions and barroomm brawls, but relatively low in damage. Wrestling doesn't apply damage. Clubs are rarely used, and whips even less so, in actual combat situations.

2. Another stat-related issue concerns whether or not to learn secondary skills like dodge and escape. Dodge is mostly used in combat to avoid being engaged, and escape to disengage, but only if they're higher than your weapon skills. (Dodge and escape can both help you avoid being captured if you don't have the wrestling skill, and dodge also helps a little if someone is shooting arrows at you. Both may come into play in GMed scenes as well.)One argument says to concentrate on weapon skills and avoid these secondary skills, and just stick to your primary weapon. Another theory says to spend the XP on these skills as they're easier to learn than primary combat skills, and apply to a variety of different weapons. Yet another theory suggests skipping these skills and learning the brawl skill, as that's what is used when you're attacked without a weapon in hand and you can always unwield. Really, there's a number of pros and cons on either side, and different people decide different things.

3. Once you've decided what combat skills to focus on, there's still the choice of what exact weapon to use. For example, someone with the combat/sword skill could use either a long sword or a short sword. A long sword is slower but does more damage and is slightly easier to defend with. Some with the combat/knives skill could use either a dagger or a knife. A dagger is slightly slower but does slightly more damage and is easier to defend with. And so on.Finally, there are different types of metals, ranging from flint to bronze to iron. Iron does the most damage among weapons of the same type, but iron weapons are more expensive and a bit heavier. Flint weapons do the least amount of damage among weapons of the same type, but are slightly lighter.

4. Different weapon lengths can be used as a tactic. If you have a long length weapon, for example, and engage someone with a medium length weapon, they can't counterattack. If you can manage to keep them engaged and just keep attacking, mismatched weapon lengths can work to your advantage. On a similar note, sometimes it's more useful to match their weapon lengths. Some people switch weapons of different lengths during the course of combat to suit their needs. They may attack for a while with a spear (a long length weapon), then decide to use a long sword (a medium length weapons) for a while.

5. Characters that are fast to attack can use the combat timers to their advantage. One tactic involves engaging a slower character, attacking once, and then disengaging before they can hit back. If this can be repeated often enough it will wear away at an opponent. If you find yourself the victim of this tactic you should be sure to try to keep the other person engaged in combat to prevent its usage. Alternatively, you could switch to a faster style or weapon.

6. Sometimes you need to disengage in the course of combat, but your timers are too slow. For example, long swords in particular (though they hit hard) are very slow weapons. One tactic involved unwielding your weapon in order to make your combat timers faster. When you do this your defense goes off your brawl skill as you're unarmed, and you can't choose to wield a weapon until you successfully disengage. You may end up sacrificing defensive strengths in order to attempt to disengage faster.

7. This trick is used when someone with a medium or long length weapon is engaged by someone with a short length weapon, such as a knife. Normally you would have to disengage to attack your opponent. However, as brawling is considered short range, you can also unwield your weapon and start punching. This tactic likely works better for those with higher muscle attributes.

8. In group situations, such as in battle royales or in war, tag-teaming an opponent is very useful. In particular, engaging a person resets their combat timers. There's nothing more frustrating than to wait 80 or 90 seconds for the chance to attack some opponent, only to have a third person move in to engage you and start the waiting process all over.

9. There are, in general, a number of tactics related to timers and knowing when to do what. For example, assume you're slightly slower than your opponent. You trade blows for a while. Eventually you'll get to the point where he's going to get two attacks in a row in. Disengaging right before this point might not be a bad idea.

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Ranged Fighting

Ranged fighting includes both weapons that use the shoot command (including bows, slings, and ballistas) and anything that can be thrown -- which is pretty much anything that can be picked up. On FiranMUX there is only a limited concept of range so anything visible in the room is fair game to shoot or throw at. Be aware that these targets can also fight back, and potentially engage you in combat. (If you are engaged in combat while wielding a bow it will function like a staff in terms of stats usage.)

Aim

Once a ranged weapon or object to throw is wielded it needs to be aimed. This is done via the aim command. Combat timers are used but no roll is involved. Aim timers are based on a combatination of reflex and coordination. You can only aim at non-hidden targets in the same room as you.

Unaim

The unaim does not require a roll for success and does not use combat timers. With it, you stop aiming at your original target.

Shoot

The shoot command is used for firing a bow, sling, or ballista. You must have a ranged weapon wielded to use this command, and you must be aiming at a visible target (though not necessarily engaged to them). Additionally, the appropriate type of ammo must be loaded into the object. See the section on the reload command for information on how this is done. Damage done if you hit your intended target is similar to melee damage, except that instead of using damage statistics from the bow (sling, ballista, etc.) you use damage statistics from the ammo. In the case of bows, for example, iron arrows do more damage on average than flint arrows.

Shooting goes off combat timers. It generally does less damage compared to heavier weapons such as swords. Details on the stats involved in shooting weapons can be found in help combat system shoot.

The rolls involved with shooting are complicated. Shoot timers are based off reason and attention attributes. In general, shoot rolls for the attacker are based off coordination, a relevant combat skill, and a style modifier. The difficulty of this roll is variable, starting at a base difficulty of 7 for bows and slings, and 8 for ballistae. If your target isn't engaged in melee and is not immobilized, they can dodge. This involves either a perception or reflex roll on their part, at difficulty 8. The success results either raise or lower the shooter's difficulty on their roll. Finally, the difficulty is affected by any style modifiers or your target (i.e., targets in archlong style are harder to hit, while targets in aggressive style are easier to hit).

This brings up some of the major differences, codewise, between ranged attacks and melee attacks. In melee attacks, combat modifiers of the opponent affect dice pools; in ranged attacks, combat modifiers of the opponent affect difficulty. In general, changing the difficulty of a roll by 1 or 2 has a much, much more dramatic impact than changing the dice pool by one or two. Also, in melee the person being attacked gets a roll to defend with, where their successes subtract from the attacker's successes. This is not the case with archery. There is no engagement needed, and no counter roll save for the possible reflex/perception roll made by non-engaged opponents.

If you hit your target you cause damage. If you simply miss, the ammo disappears somewhere in the room and can be found later via the find command. If you fumble the roll badly enough, someone else in the room is hit. Because there is little concept of positioning known by the code every other person has an equally random chance of being hit and taking damage, regardless of RPed position and regardless of their combat style.

Throw

Anything on the game that can be picked up can be thrown, though some objects are easier to throw than others. Any object thrown can potentially cause damage, which is simply based off its weight if it's not a weapon. Though it's fairly embarrassing to be knocked unconscious by a thrown flower, it can (and has) happened You must have an object wielded to throw it, and you must be aiming at a visible target (though not necessarily engaged to them). There's no concept of true range on FiranMUX so you can throw something at anyone in the same room. Note that in some situations, such as wartime combat scenes, rules permit only certain items to be thrown. No lugging your favorite pantry out to the battlefield to throw at the enemy!

The dice system for throwing is very similar to the dice system for shooting, described in detail above. Throwing goes off combat timers, which are based off reason and attention attributes. In general, throw rolls for the attacker are based off coordination, a relevant combat skill (usually combat/thrown weapons, or combat/javelins in the case of javelins), and a style modifier. The base difficulty of the roll is based off the object's throwing balance. For weapons, this can be found via the @info command; look at the 'Throwing balance'. If the object isn't a weapon the difficulty is a base of 6. If your target isn't engaged in melee and is not immobilized, they can dodge. This involves either a perception or reflex roll on their part, at difficulty 8. The success results either raise or lower the shooter's difficulty on their roll. Finally, the difficulty is affected by any style modifiers.

If you hit your target you cause damage. In the case of a weapon this is computed in a manner similar to melee damage, basing the damage off the 'Thrown damage' of the weapon. If the object isn't a weapon necessarily the damage is based off its weight, with heavier objects causing more damage (which is a bit strange as they're not necessarily harder to throw). The object you threw will then end up being held by the person you threw it at. If you miss, the object you threw will be somewhere visible in the room. If you fumble, someone at random will be hit in a manner similar to the use of the shoot command.

Reload

One way to load ammo into a ranged weapon such as a bow is through the reload command. There are several forms of the command available that lets you specify which bow to reload and what type of arrow to load it with. If not specified, choices are made randomly. I've never had much luck with the reload command myself so tend not to use it, but others do.

Another way to load ammo is to simply hold it and use the put command to put it inside the object. You don't need to separate out one individual arrow to do this. If there are too many objects to put (for example, putting 12 arrows inside a bow) the code will remove one and leave the other objects in hand.

Hiding and Ranged Fighting

During war season archers that are not riding griffons tend to hide as much as they can while they shoot. You need the hiding skill to hide, and then use the hide command successfully. There are several different timers in place that keep you from hiding too often or too fast, ranging from a 15 second wait after usage of combat commands to a 60 second wait since you last unhid. While you are hidden you can reload your weapon, aim, and shoot. When you shoot, you nearly always come visible again -- at which point you must wait on the timers before you can re-hide. (The exception to coming visible occurs if you make a high difficulty roll to remain hidden, which is pretty rare.) While you are hiding you can't be engaged in combat or shot at. Note that it is possible to be spotted while hiding, which negates this advantage. See the search for command for more details on this.

In general, an archer who snipes from hiding will do a series of commands similar to this throughout the battle:

> put arrow in bow
> aim <target>
[Wait for hide timer]
> hide
> shoot <target>

Routine would be interrupted if you got engaged in combat. Typically an archer would want to disengage so they can hide again (after the hide timer wait), though you can involve yourself in melee combat if you like. This tactic can also be used to hide and throw things such as javelins.

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Timers

The following is a synopsis of how combat timers are affected by various attributes. Each attribute weights equally in your speed. Note that things like attacking in particular are affected by things such as weapon speed, and all timers are affected by combat styles.

Command

Attribute #1

Attribute #2

Wield	None	None
Engage	Reflex	Intuition
Attack	Reflex	Luck
Disengage	Reflex	Attention
Unwield	None	None
Capture	Reflex	Intuition
Aim	Reflex	Coordination
Shoot	Reason	Attention
Throw	Reason	Attention
Reload	None	None

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Weapon Stats

Different weapons have different attributes to them. Some, like daggers and knives, hit faster. Others, like swords and axes, hit harder. Some tend to leave bruises. Others tend to leave gashes and lacerations. Melee weapons have different lengths. Iron weapons tend to do more damage than flint, silver, or bronze weapons.

If you have skill in a particular class of weapons (this is the associated melee skill, so for arrows it would be combat/knives) you can learn about the stats of the weapon through use of the @info command. Also, those with the appraisal/weapons skill at any level can see combat info for any and all weapons. Information at the bottom of the description will reveal statistics about the weapon in question. Note that for ranged weapons, like a bow, what you really want to see information about is the ammo shot, the arrows themselves. Here is an example for an iron dagger:

Length: short   Damage: 3 slashing   Mode: 1W|WW|T   Speed: 10

Throwing balance: 6    Thrown damage: 3    Ammo: none

Attack: Agility + Combat/knives at 6

Defend: Reflex + Combat/knives at 7

Much of this is explained in help combat weapons somewhere. Summarized here:

• Length is self-explanatory. When engaged by someone in combat you can only attack back if wielding a weapon of the same length.
• Damage number is what sided dice are used in computing damage. Higher numbers do more damage. The type afterwards is the type of damage. Different damage types cause different types of wounds. This is why clubs (a bashing weapon) tends to bruise while knives (a slashing weapon) cause lacerations.
• Mode is a little confusing so I'll skip that. Hopefully it's not too important.
• Speed is how fast the weapon is. Lower numbers are faster.
• Throwing balance affects how easy it is to throw. Lower numbers are easier to throw.
• Throwing damage is similar to melee damage but, obviously, used if the object is thrown. This overrides the standard method of computing damage based on weight.
• Ammo indicates what ammo must be loaded for ranged weapons.
• Attack describes the stats used when using the weapon to attack in melee. This works into the dice rolls of the attack command.
• Defend describes the stats used when using the weapon defensively.

At the moment weapons suffer only rarely from damage through use.

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Damage

To understand how armor protects you, you must first understand how damage hurts you. This is all a little bit complicated. Here is what happens when a person gets attacked or shot at in combat...

1. The success (if any) of the hit is determined. This is described in the section on attacking for melee weapons, or the section on shooting or section on throwing for ranged weapons. There will be some sum total of successes derived from this.

2. The hit location is determined at random. For PC-versus-PC combat, use the (undocumented) hitlocs command to see the percentage chance of hitting different body parts. This explains why people tend to get hit in the chest a lot, as it has a comparatively high chance of being hit as opposed to, say, the left eyelid. For NPC puppets (such as animals) and autocode damage on the battlefields, one of the body parts is picked at random with no weighting factor figured in; in this case, your left eyelid is just as likely to get hit as your chest.Also, it is noted what piece of armor (if any) is protecting that location. You can see what armor is covering what locations on you by using the worn command, or by appraising individual pieces of armor if you have the appropriate skill. Currently it is the knees (1% chance of being hit), lips (0.4% chance of being hit), biceps (6% chance of being hit), wrists (1.2% chance of being hit), hands (0.6% chance of being hit), and shoulders (1.2% chance of being hit) that are left uncovered by armor, for a total 10.4% chance of being hit unarmored. In leather armor, the neck (4% chance of being hit) is also unprotected, for a total 14.4% chance of being hit unarmored.

3. The type of damage is determined, based on the type of damage the weapon does:

   • Chopping weapons tend to cause gashes, but can also cause lacerations, breaks, bruises, or punctures.

   • Slashing weapons tend to cause gashes or lacerations, but can also cause bruises or punctures.

   • Bashing weapons tend to cause bruises, but may also cause gashes, lacerations, punctures, or breaks.

   • Piercing weapons tend to cause punctures, but may also cause stabbing pain, lacerations, or gashes.

   • Punching tends to cause bruises, but on occasion may cause breaks.

4. Damage is (virtually) rolled. This is where things really start to get complicated in the code, but in general you roll a number of damage dice equal to your net successes on the attack. These are virtual dice, where the number of 'sides' is determined by either the damage rating of the weapon or (if it's just something a person picked up and threw) the weight of the object. The damage modifier for the person's style is then added. A bonus is added based on either the character's muscle or perhaps some other attribute of either the character or the weapon. Finally, this value is multipled by the character's muscle attribute and divided by 4, to come up with the sum total of damage. Now you know! Told you it started to get complicated.

5. If no armor is worn on the body part hit, the total of the damage is taken. A shock check is made at this point and, if that's failed, a death check. Be sure to see the section on health for the description of the many ways you can be maimed and killed.

6. If armor is covering the location hit some of the damage may be soaked by it. See below for details!

Characters with the armor appraisal skill can appraise armor to see its current state of repair. The better repaired your armor is, the more damage it will absorb on average. Of course, the act of soaking damage is what hurts the armor in the first place. As an example, consider this armor description learned via the appraise command:

Body location: chest   Durability: 6

Current Quality: 983   Maximum Quality: 1000

Defense Difficulties (Current/Maximum) --

chopping: 8/8    piercing: 7/7    bashing:8/8    slashing:8/8 

To interpret this, start by looking at the last line. These number indicate the difficulty of a dice roll required for damage to pass through the armor. Obviously, the higher the difficulty the better the defense provided. Which number is used is based on the type of damage inflicted. For example, suppose that before the armor soaked the total damage done was 20 points of slashing damage. In a virtual sense twenty 10-sided dice would be rolled, at difficulty 8. Suppose that this led to 9 successes. This would mean that 9 points of damage got past the armor and harmed the person wearing it. The other 11 points of damage was soaked by the armor.

As armor soaks damage, the number listed as 'Current Quality' drops based on the total amount of damage inflicted, even if it wasn't soaked. If this number drops low enough the armor becomes unusable. This is why it's important to keep armor in good repair. Additionally, as this number drops the difficulty ratings at the bottom lower, making it easier for damage to pass through your armor's defenses and hurt you. Armor can be repaired by an armorer, with higher level armoring skills allowing a person to repair the armor more fully. The maximum quality can be achieved by someone with the armoring skill at level 5; someone with armoring 4 can repair it to 99% of its maximum quality, and armoring 3 does 95%. The maximum quality for any piece of armor varies based on the type and the quality of the piece.

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