Firan Survival Guide: Combat Introduction
From FiranMUX
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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.
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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.
