Combat Mostly demystified

[lithos]

Quick intro: Essentially the combat system is set up so that with a little bit of cleverness you can defeat the AI at a much sooner level, and I'd imagine against other players have quite few nasty different tricks that can all be countered or messed with.

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To start with there are quite a few types of "energy" for you to play with. Each with their own advantages, and disadvantages if you decide to focus on something else.

The first one is "the scale". Symbol: a scale
Essentially the purpose it serves is to determine how much attack/defense you get. If the scale is down on the left side it's in your favor and you get more energy than the opponent .

The next one is Battle Intensity. Symbol: a circle of fire
Basically you earn this as the battle goes on. The purpose is to essentially be an "ace" card and is tied to some very powerful abilities that reset this form of energy or require it to be above a certain level.

The third one is Attack. Symbol: crossed swords
This basically represents how accurate your next Move will be, and maybe how much damage it does. Slowly regenerates

Followed by Defense. Symbol: a shield
This is what takes damage before your "real" health takes damage, if you can keep your Defense to an adequate level you will NEVER EVER take HP damage from your enemy. Slowly regenerates

The last form of energy is Initiative. Symbol: a coin or several coints
This is basically a type of energy some abilities generate and other use as a cost.

There is still your normal Health.
It has 3 levels How much damage it can take before you're knocked out/How much damage you can take before you die/Max health. When you actually take damage you'll lose damage from the first level and a tiny bit from the second level. The first level heals somewhat quickly, the second level heals only with treatment.

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There are various types of abilities.

attacks: These actually do damage to the target, actually use up the Attack bar.
Maneuvers: this is how you respond to a move
moves: this does NOT do damage, but does affect energy levels. An attack will contiguously repeat itself and when it "hits" the effect takes place. You should always have an attack up and running. If you no longer fulfill the requirements for an attack it cancels itself.
Special Attacks: These are attacks that do various things, in some cases to the enemy in other cases to yourself. they do NOT use up the Attack bar.

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Inside the combat menu there are all the abilities you currently have unlocked separated into each category . To read the effects are initially confusing, but there is logic to the insanity.

Name (always here)
Other Requirements(sometimes there)
Wieght: Symbol (always here, tells you if your body matters(fist) or the item related to it does(sword) )
Description: what the skill does typically using the symbols for each type of energy. Sometimes with a bit more for some abilities.

To read the description It's a matter of looking at the symbol and then seeing if it's + or -. If it's a + sign it'll increase that form of energy, if it's a - sign it'll decrease it. Moves are slightly different in that their cost is listed above the weight.

For instance

Charge
weight: fist
Cross Swords: +3 Shield: -8 Coin +1

means that each time this Move actually hits your Attack energy will increase by 3, your defense will decrease by 8, and your initiative will increase by 1.

There is also another notation which tells you that it affects the enemy rather than yourself, which uses the '/' sign.

Shield: 0/-20

means that your opponent would lose 20 defense.

The last "strange" notation is in the additional requirments area.

Flex
Initiative: 0+6
weight fist
attack: +20

Basically means that it will cost you 0 initiative to use but that you must have 6 or more. It's worth noting that there are '>' and '<' signs for additional requirements as well.
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List of skills, maybe later

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Simple recipes

Weak target:

Start by using "Jump" as your move. then use punch when the attack bar is mostly full.

stronger target:

Start with dash as your move. and just wait for the your initiative to come in, use it as often as with side step. then you can focus on using attacks as well after you placed yourself at the advantage. This obviously won't work very well against a human.

It's also worth noting that you can change your move at anytime, for instance using jump or flex.

Fun combos:

Opportunity Knocks is a special move that lowers defense(as a special move it doesn't use up the attack bar) so you could potentially choose to just wait for initiative to pile in in a large way, then use the special attack 3 to 5 times in a row to completely remove your targets defense. Which means you get nice open hits at the "real" health bar.

Using sting like a bee with 10 battle intensity also essentially lets you get 2 attacks one after the other. I've been using it on animals that run to a really nice effect.

Combining these two with dash essentially means that you have a slow way to take out most things that you would have taken out previously, and safer as your real health will probably never be touched.

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Other notes it's also worth noting that for the most part combat is slow paced enough* that you can choose to reletivly leisurely navigate through the menus rather than using hotkeys

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Also many appologies for not using the right names for some things. The game itself does not have enough tool tips, I'd love to be corrected though as this is considered a rough draft.

*40 str and 26 unarmed against level 3 and 4 stuff.

[Cookie]

This is an extremely useful post.

Can we get it stickied?

Lithos, can you put this information into the wiki too?

[Avu]

Weak target:

Start by using "Jump" as your move. then use punch when the attack bar is mostly full.

Why would you use jump since you start with full attack anyway? Maybe you meant charge for the initiative bonus? and switching to jump after the first punch?

if you can keep your Defense to an adequate level you will NEVER EVER take HP damage from your enemy

This is FALSE. With a big enough difference in skill and str you can one hit kill someone. Other than that I think you are mostly correct.

[lithos]

Well if the bar is completely removed, AND not all damage is accounted for. You're going to lose health.

As for why jump. Because energy bars between different MOBS can act up in silly ways. Which means that if you're fighting ants or things close together it is the best choice.

[lithos]

now on wiki. Correct me as you please, that is the purpose of a wiki. It needs help with layout and flow as I'm pretty retarded when it comes to getting those up to a good quality.

http://havenandhearth.wikia.com/wiki/Combat_101