Militia Sword

[TeckXKnight]

So the only point behind having melee skill is combat weight then?

Yes. MC, UA, and MM have Nothing to do with damage. That's entirely determined by the equipment that you're using and your strength, or Perception for MM's minimum damage.

[Sevenless]

Red Bar = % of your Weight used to remove blue bars
Blue Bar = % of your Weight used to block red bars
Weight = Relevant Combat Skill (Unarmed or Melee)
If you have 10 Unarmed and they have 100 Unarmed, even with a full red bar, you are doing 100% of 10, which will take off a very small amount of his Blue bar, which is 100% of 100. If you have an empty red bar, then you're using 0% of your 10, so it may as well be 0.
If you don't know which attacks use which skill, then stop using the combat system. Seriously. All moves, maneuvers, and special moves either don't have a weight or use Unarmed with the exception of the Maneuver 'Block', which uses Melee.
Best of luck with your boar.

Final question about this, definitely double checked the guide on this. If you attack something with 50% attack meter and they have 0% defense. Do you deal full damage to them, or 50% of your potential damage to them? I understand the defense bar concept, just not how red bar influences damage, or if it does.

[TeckXKnight]

If they have a defensive weight of 0%, you do 100% damage. Which is why you never use DoG or Charge! when your defense bar is bottomed out. If your attack bar is 50% and their defense bar is 1%, then you'll still only do 50%. It is worth having that 1% defense.