Ground Combat Guide

"General Veers! Prepare your troops for a surface attack."
- Darth Vader
Ready to go shoot 'em up? This guide will help lay out the basics you need to know going into ground combat and should help make things run more smoothly. We'll focus on the sorts of thing one uses in armed combat, but there are some unarmed options for times you may want to spar or fight hand-to-hand.
==Before Combat==
There's a lot of work to be done before you go into battle. Some things to keep in mind: 
* Be aware of the Ground Combat Policy.
* +control/add any soldier who may need to run a vehicle or ship beforehand. You can always remove them later!
* Move troops and supplies into place. Have armies ready to follow you, armor loaded on dropships, etc. It takes longer to do this than you might think, so start early!
* Recruit +temps at least 30 minutes before hand. The more +temps you need, the earlier you'll want to start. It is probably a good idea to point them to this guide as a reference, particularly for those not used to ground combat.
* Choose a comsys frequency and be sure everyone knows it and is on it.
==During Combat==
Combat can be fast and confusing. If you keep the following in mind, hopefully some of the pain can be eased and fun can be had.
Note: if you are particularly badass and want to give others a sporting chance, you may want to +limit before you begin coded combat.
===Posing & Order===
In ground combat, keeping track of pose order is one of the things that will make things go smoothly. Remember, combat is as much about RP as it is about code and seeing who comes out on top! 
* Use +turn to determine pose order. Vehicles do not show up on +turn and will need to be inserted. It's a good idea to keep your +turn list somewhere so you can check it often and easily. 
* The first +turn round is used to scene-set and does not involve combat. 
* Each person poses and then does a coded combat action. Results of the combat are posed by those involved in the next turn round. You may choose to add poses to the scene out of +turn order if it involves adding to the ambience of the scene in general.
* It is generally a good idea for armies to engage armies and PCs to engage PCs. This is because armies auto-defend and can seriously hurt a PC in one round.
* Keep poses prewritten. This is one of the most important aspects to keeping battle flowing smoothly. Write your pose several turns before yours and then go back to adjust as things happen if needed. You can also have your combat code pre-typed and ready to go.
* Match the pace of your poses to that of the scene. A fast moving scene that involves many people usually works best when combat poses are only a few well-written lines. This keeps the duration of each combat cycle manageable and prevents scenes from bogging down and becoming tedious.
* Often, the commanding officers will not pose or engage directly. They will be assumed to be commanding from the back and will pose with the armies. 
* Read poses and respond logically. Try to keep in mind distances and orientations and note that sometimes you may not be able to realistically target someone. This is often the case with commanders.
===Blasters, Melee, & Other Weapons===
* To see what weapons you have, type '+inv'.
* To arm yourself, type '+equip <weapon>'.
* To shoot, type '+shoot <name>', or aim for a specific body part using '+shoot <name>=<body|head|arms|legs>'
* To strike your opponent with your fists or a melee weapon, type '+strike <name>', or aim for a specific body part using '+strike <name>=<body|head|arms|legs>'
* To unarm yourself, type '+unequip <weapon>'.
===Vehicles===
Vehicles include walkers, tanks, and turrets, among others. 
* You must have +control of a vehicle before you can operate it.
* Vehicles do not currently work with +turn. Talk to your commanding officer about how to deal with this.
* To board a vehicle, type '+board <vehicle>'.
* To leave a vehicle, type '+leave'.
* To drive a vehicle off a ship, type '+exit'. 
* To move a vehicle, type '+drive <direction>'.
* To shoot, type '+target <target>'. You can target armies, other vehicles, or people.
* You can pose and speak OOCly normally in a vehicle using :, ;, and OOC. Everything will be prefaced with the name of your vehicle, unless you use @emit, which works as normal.
===Armies===
Epic combat between large forces is the backbone of Star Wars warfare. It is suggested to read through the +help +command files. Note that you generally want to avoid having armies target most PCs, as their firepower can be immense.
* You have to have +control of an army to command it.
* Take a look at your army's stats and items with +command <armyname>=report.
* Armies are subject to environmental damage, just like you are. They only require one item, no matter how many men the army contains.
* To command the army to follow you, +command <army name>=follow. They will follow you through any door, unless it is being watched by another army or turret.
* You can always command your army to march with +command <army name>=go <exit>.
* Make sure your army is equipped with weapons and armor (only body armor applies to armies). If they are not +command <armyname>=equip <weapon/armor>. You must have as many or more of the weapons or armor in the army's inventory as there are soldiers.
* To attack a player or vehicle, use +command <armyname>=attack <player>.
* To attack another army, you must +command <your armyname>=engage <opponent's army name>.
* To abort an attack or an auto-return attack, +command <armyname>=abort.
* Sometimes, you may have to +command your troops to block or watch an entrance. Full details of these commands is found at +command-guarding.
====Armies and Population Limits====
:Occasionally a room will only allow a certain number of combatants to engage at a time. You'll see this limit when you type +turn. 
:Codewise, this means that every time you engage an army, only the allowed number will engage at a time. You'll see a message that resembles The Black Emancipators 17 <250 of 264 Clones> engage the Legion VIII Felix - Cohort 1 <32 Humans> in mass combat. to reflect this. As your soldiers are killed, the others will act as 'reinforcements' and you will continue to engage at the room limit until the army has fewer soldiers than the limit left. Population limits do not mean that only a certain number of people or soldiers can be present in the room at once. 
:This means that RPwise, this is flexible. The code will allow you to engage army after army in a room with limits set. This follows the letter of the law, but violates the spirit. It is suggested that the commanding officers speak to each other beforehand and decide how they are going to play, in terms of armies per round, posing, etc. 
:According to the wizards, the overriding factor should be the room description, followed by the population limit, which is set to reflect the number of combatants each side can field (not how many can be fielded overall). Commanders should only use as many armies at a time as a realistic population limit would allow and should pose each army retreating and advancing as they would like to use them to engage. This can, however, make combat RP go quite slowly (many +turn rounds) when you have a lot of troops. Thus, you may want to agree to engage your armies twice or even three times during a pose round to speed things up. Communication with the opposing commander is key.
:Note that a population limit of 250 generally means that the area is large enough for all combatants to engage, and so in these rooms, use the desc to gauge how many armies should be fielded at a time.
===Comsys===
Before each combat scene, forces should agree on a comsys frequency and adjust their comsys systems in order to communicate. 
* To turn your comsys on, type '+comsys/on' - to turn on a ship's comsys, use '+comsys/on here'.
* To adjust frequency, type '+comsys/frequency <frequency>' or +comsys/frequency here=<frequency>'.
* To speak to people on your frequency (the most common use), type '+comsys/transmit <message>'. You can also begin with a pose to include vocal cues by using +comsys/transmit :<pose>.
* To speak to everyone in range, use '+comsys/broadcast <message>'. These messages will be prefaced with (all channels).
* To speak to a single person, use '+comsys/speak <name>=<message>'. These messages will be prefaced with (single channel).
* Note that when you are in a room with someone, they are able to hear the comsys messages you send, but not those which you receive (much like listening to someone talk on a telephone).
* To see who is in your frequency or range, type '+comsys/scan'. Note that the information in +comsys/scan is considered IC and may be used as intel. If you don't want to appear on a +comsys/scan, you need to turn your comsys off or change your frequency so that you show as 'unknown'.
Category:Guides
Category:Combat