Combat/Freestyle

== What is freestyle combat? ==
Combat games in Second Life have rules. However, there are people that enjoy "freestyle" combat, which is a lot more chaotic. In freestyle:
* Everyone knows things are going to get crazy.
* The action usually takes place on a whole damage-enabled region, where you can blast the heck out of others without asking.
* All weapons and gear (short of those that would cause serious problems like repeatedly crashing a region) are allowed.
* Glitches and other weirdness (security issues aside) deserve to be exploited.
This page expounds on activities that wouldn't be allowed in a formal combat game, but could be experimented freely with elsewhere — hence, freestyle!
== Where can I find freestyle combat regions? ==
Historically, land with Linden Lab damage enabled are open hunting grounds for freestyle, such as Combat (sandbox) Rausch and the two regions next to it.
== Gear ==
=== Defense ===
*Shields
*Offsim Bots
*The Phantom Glitch
Shields, for the most part, have become obsolete with todays weapons. Any shield that offers true 100% protection will be using the Phantom glitch, by means of an object that you sit on.
Offsim bots place your agent out of the current sim, while moving your camera so you see through the eyes of the bot. This technology works well against less sophisticated weapons, but it can and has been defeated.
The Phantom Glitch was discussed in detail earlier in this article. When your agent is phantom, bullets and "killprims" can't collide with you, making you invincible.
Note that many role-play areas disallow some defensive items.
=== Non-Lethal Warfare ===
There are some weapons that can be used to disrupt or annoy another player without actually killing them.
*Orbiting is the term used when one player causes another player to be flung up insanely high in the air.
*People use "traps" to render a physical avatar unable to move.
*"Lag-Bombs" are devices of various kinds that eat up Sim resources and cause lag, thus slowing down the target Resident's activities.
While this kind on non-lethal device can (sometimes) be appropriate to delay or detour a legitimate opponent in a combat game, they are also commonly used by griefers against unwilling victims in both combat and non-combat areas. They therefore tend to have a poor reputation, and to be looked down upon in many combat communities.
In the area of defense against pushes and pulls, most combatants use a device known as a "non-phys". A non-phys makes your avatar non-physical, in other words immune to being pushed or pulled. Period. A non-phys is basically a prim that you sit on, usually it becomes invisible once you sit, and you steer it around just like you are moving normally. When using a non-phys, you can pass through objects and walls.
If a non-phys is not handy and you are in danger of being orbited, just create a prim box and sit on it.
=== Advanced Weapons ===
The most powerful weapons in Second Life are advanced weapons systems. Because many of the currently popular weapons in this class use Heads-Up Displays (HUDs), they are sometimes referred to as "Combat HUDs". They usually offer a substantial arsenal of attacks that you can deploy, other than the standard "kill person" command. These include orbiting, "burning" people, trapping, auto-killing, etc.
Some advanced weapons are designed primarily to deal damage and provide defense in a single combat system (either LLCS or a user-created system); others support two or more different combat systems in a single device. Still others concentrate on the non-lethal actions and annoyances described above, and merge into the category of griefer and anti-griefer devices and away from legitimate combat.
Some system within this class should be considered problematic. They should be used with care.
Sadly, the use of combat vehicles has reduced in second life. While they are very fun to fly, most vehicles will be "disrupted" by shields in actual combat situations, causing them to fly away. The only way to avoid this is to use non-physical vehicles.
The use of combat vehicles in LLCS has seen a surge recently (2009 - 2010) where the use of LlVolumeDetect to make an avatar invincible is used and then a custom damage system implemented. (Usually 100 "hitpoints", where each recognised bullet collision reduces one point, until zero where the owner/user agent is killed intentionally to simulate death)