Combat

## Basic Description

Combat is difficult. You'll be outnumbered and outgunned, so you'll have to figure out how to even the odds or avoid fights you can't win. There are 3 main factors determining the difficulty of any combat encounter and your character's life expectancy: Accuracy, Evasion, Damage (both dealt and taken). To succeed in combat, you must learn to control these factors.

Accuracy = 50 + bonuses from (stat + skill + feat + implant + helmet/goggles + weapon). You can easily neglect a couple of items from this list and still be a competent fighter, meaning you don't need to min/max your stats because it's only 1 item out of 6. The attacker's accuracy is further modified by the attack type (different attacks have different pros and cons), the weapon's gun's effective range, and inflicted penalties.

Evasion = bonuses from (stat + skill + feat + implant + armor handling – armor penalty). The defender's evasion is further modifier by cover (the exact bonus depends on the angle), gadget bonus (i.e., using a Distortion Field), and smoke/spore cloud (smoke grenades and certain critters). More detailed information can be found on the character and inventory screens (which show your accuracy and evasion), and in combat, where you can press ALT when targeting while targeting to learn what is affecting the accuracy of a particular attack.

The damage depends on both the weapon and the target's defense. Incoming damage is reduced by damage resistance (feat + implants + armor) and energy shield (gadget and/or energy armor). Weapons with good penetration and/or aimed attacks can reduce enemy's damage resistance, dealing more damage.

## Combat LP

During combat, all characters gain skill points for defensive and offensive skills.

If you kill an enemy without that enemy attacking, your team receives 18 Critical Strike LP, divided amongst the team.

If you kill an enemy after that enemy has attacked party members or controlled NPCs the attacked parties will receive Evasion and/or Armor LPs in proportion to the attacks they sustained.

Non-controlled allied combatants will not receive LPs during combat and will not count as having been attacked for purposes of determining if a killed enemy awards critical strike or defensive LPs.

Killing most enemy combatants awards 12 LPs in total for offensive weapon skills corresponding to weapons their used, but some enemies, like turrets, may award different amounts of offensive LPs. Inflicting critical hits in combat award also awards some critical strike LP.

## Attack Types

### Generic Ranged

You can toggle generic attack of your choice by pressing 1 key.

* Regular Shot - standard ranged shot with no modifiers.
* Snap Shot - costs 1 AP less, -15 Accuracy, +10 Graze Chance, Critical Chance lowered by 20.

### Generic Melee

You can toggle generic attack of your choice by pressing 1 key.

* Regular Attack - standard attack with no modifiers.
* Fast Attack - deals reduced damage, costs 1 AP less, -10 Accuracy, +25 Graze Chance, -20 Critical Chance, Critical Damage multiplier reduced by 0.1.
* Power Attack - deals increased damage, costs 1 AP more, -15 Accuracy, +15 Critical Chance, Penetration +10, Critical Damage multiplier increased by 0.15.

### Aimed Attacks

You can toggle aimed attack of your choice by pressing 2 key.

* Aimed: Head - costs 2 AP more for melee and 4 AP more for ranged, -10 Graze Chance, +15 Critical Chance, Critical Damage multiplier increased by 0.2, +15 Penetration Crit, On Hit: Staggered (-5 Evasion for 1 turn), On Critical: -6AP for 1 turn.
* Aimed: Weak Point - costs 2 AP more for melee and 3 AP more for ranged, +5 Accuracy, -10 Graze Chance, +5 Critical Chance, +25 Penetration, +10 Penetration Crit
* Aimed: Arms - costs 1 AP more for melee and 2 AP more for ranged, +5 Accuracy, -10 Graze Chance, +5 Critical Chance, Critical Damage multiplier reduced by 0.1, On Hit: -20 THC for 2 turns, On Critical: Crippled Arm (Increases cost of all attacks by 2 AP for 2 turns).
* Aimed: Legs - costs 1 AP more for melee and 2 AP more for ranged, +5 Accuracy, -10 Graze Chance, +5 Critical Chance, Critical Damage multiplier reduced by 0.1, On Hit: -20 Evasion for 2 turns, On Critical: Kneecapped (Doubles AP cost of moving for 2 turns).
* Bullseye (Unique Aimed attack targeting head accessible only to Rifles and some energy pistols - costs 6 AP more, -15 Graze Chance, Graze set to 15%, +20 Critical Chance, Critical Damage multiplier reduced by 0.3, +15 Penetration, +10 Penetration Crit, On Hit: -4AP for 1 turn, On Critical: Knocked out for 1 turn.

### Special Attacks

You can toggle special attack of your choice by pressing 3 key.

* Short Burst (Assault Rifles, SMGs and Automatic Shotguns only)
* Focused Burst (Assault Rifles, Semi-Automatic Rifles and SMGs only)
* Long Burst (Assault Rifles and SMGs only)
* Double Shot (Double-Barrel Shotguns, Multi-Barrel Shotguns and Multi-Barrel Pistols only)
* Triple Shot (Semi-Automatic Pistols only)
* Fanning (Revolvers only)
* Flurry (Knives and Long Knives only)
* Carve (Bladed Weapons only)
* Double Strike (Axes and Hammers only)
* Knockdown (Blunt Weapons only)
* Swing (Two-Handed Hammers only)

## Mechanics

### DR

Damage Resistance - Ability of the armor to reduce damage. See Armors.

### THC

To Hit Chance - The ability to hit your opponent. See THC.

## Graze

Graze are hits that deal 25% of normal hit damage after DR. Graze Chance is influenced by various factors, including weapon modifiers, some Feats and attack type. Graze is capped at minimum of 15%.

## Critical Strikes

Critical strikes deal increased damage (depending on your Critical Damage multiplier) and can inflict various effects on hit if you used certain types of attacks.

The likelihood of critical strikes is governed by Critical Strike skill, some Feats, attack type and weapon modifiers if there are any.

Minimum Critical Strike Hit Chance is 0% and Maximum is equal to Base Hit Chance reduced by 15.

## Reaction Attacks

Reaction attacks are counterattacks that are performed by a character on the enemy turn if they miss hitting you in melee range. Ranged weapons can also perform reaction attacks if enemy moves around in their weapon range while melee weapons can perform reaction attacks if an enemy tries to leave their melee range.

Reaction Attacks have the following attack modifiers: -20 Accuracy, +25 Graze Chance, -20 Critical Chance. These can be changed through certain Feats, such as Opportunist.

## Death Timer

When a party member goes down, you have 3 turns to end the fight to save a fallen comrade. There are minor side effects for surviving near-death experience that slowly add up:

* Still Alive: Fell in combat 1 time, HP -1, Evasion +1, Death Timer +1
* Not My Time Yet: Fell in combat 3 times, HP -2, Evasion +2, Death Timer +1
* Hard To Kill: Fell in combat 5 times, HP -3, Evasion +3, Death Timer +1
* Back From The Dead: Fell in combat 7 times, HP -4, Evasion +4, Death Timer +1
* Revenant: Fell in combat 10 times or more, HP -5, Evasion +5, Death Timer +1

## Looting

All characters have some inventory which you may loot after killing them. It is not possible to loot during combat.

## Healing

Player can heal their party by visiting a doctor or by doing using Medkits in the Party Screen (P key by default). Amount of healing per medkit depends on the Biotech skill of designated specialist.
During combat, Hit Points can be only restored with Regen (RCR-3) stimulants, but keep in mind that they reduce STR, DEX, CON and PER by 1 each time they are used until the end of the combat.

## References

1. ↑ Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game Steam Page
2. ↑ HuggyBear's Colony Ship Walkthrough Steam Guide