Battle

In Warriors of the Chat, Battle begins after the Drafting period ends. Battes can last a maximum of 3 minutes (180 seconds) each and there are 5 battles (rounds) per set. A character only needs to be enrolled in battle one time during a set to fight for the remaining rounds. The *!fight* command will enter a player's character into the current set, regardless of whether it is typed on the Drafting screen or during a battle.

When a battle begins, the players who are currently enrolled for battle are randomly distributed between two teams, Blue and Red, and ordered with their team on either side of of a randomly chosen map according to their chosen *!position* (front, middle, or back). Pets do not affect the random distribution of characters between teams, so a pet effectively grants its owner's team an extra teammate.

During the battle, character's fight autonomously using the equipment and abilities the player has purchased from the shop. Shop purchases are queued during battle and completed during the drafting period (meaning they can be requested at any time, but will only resolve during drafting).

Various abilities offer visual indications of their use. Auras appear as circular shapes around the user, magical strikes often appear as projectiles, and status ailments or buffs often draw symbols over a character. When a character runs out of HP, they are removed from the battle and replaced by a puddle of blood.

There are three main components of the battle screen GUI: the timer, the team rosters, and the battle log.

## Battle Timer

The battle timer is shown at center of the top of the battle screen. It counts upward from 0 seconds to a maximum 180 seconds (3 minutes) during the match. This ensures that matches will not continue indefinitely if the battle reaches a standstill (whether it is caused by character balance or bugs). Matches normally conclude when one team's members are defeated.

While the timer begins at 0, there is a 5 second period after the characters have been placed on the map during which no characters can move. This allows players to locate their character before the battle, if they wish to keep track of their actions or effectiveness. Once the timer reaches 5 seconds, characters begin to move freely and target members of the opposing team.

After a battle concludes, the battle timer indicates which team won the battle and counts down before returning to the drafting screen.

## Team Rosters

Both teams have their character rosters listed in an upper corner of the screen, the Blue roster is located in the upper left and the Red roster is located in the upper right.

The display for an individual character's data consists of their class symbol, registration number (see Drafting), and their name, which are overlayed on the character's health bar. An examples of this for the blue and red teams are shown below:

A character's registration number can be used to identify them on the battlefield. This implementation was adopted to reduce the clutter caused by printing full names above each character.

## Battle Log

The battle log indicates when players die in battle. It holds a maximum of six entries and deletes the oldest entry before displaying the next if six are already present.

Each entry credits a kill to a character and says which character they defeated.

## Rewards

The reward for every character involved in a battle is 1 Experience and 1 Gold. Each member of the winning team, regardless of whether or not they are alive at the end of the match, is rewarded with 1 extra Gold.