MUD help system
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Help for fighting
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Combat is one of the multiple activities in Iberia. This guide contains some basic information on how to easily dispatch NPCs.
Becoming a better fighter
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First and foremost, the more skilled you are, the better you fight. When you first start here, your skills are at their lowest and you will find that you may only take on the easiest of enemies. However, as the time progresses you will grow more powerful and will fight much better.
What factors in combat is your skills. They can be increased by professional trainers, but also while you use them (when fighting).
The second thing that affects your combat performance is the weapon and armour you use. Without a weapon wielded, you will be using your bare fists, which is not very effective. Without armour you will take a lot more damage (try to protect your vital body areas first!).
There are many ways to obtain fighting equipment: killing NPCs, doing quests or shops. For start the two latter ways are preferable.
Combat
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Fighting on Iberia is fairly simple; the combat is for most part automated, with the option of using various abilities and specific items. Per turn you will hit (or miss) your enemy at a given body part, and vice-versa. The hit area is random, with more chance to hit torso, then arms and legs, and finally head.
There are some basic combat-related commands that you should be aware of:
* consider - before you attack something, "consider" it to see if you have fair chances of winning. Even if an NPC attacks you on its own, you should consider them while fighting to see if you shouldn't run away!
* align - If you wish to roleplay as a strictly good or a strictly evil character, it is good to know if the NPC you are going to kill is good or evil, and therefore is it "moral" for you to kill it.
* wear, wield - Commands that let you equip your armour and weapons. Do not forget to wield your weapon before combat!
* wimpy - If you want a safe exit from combat, you may enable wimpy mode. With it turned on, you will automatically flee when your HP fall low.
* kill - Your basic combat starting command. Typing just 'kill [npc]' when your opponent is bleeding to death will finish them off, ending the combat quicker.
* shape - A very useful command that will tell you how badly wounded your opponent is and thus how you are faring in your fight.
* hpq - Display your current hitpoints. This command is only somewhat useful, as your HP and EP are displayed in your prompt by default.
* armour - With this command you can check the body areas protected by armour (yours, and your opponent).
* aim - Aiming at a specific body area will be more likely to hit it.
* dodge - Dodging a specific body area will be harder for your opponent to hit it.
* style - You can choose to hit your opponent more often but with less damage, or the opposite (or balanced).
* berserk - Special command, that makes you go berserk on your opponent.
Here is a short example of a combat with a cat as your opponent:
Yellow cat scratches your torso.
You miss Yellow cat.
Yellow cat misses you.
You scratch Yellow cat's legs.
Yellow cat scratches your legs.
You graze Yellow cat's torso.
Yellow cat misses you.
You scratch Yellow cat's legs.
Yellow cat falls to the ground, lifeless.
Yellow cat is bleeding to dead!
You killed Yellow cat.
After the combat has ended, examine the corpse immediately; you may find the corpse contains items and coins you want to take with you.
Fight for your life!
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You can choose a gladiatorial way of living. It's a hard one, though it can give you a lot of profit. The most important aspect to take into account is to train, train, train... before get into an arena! See more details in gladiatorial_combat help file.
See also: gladiatorial_combat, wimpy, consider, shape, kill, stop, critical_hits, death, aim, dodge, style, combat_skills, briefcombat, protect, unprotect.