Combat Tips

[Kyo]

Hey,  I'm relatively new to Unreal World, and I was wondering if any of you guys could give me some tips and advice in Combat, since I kinda struggle with It sometimes, and had died several times not knowing what I did wrong or what I didn't do, all I want is the basics of combat, things to keep in mind in combat and very useful stuff in combat, I'd really appreciate your help.

[PALU]

1. Avoid combat whenever possible. Combat is dangerous and unpredictable. Your character can die because of a lucky strike by the opponent.

- When attacking, I prefer to use a missile weapon whenever possible, and then keep the distance. Due to the way the game works, human enemies rush at you at full speed and will tire themselves fairly quickly, slowing to a crawl. When you've managed to tire them out completely the can safely be dispatched with missiles (you can even use rocks and cycle back to pick them back up to continue the attack). If the enemy uses missile weapons it's much harder, but not impossible to take them out safely using a bow by (ab)using the enemy behavior logic.
- Don't allow the enemy to outnumber you. Attacks from behind cannot be defended against, and they'll eventually get a lucky hit in regardless of how armored you are.
- DON'T run! Running when encumbered is extremely exhausting, and you'll quickly be reduced to a running speed that's lower than your normal walking speed. There are a few rare exceptions to this.
- Encumbrance is dangerous. High encumbrance means that you've got a significant penalty to both your offensive and defensive skills. These penalties stack with fatigue and penalties from injuries.
- If you have to engage an enemy in melee, wear as protective armor as you can and don't carry anything you don't need within the fight itself. This means dropping food, water, ... before the engagement (and make very sure you drop the items where you can find them again).
- If you fight enough you will eventually die regardless of skill.
- A completely exhausted enemy has a very hard time to hit you, but they will eventually, and if that enemy is a bear there's a good chance that will result in a bad wound if you're armored up. I never willingly engage bears, wolves, or gluttons in melee. If they're caught in a trap I'll throw rocks at them until they die (rocks make blunt impact, reducing the damage the injuries cause to the hide).

If the above sounds boring, you're free to play how you like. Just be prepared for the consequences.

[Kyo]

So... What i understood was;
 It's better to keep combat in long range like as in bows, crossbows, spears and stuff, rather than swords, axes, spears in close range, etc.
Avoid being outnumbered, do not run at all, do not carry too much stuff, wear as protective armor as you can, do not fight too much otherwise you'll die, and if engaging animals, specially, aggressive animals, try to attack them with blunt weapons.
Did i miss something to remember?

[Erkka]

Using blunt weapons against animals is preferable only in the case you wish not to harm the fur. But if survival / killing for food is your main objective, then use the most lethal weapon available.

Regarding melee combat, remember that NPCs have weapons skills like you, so they aren't always the same.

And remember to pay attention to the ratio of "my weapon vs. the opponent weapon". Although an axe in itself might be very deadly weapon, an age guy has a lower hand against a spear guy, for the spear has longer range. The combatant using a spear can easily keep the opponent just a little bit father away. Or, more generally; different weapons have attack and defense bonus factors to them, and their ratio matters.

And, just like PALU said, remember that there are no invincible heroes in this game. Fighting is always about killing and getting killed.

[ineedcords]

Hey,  I'm relatively new to Unreal World, and I was wondering if any of you guys could give me some tips and advice in Combat, since I kinda struggle with It sometimes, and had died several times not knowing what I did wrong or what I didn't do, all I want is the basics of combat, things to keep in mind in combat and very useful stuff in combat, I'd really appreciate your help.

Welcome to the game and the forums!

As per your own experience so far & replies in this thread, combat indeed is very risky. As already mentioned, the problem is, even with best possible armour on your character, and a huge army of your own beside you (=hired villagers acting as bodyguard), you are still fragile so just one single arrow to the eye (which cannot be armour-protected) and your game is over.

With the ever present death risk do not be shy to do all you can to minimise risk and maximise chance of success.
What this means is acquiring & effectively spending wealth for extended lifespan because purchasable items CAN help you stay alive longer.

Before battle: do all you can, get the best gear etc. (see more below).
Outset of battle: if you are in control of the creation of an engagement, use that to your advantage too and create only the type of engagements where you have much greater chance of surviving. Do not risk 50-50% win chance engagements or even 60-40% ones (where you have the advantage). Instead try to get into 80-20% engagements.
Once in battle: do not sit out in the open against an archer exchanging shot for shot (use trees or shield for cover when it makes sense), initially try to approach from behind if possible, do not be shy to withdraw from battle where it makes sense and appears possible.

First, obtain and and wear best possible armour and protective clothing.
* If you have not done so yet, read the wiki page on Clothing - it will help you a lot: https://unrealworld.fi/wiki/index.php?title=Clothing
* On that Clothing page, jump to the bottom of page and check out the last picture which shows Armour Coverage Statistics screen and while in game, the keyboard shortcut for that screen is: SHIFT + A. As per name, that screen shows how good your current clothing/armour is against different types of attack, and temperature. One might have a different goal (lighter build) but personally my goal is always to maximise armour stat against each attack type (and temperature). Highest coverage colour code is Dark Green. As a starting point I suggest you aim the same.

Second, having (eventually) obtained the best possible armour, do something harder: keep it consistently on.
* A lot of stories go like "I had the best armour but took it off while cutting a tree/fishing/swimming and forgot to put it back on. Then a very bad person/bear/wolf attacked me when I was not ready."
* There are very bad persons/bears/wolves in the game. Keep your armour on. Keep your weapons close to you at all times, also.
* Once you have more experience and protection then you can consider selectively taking it off without risking too much (protection = being offshore or being surrounded by bodyguards in the form of hired villagers etc.).

Third, numbers is everything (a.k.a.: do not fight alone)
* Many good suggestions posted already but one thing I have not seen mentioned is dogs. While the name is "Unreal" world, it is actually pretty realistic in the sense that 4 bandits can beat you (single-guy) up and take your stuff or kill you if you resist and dare make their robbery difficult.
* Alternatively, when you are travelling with 6 to 10 dogs, you can beat/kill them up instead and take their stuff.
Having experienced both sides of the spectrum, I prefer and strongly recommend the latter. Be the surrounder, not the surrounded which mostly equates to being the victor and not the victim.
Note that with bandits you can actually decide to give up your wealth and save your skin however you may not have that option with randomly encountered wolves or wolf packs/bears/Njerps etc. so do not assume you can always avoid fighting for your life. Sometimes you are forced to fight to the death. For that reason, try to be strong and stay strong.

Just to be clear strong does not always mean well armoured & well skilled.
Regardless of how armoured you are, eventually your armour will be penetrated.
Regardless of how skilful you are with weapons (even if 100% with all weapons/shield etc.) numbers conquer skill so 1 njerp fighter + 1 njerp woman + 2 njerp kids will kill your 100% skilled, 100% armoured Terminator-like character (I guess it would then be called Terminated).

Purchased dogs can be your own mini army to counter-balance enemy numbers. They can act both as additional targets for enemies to be distracted with, and they could ideally kill the enemies for you.
Here is a visual example. In this picture one player character has bright coloured clothing and the other has a bright future:


These are the 3 tips I could think of right now. Keep sharing your progress and let us know how you get on; share the good & bad news, perhaps someone here can help further.

[PALU]

I couple of comments triggered by ineedcords' post.

Be very wary of missile wielding "allies", be it henchmen or villagers defending against hostiles. They're completely oblivious to the risks of hitting allies, so they gladly shoot friendlies in the back while aiming at a hostile beyond them.
For that reason, I never hire anyone who's carrying a missile weapon. I've had my characters shot in the back too many times, and seen too many hired help deal more damage to my own posse than to the robbers they were supposed to help dealing with.

While dogs can be used as expendable meat shields, know that dogs are in a limited supply, i.e. the dogs present in villages are all the dogs the game make available, and no replacements will appear. That will change some time in the (distant?) future when animal births and proper animal husbandry is introduced, but for now that part is static.

[Tom H]

A comment on Palu's post: Like him, I don't like to hire archers. They'll shoot your allies, your animals, even you!

One way to avoid their wild shooting is to TRADE FOR THEIR ARROWS FIRST. So, I check them out for their weapons. Ask them if they're for hire. When 'Yes', try trading for their arrows and take them all. THEN hire them.

[Kyo]

A comment on Palu's post: Like him, I don't like to hire archers. They'll shoot your allies, your animals, even you!

One way to avoid their wild shooting is to TRADE FOR THEIR ARROWS FIRST. So, I check them out for their weapons. Ask them if they're for hire. When 'Yes', try trading for their arrows and take them all. THEN hire them.

Lmao yeah that happened

[Tom H]

A comment on Palu's post: Like him, I don't like to hire archers. They'll shoot your allies, your animals, even you!

One way to avoid their wild shooting is to TRADE FOR THEIR ARROWS FIRST. So, I check them out for their weapons. Ask them if they're for hire. When 'Yes', try trading for their arrows and take them all. THEN hire them.

Lmao yeah that happened

Why ask for tips and then mock those who oblige you? Whatevah...

[JP_Finn]

Tom, is it possible that the response was meant to include “to me too” in the end.

Several of us on the forum are secondary/tertiary English speakers.

I personally like to give benefit of a doubt, but repeat or obviously abrasive posters tend to get snarky responses or outright ignored.

As moderator, we don’t ban folks for that; just keep calm and carry on.

[JP_Finn]

As for an actual combat tip: do not underestimate attacks from ‘Hidden’. Both ranged and melee are devastating. Spruce mire, broadsword, expert or higher swordsman and hiding, and dispatching Njerpez can be satisfying. Just mind the surroundings, not getting flanked yourself.

[Tom H]

Tom, is it possible that the response was meant to include “to me too” in the end.

Several of us on the forum are secondary/tertiary English speakers.

I personally like to give benefit of a doubt, but repeat or obviously abrasive posters tend to get snarky responses or outright ignored.

As moderator, we don’t ban folks for that; just keep calm and carry on.

Fine, Finn. Fin!

[howarlord]

interesting information