User:Mr Pops Alot/Lethal Combat

eraNAS' lethal combat system may seem a little daunting to new players at first, however a few simple guidelines will have you ready to repel attacks and hold ground like a pro.

In every gunfight there is one very important lifesaving rule to remember:
Always use whatever cover is available!

Preparation

Your skills and your weapon determine your success the most. You may have a good weapon, but without the skills to show for it, you won't be able to hit the broad side of a barn. Conversely, if you are a good shot but only have a .22LR pistol, you won't be killing anything any time soon. It is essential to train up your skill that your weapon corresponds to. Danmaku corresponds to the Danamku Skill, Firearms are helped with the shooting skill, and Melee weapons are enhanced with the Melee skill. Being great at one combat stat (Danmaku, Shooting or Melee) is better than being decent at all three.

Be aware that Danamku requires 500 Danmaku EXP to be earned before you can use Danmaku, or if you find an Esper trainer who can give you Esper Knowledge. If you started out as a Youkai, you will not have to get 500 Danmaku EXP to start using Danmaku, but it's still recommended to train up to A 11 to be ready to fight most enemies

Ranged

Ranged combat involves the use of weapons from a distance. Pawns wielding ranged weapons will shoot at enemies, because what else did you expect them to do?

Accuracy is determined with general Combat Accuracy.

Weapon stats

Ranged weapons consist of many attributes:

• Damage: How much health each bullet can do. For reference, the brain has 10 HP, the heart has 15 HP, and the torso (general body) has 40 HP.
• Armor penetration: The ability to ignore armor. AP directly subtracts from armor rating; if a weapon's AP > the armor strength, then armor is completely ignored.
• Burst count: How many bullets are fired at a time. If a weapon fires multiple shots, there will be a short delay between bullets.
• Range: How far a weapon can shoot.
• Accuracy: A weapon's own modifier to accuracy. Shooting skill and other factors also determine accuracy.

There are two summary stats of how a weapon will actually perform:

• Optimal DPT: How much damage a weapon can do, per turn, if every shot hits an unarmored target.

DPT is a measure of how fast a weapon can remove Stamina. Stamina deprivation is the primary way of disabling pawns in combat; hurt them enough, and they will be downed. Other factors like range, stopping power, and aiming/cooldown time can all impact how you use a weapon in battle, but damage is a stat to be prioritized first.

Melee

Melee involves hand-to-hand combat, with or without the use of weapons. Accuracy is determined with general Combat Accuracy.

Melee combat has strengths and weaknesses. While a character can bash with a gun barrel in melee, a fighter with a dedicated melee weapon remains much more effective. However, a brawler may get shot down during their approach. Armor was designed to solve that problem.

Other mechanics

• Skilled melee characters have the ability to evade melee attacks when fighting. When the melee blow is dodged, it will always miss, regardless of whether or not it is supposed to hit.
• Blunt melee attacks don't cause bleeding (unless a body part is destroyed), but they have a chance to stun enemies for a short time on hit. In addition, most pieces of armor will protect poorly against blunt attacks.