Combat

"Sefra's Winds, this article is incomplete! Maybe you can fill the gaps if you have an idea from your travels, Sehm."

Should you find yourself in a combat situation, the first thing you’ll need to do is prepare. This is a combat system designed around preparation, initiative and timing and there are three essential stages that build up to the decisive moment. Before you begin of course, you’ll first need to survey your surroundings for a worthy opponent. Putting your hand on your sword will cast a red circle about you, alerting you to anyone (or anything) within challengeable radius. You’ll also be able to see their Force and Ward numbers, which will help you decide if you want to take them on.

Might and Delight

Combat is a side feature in Book of Travels, allowing players to have a taste in dueling a foe with preparation and luck.

Preparation

Equipment

The Equipment that you wear will affect how you perform during combat, and the rate that you navigate around the world.

It is a must to have a sword to combat, if not you will be defeated at the 1st hit, no matter how much Ward you have.

Attributes

Force

Force is governed mainly by the qualities of your weapon. When you engage in a combat situation, Force is the stat that dictates the power of your attacks.

Ward

Ward is granted mainly by armour and protective equipment. Ward represents how much Force you can deflect from an opponent's attacks before you start suffering fatal wounds.

Speed

Speed is influenced by your Burden, as well as effects from various equipment. It affects your stamina and your ability to tie Knots quickly. In combat, Speed hastens your initiative and quickens your attack timer, enabling your to reach higher hit-probability faster.

Burden

Burden is the antithesis of Speed. It makes you slower, increases time to tie Knots and slows down your initiative. Burden is connected to your encumbrance, particularly armour granting high Ward, making you sturdy but sluggish.

What is Effective Speed?

The Speed stat is affected by the Burden stat, which does the opposite of what Speed does. Because of this, your effective Speed is your current Speed - your Burden.

Combat System

Initiating Combat

A player engaged in combat with four Tabac Toe Bandits.

A battle can only commence if it is initiated by either you or your foe. You can initiate combat by using the Battle Stance skill near an enemy or duelist. This will cause your character to grip their weapon, and a meter will appear along with a caption that says, 'The tensions are rising...' Once the meter is fully charged, combat will begin. Performing any action before the meter is filled will cancel the charging process. Both the Player's and the Enemies' sides can have up to four combatants.

Battle

An interrupted would-be attacker, pushed back into Decision Phase

When battle begins, your Combat UI will appear. Your and your allies' statistics will be displayed on the left side of the screen, while the enemies' statistics will appear on the right. The currently targeted enemy will have their icon at the bottom of the screen. Clicking an enemy will target them. The middle of the screen will feature the Combat Tracker, along with the Initiative Icons for every combatant. The Combat Tracker is divided into two parts: Decision and Action. Your Initiative Icon moves through the Decision Phase of the Combat Tracker at a speed determined by your Speed stat, during which time you can choose your next combat action. Once your Initiative Icon reaches the Action Phase, your combat action can no longer be changed. When your Initiative Icon reaches the end of the Action Phase, your chosen combat action is executed. The speed at which your Initiative Icon moves through the Action Phase is determined purely by the combat action you have selected, not by your Speed stat. If an attack is recieved by a combatant who is in the Action Phase, they are interrupted and their Initiative Icon is pushed back into into the Decision Phase, delaying their action. Attacks reduce the opponent's Ward. Once Ward is reduced to zero, Wounds are inflicted instead. When a combatant sustains enough Wounds to reduce their Health to zero, they faint and can no longer continue fighting. Normally, each combatant starts with 3 Health points. The combat ends when all combatants on one side have fainted.

Combat Actions

On the bottom of the Combat UI you will see your learned Combat Actions. While every character has all the basic Combat Actions automatically learned, more advanced manouvers and combat spells will require you to learn them and spend Knowledge Points to memorise them. All the basic Combat Actions are also available to your enemies and are telegraphed by their distinctive stances, so the player should always pay attention to what their opponents are planning to do and act and react accordingly. The basic Combat Actions are:

Swift Strike

Swift strike is the fastest move in the game, but it is also the weakest. It reduces the opponent's Ward by 1 no matter how much Force you have. If the target has zero Ward it inflicts 1 Wound, or none if the attack is successfully blocked. The main use of Swift Strike is interrupting attackers, stopping them from using more powerful moves.

Balanced Strike

Balanced Strike reduces the opponent's Ward by an ammount equal to your Force. It's moderately fast. If the target has zero Ward it inflicts 2 Wounds, or 1 if the attack is successfully blocked. It's usually the default combat action you want to use and it's best at reducing the opponents Ward in the early stages of combat.

Heavy Strike

Very powerful but also very risky to use, Heavy Strike reduces the opponent's Ward by an ammount equal to your Force increased by 5. If the target has zero Ward it inflicts 3 Wounds, instantly downing any opponent at full Health, but only deals 1 Wound if it is successfully blocked. Its two times slower than Swift Strike and about 50% slower than Balanced Strike. Heavy Strike is best used as a well timed finisher against targets who just had all of their Ward removed.

Defend

After a successful block, the defender starts their next turn with an advantage.

The main means of staying alive in combat, Defend reduces the Ward damage of blocked attacks by an ammount equal to your Ward. Unlike the other basic Combat Actions, Defend takes effect as soon as you enter the Action Phase; any attack taken while your Initiative Icon is still in the Action Phase will be blocked, and it will not push you back into the Decision Phase. Additionally, successfully blocking at least one hit will shorten the length of your next Decision Phase, advancing you to about one third of the way through instead of starting from the beginning. Defend’s speed is equal to that of the Balanced Strike.

Care should be taken however, as Defend only blocks the damage up to your current Ward, meaning it becomes progressively weaker as the fight continues and you take damage. It also does not prevent all Wounds, so should your Ward get completely reduced, consider fleeing the combat encounter.

Flee

Your last resort, Flee, lets you escape the combat and, hopefully, fight another day. However, keep in mind that fleeing is not instantaneous. To successfully escape, your Initiative Icon must reach the end of the Action Phase, and taking any hit before that will push you back into the Decision Phase. After fleeing, you will be inflicted with the Status Effect "Wounded Confidence", which increases your Burden by 2 for a while. Fleeing will also not stop Muggers from stealing your possessions.

Foe Behaviour

The foes you meet in your travels all have different behaviours. Here are some categories of foes that have their own unique interaction during combat:

Duelists

Currently most NPCs available for duelling are Wardens. Duelists are not hostile and will not initiate combat until you do. Since they do not battle out of malice and do it as a form of practice, you will not faint and lose Life Petals if defeated, thus giving a safe environment to get used to practicing the combat system. Duels are fought to the "first blood", therefore all combatants will only have one Health point. All other combat statistics, such as Speed, Ward and Force, remain unchanged during duels, allowing you to experience the full range of combat mechanics while focusing on refining your skills without the risk of major setbacks.

If you win or lose a duel, you will get unique dialogue from the duellist, but you will not receive any Loot.

Hostile

You may encounter various hostile NPCs on your travels, especially during the night. These include thieves, thugs, wild predators and even evil spirits. NPCs who are Hostile will attempt to initiate combat immediately when approached, which will be indicated by them taking an aggressive stance and a combat ring centered on them appearing on the ground. If the player doesen't leave the ring in time, combat will start. Unlike in duels, combatants will have 3 Health Points and losing in combat will mean losing a Life Petal. Hostile NPCs rarely fight alone; even if it seems like there is just one thug threatening you, there might be more just some distance away and they will join their ally once the combat starts. They will also never flee from combat, no matter how outmatched or how outnumbered they are.

Muggers

A Mugger demanding payment.

Some Hostile NPCs are classified as Muggers. Should the player's party be defeated or flee from combat with Muggers, some items will be stolen from their inventory. Muggers always steal four random items, and these can include multiple copies of the same item. The items' Trade Value, position in the inventory, or whether they are marked as favourites has no effect on whether they will be stolen or not. Items stored in pockets will never be stolen; however, if a pocketed item is kept in the inventory, it may be taken along with all the items inside its pockets. If the player has had their items stolen, it will be indicated by a Status Effect called "Got Mugged".

Often, Muggers will demand a toll to be paid before initiating combat. Once a Mugger is approached, they will walk toward the player and demand a toll of items. This triggers a unique, time-limited trade interface, which displays the demanded value of the toll and a countdown timer. The specific value of this toll depends on the type of Mugger and the total Trade Value of all items in the player's inventory, with the demanded toll potentially being as high as half of the player's total Trade Value. If the player agrees to pay by offering items with a combined value greater than the demanded toll, they are let go without further conflict. However, if the player refuses to pay or the timer runs out, they will be forced into combat with the Mugger.

Provoked Attackers

Some NPCs will not be immediately Hostile when approached, but will become hostile if you initiate Combat or if you affect the environment in some other way. They act alot like Duelists, however they will not hold back; the player will lose a life petal should they be defeated, but they won't have any of their items stolen. Provoked Attackers are often much stronger than the usual hostile NPCs, so care should be taken before challenging or otherwise angering them.

Violent Spirits

Some Spirits are Hostile on sight. Some spirits are only visible if you have a way of Seeing the dead, but even if you cannot see them, they can initiate combat with you if they are hostile. The specifics of fighting Violent Spirits are currently unknown, and this guide will be updated once the player is able to fight spirits that require special means to see them.

Miscellaneous

Being in the beginnings of Early Access, Combat at this moment is still very buggy.