I can' remember who it was (it was a recent thread, so you can poke around), but there was some good advice posted recently, which I tried. The key to understanding the combat system is understanding how time works. Pressing '.' waits 10 "ticks". Pressing ',' waits 1 "tick". If you stand next to an adversary, you can press 'A' and see what they are doing this 'tick'. There are 3 general phases: recovering from attacking, doing nothing (which only takes 1 tick), and about to attack you. The higher the observation skill you have, the more information you will get.
Unless the adversary is very far away from you, you never want to use the '.' key (unless you are absolutely sure they can't hit you). Each of your moves takes time (X numbers of ticks) and each of their moves takes time (Y numbers of ticks). You can measure how long their moves take by simply pressing 'A', and if they are not attacking you then pressing 'ESC' and then ',' to wait a tick. You can repeat until they are about to attack you. Then you can dodge. Against reasonably unskilled opponents (especially wildlife), this will work every time.
Once you get the hang of the amount of time it takes, you will see that after you dodge, the opponent will sometime/often be in the 'recovering from attacking' state. This usually gives you 5 or so ticks to attack. With the 'A' attack, you can choose an appropriate target. Then you can use 'u' for a fast attack and if you have a speedy weapon you can often get your attack in before they can get their attack in.
There are a few areas that are useful to concentrate on -- legs/feet, lower body, head, arms, depending on the scenario. Legs/feet, when hit will often cause the opponent to fall. This will slow down their movement. Lower body can make them nauseous which slows their attack speed by a lot (in half?). Head can stun them or knock them unconscious (slow their speed/put them completely at your unlikely mercy). Arms can cause them to drop weapons, shields. Doing damage also invokes penalties in their attacks and makes you harder to hit.
If you find that the opponent is parrying or blocking your attacks, you can choose the 'x', "precise" attacks. These come at a speed penalty so be careful. However, you can usually get your attack in. Normally you want to target the arms to disarm the opponent.
Using this technique it is fairly easy to build up your stats without having to resort to power-levelling techniques. Again, the idea is to think defensively, dance around and only actually attack when you have the maximum number of ticks as well as a good strategic location to hit. It's useful to carry a shield for the times when you attack and you are just a bit too slow (so the opponent gets an attack in before you can dodge).
As for starting skills, I recommend concentrating on Fighter, Dodging, and Observation. You should be at least novice in Shield and Armor User. More points in Shield increases the likelihood of getting a shield, but you can often pick one up fairly easily. It's important to get Armour early and then dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge. This will build up your Armour User skill pretty quickly and then you can progressively add more armour.
Also, read the Kisat Dur thread (really, it should be required reading for adventure mode). And finally, don't get overconfident -- especially against multiple opponents. If anyone gets a single lucky shot in, it can be ultimately fatal. Running away can save your life.
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Topic: Best way to train fighting skills? (Read 4738 times)