===========================================================
SYNAPSE RUN — COMBAT
===========================================================
ATTACK starts a fight that runs on its own: you and your
target trade blows every few seconds until one of you goes
down, you FLEE, or you leave. You don't need to keep typing.
COMBAT COMMANDS
-----------------------------------------------------------
ATTACK <target> Start fighting a target (also KILL or K).
ATTACK another target to switch to it.
ASSIST <runner> Join another runner's fight.
GROUP Team up (GROUP INVITE / JOIN / LEAVE):
kill XP is split among the group in the
room, and kills count for everyone's
contracts.
GET ALL Pick up what a defeat leaves on the
floor. Items, credit chips and contract
items drop for anyone in the room to
take, so a group sorts out who gets
what. Contract items count once you
hold them. Loot nobody takes is gone
after about ten minutes.
SPECIAL Your discipline's signature move on the
next swing (Power Strike, Aimed Shot,
Overload). Costs energy; every few rounds.
TAUNT [<enemy>] Pull an enemy's attacks onto yourself for a
few rounds (energy, short cooldown). Save a
hurt friend, or tank a group boss (HELP
GROUPS).
WIMPY <percent> Auto-flee: try to run when a hit drops you
below that share of your HP (WIMPY 30).
WIMPY OFF turns it off. Same odds as FLEE.
CONSIDER <target> Size up a target: how the fight is likely
to go for you at your current health
FLEE About even odds of escaping through a
random exit. Failing gives your target a free
swing. FLEE <direction> picks the exit,
and walking out mid-fight counts as a flee.
A boss never stops you: walking away from
one always works.
Enemies you escape remember you for a few
minutes: come back and the fight resumes.
Wounds you leave on an enemy heal slowly
once the fight is over.
BIG ATTACKS
-----------------------------------------------------------
Tougher enemies sometimes wind up a big attack, and you see
it coming: "...DUCK — or take it." You have a couple of
rounds. One try per wind-up:
DUCK Throw yourself clear (Athletics helps,
Stealth a little). If it works, the big
attack hits nothing.
HACK Machines only: jam a spike into it. If it
works, the attack dies and the machine
locks up for a moment. Uses a spike.
Or take it — or FLEE before it lands.
HOW HITS WORK
-----------------------------------------------------------
New runners miss more than they hit against an even
match. Your aim improves with
every level and as your weapon discipline improves,
and better weapons add accuracy and damage. You fight with
the weapon you WIELD; armor you WEAR softens every hit.
Armor reduces the damage of every hit you take.
HOSTILES
-----------------------------------------------------------
Most enemies leave you alone until you ATTACK them. Some —
tagged (hostile — attacks on sight) — go for you as soon
as they see you. You get a moment's warning ("... spots
you and moves in to attack!"): leave the room then, or
stand and fight. Only one hostile engages you at a time.
TIPS FOR NEW RUNNERS
-----------------------------------------------------------
- Start on the Training Dummy Bots (Training Floor, west
of the Orientation Hub).
- Then take the maintenance stairwell DOWN from the
Meridian Commons plaza. The district pays a bounty on
the rats and drones in the Drainage Channel.
- There is no healing mid-fight. Go in healthy, and
FLEE if a fight turns against you.
- Heal at a MedLink station afterwards (see HELP HEALING).
- Type GUIDE any time to see your next step.
- Enemies tagged elite or boss are built for prepared
runners. CONSIDER them before you commit.
- A group boss is built for a party (HELP GROUPS).
DEATH AND RESPAWN
-----------------------------------------------------------
When your HP reaches 0 you wake at the Arrival Terminal
with a quarter of your health. You keep your gear and
credits, but every skill you've trained slips back one
training session, and you lose a tenth of your unspent
XP. A skill with no sessions toward its next rank drops
a rank instead, which can cost a level (see HELP
SKILLS). Runners at level 2 and below are protected.
Cybernetic enhancements are never lost.
===========================================================Need a starting point? Read your first steps in Meridian.