Combat

Combat 

Combat in Star Wars Galaxies is as easy as double-clicking on a target and initiating the auto-combat loop. However, the combat system also offers a great deal of depth. In fact, to truly master combat, you must learn how to evaluate your targets, take advantage of your surroundings, and use special abilities. Additionally, it' s important to understand the different types of damage in the game.

Targeting

Targeting simply means selecting an object. You can target nearly anything in the game, including furniture, terminals and, of course, dangerous enemies.

CYCLING TARGETS

You can manually target an enemy (or ally) using the mouse. Simply single-click on your desired target, and brackets will appear.

You can cycle through available attackable targets using the TAB and SHIFT+ TAB keys. Cycling starts at the closest attackable target and moves outward, and will only cycle through targets that are currently in view.

As you cycle, brackets will appear around your potential targets. If you are currently attacking something, however, brackets will remain around your current opponent so that you always know whom you are fighting.

To shift your attack focus from your current opponent to another potential target, use the Combat Target action. You can also double-click on a new target, or select Attack from the radial menu on your intended target.

Initiating Combat

Starting combat is very simple: you can either double-click on your target or choose Attack from the targeted creature 's radial menu (to access the radial menu, move your cursor onto your target and press and hold the MOUSE 1 button). You can also begin combat by using a special move.

KEYS FOR QUICK COMBAT

Using keyboard shortcuts is the easiest way to initiate combat. You can do the following:

Strike the TAB key until you have selected your intended target.

Strike your auto-attack Function key; or open the radial menu with the ~ key, and then hit 1 to select Attack.

Combat HUD

Once you initiate combat, new elements will appear on your HUD.

1. Combat Icon: Crossed lightsabers indicate you' re actually in combat.

2. Target Name: The name of the creature, NPC, or enemy player that you' re currently attacking.

3. Target' s Posture: Displays whether the target is standing, kneeling, or prone.

4a- 4b. Target' s HAM Bars: A target' s Health, Action, and Mind. The HAM bars reappear over the target' s head ( 4b). Creatures and most other non- player enemies die when any one of their HAMbars reaches 0. Some objects, such as lairs and other structures, only have a single Health bar.

5. Target' s State(s): Display area for any states (such as Blind, Dizzy, or Berserk) affecting your enemy. Note that some states impair your enemy, while others make your enemy more formidable. Eventually, you' ll want to learn the effects of every state.

6. Combat Queue: Lists actions your character is about to perform. Whenever you attempt to use a special combat action, change postures or use special equipment ( like a grenade), those moves appear in the Combat queue before actually occurring in the game. In the meantime, you' ll continue to auto- attack.

7. Peace Button: Ends combat. You can also type /peace in your Chat Input bar.

8. Clear Queue: Completely clears your Combat queue. You can also type /clear in your Chat Input bar.

9. Accuracy Modifier: A modifier applied to your attempts to hit your target.

10. Damage: Represents damage to you or your target. They are color-coded to correspond with your HAM bars ( Red for Health, Green for Action, and Blue for Mind).

11. Difficulty (or Con) Icon: Indicates the target' s toughness, in comparison to your character' s skills.

Targeting Bracket: Surrounds whatever entity you are currently attacking. When the enemy moves off screen, you' ll see a red arrow pointing you toward your target (not visible on screenshot).

AUTO-ATTACK

Once you initiate an attack, you automatically begin auto- attacking. You will attack your target using whatever weapon you have equipped (you' ll attack with your fists and feet if you don' t have a weapon readied). You will continue attacking until your target is killed or you are incapacitated.

NOTE: You do not need to continually click on a target to keep attacking.

You can also end combat by typing /peace in your Chat Input bar, or clicking on the icon.

AUTO-DEFEND

If any enemy attacks you, you will automatically counterattack to defend yourself.

EVALUATING ENEMIES

Whenever you target a creature, NPC or another player, you will see a small starburst icon next to the target' s onscreen HAM bars. This icon is color-coded to let you know if the target is too easy or too difficult for you to defeat in combat, as follows:
 * Green: Well below your skill level, and very easy to defeat. You' ll receive very small XP rewards for targets that Con green for you.
 * Blue: Slightly below your skill level. Blue targets will put up a fight, but you should win nearly all of these battles. But be warned: if you take on two or three Blue targets, you could find yourself in serious trouble.
 * White: Equal to your relative toughness. Defeating such a target will be difficult and may be impossible if you rely on auto-attack. However, defeating enemies that Con white for you provide larger XP rewards.
 * Yellow: Slightly above your skill level. You should avoid such fights unless you have superior weaponry, incredible tactics, a supply of healing devices (stimpacks), or a few friends nearby.
 * Red: Well above your skill level. Red targets are incredibly dangerous and will almost always defeat (and most likely kill) you, unless you' re part of a much larger and more powerful group.

You can gain more detailed information about your target's relative strength by typing /con in the Chat Input bar.

Postures

A posture is your character' s stance in combat. Postures impact both your attack modifiers and the attack modifiers of your enemy.
 * Standing : Your character is only moderately accurate with ranged weapons, but provides a good target for enemies with ranged weapons.  NOTE : Standing is the default posture; it does not apply any modifiers to your accuracy.
 * Kneeling : Your character becomes more accurate with ranged weapons and presents a smaller target, but you are far less mobile and more vulnerable to melee attacks. While kneeling, you receive bonuses to your Accuracy Modifier when using ranged weapons. At the same time, any opponents with ranged weapons receive a negative modifier, while those attacking you with melee weapons receive a positive modifier.
 * Prone : The most effective posture for ranged combat. The prone position significantly increases accuracy and decreases your chance of being hit by ranged weapons. Unfortunately, your movement is slowed to a crawl, and you are extremely vulnerable to melee attacks. When prone, you receive large bonuses to your Accuracy Modifier when using ranged weapons. Any enemy attacking you with a ranged weapon suffers a significant negative modifier to hit. Enemies using melee weapons enjoy a significant positive modifier. In addition, if an enemy closes to melee range, you will need to change to a kneeling or standing posture to continue attacking.

You can change postures by using the corresponding Function keys, clicking on the Toolbar icons, or typing /stand, /kneel or /prone into your Chat Input bar.

Melee Combat Vs Ranged Combat

Combat in Star Wars Galaxies relies heavily on the use of ranged weapons, such as blasters and blaster rifles. However, characters can also use melee weapons, including vibroaxes and swords. Each type of combat has different types of advantages and disadvantages.

The simple fact that you can hit your target from a distance gives ranged combat a significant advantage over melee combat. Also, when fleeing an enemy with a ranged weapon, you can continue to attack. However, those characters using ranged weapons are extremely vulnerable to melee attacks. A character with a vibroaxe will quickly incapacitate a character with a blaster rifle, if he is able to get close. In general, those who use ranged weapons will need to avoid getting too close to enemies wielding melee weapons.

Special Moves

Special moves are combat maneuvers that you can use to improve your effectiveness during a battle, cause specific forms of damage, or impose damaging states onto your enemy. You gain special moves by learning new skills in the game. You can review your special moves in the combat portion of your Abilities screen (CTRL+ A keys). Any special move can be assigned to a Function key (F1- F12 ) by dragging its icon into the toolbar. When you initiate combat, your toolbar will automatically switch to theCombat tab for you.

All special moves have "costs " associated with them. . When you use a special move, it will drain from one of your three HAM bars. If the specific HAM bar is already too low, you won' t be able to perform the specified action ( and you will receive a message telling you such).

THE COMBAT QUEUE

The Combat queue shows each special action you will attempt to perform on your target, in the order in which they will be performed. When you do a special move, it appears in the queue to be executed at the next opportunity. If you enter actions quickly, they will stack up in the queue before occurring after appropriate delays.

There are two buttons under the queue itself. The Peace button stops your standard attack (although your enemy is likely to keep attacking you), while the Clear Queue button cancels all the queued actions.

GENERAL COMBAT SPECIAL MOVES

The special moves, which you learn through gaining skills, provide you tactical advantages in combat. Special moves are just that; special things you do periodically to try and gain an upper hand. All combat special moves have an attribute cost, either in Heath, Action or Mind, so you can' t use them indefinitely.

You can use a special move by dragging its icon from the Abilities screen (CTRL+ A keys) and hitting the appropriate Function key. Alternately, you can type the special move' s name in your Chat Input bar ( /berserk, for example). The typed commands for each special move are listed in both your Skills (CTRL+ S keys) and Abilities screens.

Grenades, Rocket Launchers, and Other Weapons

Several weapons, like grenades and rocket launchers, are limited-use weapons that can be thrown or fired in combat. To use a grenade or rocket launcher, you must have an enemy targeted for combat.

There are actually two methods for throwing grenades or firing rocket launchers:

Prior to combat, drag a grenade or rocket launcher into your toolbar to assign it to a Functionkey (F1- F12 ). Once in combat, you can hit the corresponding Function key to throw the grenade or fire a rocket.

Open your Inventory, move the cursor over to the weapon you want to select, click and hold theMOUSE 1 button to access the weapon 's radial menu, and then select either Throw or Fire

Damage

When you' re injured in combat, you take damage to one of your Primary Attributes ( Health, Action, or Mind). Your attributes regenerate over time or can be healed by anyone with the proper healing skills. Damage to both you and your target is displayed as colored, floating numbers representing one of yourHAM bars ( red damage numbers indicate damage to your Health pool, for example). In some instances, damage will affect multiple pools, in which case the damage number will be a blend of colors. A white number indicates simultaneous damage to all pools.

INCAPACITATION 

If any of your three primary attributes drops to 0 or below, you become incapacitated. Your character is not dead, but merely unable to act until you regenerate or receive healing. A Revival meter will appear onscreen telling you how long you must wait until your character recovers.

You can be killed if your opponent decides to perform a deathblow ( some creatures will leave you alone if you' re incapacitated; others will definitely deal the lethal final attack).

Your enemy automatically dies as soon as one of their HAM bars is reduced to 0. You do not need to deal a deathblow, except when fighting another player.

STRUCTURES 

Many times during combat, you' ll be required to attack structures of some kind: a tent where Tusken Raiders live, a lair housing womp rats, a wall surrounding an important structure, or a power generator, perhaps. Structures don' t have HAM bars. Instead, a structure has a single, gray Durability bar. When a structure' s durability is reduced to 0, it is destroyed.

WOUNDS 

A "wound " is a special kind of damage to one of your Primary Attributes. Wound damage does not heal over time, and will reduce your effectiveness in combat. A wound basically handicaps an attribute, making it impossible to regenerate that attribute to its maximum value.

Wound damage can only be healed by characters with the appropriate skills and equipment ( Entertainers, Medics, Doctors and Combat Medics, specifically), and only in special locations (such as a cantina, campsite or hospital) (Go here for more information about healing wounds).

BATTLE FATIGUE

The final type of damage is called "battle fatigue." When you have been badly wounded in multiple campaigns, you may begin suffering from battle fatigue. Essentially, battle fatigue occurs after you accumulate a significant number of wounds. The more Battle Fatigue points you have, the more difficult it becomes to heal your other wounds.

Battle Fatigue points are not removed when your wounds are healed; they can only be erased by relaxing in the company of skilled Entertainers. When you find an Entertainer performing, target that character, access their radial menu and select Listen or Watch ( or type /listen or /watch). The longer you spend enjoying the performance, the more Battle Fatigue points you will lose. (Go here for more information about healing battle fatigue).

COMBAT STATES

States are another important component of combat. They provide you with short- term positive or negative modifiers when fighting, or cause other effects, such as an inability to move. Most states are somehow connected to special moves and abilities. If you fall victim to a Flurry Shot, you will suffer the Dizzy state for a short time. In most instances, when you enter a state the State icon will appear next to your HAM bars. During combat, you should keep an eye on your own states and those of your opponent, as they greatly affect how a fight might progresses. States can prevent you from executing different commands, alter how much damage you take, protect you from or make you vulnerable to particular kinds of attacks, and affect how well you can hit a target. All states are temporary.
 * Aggressive : Increases chance of delivering a successful counterattack and decreases chance of getting hit in combat.
 * Aiming : Provides a bonus to hit on the next attack.
 * Alert : Counters Surprise Attack special move.
 * Berserk : Provides a bonus to hit, faster attacks and damage bonus, but also applies a penalty to defense.
 * Blindness : Applies penalties to both offense and defense.
 * Dizziness : Creates chance of falling down when changing postures.
 * Evading : Provides chance of dodging an attack.
 * Immobilized : Prevents movement.
 * In Combat : Indicates that the character is involved in combat.
 * Incapacitation : Character is incapacitated (any HAM pool has dropped to 0) and is vulnerable to a deathblow.
 * Intimidated : Increases chance of being hit by attacks.
 * Rallied : Provides both a bonus to hit and a bonus to defense.
 * Stunned : Applies penalties to defense.
 * Taking Cover : Provides defense bonuses.
 * Tumbling : Provides defensive bonuses while changing postures.

Buffs

Buffs are short-term bonuses to your attributes. In Star Wars™ Galaxies, buffs mostly come in the form of foodstuffs or stimpacks. When you eat a piece of fruit or receive a stimpack, one or more of your attributes will temporarily increase. The effect of a buff isn' t instantaneous; it will take you a short time to reach your new maximum.

You activate a buff by double-clicking on it in your Inventory, and then choosing the Eat or Use from the radial menu, or by dragging the item onto your toolbar and hitting the corresponding Function key.

It' s very important to note that you can only use a limited number of buffs at any one time. On your Character Sheet (CTRL+ C keys), you' ll see Food and Drink bars. (NOTE: When the Food bar is full, you can no longer consume food buffs; likewise for the Drink bar.)

Armor In Star Wars Galaxies, you have the option to wear various forms of armor. In general, armor absorbs damage from attacks to specific areas of your body. However, there is always a cost associated with wearing armor. Each piece of armor has a different negative effect on one of your secondary statistics. Depending upon the type of armor you wear and its location, you may have great difficulty regenerating your Primary Attributes. If donning a piece of armor will reduce your secondary statistic to 0 or below, you won' t be able to wear that armor. In addition, some species can' t wear certain armor pieces.

To wear a piece of armor you own, just double-click on it in your Inventory window. If you review your Character Sheet (CTRL+ C keys), you will notice that one or more of your attributes has been reduced. In general, those armors capable of absorbing the most damage are also the armors that apply the greatest attribute penalties.

Looting

After combat, you have the opportunity to loot any enemies you have slain. To loot an enemy, double-click on the corpse or press and hold the MOUSE 1 button until the radial menu appears, and then select Loot or Loot All.

The Loot option will reveal all the items the corpse is currently holding. You can pick and choose which items you want to actually take by double-clicking on an item or choosing Pick Up from the radial menu. Loot All simply transfers all of your opponent' s items into your Inventory.

There may be instances in which you can't loot a particular enemy. Looting rights are granted to the player who did the most damage to a creature. Also, you can never loot the corpse of another player. However, you can bring another player' s corpse to them, but you must have permission to do so. To move someone' s corpse, single-click on the corpse and type /drag.

To give another player permission to move your corpse, type /consent [player' s first name] in your Chat Input bar. To revoke these privileges, type /unconsent [player' s first name].