Combat System

Masters of Raana features an advanced combat system where you’re able to use many different strategies to overcome your enemies.

Movement and Distance

Each participant can place themselves in either Distant or Close combat. Distant combat is better for certain weapons, such as rifles, while a shotgun and a handgun are more efficient in Close combat. Melee weapons require the wielder to enter Close combat before he's able to use them.

Moving between Close combat and Distant combat takes up one action. Charging or Withdrawing makes you unable to fire or attack during the same round you’ve moved.

Having a Melee skill 80+ or Dexterity 80+ enables you to choose a Close starting position in the "combat room" - before the actual battle begins. (Little arrows will appear on the octagonal character portraits on the pre-combat screen if selecting starting range is an option for that character. Click on the arrow to change the range.)

Note that you cannot withdraw from fights once started.

Combat Actions

You can attack your enemy using either Ranged weapons or Melee weapons. It's possible to fire Ranged weapons from both Distant and Close combat, while Melee weapons are only usable in Close combat.

When firing a gun or crossbow, your Ranged weapon skill determines the chance to hit - modified by certain situations such as distance to the enemy, type of weapon, if you're mortally wounded, and so on.

When wielding close combat weapons such as fist, great sword or power katana, your chance to hit is partly determined by your Melee weapon skill, but is also modified by the target’s DEXTERITY (i.e., ability to dodge) and their armor's weight (how slow and encumbered they are).

There’s always a 5% chance to score a Critical hit. A critical hit seldom fails to hit its target, even if it’s an untrained girl’s fist aiming for a melee master’s face. The critical hit will cause an additional 20-ish points of damage on its target and raises the skill of whoever executed the attack by one point.

The type of weapon determines how much damage the enemy receives. Every weapon has a unique damage value that adds itself to a random dice roll (1-20). The attacker’s STRENGTH will also modify damage if he's using a melee weapon, meaning a weak girl will cause less injury than a normal man, and a strong warrior will, in many cases, deliver an even harder blow to his opponent. This is Damage Bonus, and a character starts receiving this bonus when his STRENGTH reaches 50.

Note also that many ranged weapons do different damage at different ranges, and this will be an important part of you choosing what range to get to for which character. If a weapon's damage value is given as xx/yy, xx is the damage at Distant range, and yy is the damage at Close range.

Special Actions: Power Strike, Aim and Hold

If choosing to make an attack rather than move, FIRST decide whether you want to make a special attack. There are two special attacks available to you and your followers. (*The exact effects will get tweaked as the game evolves, plus details may vary between different weapons and armors, so use this as a rough guide only.)

Power Strike

You sacrifice accuracy in favor of increased damage with a melee weapon. You take a reduced (-15%*) chance to hit, but get an extra damage dice (5-18*). Additionally, Slow melee weapons such as Sledgehammer and Great Sword do an extra +10 damage with a Power Strike, and +15 for a Great Axe.

Aim

You spend an action just aiming, sacrificing an attack, but when you do attack later it will be with increased chance to hit (+20%*) AND greater damage (+5-20*). Note: ·50 caliber rifles and grenade launchers do extra additional damage when Aimed, if fired from Distant range (+10, with a 1/3 chance of an extra + 5 or +35).

Notes

Both Power Strike and Aim help you punch through an armor’s Soak value, but they work differently. Aim improves your odds after a miss, yet only from Distant range. Power Strike can be used every round but still carries a chance of missing. Additional notes:

• You can hold an Aim.
• You can move while Aiming, allowing you to Aim at one range and use it at another.
• Aiming for more than one round provides no extra benefit.
• You can Aim a Power Strike.
• You can use Power Strike only with melee weapons.
• You can Aim with both melee and ranged weapons.
• You can use Power Strike only from Close range.

Combat Action Summary

Each character may perform one of the following actions each round:

Fire At Enemy — Make a ranged attack from either Close or Distant range.

Strike Enemy — Make a melee attack from Close range only.

Power Strike + Strike Enemy — Lower chance to hit but higher damage, without losing an action.

Aim — Skip an action to increase both hit chance and damage on your next attack.

Charge — Move to Close range, either to increase damage with certain ranged weapons or to enable a melee attack.

Pull Back — Move to Distant range, which can increase damage for some ranged weapons. You cannot make melee attacks from Distant range, although an enemy already in Close range can still strike you.

Hold — Skip an action without moving, attacking, or Aiming.

Note: In most cases, Aim is better than Hold. If you later attack, you will gain increased hit chance and damage. Hold is usually only needed if you have already Aimed and want to delay your attack for another round, or if the character simply wants to stay back and let others gain the combat experience.

Followers

Fighting alone can be difficult, especially when several enemies attack you at once. In the game, you can assemble a troop of up to five combatants, including yourself. If you own Slaves, you can equip them for whichever combat style you want them to train in. If that is not enough, or if you prefer to keep your slaves safe at home, you can also hire Mercenaries and add them to your force. Mercenaries require a one-time contract fee and a daily upkeep wage. These costs vary widely depending on equipment and skill, ranging from poorly equipped ruffians to near-invincible senior space marines.

Morale

• Followers who are Convicts suffer a −10 Chance to hit in combat if their Affection is Neutral or lower, unless their Health is 15 or lower.
• Followers with Affection level Soulmate or higher gain a +10 Chance to hit in combat.

Nervousness

Combatants (including enemies and the MC) with WILLPOWER below 5 (25 on Grimdark difficulty) have a 10 percent chance of becoming Nervous in combat, which inflicts a −50 Chance penalty for one round, unless at least one of their Ranged or Melee skills is 80 or higher. On the character screen, this may appear as a flat −10 Chance deduction.

Body Size

• Smaller Followers have fewer Health Points and are therefore more likely to be knocked down, but they are also slightly harder to hit. Enemies take a −10 Chance penalty when attacking Petite or Very Petite Followers from Distant range with a Ranged weapon.

Armor

Armor is a lifesaver. Almost every soldier and adventurer uses it – if they can afford it. Masters of Raana features several different types of armor, ranging from extra-light, low-tech padded armor to high-tech stealth suits and the nearly unobtainable, self-powered, environmentally sealed H.U.L.C. suits.

All armor has a unique value called Soak. The Soak value automatically absorbs part of the damage you receive from an opponent. The reduction is straightforward: a Heavy Leather Armor with a Soak value of 14 lowers the damage of every incoming hit by 14 points. Note that some melee weapons and many ranged weapons have the armor piercing property, allowing them to bypass part of this Soak value, typically reducing it by 12–20%.

Armors also have a Condition value. If you receive damage that penetrates your armor, the armor has a 20% risk of getting its Soak value decreased by a small amount. Make sure you repair your armor at an Armor store before heading out on adventures! A broken armor (Soak reaches 0) will be permanently removed from your inventory.

Armor is powerful protection, yet heavy armor has drawbacks. Wearing heavier armor makes you an easier target when attacked with melee weapons. All armor reduces the wearer’s DEXTERITY which makes dodging incoming attacks more difficult.

Ammunition

Ammunition is expensive in Masters of Raana, making the use of melee weapons a good alternative if you face smaller opponents or want to save your hard-earned cash.

Every weapon has a special type of ammunition that you can buy in most gun shops throughout Ikaanos. The Remington rifle uses .30-06 bullets, the shotgun 12-gauge shells, and the crossbow demand a supply of bolts. You spend ammunition every time you attack an opponent with a ranged weapon, and if you deplete your ammunition, the associated firearm becomes useless. Always make sure that you’re carrying at least a reliable combat knife as a backup!

Ammo count applies to the player and his slaves. Mercenaries always stock themselves with enough ammo if they use ranged weapons, so that's nothing the player needs to worry about.

Experience

When you or your slaves score a Critical hit, the weapon's related combat skill (Ranged or Melee) will immediately increase by 1. Another way to raise your Ranged and Melee skills is through training outside of actual combat. While at your house, check out the section Improve skills to learn more.

Death

Your slaves and mercenaries will never permanently die in combat, unless you choose "Iron Man" option (see below). When their health reaches zero, the unfortunate servant becomes incapacitated. An incapacitated slave or mercenary will however suffer a permanent -1 STR and -1 DEX penalty, unless resuscitated with the help of a Doctor's Kit.

The same applies to the player. An enemy cannot permanently kill you (but see below).

However, the damage to your physical attributes will take several weeks to recover from, and there’s also a high risk that the victors will plunder your valuable possessions. This makes combat dangerous while also removing immersion-breaking forced restarts from an earlier save if you lose a battle.

NOTE: If you choose Iron Man mode (Options > Game Settings > Page 2 > Mods) these penalties are doubled or quadrupled, and death is permanent below -20* Health Points (0 to -20* count as Unconscious). Characters going below -20* will be removed from the game.

* As with may other of the details of this game, the exact value of this variable is being tweaked as gameplay repercussions are balanced, so use this figure as a guide not an absolute.

Recoil and weapon speed

A weapon's recoil can negatively affect your ability to use it.

• None: Success chance modified by +10. This recoil state can only be achieved by using stabilizers or certain high-tech weapons.
• Low recoil: No modifications.
• Medium recoil: Success chance modified by -3 until Ranged weapon skill reaches 40.
• High recoil: Success chance modified by -6 until Ranged weapon skill reaches 70.

A melee weapon's speed can affect your enemy's ability to dodge an incoming attack.

• Fast: Success chance (Dodge) modified by -3.
• Medium: No modifications.
• Slow: Success chance (Dodge) modified by +5.

Environmental modifiers

Fighting in darkness, rain, strong wind or on the shifting deck of a ship in a storm all affect combat in various ways. Current implemented modifiers are as follows:

• Darkness (night time combats): -5
• Stormy, or Windy & Wet Weather: -10