Strategy & Tactics

Small Fries

Grenades

Riggers

Shotgun guys

Riflemen

Conjurers

Spirits

Melees

Mages

Strategy is about using battles to decide the war, tactics are about using units to win a battle {Carl von Clausewitz}.Strategy first: does it have to be a battle? The objective should be clear. If the objective isn't killing the opponents (but "to escape" for instance) it is rather inefficient to spent one's whole ressources on a killing spree.The usual approach to a fight should be to first render yourself invincible {Sunzi}. Not to fight would be best yet that's not always possible. The next best means is mobility. By moving around you can divide the enemy into those that see you and those that don't. You never want to fight more opponents than you can instantly take down. You may be able to fight while retreating if you outmaneuver the enemy or have more AP (Jazz). Cram can decide fights not least by getting away from danger. These means may allow you to not be attacked.If you cannot find a solution like that you need to deal with being attacked. That we meet with Damage Reduction and cover. As it is not sufficient to render us invincible we'll need to either get away or kill the key opponents (the mages!) to end their attacks.He who arrives first is at full strength while the other, arriving late, enters a fight exhausted already {Sunzi}. Ambushes are very powerful so let the enemy follow you and prepare, instead of engaging them while they are prepared.AP damage is very effective yet the means to that end are few. AP damage prevents enemies from attacking you. It also flushes enemies from cover if they get stunned (0 AP). It is a major advantage of a Samurai that he causes AP damage (and/or may have Pommel Strike), enabling him to straight out attack the AP with a regular attack. A Marksman almost always wants a Taser. It is a generic ranged weapon w/o any weapon skill applying.Armor is simply subtrated from the damage taken.Penetration reduces armor by its value forattacker, while stripped armor remains reduced forattacker.Damage reduction can't be penetrated or stripped yet otherwise works like extra armor.Magic damage is just damage and works against armor exactly like physical damage does.In many games armor gives a % dmg reduction, but SR:DF has a flat reduction.For one thing it means armor can reduce (low) damage to 0.One could say armor gets more valuable per point the higher it goes.Armor is very good at preventing low damage and not so good at blocking high damage attacks.Consequently armor is fallible to critical strikes.When 20 damage hit 4 armor it'll cost 16 hp, that's 20-4=16. If the same weapon's crit hits 4 armor it is 20x2-4=36. In other words: The extra damage of criticals is not reduced by armor, because the armor is "used up" already. That's different compared to a % dmg reduction and renders crits very powerful.It follows, that high armor does not allow moving out of cover (opening oneself up to being critted). On the contrary: Those two defensive measures synergize too well to waste one's armor in the open.For the same reason crits (high weapon skill + flanking) are very important for Pistols and SMGs due to their low base damage.Enemy armor increases over the game, so penetration / armor stripping / crits become more important the later it goes. Moreover, the final is on a timer. We can't just stick to slow defensive tactics in the final, although that works great for the rest of the game.Enemy damage also goes up, in fact mostly outscaling your armor. Therefor Armor is strongest early, when opponents don't have the means to tackle it yet.The lot of our enemies are. SMGs and Pistols are mostly absorbed by our Damage Reduction. Their only chance is to crit. As long as you've got cover and the B21 you can ignore them. This is the main effect of the Basic 21 and allows focusing down the few remaining major threats. If you don't have cover these guys will still crit you and deal damage.There fly a lot ofaround in SR:DF. The opponents only use them if you group up, so they could hit 2+ occupied squares. That should never be an issue in a Solo. Either they never throw or you have a companion around - easy enough. Renders Grenadiers small fries really.mostly bring weak Drones and small weapons. They are "multiplied small fries", with the opportunity to kill them all at once (kill the Rigger - down go the Drones). Not a priority. Never attack Drones but either ignore them or kill the Rigger.can be a threat. Their crits are fearsome. Even w/o crits they can deal damage. They are however not able to reliably deal high damage to you if you are in cover. Expect to have all hands full so we'll often skip on focussing a "potential threat" in favor of a more immediate danger. Only once the Shotgun guy is close enough to flank you in daredevil fashion he'll be just such an immediate danger: a flank can outright kill you.are a major threat should they use Full Auto. That's rare yet very dangerous. A Full Auto will always flush you from cover, thus turningother enemy into a threat. They'll all hit and potentially crit you. These can be defused by -1 AP loss, e.g. a Shotgun's Kneecap or running around a corner (so they use 1+ AP to follow). The only Rifle guy that always fires Full Autos is the one in the last fight of the Humanis run. Even without the Full Auto Rifles hit well at any distance and may deal reliable low damage through cover. Thus these guys need to go rather sooner than later.you outplay. Flee the Spirit if necessary and see it turn on its creator. You can also stun the Conjurer after he summoned to banish the Spirit. That said they often make for one explosive turn with an Elemental hitting you for major damage before you banish it. That is to be accounted for as it is not always possible to prevent. Focussing them down at the start is not a priority but an option. On opportunity kill him before he summons (prevents their one turn of glory). They often charge in right before summoning a Spirit. That's usually the opportunity to take them down, should you decide not to run. Their normal attacks are effective against armor, thus they pose a medium threat even after their Spirit is gone.are helpful eventually. Only a true Summoner, a Creator, can control his spirits. Everybody else's spirits go wild quickly. Wild Spirits attack the target easiest to hit (often the closest) when starting their move. Play around that and wild spirits are your friends! There are however free spirits later on that need to be taken down - those are among the most dangerous opponents.Spirits are very strong and can land massive hits even through Damage Reduction. Melee Spirits like the Earth Elemental are especially brutal because they also deal massive AP damage. Best don't fight Spirits.may deal AP damage and bypass your cover, allowing criticals. Criticals deal more AP damage as well and may easily KO you, which is the second worst state to be in after dead. They flush you, empowering ranged attackers. Singular Melees are usually priority to take down or else run away from. Melees without AP damage however are either grouped or suicidal. Groups of Melees always offer a chance to not get attacked by all of them, to have them block each others. Getting surrounded spells death. Some opponents may opt for ranged combat if they are capable of both - which is usually preferrable. Since Melees have to get close you may want to use a Taser or the Pommel Strike to keep them stunned while wearing them down.... Geek the Mage! 1st priority. They bring Strip Armor to lower your Armor against everybody else, for 1 AP. That's on top of high damage spells brute forcing their way through our defenses. A being like that can't exist: kill the abomination.