Part 2: Update #2 It's murdering time

Let's do A, B and D

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Tom: Let's try and make friends with the sysop.






Tom: Oh.
Tom: What about some better armor then?
TMF: I would like something better than my fists to protect me.





Tom: Oh.
Tom: What about Cybil then?






Cybil: I have a task that could earn you 5,000 credits. Are you interested?
SHIT YES!!!
Cybil: A piece of personal property was stolen from me by a former associate. He attempted to flee to Progeny on foot but hadn't gotten far when a group of nomads cut his trip short and relieved him of the package and his life. I have communicated with Boz, the leader of the nomads, and he has agreed to return the item in exchange for a microdisk.
Cybil: I will give you 1,000 credits now and the rest when you return the item, take it or leave it. Do you accept the offer?
Tom: Sure.
Cybil: Here is the microdisk. I have no more to discuss with you. Good day.
Tom: Well at least I can buy some guns now!
TMF: But what about my armor?



Tom: Have a rifle instead.



Tom: Excellent, our first catch of the day.



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So we get a choice whether to attack, for passive npc groups like citizens this entirely our choice. Other npc groups don't give you a choice (unless you have the skills to talk yourself out of it.)
You also get a choice of tactical or not tactical. In every case you want to choose tactical, as the alternative, as far as I've experienced over the years, simply weighs up the groups stats/weapons/armor and randomly inflicts casualties until one side is dead (usually yours).



We get a topdown view of the battlefield, representing the grid-like section of the surroundings.



And then for each character we get a choice of actions. The number of actions per turn being determined by agility iirc. This means choosing use item, then selecting the weapon from the list of everything harmful in the characters inventory, then cycling through ALL opponents (in line of sight or not) to find the one you want, then repeating this for however many actions the character gets per turn.
For close/high risk battles this is almost a must, but for the moment we can basically stomp our way through letting the AI do its sometimes braindead thing.



For every character.



And then confirm that yes, this is what we actually wanted to do.



You have several results when you shoot.

• Nothing displayed = missed completely
  
• Grazed = armor deflected (I think)
  
• Injured = solid hit but they still have stamina left (I think)
  
• Impared = solid hit and they have no stamina left (I think)
  
• Killed = they dead.

Which leads me into how health works.
Health is an average of Might, Agility and Stamina. When Health gets to zero they die.
Stamina is basically a buffer before Might and Agility start getting damaged.
When your Stamina is gone your character starts losing the other two, which radically affects their usefulness in battle.



Tom's revolver can chew through these guys pretty easily. Sidenote: Most weapons don't require ammo.
Tom: COME GET SOME!



Really easily.



But rifles are better.




Tom: Don't bring melee weapons to a gun fight.



Tom: Time to flog the loot.




TMF: This stuff is still dripping with blood.
Tom: Their sign says "No questions asked"
Clerk: You're not very bright are you?

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This is what it looks like when you're about to have a random encounter. If you walk forward when you see this you'll get the <X> and friends is watching you message.
If you wait they go past and you can continue unmolested. The problem is that they start from slightly off screen, so if you're rushing through the map you'll end up running into them.
The alternative is to take it one step at a time and take like 100 times as long to get anywhere.



Tom: More victims.







Tom: More loot.



Tom: Hey there fellow mugger and friends.
Sidenote: "and friends" means a vaguely leveled group of related NPCs.



Tom: I guess they don't want me mugging people on their turf.




Tom: That's fine



TMF: Excuse me while I killsteal.



Tom: Ouch.



Tom: That seems like a long waiting line.



Tom: Time to hit the gym.




Tom: Okay maybe later then.



Tom: Oh awesome I loved that movie



Tom: Uh oh.



Tom: Time to establish an alibi. "No officer I wasn't trying to break into the War Games Room, I was busy killing a thug, look I've even got the blood covered loot to prove it!"



Tom: Well I did, but I sold it.



TMF: You'd think we'd run out of people to brutally murder at some point.
Tom: I SURE HOPE NOT.




Tom: Finally, some people we can help.






TMF: I suppose it was the humane thing to do.



TMF: Tom, you remember that city-wide announcement?



Tom: Oh that's what that was.



TMF: Maybe we should follow the pink footsteps?





Tom: Nope let's go here instead.





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And here we see the copy protection in action.

But we'll save the EXPENSIVE gun training for later.



TMF: I finally get a flak jacket.

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So that's Primus explored, Cybil visited and some pretty big clues as to where the specimen thieves are.
However to do either of our current "quests" I'm going to have to grind the characters up in both skills and equipment.
Fake edit: Okay I've played through the next update already and long story short we're not in Primus anymore.