Tactical pause
Though combat will run in real time mode you will have an opportunity to use a feature generally known as a
"tactical pause". It will give you some time to think, analyze the current situation, make up your mind with commands and use your resources wisely.
However you won't be able to do just everything at once using this little helper - the number of actions you can perform will be directly connected with the amount of
action points you have. APs can be spent to immediately heal your character and his team with meds, for energy shields activation, accessing your inventory etc.
It will take some time to restore your action points so you won't be able to use tactical pause non-stop. The maximum amount of APs of your character will depend on his parameters and traits.
Sure, you will be able to switch between your NPCs and give them orders even without ever using the pausing mechanism. This way however you should be ready to feel the consequences of someone firing right in your face while you are trying to heal. Ouch!
Combat statuses
Any conflict can cause all kinds of outcomes that might make your character suffer in different ways:
Exhaustion - this penalty goes active whenever endurance indicator of your character drops to zero. This status has a temporary influence on the following things:
- the damage you do to others is decreased
- the accuracy of your long-range weaponry drops
- you can't sprint
Disorientation - whenever you get hit during the close combat your character might feel some additional negative effects of this damage. While this status is active your fire rate drops, so the best idea is to deal with anyone who is close to you before aiming at distant enemies.
The other interesting thing that might happen to your character while being hurt is
interruption which will interrupt (well wasn't that obvious) your current action like using healing items, taking aimed shots etc. It can be ignored if your durability parameter is developed enough. However chances to do that decrease if the damage is too high.
Critical condition - if your character's health drops too low you will lose ability to perform any actions with his help at all as he will be in coma. To fix that you'll need another NPC with a proper item in his inventory.
You will be pleased to know that your enemies will also experience critical conditions… and you will be able to "
finish" them. The execution animation depends on the weapon you are currently equipped with.
Other combat aspects
There is a list of things that you won't be able to do while fighting, including the following:
- traveling between locations and visiting global map
- saving your game progress
- talking and performing barter
- building a camp
All these activities will be available for you again after you kill all enemies around. The other alternative is try to hide from your foes and stay out of their sight at least for some time.
Hopefully this was an enjoyable read, as we really enjoyed to prepare this update for you. Until next time!
