Chimeric's Combat system is one of the most in-depth and complex aspects of the site, which is really saying something! At its core, Combat fuses a turn-based RPG like Final Fantasy with a grid-based puzzle game like Bejewelled. Each Combat consists of two and a half rounds, where at least two combatants (and up to 9!) split into at least two parties (up to, incredibly, a 9-sided free-for-all!) and take turns making moves. Most Combat in the game is one or two pets against one or two enemy NPCs, but there's a lot of special events and challenges which provide more challenge for the die-hard Combat fans.
Each party in a Combat has one board that affects their side, as well as access to a shared board called The Field that represents the environment. Each unit in Combat is represented by a special tile on The Field, and can be moved around just like any other tile; tiles need to be within a certain range to affect eachother directly, and sometimes an accidental chain reaction can leave you much closer or further from your opponents than you'd like! Unit tiles also affect and are affected by the tiles directly around them, so for instance an Unmoored Unit might spread a stack of Scoured to the tiles in their wake as they move, or may be cleansed of status effects by moving through tiles under the effect of a Rain spell (namely Droplet, Drizzle, Downpour, or Deluge; spells granting Slip don't cleanse status effects unless otherwise stated).
In addition to Spellcasting and movement, pets can also use certain items and perform Techniques pulled from a deck called their Technique Deck. The Technique Deck semi-randomly pulls options based on the pet's current physical position (ie airborne, grounded, submerged or burrowing, etc.), equipment, distance from the nearest enemy combatant(s), certain Spellcasting Improvements, pet Form / Style, and health of the pet, in roughly descending order of relevance. For instance, a flying Eegee may have "Divebomb", "Spear Throw", and "Evasive Maneuvers" as the three options available to it on a given turn, or it may get unlucky and draw just "Evasive Maneuvers", "Stealth Mode", and "Slip Away" with no ways to deal damage. You can modify which types of Techniques your pet is most likely to draw by going to their petpage or their page on your Combat hub, but sometimes you'll still be surprised by very rare or niche Techniques; if you draw a Technique you've never seen before, check the Tech Deck topic on the Combat forums and see if it's been catalogued! New Techniques are added to the game with no announcements all the time, so there may well be a crazy new Technique that only you and your Burrowing, Axe-Wielding Space Vhers can discover!
Players familiar to RPGs and other MMOs often ask how to build a "meta" or effective pet for Combat, and the answer is... it's complicated! EquinariusTheHorseGuy has an excellent breakdown on the Forums of some of the most popular builds which he keeps up-to-date with new releases, fittingly called "How 2 Combat Good" under the Combat forum, subtopic "Guides, Advice, Tips, & Tricks." In short, he says not to bother unless you're truly enamored with the idea of beating other competitive players in PvP or you're going for the high-score board in clearing a particular Absolute. Even a basic understanding of the elemental interactions and some time working on crafting or trading for solid gear will get you through all of Chimeric's regular Combat encounters. Taking the additional time to fine-tune your Pet's 7 main Characteristics, grind out all 55 Ritual Notes to give your Pet every Spellcasting Improvement, cook/brew and eat/consume the necessary food/potions to give you the buffs you need, and find the appropriate weapon for your gameplan, not to MENTION practicing the actual Combat minigame itself on the different Field arrangements you can get, with the different Techniques available depending on situation, it can get to be... a lot.
Home