PvM Combat

Player versus Monster - or PvM - combat refers to combat between players and NPCs. [MECH:NPCs]

Attacking an NPC

The most common form of PvM combat happens by players attacking NPCs. Ingame rewards of doing so are:

• Gaining exp from kills.
• Gaining skills during combat. [MECH:Basic Skills]
• Gaining credits, experience, and faction rank/competency for completing assassination missions. [MECH:Missions]

Besides, NPCs may be blocking paths or buildings, or there may be other reasons why someone wants to see an NPC dead.

Attacking an NPC is possible by entering its field. If the NPC is of blocking type - which most are - a combat screen appears and you may select the amount of combat rounds to fight now. (If the NPC is not blocking, it will appear in the other ships window. Select to attack it there.) [MECH:NPCs]. Note that you will lose the amount of APs selected no matter if the combat lasted less rounds than specified by you. Also note that while you are staying on the same field as the NPC it may attack you if it is an aggressive kind!

There are five combat buttons, only usable for Premium Accounts. Use them to prevent selecting the drop down box in every single combat. You can freely configure them in the Options screen. [MECH:Options]

Tractoring and Retreat

If your situation gets critical, you may simply retreat by clicking the Retreat button on top of the combat screen. However, this will not give a guaranteed and safe retreat, it only means that you will attempt to retreat; your opponent may hold and attack you!
This is called tractoring. Every NPC type has two given chances: The no-combat tractor-chance and the combat tractor-chance. These values are not displayed, but experienced pilots may acquire a good feeling for them after many fights. The first value is usually low and indicates the chance of you being tractored by that NPC if you did not engage in combat with it. This is to prevent weak trade ships innocently stumbling into NPCs hidden under buildings and getting blown to pieces without a good chance to retreat.
The combat tractor-chance will apply once you have engaged in combat with the NPC. This chance is usually higher, but may also be very low or even zero.
In case the NPC manages to tractor your ship, it attacks you while you try to flee, but you are unable to shoot back. The amount of tractored combat rounds is also only dependent on the NPC type you are combatting.

While basic critters such as Space Maggots are harmless and never tractor, advanced or rare NPCs such as Famous Pirates may be highly deadly, concerning tractoring. Note that in the Pardus Cluster, especially the Pardus Sector, which Premium Accounts are able to enter, both tractor chances of NPCs types there may be significantly higher than of NPCs outside - sometimes even close to 100%. [TWOP:Pardus Sector]

The advanced skill taming boost enables you to decrease tractor chances of organic opponents. [REF:Advanced Skills]

Getting attacked by an NPC

NPCs attack a player at random times (on average once every ten minutes), if one is present on their field. Roaming NPCs move every nine minutes to a new field and will stay and attack a player, once one is found. [MECH:NPCs]

Besides, there are actively cloaking and ambushing NPCs, such as NPC Pirates or Blood Amoebas. The former are even able to raid ships, provided that the player has set his/her surrender settings accordingly.

NPCs are not able to attack buildings, starbases, or other NPCs.

---

< Combat Procedure

| Up |

PvP Combat >

Last modification on this page: 2008-06-17