Melee Combat¶

Directional Attacks¶

The direction of the sword IS the attack. Not a cosmetic choice — a physical one.

Movement-relative input generates the swing angle. The footwork determines the attack. What the physics engine calculates from that angle determines the result.

Vertical Overhead¶

Generated by forward movement into close range — the committed advance becomes a descending strike. Concentrates force on a small contact area. Maximum penetration through a guard. Maximum stagger on a blocking opponent. The narrowest path through space — easy to sidestep, hard to redirect mid-swing because gravity assists the arc.

Horizontal Sweep¶

Generated by lateral movement — circling produces a wide arc. Covers horizontal space. Hits multiple enemies in the path. Catches lateral dodges. Distributes force across a longer contact edge — less penetration per point of contact. The attacker's body rotates with the swing, exposing the follow-through flank.

A shield angled correctly deflects a sweep. A shield angled for vertical defense takes the sweep's full force at an unfavorable angle.

Diagonal Cut¶

Generated by diagonal movement. Forward-left, forward-right — each produces a distinct angled strike. Combines properties of vertical and horizontal — moderate penetration, moderate arc, harder to read than either pure angle.

An upward diagonal from low guard catches an opponent expecting a high attack. A downward diagonal from high guard exploits low-guard defenders. The diagonal is the reading attack — the player sees the opponent's guard orientation and moves in the angle that bypasses it.

Thrust¶

Generated by committed forward movement — the straight-line advance. Concentrates all force on the weapon's point. Maximum penetration. Minimum arc. Easiest to dodge laterally but hardest to dodge backward because the thrust closes distance simultaneously.

The thrust is the closing tool — it serves the footwork goal of entering close range. A successful thrust often ends with both combatants at grapple range.

Rising Slash¶

Generated by backward movement — the retreating cut. An upward arc from low guard that threatens the pursuing opponent while creating distance. Defensive but active — the weapon moves while the body retreats.

Default Strike¶

Generated from neutral — the player standing still. A balanced cut from the weapon's resting position. Medium speed, medium force, medium arc. Not optimized for any situation. The uncommitted attack.

Whether the default strike represents composure (the player is calm and centered) or indecision (the player didn't commit to a direction) depends on context. The game doesn't distinguish. The physics is identical either way.

Parrying¶

The weapon is always in space. The player's weapon has a position every frame — not a hitbox that activates on button press. It exists.

Active Guard¶

The player holds a guard position — weapon oriented in a direction. The guard direction follows the same movement-relative system or uses lock-on precision. An incoming attack that contacts the weapon while the weapon is in guard position is deflected based on physics.

High guard protects the head and shoulders. Vulnerable below the waist. Low guard protects the legs and torso. Vulnerable to overhead strikes. Left/right guard protects the corresponding side. Vulnerable to the opposite side.

Guard is not a state that reduces incoming damage. It is a physical object (the weapon) positioned between the attacker's weapon and the defender's body. If the attacker's weapon contacts the guard weapon, deflection occurs. If the attacker's weapon bypasses the guard — through a different angle, a feint, or from behind — the guard doesn't help.

The Parry¶

A parry is a guard that moves into the attack. Instead of holding static, the player pushes their guard into the incoming blade. This is the real-world mechanic — a parry is an aggressive defensive action. The weapon moves to intercept.

The timing is spatial, not temporal. The player reads the incoming angle, positions their guard, and pushes into the attack vector. The collision between two moving weapons produces a deflection based on actual physics:

Perfect parry — weapon meets attack perpendicular to the attack vector. Redirects force completely. The attacker staggers. Their weapon is pushed out of line. A clean opening appears. The attacker's recovery time depends on how far the deflection pushed their weapon — real physics, not a fixed stagger frame count.

Glancing parry — weapon meets attack at a shallow angle. Absorbs force instead of redirecting it. The defender's arm takes the shock. Partial stagger. Smaller opening. The defender may be pushed back by the absorbed force.

Missed parry — weapon wasn't in the path. The attack lands. No safety net. No partial block credit. The weapon was in the wrong place and the physics doesn't care about intent.

Deflection Angles¶

The angle of contact between the two weapons determines the deflection result. This is physics — angle of incidence, relative mass, relative velocity:

Perpendicular contact: Maximum deflection. The attacking weapon is redirected sharply. The defender loses minimal energy.
Parallel contact: Sliding contact. The weapons grind past each other. Minimal deflection. The attacker's weapon continues largely on its original path. The defender's weapon is pushed aside.
Angled contact: Partial deflection. The attacking weapon is redirected by an amount proportional to the angle. The closer to perpendicular, the more effective.

Edge alignment matters. A blade edge meeting another blade's edge is different from a blade flat meeting an edge. The flat absorbs force across a wider area. The edge concentrates it. Two edges meeting at the right angle can lock — the bind.

The Bind¶

Two weapons that collide don't phase through each other. They bind. In HEMA this is called the bind — both weapons in contact, both fighters pushing.

The bind is a physics state — two rigid bodies in sustained contact under opposing forces. The engine holds this naturally. Both objects exert force on each other continuously. Neither passes through.

From the bind, the fighter with better leverage, better angle, or better footwork transitions to an attack:

Wind — rotate the weapon around the contact point to redirect and strike from a new angle while maintaining blade contact
Displace — push the opponent's weapon aside through superior force or angle, creating an opening
Withdraw and redirect — break contact and immediately strike from a different angle before the opponent recovers
Pommel strike — at bind range, the weapon's pommel is a blunt striking tool. Close enough to hit the opponent's face or body while both weapons are locked
Transition to grapple — from the bind, close to body contact. At grapple range, the dagger or absorption becomes available

The bind rewards spatial awareness and weapon understanding over raw speed. The player who understands how their weapon's geometry interacts with the opponent's weapon's geometry dominates the bind. This is the deepest skill expression in the melee system — reading the physics of sustained contact and knowing which transition will exploit the current geometry.

Shield Combat¶

A shield is a large defensive surface with different properties than a weapon.

Blocking: The shield intercepts an attack. The force transfers through the shield into the wielder's arm and stance. A heavy blow against a braced shield staggers the attacker (force reflected). A heavy blow against an unbraced shield pushes the defender back (force absorbed).

Shield angle: Like parrying, the shield's angle relative to the incoming attack determines the result. A shield tilted to deflect sends the weapon sliding off the surface and past the defender — creating an opening. A shield held flat absorbs the full impact — the defender holds position but takes the force through their body.

Shield bash: The shield pushed forward offensively. A blunt impact that uses the shield's mass and the wielder's forward momentum. Staggers, creates space, breaks an opponent's guard. The same object used for defense becomes a weapon — a different application of the same physics properties.

Shield durability: A shield taking repeated impacts accumulates damage based on the material properties of the shield and the weapon striking it. A wooden shield struck by an axe loses material. An arrow sticks in the shield and stays — adding mass, reducing maneuverability. A shield accumulating damage over a fight becomes less effective — not through a durability stat, but through physical degradation.

Multiple Opponents¶

Real physics combat is inherently multi-target. A sweep arc that passes through one enemy can contact a second enemy behind them. A thrust that misses the primary target continues into the space behind — where another enemy may be.

The player manages multiple opponents through footwork — positioning so that opponents obstruct each other. An enemy behind another enemy can't swing without hitting their ally. Two enemies on opposite sides of the player force a choice — face one and expose the back to the other.

The real risk of multiple opponents is spatial — the player can't evade in all directions simultaneously. A sidestep that avoids one attack may move into another. The multi-opponent fight is a positioning puzzle where every solution creates a new problem.

Sweep attacks become valuable against groups — the wide arc contacts multiple bodies. Thrust attacks are risky — the narrow path targets one enemy while others approach from the sides. Area-of-effect magic creates space. The range brackets expand in multi-opponent fights — long range is safer because fewer enemies can threaten simultaneously, but the player can't close to absorption range without passing through the group.

Relationship to Absorption¶

Melee combat is the path to absorption. Absorption lives at grapple range — closer than any weapon's effective distance. The player must win the melee engagement to reach grapple range.

A staggered opponent from a perfect parry is open at close range. A bound opponent whose weapon was displaced is exposed. A disarmed opponent has no weapon between them and the player. Each of these states — created through melee skill — is an opportunity to close to grapple range and absorb.

The melee system's skill expression IS the absorption system's access control. The better the player fights, the more cleanly they can reach grapple range. The consent tracker records the path — was the opponent staggered from a fair fight? Disarmed and helpless? Overwhelmed by numbers? The melee context becomes the moral context.