# Combat > Use this for combat turn planning and execution. Trigger it before taking combat turns, when deciding whether a turn is easy or hard, when a fight presents setup vs tempo tension, when cost changes or free-card effects appear, and whenever you need general combat heuristics that are not boss-or-elite specific. - Skill: `igorwarzocha/combat` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add igorwarzocha/combat` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/igorwarzocha/combat/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: igorwarzocha (https://skillmd.com/u/igorwarzocha) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/igorwarzocha/combat --- # Combat Use this as the default fight workflow for STS2 turns. ## Required Reading Read these before acting: - `/home/igorw/Work/STS2/.agents/skills/combat/references/heuristics.md` - `/home/igorw/Work/STS2/.agents/skills/combat/references/mechanics.md` - the current run log under `/home/igorw/Work/STS2/vault/runs` If the run is Ironclad, also read: - `/home/igorw/Work/STS2/.agents/skills/ironclad/SKILL.md` If the fight is an elite or boss, also read: - `/home/igorw/Work/STS2/.agents/skills/boss-and-elite-fights/SKILL.md` ## Workflow 1. Read the settled combat state only: - energy - hand - costs - intents - powers and debuffs - potions - relics and any end-of-turn or passive combat text that changes damage or block math 2. Classify the turn: - setup turn - survival turn - damage race - cleanup turn 3. Identify what matters most over the next cycle: - incoming damage - draw pile pollution - scaling - body count - breakpoints for lethal or a safer next shuffle - whether a drafted power is currently acting as a recurring dead draw and should instead be converted into live board text - whether card draw, hand size, or a cheap repeatable card is functioning as real survivability rather than optional value text - passive block or damage that will happen at end of turn from relics or powers 4. Commit the line that improves position, not just current-turn efficiency. 5. After any draw burst, cost mutation, free-card effect, or state-changing power: - stop - re-read with `--hard` - only then spend the rest of the turn ## View Modes: Easy Turn vs Hard Turn - `--easy`: use this when the next decision is genuinely simple and the turn is mostly execution. Treat this as a **compressed execution surface**: it should be biased toward immediate choices, obvious follow-through, and low-ambiguity state. - `--hard`: use this when the turn is genuinely strategic, branching, dangerous, or information-dense. Treat this as the **planning surface**: it should be biased toward preserving the context needed for meaningful combat reasoning. - `--full`: raw debug dump. Use this only when the structured surfaces are insufficient or a surface/export bug is suspected. Default posture: - prefer `--easy` for obvious follow-through, cleanup turns, routine confirmation after safe plays, and any turn where the correct line is already known - switch to `--hard` before meaningful planning, potion decisions, unusual mechanics, elites, bosses, or any uncertain lethal/survival math - if an `--easy` read leads into new draw, generated cards, cost changes, a prompt, changed targeting, or any branch you did not already understand, stop and re-read with `--hard` - switch to `--full` only for debugging or surface validation Another way to phrase it: - `--easy` answers: **"What are my immediate choices, and is this turn already solved?"** - `--hard` answers: **"What do I need to know to plan this turn correctly?"** Do not expect `--easy` to carry every stable detail. It is intentionally more filtered. If the line depends on richer context, that is a sign to switch to `--hard`, not a reason to force `--easy` to behave like a planning read. The important distinction is not just combat vs non-combat, but **easy turn vs hard turn**. A combat turn can start easy and become hard mid-turn. The inverse is also true: a turn in an elite or boss fight can start hard, become solved, and then become **easy execution**. Once the meaningful planning is done, stop rereading like it is still a hard turn. ## Thinking Mode vs Business-as-Usual - Default to **thinking mode**: send one combat action at a time. - Use **business-as-usual** when the rest of the line is truly stable and obvious. - `--batch` is the opt-in for business-as-usual sequencing. It is allowed to include `combat.end_turn` as the tail action. Important clarification: - `--batch` is not a rare special case. - If the whole turn is solved and nothing in the line can create new information, you SHOULD batch the whole turn. - Do not keep single-stepping an already-solved turn just because the fight is labeled elite or boss. Use `--batch` only when all of the following are true: - no queued card will draw, discover, create, transform, exhaust-return, or otherwise change the hand - no queued card or trigger will change costs, refunds, energy, or targeting rules mid-line - no later queued action depends on a target that an earlier queued action might kill, split, remove, or otherwise invalidate - no choice prompt, card select, potion use, or other interactive branch can appear before the batch finishes - the post-play state is already understood well enough that you would make the same sequence if you sent the actions one by one Examples: - Safe enough: an obvious cleanup tail where target survival is already known and `combat.end_turn` is just closing the turn. - Safe enough: after one `--hard` read in an elite, the rest of the turn is just executing a known line with no draw, no prompts, no cost changes, and no target uncertainty. Batch it. - Safe enough: hallway or elite turns where you already know the exact kill order, the attacks are deterministic, and the last action is `combat.end_turn`. - Not safe: anything involving draw, kill uncertainty, cost changes, new target exposure, generated cards, or on-kill / on-hit triggers you still need to inspect. Practical rule: - If you can say, before the first click, "I would make the exact same sequence if I sent these one by one," that is a strong sign the turn should be batched. - If you need to see the result of card 1 before deciding card 2, do not batch. - One hard read followed by one batch execution is often the right rhythm. ## Guardrails - STS1 parallels are heuristics, not proof. - Do not spend all energy just because it is available. - Do not use `--batch` past temporary free cards, cost changes, draw effects, or uncertain kill math. - Do not confuse "elite fight" with "every action must be single-stepped." The hard part is the planning boundary, not the room label. - Do not do manual combat math as if cards were the whole board. Always include surfaced relic and power text that adds end-of-turn block, damage, or other passive combat value. - Do not treat card draw as decorative upside. In many fights it is part of your real HP total because it preserves better defensive and offensive choices. - Do not assume avoiding every small hit is correct. Some chip damage is worth taking if it preserves draw quality, hand size, or a materially stronger next-cycle position. - Do not use potions just to smooth an average turn; use them when they change setup, survival, or lethal math. - If combat state is not concretely exposed, stop and fix the surface before acting. ## Maintenance Keep this skill short. Move durable lessons into the owned references, then refine this workflow when repeated combat mistakes or better patterns appear.