Combat 101: Pogoren Edition

Many beginner players in the discussions were wondering about effective combat usage during gameplay.
This guide was created to help prevent further confusion about it and shed light on how to use the system wisely, both in offence and defense.

Introduction

To put it simply - getting a grasp on it is crucial. Even if resources you get from the safe areas are sufficient enough for you to survive, you still need weapons for the shelter's defense. Most of the survivors cannot defend themselves from the aggressors with their bare hands, especially when the crime Outbreak comes around, so you have to be prepared and have some weaponry at all times, regardless of whether you act confrontational on a regular basis or not.

Direct combat

Direct confrontation combat is simplified, but still needs tactical consideration if you wish to leave any
place you're scavenging with enemies present without being wounded/dead.
In-game combat, just like in real life, can be Melee and Ranged.
Melee offense is using the items (Crowbar, Knife, Hatchet, etc) for direct hits. Different "tier" items have different chances for a good hit that sum up with the wielder character's stats. Every character has a certain chance of a successful attack, depending on their combat tier and condition (slightly/gravely wounded, etc.):
Tiers/Characters/Health
S|Roman|4
A|Boris, Arica|5, 3
B|Bruno, Emilia, Marin, Marko, Pavle|3
C|Anton, Katia, Zlata|3
D|Cveta|3 Ranged combat is a bit more complicated than melee. There are four different guns in the game: Pistol, Shotgun, Assault Rifle, and Sniper Rifle.
Pistol has a decent accuracy and low damage, Shotgun - low accuracy and massive damage in close combat situations, Assault Rifle deals low damage and wastes ammo pretty quickly, but it`s a gem when it comes to long range combat. And the Sniper Rifle has both high accuracy and damage stats.
Also, a special GM - covers, allow player to take cover while in the ranged combat "state", and can really help out both when you're injured and outnumbered. The best tactic when using covers is to wait until the E starts reloading or tries to run towards you with a melee weapon and simply shoot until they stop being a threat.
Important to note: the covers do Not hide you from the E in case you wish to remain hidden!

Discreet combat

➻ Basics
Successful stealthy combat requires accuracy in movement, and occasionally sense of E timing. Most of the dangerous locations: (Military Outpost/Construction Site/Warehouse/etc) have timed events (E goes outside/partner of E leaves him alone for a minute/E unlocks the door) that open stealthy opportunities for player - to kill E without wasting a single bullet, taking damage, or making any Unwanted noise that attracts other E.
Gameplay Mechanics
The game offers special places to hide in, Hiding Spots that let the player silently attack the E.
This is the most important GM in SC. The damage from those is even higher than from the backstabs. The problem lies within the fact that those backstabs can't be executed efficiently unless you either get lucky with positioning of the E's patrol route or use a certain secondary GM that allows you to draw the enemy's attention to your spot without confronting them. That`s where the Noise strategy comes in handy.
Making the noise by running can attract a nearby E, that will come to check the source of it. If you don`t have a Hiding spot but do want to stealth your way through, make some noise and hide behind the nearby door. In most cases, the E will check the initial spot and after some time will return to their patrol routine/previous stationary location. You can use that opportune moment to backstab the E as they start going back.Tips: The best character choice for SC is Roman, secondary - Arica. They both have huge advantages in combat compared to other playable characters. While Roman has a 100% of instantly killing E with a backstab, Arica moves and kills E making less noise. Almost everyone else has an equal chance to suffer severe consequences for inaccurate hits whilst discreetly attacking E.
The best weapon for SC is definitely the Knife, since it's completely silent. Hatchet and Shovel are slightly worse, and make more noise, that's not very handy in crowded locations. The worst item for SC is the crowbar, having a slightly bigger chance than none for a great Backstab attack.
Still, do keep in mind that All of these weapons can be deadly under the right circumstances and with a bit of luck.
If you're trying to stealth a level through - guns should be out of the question: they alert all E in the area and make it impossible to catch anyone after the first hit off guard.

Defensive measures

The shelter defense does play an important role in the story. Occasionally triggering off-screen as you return after a scavenging outing, it can do serious damage to your resources and hurt your survivors unless you prepare for what's to come as fast as you can if you don`t want This to severely impact your chances of victory:
First things first: you need to secure the shelter as quickly as you can - you will have a much easier time if the shelter holes are boarded up by Day 5 or prior to it. Unless you want to take a gamble on your chances - install the primitive alarm before the crime Outbreak comes. It's worth the resources and it will help the defense tremendously.
If possible, take precautionary measures before the alarm is installed, and have one person Guard the shelter at night to plateau the possible break-in damage with a weapon they can use. It`s also strongly recommended to have one or two people guard the shelter while the Outbreak is happening regardless of the shelter's safety upgrades.

Afterword

That sums up everything you need to know about the combat system in This War of Mine.
Use all of the information to your advantage, and remember:

[Vertram]

Thought it would be more convenient for folks to have abbreviations instead of having to unnecessarily read "enemy" thirty times while just trying to understand the mechanics in a fairly dense guide, same goes for the others. Glad you still found it helpful.

[MestreLion]

SC, GM, E... are all those abbreviations really necessary? Even if it's fairly obvious that E is enemy and GM is Game Mechanic, one can only assume that SC stands for "Single Combat". This really detracts form an otherwise nice guide

[Stanley Stifler]

Thanks for this guide :)

[Gamer Gengar]

Oh I did this by accident (the stealth kill with the knife) and didn't even know what happened lol

[Kiwi]

thank you for teaching me how to aproch in stealh combat in new to this and i din t even now that the stealh existed
thank you

[NukaClipse]

Nice guide, I wasn't sure if stealth even worked in this game as it seems so easy to be spotted.

[RainingMetal]

The Scoped Rifle requires a bit of time to aim for decent damage, and isn't too powerful up close.