combat-systemlisted

# Combat System Build the combat core of an action game — **melee and ranged** — over one unified pipeline, with the RPG/balance math underneath. Primary reference: **Granblue Fantasy: Relink** (combo chains in the Monster Hunter lineage), with CS/Overwatch (gunplay) and XCOM/Pokémon/WoW (RPG math) as calibration poles. This skill is the engine-agnostic blueprint: the attack graph, hit detection, the damage pipeline, the stagger economy, the defensive kit, ranged/gunplay, turn-based/RPG architecture, feel numbers, and failure modes. Excluded (separate skills): enemy AI (`enemy-ai-framework`), combat camera (`camera-system`), stats/equipment progression (`progression-economy`). ## Pick your philosophy first Every number in a combat system depends on one upstream choice — where you sit on the **commitment ↔ freeform** dial: | Dial | Commitment (MH / souls) | Freeform (DMC / Bayonetta) | Relink | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Cancels | Almost none | Everything → dodge/jump | Middle: dodge keeps string position | | Dodge | Long, big i-frames, costly recovery | Short, spammable, perfect-fishing | Spammable + perfect reward | | Hit-stop | Attacker-only, heavy | Both, short | Light, both | | Defense reward | Survival | Style/Witch Time offense | Stun gauge → Link economy | | Input buffer | Short/strict | Generous | Generous | Pick one column as the spine; borrow from the other **deliberately**, never by default. Mixing (e.g. freeform cancels + commitment damage) produces mush. #