Combat

Combat in Second Life is a very fun and active hobby. This article will try to teach you exactly how Second Life combat works.

Introduction

Some areas of Second Life are designed for the sole purpose of combat. In these areas, you will have a health meter. This is a heart with a percentage next to it on your upper menu bar. When you see this meter, you can be killed. If you are killed, this percentage will drop to zero and you will be teleported to your home location. Please note that being killed is not a big deal. You just have to teleport back into the combat sandbox from your home location, you don't lose any points, money, etc...

The public combat areas are Rausch, Blue Base, and Red Base. These 3 sims are free-for-all sandboxes. There is a "safe zone" in the Rausch sandbox where you can't be attacked. It is usually surrounded by big yellow markers, and people have a tendency to gather in this area. (Please note that the "bases" are not really "bases" for anyone. They are free-for-all maps.)

The fastest way to find these regions is to type "combat" into the places search.

Engagement

In Second Life you have a vast array of weapons, combat vehicles, and defense mechanisms at your disposal.

Weaponry

There are hundreds of weapons in Second Life to choose from. I like to classify these weapons in several categories:

Basic Guns - Guns that fire basic physical bullets. These are stopped by most quality shield systems.
Advanced "Guns" - Guns that fire tracking, non-physical bullets. These can't be stopped by all but the most advanced (and expensive) defense systems.
Explosives and "Nukes" - Self explanatory. These range from basic explosives to nukes that can kill everyone within 96m of the detonation point.
HUD Weapons - These are the most effective and powerful weapons, in my opinion. There are several quality HUD based combat systems available. These will be discussed more later.
Robots and Turrets - These can be remote controlled, or set to fire on certain targets automatically.
Annoying Crap - Stuff like caging guns, anything that flings people into the air. Considered "noobish" and frowned upon by experienced combat people.

Combat Vehicles

Sadly, the use of combat vehicles has reduced in second life. While they are very fun to fly, most vehicles will be "disrupted" by shields in actual combat situations, causing them to fly away. The only way to avoid this is to use non-physical vehicles.

Defense

Defense plays an important part in combat life. An undefended avatar can be obliterated by modern weaponry, ruining the fun for many new combat players. There are several ways to defend yourself in Second Life.

Shields
Defense Bots
Killing someone before they kill you

There are several different "brands" of shields to choose from. Shields are a must, and they are well worth the cost. A good shield should physically push bullets away before they reach the actual shield. Even the best shield, however, is vulnerable to tracking bullets.

Defense bots are the most advanced way of keeping alive in Second Life. Defense bots position your physical avatar underground and/or out of the sim, where it is not possible for 98% of weapons to kill them, while allowing you to play "through" the bot. I only know of two weapons that can kill someone using the "off-sim" modes of these bots, and they are not available to the public.

Most defense bots allow you to issue "Combat HUD-like" commands on people, enabling you to kill them and stay safely protected in your bot.

UPDATE - A weapon that has a very high kill rate has been released for use against people on these bots! It's expensive, however, so I don't think we will see widespread use of it yet.

Non-Lethal Warfare

There are some weapons that can be used to disrupt another player without actually killing them.

Orbiting is the term used when one player causes another player to be flung up insanely high in the air.
People use "traps" to render a physical avatar unable to move.
"Lag-Bombs" - I don't need to explain this one...

In the area of pushes and pulls, most combatants use a device known as a "non-phys". A non-phys makes your avatar non-physical, in other words immune to being pushed or pulled. Period. A non-phys is basically a prim that you sit on, usually it becomes invisible once you sit, and you steer it around just like you are moving normally. When using a non-phys, you can pass through objects and walls.

If a non-phys is not handy and you are in danger of being orbited, just sit down on the ground somewhere.

Combat HUDs

Combat HUDs are the most powerful weapons in Second Life. These devices enable you to simply say (or click) a command, such as "kill joh", resulting in the nearest person (within 96m) with joh in their name being killed instantly - shields or no shields. Underground bots and phase devices (in a nutshell devices that make you undetectable to sensors) are the only protection against this type of combat HUD.

Combat HUDs usually offer a substantial arsenal of attacks that you can deploy, other than the standard "kill person" command. These include orbiting, "burning" people, trapping, auto-killing, etc.

Getting More Help

If you would like to learn more about combat, please contact one of the below people in-world for help.

Madgeek Nixdorf - I created the first version of this article. I will be happy to help you choose what weapons to buy, as well as teach you how to use them.

Please add your name to the list above if you are experienced with Second Life combat and are willing to help out.