Hey Folks, I put up a combat tutorial video. Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLbBJ6z1z54&feature=youtu.be

Hello lovely amazing video game type people! So I really wanted to get a handle on combat in This War of Mine. Here's a video demonstrating several elements of combat so you can safely get some idea of how it works without losing your current playthrough.

Things I've Learned:

- For close combat the target turning orange means that it's a stealth attack.
- For ranged combat the target turning orange means you have maxed out your aiming for the current relative positions.
- For ranged combat the target will fill up slowly representing the aiming your character is doing, the more filled, the better your shot will be.
- Kills from an alcove are instakill, but they also cause a screen's worth of noise.
- Sneaking up on someone and knifing them, then killing them in close combat is pretty quiet.
- Close combat is a random dice roll of whether your character gets a hit, or the opponent gets a hit. *Well Fed is probably helpful here*
- The shotgun seems to be buggy when the opponent gets too close. The character should be switching to the knife, but instead just does nothing.
- Ducking behind cover seems to provide the same protection as kevlar armor in the open...I wonder if cover and kevlar stack really well.
- If you're behind cover, the opponent generally runs closer.
- If you want to knife and then shoot, make sure to have the melee/ranged option selected instead of just melee. Then walk close enough that your character will automatically use the melee weapon..upon being pushed away she'll automatically switch to the ranged weapon giving you a quick clean shot.
- Also, I've noticed that switching from melee to melee/ranged while close to an enemy does not work.
- It appears that gunshots alert the whole map.

That's it for now. Feel free to provide your own tips. I specifically did not use Roman because I wanted to show standard combat. I'm aware that Roman generally kills people in one hit from a sneak up attack (not alcove). Cheers!

Very helpful stuff. Thank you. I lose -- without fail -- 2 characters per game due to combat misclicks or misunderstandings.

Thank you so much!!!!

With your combat video , it was so easy to raid some bandits!!!

I think without your help , my camp would starve a lot but i finished the game with a plenty of food and weapons .

A good video. If you ever decide to do a follow-up, my suggestions (things to answer in the video) would be:
- How is combat different when you're playing as Roman? You know, since he has the Trained in Combat perk. For example, I've learned from some other video that the player was able to sneak up behind a guy and insta-kill him with a crowbar. Can Roman sneak up on people and insta-kill them with any weapon (or rather, a tool)? What about if the target is wearing armor?
- Speaking of which, how do different melee weapons effect the outcome when you sneak up on someone (using some other character besides Roman)? Obviously, here Katia wasn't able to insta-kill a person with the knife when you snuck behind him. What if she was wielding, say, a hatchet instead? How about a shovel? How much more (or less) damage would those weapons do in comparison?
- What about when you orange-hit a person when you're in the shadows, but instead of a knife, you had like a crowbar, or a hatchet: would that insta-kill the person, or does it have to be a knife to guarantee an instant kill?
- In head-to-head combat (no stealth), how much more damage does a certain melee weapon do compared to another weapon? For example, would you have a better chance of survival if you're fighting with a hatchet, instead of a knife?

If you want to cover the full spectrum of combat in this game, I think those are some follow-up questions you should consider answering (and which most people would probably want to know the answers to).