Fights

Sometimes words aren't enough. Vesper City settles its scores with fists, and later with whatever is in your coat pocket.

Battle stats and gear

Every fight is played out on the server, blow by blow, using your four battle stats:

• Strength: how hard you hit.
• Defense: how much of a blow you soak up.
• Speed: the faster fighter strikes first, and speed makes you harder to hit.
• Dexterity: how often your blows land.

Raise them at the gym (Gym and training). Weapons add damage and accuracy; armour (body, hat, coat) takes the sting out of blows. Equip them in You → Inventory. From level 10 your gear wears a little with every fight. See Every item.

The hand-made gear tops out at level 78 (the Silver Stiletto), but you don't. From level 80 the gunsmith and the tailor at any Black Market add Masterwork marks to top weapons and armour (tier 5 and up). Each mark makes the piece 3% better for good, and a new mark opens every 10 levels, for ever. A mark costs 2 days of income at the level it needs, in cash only, never Gold. The marks stay with the piece and show in its name ("Silver Stiletto, Masterwork III"); marked gear can't go on the Bazaar.

A fight lasts at most 10 exchanges. If nobody is down by then it's a stalemate: the energy is spent, nothing is won or lost, and nobody goes to hospital.

Attacking players

From level 5, Actions → Attack lists the players around you. An attack costs 25 energy. Before the fight you choose what you'll do if you win:

• Mug: take 3–10% of their cash and send them to hospital for a short stay.
• Hospitalise: put them out of action for a long stay.
• Leave them: no hospital, but more XP.

Winning pays XP and Respect, more for beating someone above your level. Beating the same player again within 24 hours pays less each time. Lose, and you go to hospital while they collect a little XP for fighting you off.

Who you can't attack

• Anyone in another district, in jail, in hospital or on the road.
• Anyone more than 8 levels below you.
• New players for their first 72 hours, until they reach level 5 or attack someone themselves.
• Anyone just beaten: they are left alone for 10 minutes after their hospital stay.
• Members of your own gang, and gangs you have a no-attack pact with.

Rivals

Rivals are named NPC mobsters who run the districts. From level 2, Actions → Rivals shows the ones around you; a fight costs 15 energy. Beat them for cash, XP and Respect; lose and you're in hospital. Each rival lies low for a while after you fight, and after 20 wins in a day rivals carry less cash. The district's regulars, ordinary locals listed as City regulars, can be fought too: pick a fight and they hit back, gently. There is no level cap: above level 100 the toughest rivals rise to your level, with pay and XP to match, and show a "Risen to your level" badge.

There are two ways to fight a rival:

• Quick fight: one click and you watch the replay, but you fight 3% below your best.
• Square up (from level 3): round by round at full strength. Pick a jab, haymaker, block or feint; each beats one move and loses to another. Read your rival's tell, but tells can lie. You can use up to 2 items per fight, and you have 60 seconds per move.

Rival difficulty shows in rough words until you gather intel or beat them.

The fight page

Every fight plays out as a face-off: your portrait against theirs, strike by strike, with the full log under it. When it ends, each portrait gets a stamp (Won, Lost, Draw or Knocked out) and the referee's scorecard shows the damage each side dealt, the health left and the number of strikes. In the Graphical view it happens in a painted back-room ring, or in a back alley when you are ambushed.

Tips

• Losing an attack costs you a hospital stay, so pick fights you can win.
• Square up when the odds are close; Quick fight easy rivals.
• Keep your gear in good shape and your health topped up before a fight.