I cannot stress this enough. The only honerable fighters in the unreal world are the dead ones and the soon to be dead ones. whenever you have an opportunity to tilt the odds in your favor, use it! this guide will go over many of these.

This may sound like i am saying that you should not attack groups of multiple enemies, but this is not the case. More enemies=more loot. What you need to do is find a way to fight them one at a time. if you are able to shoot one (or more) in the leg, then you can run away, leading the rest with you. the one (or more) that you shot will hopefully not be able to catch up untill after the fight is over. try finding a narrow gap in the trees where only one enemy can aproach you from at a time. here, you can try to stab him in the leg and disengage from melee before the others walk around the tree. this person is now a straggler too. after this, you might gain enough distance to be able to throw a javaline.try to hit another enemy in the leg. continue pulling like this to get your enemies spread out so you can fight them one at a time. if you are able to hit all of your enimies in the leg, you can kite them and kill them without having to engage in a potentially fatal melee. if you run out of ammo, or if you get hit in the leg yourself and can no longer pull, try making a stand in one of the narrow gaps in the trees so that you cannot immedeately get flanked. if you knock someone unconscous in the gap, their body will block the way, allowing you to shoot over them at their allies. using dasterdly tactics like this, you should never have to be outnumbered in melee

If you have the option to avoid/ escape melee combat, do it, do it, do it. In melee combat, a unlucky hit to your eye can cause you to pass out and die. A hard hit to the leg can cause you to be unable to retreat should the fight start looking bad. the only time you should willingly enter melee, is when it is a fair fight. and by fair, i mean that your opponent is breathless, unconscous, or has his back to you. Remember: a defensless enemy is the best enemy!

Legs: These are almost always the best place to aim. as said before, a solid hit here allows you to disengage from melee and finish off the enemy from a range: with relatively little threat to your cowardly precous hide. sometimes, however, if you get hit in the leg yourself, you will not be able to disengage, and you must choose a different zone

head: hits here tend to do more damage but are also more likely to glance off or miss entirely. unless, of course, if the enemy is unable to dodge, for example, if he has his back to you. this is the best place to target if your enemy is unconscous or has his back to you, but is generally a poor choice for one on one combat

body: this area gives you the highest chance to hit, and misses may often hit other parts of the enemy, i.e arms, thighs, or neck, instead. target here if you have a low base chance of hitting, either due to injury, fatigue, or lack of skill with your currently equiped weapon.

arms: arms are generally a good choice if you are forced into melee. your enemies will have a hard time swinging an axe at you if they are missing an arm. in addition, attacks to the arms have a high chance to make your enemy drop their weapon, giving you a free turn to attack again, or sometimes letting you grab their weapon to disarm them; your enemy will not hurt you much by punching you with his one remaining hand.....

having 1-3 dogs is a significant boon. dogs are capable of eating rotten meat/bones that would normally simply go to waste, and are very helpfull with hunting large game to. Not only this, but they are also godsends in combat. Remember how i reccomended that you attack enemies from behind? dogs are how you do this. dogs will attack enemies , then , well the enemy is distracted, you can walk up behind them and hit them in the head. the enemy will then crumble like a sack of potatoes. wash, rinse, repeat. dogs can also distract enemies to stop you from becoming outnumbered. dogs that are badly injured in combat will normally run away so that they do not die, then return shortly. dogs can also help with carrying loot back from a big game kill or a large battle. if you take one lesson from this guide, that lesson should be to use dogs! dogs that die in combat can still be skinned and butchered, waste not want not! Your loyal friend can then be with you forever, as a warm pair of mittens.

Using a bow and Javalines may seem redundant, but it is not. As an example, if you are fighting two enemies, and kill one while the other is six tiles away, you have time to throw three javalines (equip, throw, equip, throw, equip, throw=6 turns) or to shoot only one arrow (unequip melee weapon, equip bow, equip arrow, shoot, unequip bow, equip melee weapon= 6 turns) in addition, if the enemy is 2-4 tiles away, you have time to throw javalines, but not to shoot an arrow. if you hit the enemy in the leg with the javaline, you can even pull away and kite him with your bow. in addition, javalines can be used with a shield, which can occasionally be usefull when fighting ranged enemies

-dogs that die in combat can still be skinned and butchered, waste not want not! Your loyal friend can then be with you forever, as a warm pair of mittens. your dogs protect you from physical threats in life and thermal threats in death.

-sick of seing all of those dead raider bodies go to waste? use them as bait for your bear traps and deadfall traps! profit

-save cloth on bandages by not taking injuries in the first place! fight like a dasterdly knave and avoid injuries!

yes, dogs are so important that they deserve two sections. deal with it. when using dogs in combat USE A LEASH. often times you are able to complete combat by simply kiting the enemy, avoiding a melee entireley. if your dog is unleashed, it will stupidly charge towards any hostile enemies, forcing you into a melee fight. only release your dog(s) once melee is inivatable. you can then move to flank and take down an enemy from behind, or run for your life(if you run, leave your dog defending a chokehold between trees to buy you more time.) having dogs carry things slows them down, so it is not advisable during hunting, but is just fine during combat and travel.

If any of you experianced players out there have more dirty tricks or tactics, shout them out in the comments, i might add them. if any new players have questions, feel free to ask them in the comments or friend me.