Hey there! I took the liberty of making a throwaway account and grabbing the text for the mini combat tutorial that pops up during fights - you're not the first person I've seen to miss bits of it (it's very easy to do), so it makes enough sense to store a copy somewhere safe.
How to Fight! (1/6)
Use your number keys (or click the green and amber bars) to strike this creature's body parts. Green targets are Vulnerable, which means they're easier to hit and cause more damage to the creature when struck. Orange targets are Guarded - harder to hit, and cause less damage. If you're a visually-impaired player who can't see the colours or backgrounds, enable the screen-reader-friendly option in your Preferences, or configure your screen reader to speak DIV titles.
How to Fight! (2/6)
Striking any body part will change the status of at least that body part, and usually others as well. If you manage to turn all the body parts green (either Vulnerable or Disabled), then the creature is Stunned and can neither attack nor defend for at least one round - if you're lucky, it'll stay stunned for up to five rounds.
While some creatures might have body parts similar to each other, the pattern of which body parts change status when struck is unique to each creature.
Keep an eye on what happens when you strike specific body parts - you might see a pattern that you can use to your advantage.
How to Fight! (3/6)
Repeatedly striking a body part will send the Shock needle further to the right (or increase the shock percentage if you're using the Screen-Reader-Friendly option). When it's all the way over, the body part will be Disabled (the glass on the meter representing it will break). Once that happens, the body part will be Vulnerable until the fight is over, and the creature cannot use it to perform a Strong Attack. If you leave a body part alone and target other body parts, its Shock meter will decrease.
How to Fight! (4/6)
When you see a body part turn red, it's because the creature is preparing for a Strong Attack, which will likely deal enough damage to cause problems. When this happens, all body parts except the one attacking will always be Vulnerable. Target the attacking body part to weaken the Strong Attack by blocking it - or, take advantage of the other body parts being guaranteed Vulnerable.
How to Fight! (5/6)
Watch out - some creatures will start to learn very quickly if you constantly target only their Vulnerable spots, and will go into a defensive position. Pay attention to the battle text to see what the creature is doing. Some other creatures can hide the status of their body parts - when that happens, you'll see the body part highlighted in blue. You can still strike the body part and deal damage - it's just that you won't know whether it's Guarded or Vulnerable, or how high the Shock needle has climbed.
How to Fight! (6/6)
Two more little things you need to know - firstly, if you perform a fight action other than aiming for a specific body part (like throwing a grenade, adjusting a skull-mounted laser, casting an Insult or any other skill), then you'll hit a target at random. The same goes for when Flailing Indiscriminately for multiple rounds - fight for five rounds, hit five targets at random. Secondly, not all creatures have individual body parts that you can target - they might be too big, or too incomprehensible, or too intangible. In those cases, you'll have to rely on Indiscriminate Flailing and your other Skills and Items.
That's enough wittering from me. Good luck!
As for the Wiki of Lies, I'd recommend starting with the
Newbie Advisory - it's lengthy, but answers a lot of the common questions about gameplay. You might have noticed the forum isn't very quick to respond - these days, you're probably better off asking things first in the Player Chat Channel in-game, though of course things get missed there, and it isn't always the best venue for discussions, so the forum still comes in handy.
Please do voice any further questions that pop up - here, or in-game. Best of luck out there!
