Combat Overview

Combat Overview

Combat (overview)

Might & Magic II combat is a turn-based round loop with up to 11 monster slots and parallel party character objects. This page is the hub; the full 68k trace lives in Combat System.

Flow at a glance

flowchart TD
  A[Encounter / event OP_12] --> B[0x11C82 build battle arrays]
  B --> C[0x12A22 round loop]
  C --> D{Initiative}
  D -->|party faster| E[0x119C2 player turn]
  D -->|monster faster| F[0x1064C monster AI]
  E --> G[0x13282 continue?]
  F --> G
  G -->|monsters alive| C
  G -->|count zero| H[0x12430 victory + 0x10B74 rewards]
  G -->|party dead/fled| I[0x11646 defeat / retreat]

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Data you need

Topic	Doc
Round loop, commands, AI, rewards	Combat System
monsters.dat bytes 0x10–0x13 (attacks, flee, multiply)	monsters.dat Format
Spell bytes, combat-only flags	Spells and Item Use
Item use byte → spell handler 0x133EC	items.dat Format
Encounter setup from maps	Event Script Opcodes (OP_12 / OP_13)
Encounter sprites in viewport	3D View and Game Screen (0x316E)
Animated .anm	Monster Sprites · World Sprites (king 56, queen 41)

Player commands (combat)

From 0x11866 / 0x1175C — bar strings at A4-$6F9C:

Key	Action
A	Attack (single target)
F	Fight (auto melee)
S	Shoot (ranged / bow)
C	Cast spell → jump table 0xD000
U	Use item → 0x133EC
B	Block
R	Run / retreat
E	Exchange
V	View character

Capability flags (-$5E36 melee, -$5E35 shoot, -$5E34 cast) depend on rank, class, silence, and SP.

Monster behaviour (summary)

Unpack each slot with 0x4C8E from monsters.dat, then AI at 0x106A0:

• Flee — Oabil bits 5–6 → 0x10DFC
• Group verb — Pabil low 5 → table A4-$6E56 @ 0x10002 (e.g. “frenzies”)
• Single-target status — Sabil low 5 → victim table @ 0xFEEA
• Multiply — Oabil bit 7 → 0x100B0
• Adds friends — Oabil low nibble → 0x11F0A

Gallery & catalogs

• Monsters — all named monsters.dat rows + sprite thumb
• Monster Sprites — every combat .anm referenced by picture byte
• Items Catalog — use-power / combat item spells

Still open

See Combat System § Open items — to-hit math, HP/XP tables, per-spell handlers.