Editing Mnemon Explains Solar Combat (section)

====First and foremost - know your enemy====

OK, so you've got the best Investigation, Bureaucracy and Socialise charms in the game. You might not personally have them (after all, by now I've probably spent all your charms on defences and Cascade of Cutting Terror), but someone in your Circle should. Have a chat with them.

Significant enemies don't just drop out of the sky. While it seems certain locations have the ability to manufacture practically unlimited numbers of daiklave fodder, that's simply not the case for Exalts, Gods or significant monsters.

For monsters and local gods, ask around the populace - there should be legends, superstitions, and religious practices that give very important clues to the nature, habits and powers of your potential foe. While obviously villagers and farmers may not be able to tell the exact difference between highly skilled monsters striking quickly and a God relying on Principle of Motion (they're just flavours of "Oh Dragons it's killing them all!), your Circlemate with Ten Magistrate Eyes is a transcendently gifted detective, and should be able to deduce relevant information. I suggest you practice the phrase "OK Mr ST, what would Sherlock Holmes deduce from this evidence? Because Impossibly Reckless Gambler just rolled better than Holmes ever could."

For Exalts, this goes doubly so. While you can't always track every lone assassin, Exalted aren't silent nobodies. They're famous people. Rock stars. You think Abyssals strap on those revealing outfits and wacky titles so that nobody will know who they are? Lunars go to great lengths to stake out their territory, so that EVERYONE knows not to barge in. Dragon-Blooded travel with troops, servants, slaves, harems, walk around openly in superheavy plate, and constantly engage in operations requiring vast logistical support.

Abyssals and Lunars are much like monsters. Find survivors of their attacks, and question them closely. Did the Abyssal slaughter with daiklave or necromancy? What form did the Lunar take? Did they fight any actual soldiers, and if so how did they change their tactics. Again, frightened peasents aren't the best source of information, but you can learn a great deal about the capabilities and accoutrements of the enemy with Investigation charms. Finding residents of Shadowlands or members of a Lunar's tribe can get great results with Social charms. Remember Lunars and Abyssals are territorial - for different reasons, but an Abyssal is tied to her Deathlord and Shadowland - find the territories. Find out for certain if you're facing a lone Exalt or a Circle.

Dragonblooded are by far the easiest to track. Never, ever let yourself be thinking "where the hell did that Wyld Hunt come from?". Wyld Hunts are big logistics exercises - troops need to be raised, moved, fed, possibly supplemented with local levies, sufficiently equipped etc, as with any company of soldiers. Their Dragon-Blooded have servants, panoplies of magical equipment, and are extremely distinctive. If passing through a city with a Realm garrison or Thousand Scales branch, they'll probably requisition local troops and supplies, and will be obligated to dine or meet with the local Dynsatic authorities. Have contacts that can tell you when a Hunt moves through a hub point like this. Question servants, soldiers, town gossips. Bribe, use charms, stunt. Find out their names, aspects, armaments (Dynasts take their weapons to dinner), which schools they went to (Heptagram Sorcerers? House of Bells soldiers? ANYONE could be a Cloister of Wisdom graduate and know Immaculate Martial Arts, not just monks!). Find out tales of any previous Hunts they may have been on. Have they been summoning demons or elementals? Who are they bribing (there's *always* bribes)? Learn their tactics. Find out what they're trying to requisition, and hit it with the Indolent Official Charm. When they leave town and come looking for you, hit their supply train with the Indolent Official, or the entire Hunt with the Foul Air of Argument. If you can, Heart's Price a member of the Hunt and suborn them.

Watch the waters at all times. Know the local Dragon Blooded powers in your area, but honestly, we've been draining the Threshold of talent for years, bringing anyone worth a damn home for the Civil War. It's likely that if you're killing Dragon Blooded (and if you've read this far, you should be), they'll send for help from the Isle. Barring the rare intervention of the Sidereals, that help will come by boat. The Realm is a NAVAL power. In the Scavenger Lands? One of the safest civilised places from the Wyld Hunt - they're rare and paltry throughout the Scavenger Lands, owing to Lookshy and the hostility of the people. However, the Wood Fleet of the Realm has full access to the many, many rivers, which means if you're within a day of a river, you're in danger. Know where the fleet is. Find out whether nearby detachments are Dragon-Blooded heavy or not. Find out if Earth Fleet or House ships are being escorted about by the Wood Fleet. Have a high enough base damage to knock holes in Triremes.
Elsewhere? Keep your wits about you if you're near the ocean. Make contacts with sailors and fishermen. Be careful near the Lap, Chiraoscuro, Yane, Kirighast, Cherak and other costal cities that are loyal to the Realm.
In Halta? Easy. Most Dynasts in the area will be supporting the Linowan. Make friends with some Haltan Commandos, who'll be keeping tabs on them anyway.

In general, make sure your less-combatitive Circle members are using their incredible powers to full advantage. With your charmset, there's no reason a large force should ever be able to sneak up on you (barring Abyssal Labyrinth tricks). You should ALWAYS be able to turn the tables on anyone hunting you. Learn everything, then dissect their efforts, slowing and obstructing them until they are weak, dividing them if possible. Then strike without mercy.

In battle, try to identify capabilities as quickly as possible, using Awareness, Occult, Lore (Tactics) or whatever else you can stunt. Never underestimate the power of All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight for developing this information.

If you can, learn of any custom charms your enemy may have, as well as unique artifact or hearthstone powers. Obviously I can't give you any advice on what they might be, so always be ready for surprises.