Chapter 4.2 - Combat Hints and Tips

I'm working on a more detailed post for combat, but I wanted to get some basic information out to everyone as soon as possible.

1) Get to 501 clan as soon as possible – See building your clan (coming soon)
2) Equip each of your clan with the best possible attack powers, defense powers, enhancements and discoveries possible for your level, one of each category for every member of your clan. (confirmed in the game text)
3) Best possible gear is determined by adding the attack and defense rating of an item and selecting the highest. The individual att/def scores of the item are not compared by the game. For instance, the game will use Hypnotic mind manipulation (21A, 24D, 45T) over Death gun (25A, 12D,37T) when attacking. Even though the death gun has a higher att, the HMM has a higher total (45 vs 37) This helps to figure out what the game will use and why. (confirmed by experience and testing)
4) The combat formula uses both your attack AND defense rating in each combat. However it puts an emphasis on the att score when attacking, and an emphasis on def score when defending. (Confirmed by Dev)
5) Combat is influenced by a random dice roll on top of your combat rating. This explains why you can fight someone and win, then lose, then win again. (confirmed by experience and testing)
6) Damage done by combat, and experience are determined by random rolls. I have kept a log of combat and I can see no evidence that I get more experience, do less damage or take more damage when fighting a stronger opponent than a weaker one. (confirmed by experience and testing)
7) Since you get no benefit from attacking higher level opponents, and have a higher risk of losing the battle, it makes sense to attack the lowest level and lowest clan opponent in the hit list and fight list first, and then moving onto higher level opponents.
8) The general guideline for Combat Vamps is to have your Att at least 2x your level.
9) Your def should be between 1.5-2X your level.
10) Energy should be only as much as the most required for the tier you are currently working on.
11) Put nothing in Health. The hospital can heal you as many times as you want for only 1000 blood. Being able to heal this fast and cheap means that any points put into health are relatively wasted.
12) How much stamina to have is debatable. Stamina refills at a steady rate. Having more of it means you can do more at one go, but then have to wait till it fully recharges. Having a smaller pool can be just as effective as long as you spend it as soon as it is recharged.