Battle Capacity functions at its core as a standard 2D fighting game. This is a brief guide to help players understand the basic mechanics.
Standing (st): Your character is standing in his default state.
Crouching (cr): Your character is in a crouching state.
Jumping (j): Your character is in an airborne state after having jumped.
Link: Links are attacks that, when properly timed can be executed in succession, 'linked', before your opponent recovers from hitstun.
ex: Syclant can link st.light into itself as well as into st.med and cr.light.
Cancel: Some attacks can be 'cancelled' into another attack. Basically you skip all the recovery frames of the first attack and go right into the second.
ex: Syclant can cancel st.med into Swords Dance.
Combo: Any combination of attacks that, once started, cannot be escaped, interrupted, or blocked midway.
ex: A simple Syclant combo is st.light, st.light, st.med, Swords Dance.
Hitstun: The character is reeling from an attack and cannot react during this animation.
They cannot be grabbed while in hitstun.
Blockstun: The character is hit while blocking. He will continue to block but is unable to react until out of blockstun.
They cannot be grabbed while in hitstun.
Offense:
Each character has a set of regular attacks we'll call 'normals'. A character will perform a corresponding attack (light, medium, strong)
for when they are standing, crouching or in the air after a jump.
Fighters also have character specific normals that can be used by pressing a direction and a specific attack button. (ex: forward strong; down+forward medium). For a list of each character's unique normals, please visit the Character page.
Grabs can also be used to break down and opponent's defense. They cannot be blocked, although an opponent can jump or dash away from grabs. Two opponents trying to grab each other at the same time will cause both to whiff.
In addition to these, each CAP fighter also has Special Attacks. These are usually performed by pressing a series of directions followed by an attack button. (ex: down, forward, light; forward, down, back, strong). Some characters require a 'charge' time when holding down a direction. For example, if the move requires the motion: back(charge), forward, attack you must hold the back button for half a second to a second before you can execute the attack. Alternatively you can hold down+back to achieve the same kind of charge. Diagonals are flexible this way.
The strength of the attack button you use will determine which version of the Special you will use. Generally the lightest version has properties of greater speed, faster recovery, less damage, less range, though other properties may exist.
Each character also has a Super Attack that can be used once their Power Meter is full. These tend to be the strongest attacks in your fighter's arsenal and are a great way to punish mistakes or end combos. You build Power meter by attacking, getting hit, and using Special Attacks.
Newly added is a feature called X-Attacks. An X-Attack is powered up version of a character's special moves, often the move will be similar but with different properties, sometimes the function is different altogether. Each character starts a match with one X-Attack. When a character uses an X-Attack that either hits, or gets blocked, the X gets transferred to the opponent, so the maximum number of X-Attacks any character can have at any time is 2. The move can be performed by inputting the regular command of the special desired followed by the 'X' button, or by inputting light and medium at the same time.
Defense:
Blocking is a pretty important thing to do. Thankfully, it's easy too. Simply hold back and you will block automatically when your opponent attacks. There are multiple ways to break a defense, though.
The first one of these is to grab. You can't block a grab. Some characters have Special Attacks with grab properties so be careful.
Also, you're not completely invincible while blocking either. Simply holding back leaves your lower half vulnerable to attacks that hit low. Holding down+back will allow you to block high and low attacks, but leaves you vulnerable to overhead attacks.
Finally, even if you block, you will still take 'chip' damage from your opponent's Special Attacks. If your opponent is really clamping down on you, block until you see an opening, then attack or escape; you really won't win any matches by blocking the whole time.
Finally, each CAP has their own Ability. This is usually a unique trick that doesn't necessarily constitute an attack, but is a quirk that helps the CAP in the battle. Ex: Stratagem can glide through the air with Levitate, Revenankh can gradually regain HP with Rest.
Most abilities will use up a bit of your Power Meter, although there are exceptions.