Battling is not the nicest thing to do in the world, but is possible in cow.
Naturally, you could code your own battling commands and effects to suite your particular needs.. however we have made a very simple battling process to test the concept.. it goes like this:
If an object called battlerat, or with battlerat in its name (hidden or visible) exists in a location, then hitting something will knock pennies off it.
You can use the absorb command to regain your own pennies to keep you stronger.. but be quick as your oponent may absorn the items first!
A time will come when someone has no pennies, then they have lost that battle.
There are some battle rats around which are scripted to battle with players (however they dont relly care who they hit once they are angry). Just hit a battle rat to get it angry, then it will fght back.
When a battle rat has run out of pennies, it colapses or runs away and has a rest to reain its pennies.
There is some more work than can be done on battling (lots more really) as now we have health and strength etc.. attributes) but for now hitting pennies off an oponent then absorbing them is what we have for now.
Also The battle rats were created a while ago and could benifit from some of the new advances in cow.. someday soon I guess.