TLDR; (from my perspective, as I'm sure someone will object.)
Objection!
...sorry, no offense meant, the advice is solid. Still, I want new players to see this post as well just in case they want more knowledge later on.
1: Ignore anything about "breaks"... they are not important while learning the basic mechanics.
I sorta agree, but sorta don't. This game is complicated, but controlling "vulnerability breaks" are sort of like the endgame meta that everything leads into. You control Chosen friendships/enmities through controlling breaks, and friendships/enmities controls how much EE you get from the Chosen after battles when they go to do dirty deeds. Also, breaks lead to massive multipliers and significant changes to the difficulty of the final battle.
I do agree, though, that if you're just starting to learn the game, this is basically like trying to do differential equations while you're still taking algebra. Don't worry about that until you know the early game stuff.
Here's some early game advice.
Focus on building Angst. You do that by just using (Threaten/Slime/Attack/Taunt) during battle. A little early Angst, and the Chosen will start sinning after battles, which gives you some starting EE. Spend your first 12-15 days building up and using EE to buy starter perks and get a Commander ready.
In my opinion, you shouldn't even touch the Surround button until you have a commander who can capture a Chosen for 4 turns and you know what each Chosen is weak (ie. has Vulnerabilities) against. That means about 12 days or so where you only last 8 rounds. It'll feel bad, but it's important not to waste your time on fruitless Surrounds -- get that early Angst and EE so that you deal good damage and have a decent Commander.
As for figuring out Chosen Vulnerabilities, here's a couple tips -- no, sorry, only one tip. Buy Psychic Reading. You'll have to buy it eventually anyways to unlock some important sequential perks, so just grab it early so you can learn all the things.
With that perk, during battle, you can "Examine" each Chosen. It'll show you a little graphic displaying the Chosen's vulnerabilities, and you'll know exactly how to attack them to build angst at first. You can even see this information outside of battle by going to the "Profiles" button. Here's an example.
Vulnerabilities
Morality: FEAR -|--- HATE <= Significant Vulnerability: Use Grind and Pummel until 10k dmg
Innocence: DISG |---- PLEA <= Minor Vulnerability: Use Caress and Humiliate until 10k dmg
Confidence: PAIN ----| INJU <= Core Vulnerability: Reach Lv 2 INJU
Dignity: SHAM --|-- EXPO <= Significant Vulnerability: Use Grind and Humiliate until 10k dmg
This example Chosen is weak to Attack, the third option, because she's weak to PAIN... which is the third vulnerability listed, conveniently enough. Notice that PAIN has four tacks (----)? That's how weak she is to Attack. However, if she gets surrounded, she doesn't get INJURED very easily (no tacks), so you shouldn't bother Pummeling her. You should spend the early days just attacking her for Angst, but probably shouldn't bother with capturing or surrounding her as your first choice. Until the player can build combos using the other two Chosen, or hold her for a longer duration, Pummel will struggle to affect her.
2: Use Humiliate to increase multipliers on all other characters.
Yes, that's what it does, but I'd suggest starting any Surround with Pummel, followed by Grind, and
then either Humiliate or Caress depending on where you want the multipliers distributed -- towards other Chosen, or on the Chosen already being Pummeled/Grinded on. Even on the Chosen who are strong against Pummel/Grind, the combo builds on itself so strongly that it's almost unfair. You just need some turns for it to work its magic, hence getting a commander who can last at least 4 turns.
Pummel+Grind=Win
3: Use Pummel to increase multipliers on that character.
THIS. 100x THIS. Pummel+Grind will build SO much angst that you'll probably get your T1 breaks on the Chosen right away. It can actually be a little frustrating how good this is, because you might accidentally make Chosen befriend each other if they have the same breaks early on. Regardless, in my eyes, this combo is the bread and butter of the meta for this game right now.
4: 100, 1000, 10'000 are "damage"-numbers that increases the number allowing you to "surround"
This is true. Every multiple of 10 -- every new decimal place -- also equates to a new multiplier of damage. This rule applies to both sides of a Chosen's vulnerabilities.
5: The combat is not over as long as someone is "surrounded" or "captured".
...and once more - because it is hard to realize...
6: Even if you feel like you're doing sweet F-A, you did something! All those "somethings" stacks up.
Yes. All the flat damage you deal builds Unresolved Trauma, which builds Angst. Each fight is not isolated -- the more damage you're dealing to each Chosen, the more that damage feeds into that Chosen's Unresolved Trauma. Unresolved Trauma feeds into Angst, which gives you flat damage bonuses.
Unresolved Trauma also determines how Chosen will spend their after-battle, which gives you EE.
This game is ultimately about racing to get as much EE as you can and break each Chosen's vulnerability tiers before you hit Day 50. Most of the individual battles are about using captures and surrounds to delay the end of each fight, break their vulnerabilities, and build up that Unresolved Trauma on the Chosen so that they commit sins to give you EE. Those first 12-15 days will suck, but the next 30 will be an explosion of progress, because everything ties into one another in this game.