What constitutes combat?
I have seen a number of threads on the AEG boards that call into question what constitutes combat and what does not. I realize this was a reaction to examples of the broken Initiative system. I believe the book pretty much leaves it entirely to the GM to make the determination of when combat begins and ends. I think that some think that the book defines what is combat and what is not. But, we are here to get down to the inner workings of the RAW. What is combat? When does it start? When does it end?

Are we doing this from a RAW perspective, or from a 'what would make the most sense' perspective? From a RAW perspective Skirmishes, Grappling, Iaijutsu Duels, Ranged Attacks, and Unarmed Combat all fall under the Combat Resolution, or Special Combat Situations headings, which means they all explicitly qualify as combat. Presumably Mass Battle also qualifies as combat, but it is found in a different section of the rules and does not include the word 'combat' in the section header. This is not necessarily the same thing as 'when initiative is rolled' - as anyone may call for initiative to be rolled 'when it becomes clear that events in the game cannot be resolved without combat.' (pg 165) It is theoretically possible to know that combat is inevitable before the combat actually starts. As for when combat ends, that's easy. Page 165 actually gives an explicit answer: "When all participants have acted, the combat round ends. If no combatants remain who wish to continue combat, then the combat ends as well. Otherwise combat continues." If you really want to be pedantic, this means that the fighting could come to a halt, but as long as there is one Matsu left who really wants to go back to fighting, then the combat is not actually over. However, most GMs I know would treat the Matsu's cessation of immediate hostilities as an indication that the do not wish to continue the combat (right now).