New player question: starting combat

[DeafMeat]

Morning. What's the best way to start combat? I don't seem to have any advantage to spotting the eneemy first. Even if I cast a spell or launch a range attack, once combat starts my melee people just slllooooowly walk towards them, can't attack, and then get hit. Am I doing something wrong?

[Xerxes]

Normally the enemy concentrate their attacks on the character, who made a first attack against them or first being spotted

[mk11]

Yes. You aren't saying whether you are using turn-based or real-time and the answer depends on that.

[Soul]

enemies typically attack or focus on whoever initiated combat... so having a range character initiate combat is gonna put all the aggro on them unless another character is able to intercept em from making their way to them....

cutscene and ambush fights are different... they typically target the main character or in some cases with companion quests then its them....

basically what I do is have my formation set up so tanks are up in the front lines..... I have them with the charge ability on autocast so when im running around in real time I can just click on an enemy I spot and they'll run at the enemy instead of walking slow....

or if im in turn based mode and I spot an enemy i'll just click on my tank and position them far enough away and charge to initiate combat.... if you charge while too close to enemy you wont finish the charge animation and end up losing that charge use....

for turn based.... one method I use to get a good view is to have like a stealth character creep up in stealth mode to spot the enemies so I can target them... then have my tank charge from maximum range... good example is market square with the summoner and group near the burning house.... summoner is in the back and likes to use invisibility off the bat and summon in stealth round after round.... i'd have lann sneak up to the group so I can get a view of where the summoner is at then have seelah charge straight at the summoner... so when turn based starts Seelah will finish her charge and be right on top of the enemy

[Drake]

If you attack the enemy first and have turn based mode activated, the first round is a surprise round. In that round only your party can act and all the enemies are flat footed. A surprise round is a half round, meaning you only have a standard action (so you can move or attack but not do both).
If you want to initiate a surprise round, the best course of action is to first switch everyone to a ranged weapon, trigger the round and then have everyone fire a shot, you'll be likely to damage or kill one or more enemies depending on your party composition.

[DeafMeat]

Turn based, and thank you all. Will try your idea, Drake.

[nazeer28]

Set options to pause when enemy is in sight, usually have party is in stealth mode and then you can precast certain AoE spells such as web and the like beforehand, then start combat.

[jedi7000nathan/sevenbillionjedi]

Postat inițial de DeafMeat:

Morning. What's the best way to start combat? I don't seem to have any advantage to spotting the eneemy first. Even if I cast a spell or launch a range attack, once combat starts my melee people just slllooooowly walk towards them, can't attack, and then get hit. Am I doing something wrong?

Turn based mode. Straight up. That said the best way to open up is to have your best archer or caster open up with a barrage of ranged attacks or a good strong AOE spell, especially on higher levels a good Weird cast can destroy entire groups of enemies without too much trouble or you can use power word kill for focusing out a really tough enemy, magic and ranged are the kings of damage and if you can focus down the biggest threat the fights become way easier. But definately turn-based because you can actually get a round where the enemy can't act if you surprise attack them.

[mk11]

Best way to start in turn-based is:

1) have your tank charge an enemy (that way they will attract aggro)
2) have the rest of your melee mounted which allows them the full move of the mount and then attack
3) have your archer get a single shot using Vital strike

Sometimes though starting with a spell or archer will be better if the enemy only has melee and you don't want to activate more enemies by getting too close.