Unfair enemy reach.

[Northwest 76]

I’m still running my two (lady) party. Ninja up front and Ranger all the way in the back. Even against roaches, (the little ones) they bite right into my Ranger. How!!?? When she had a spear, she couldn’t even use it back there!
Anyone else see this? It’s rather annoying...

[Seewhyseeoh]

Have they surrounded you? Are they attacking from the sides?

If so, then they are at melee range so you should be able to attack back, but maybe only to the ones close enough, not all the enemies.

[mpnorman10]

If you just have characters in the front and back of the formation then any flanking that reaches the side is sufficient to reach the back, since the side is empty. It is similar to the principle that when the front is empty the enemy in the front can reach the middle and both flanks. If all enemies are strictly in front, and you have one or more characters there, they should not be able to reach the back.

[Northwest 76]

I’ll try to make sure next time, but I am almost 100% positive the enemy was directly in front of me. I usually take up a turn just positioning the duo, to where only the Ninja is in close range.
Well, anyway, thanks for the feedback.

[biogoo]

If an enemy with short reach can reach your character, you can reach that enemy with a short range weapon with that character. No exceptions.

[Northwest 76]

I guess I need to learn what is considered short range and extended range on the animal/ monsters. I know a crab has extended, but I’m not sure on the others.
I’ve also recently noticed that if an enemy is *SLIGHTLY* out of the front cone of position, they must be considered in your “flank” and can therefore stab your rear character with a dagger. Again, pretty annoying.
Or another observation, since I’m venting 😄. An enemy (maybe extended like a crab) has the ability to hit your character from behind, even though they are not even close to being “behind” your character.
I’m being to think that you need to have a five or six man party to see the rules of engagement followed. Otherwise, you’re “tactical strategy” is almost useless. Alright, I’m done crying. :-)

[CeterumCenseo]

On ranges: Select a char, select attack, and click on a monster. If the outline appears in green color, you can attack it. And it can attack you, if its range is the same as yours. You can also right click, and it says something about current distance and maximum attack distance. Some monsters have two types of attack, melee and ranged/breathe/magic. In this case, only the larger distance is mentioned. Again, Flamestryke provides you more details about each individual attack of a monster. So it is good to know that a swallower has in total 3 attacks, but only one "swallow" attack.

On hitting from behind: Attacks from behind are not related to the quadrant in the formation diagram, but to the orientation of each char, indicated by an arrow on each symbol representing a char. At the start of each combat turn, chars in front and center quadrants "look" in front, left and quadrants left and right and back quadrant into the back.
When a char has his turn, it changes the orientation towards its target: Attacking an enemy with melee, ranged or magic, or buffing healing a char or the entire party. In the last case, orientation is maintained, while in all other cases, orientation changes to this target. And if you are attacked from the opposite side, this counts as an attack from the back. A reason to use heal/rest all instead of heal wounds/stamina, if you do not want to compromise your orientation and your lord looks backwards to the mage behind him he was casting GA upon. If your char has several attacks, orientation can change during combat turn.

Tactical strategy is not useless, but you need to know all the rules to be effective and successful.

[frobisher]

Originally posted by CeterumCenseo:

On ranges: Select a char, select attack, and click on a monster. If the outline appears in green color, you can attack it. And it can attack you, if its range is the same as yours. You can also right click, and it says something about current distance and maximum attack distance. Some monsters have two types of attack, melee and ranged/breathe/magic. In this case, only the larger distance is mentioned. Again, Flamestryke provides you more details about each individual attack of a monster. So it is good to know that a swallower has in total 3 attacks, but only one "swallow" attack.

On hitting from behind: Attacks from behind are not related to the quadrant in the formation diagram, but to the orientation of each char, indicated by an arrow on each symbol representing a char. At the start of each combat turn, chars in front and center quadrants "look" in front, left and quadrants left and right and back quadrant into the back.
When a char has his turn, it changes the orientation towards its target: Attacking an enemy with melee, ranged or magic, or buffing healing a char or the entire party. In the last case, orientation is maintained, while in all other cases, orientation changes to this target. And if you are attacked from the opposite side, this counts as an attack from the back. A reason to use heal/rest all instead of heal wounds/stamina, if you do not want to compromise your orientation and your lord looks backwards to the mage behind him he was casting GA upon. If your char has several attacks, orientation can change during combat turn.

Tactical strategy is not useless, but you need to know all the rules to be effective and successful.

A little off the point but when I right click on a monster, as you said, I only see the name of the critter and 3 numbers in parenthesis. such as (1-0-1) What does this mean ? I imagine this info is in the manual but the manual here on steam is small faded print and I can't enlarge it or read it.

[PointBlank]

It will definitely be tough running a small party if you're still in process of learning the ropes. But it's a choice you made - in wizardry, there is no unfair :-)

[Northwest 76]

I’m not learning the ropes. I just haven’t ran a two person party before. I’m going to go in between two buildings in Arnika to where there is absolutely no chance of the bandits flanking me. Then I will see if they can still hit my ranger with a close range attack.

[CeterumCenseo]

@Frobisher: If you move the mouse over the monster in the main screen, you should see a green or red "halo". This means your selected party member can attack this monster with the weapon equipped. For usage of potions, amulets etc it is the same. Do you recognize what I mean?

@Northwest: In this case, look exactly at the combat log. Some monsters have throw attacks with the same animation as their melee attack, eg bandits or Gregor. If the log says "throw", they can reach anyone.

[raystevens73]

I like using RFS-81 as my only NPC hired when working on a solo run. When you use the front and back positions say 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock if the front character has to turn postion in the side radar view to say 1 o'clock or 11 o'clock postions when hitting with short range weapons then that enemy can hit the back facing character. Yes it is annoying because when playing a solo run by the time you able to get to RFS-81 he is lower level and only has something like 35 stealth so he dies alot even putting him in the back. You have to build him or other NPC's that will go to the locations though if your not going to kill Crock and doing a solo playthrough.

[CeterumCenseo]

For me, protecting and building an RNPC for the Idol quest has always been part of the fun of my own solo runs. I meanwhile did that quest with all RNPCs except Saxx. In my first solos, I wanted them to be as strong as my own solo char, but I fould out I could go with far far less. Nowadays I typically take them around until they get Portal spells (saving the quest rewards from T'Rang and Umpani helps a lot). I set up the portal in Crock's hut, reducing the way the NPC has to run alone to once from Crock to Brekek. The RNPC tries to avoid encounters as much as possible, sneaking first at the shores of the river. Across the river, the RNPC closely follows the montains. Brekek can be killed by anything. Ranged or Canned Elemental.