So what the title says basically...

For example lets say you are in a small town or in the city of Whiterun and theirs a vampire attack. You aim for the strongest vamp but then some random idiot guard jumps in the way and gets burned by your Flames spell which you were casting at the time. Now the guard considers you an enemy and starts attacking you as well as the vamps.

So in this kind of situation what do you do? Attack the guards and other "friendly" NPC's who now consider you (and any followers) an enemy or let them attack you while you make a run for it and let the vampires get away with their crime.

Or do you take another action? I'm interested to know because "friendly fire" is a real problem in Skyrim and I always end up attacking some idiot who gets in the way forcing me to attack everyone else as well, its getting to be a real pain in the neck.

Loading a recent save can solve the problem but save files cant always be there to save the day as one can easily forget to save beforehand.

I would reload before I enter the city.

I just never enter or walk around a city or town after 8 PM during the DG MQ.

Vampire attacks was just an example.

Like in my game I use a mod that makes random attacks occur every 1 game week or so (day or night) and thus alot of chaos can follow IF it happens in any city.

With no mods its much less of an issue but it still happens quite often.

With the character i'm playing right now, Voice of the Emperor works wonders, or I hit them with the Pacify spell, or I Rally all the guards and heal them as they are attacking. I never get vampire attacks in cities anyway or dragon attacks and I'm in the middle of both quests on purpose to try and get those attacks but it never happens. Then again, I never fast travel.

VotE is definitely a good alternative IF playing as an imperial but if it calms the enemy (vamps etc) as well then its going to be you vs them with no help except from followers when you could have a small army of guards helping you out in addition.

1. Drink powerful fortify illusion potion
2. Dual cast pacify
3. Kill vampires
4. ???
5. Profit

In Oblivion there was a way to yield, and stop combat with normally non-hostile people. Does anyone know if you can do the same in Skyrim?