It's funny how here is assumed that Bethesda game doesn't do that. Actually they do but the trigger finger is always so happy that it doesn't get seen.

Yes in FO3 Raiders and other enemies flee when the force against they are fighting is overhelming (admitted the limit is set a bit high) and yes they come back after a while and try again after they have found a weapon for example and feel more confident.

But myths never die.

That extends to NPC.

'Help, help, I have a collar set to explode !'

Turn and runs at top speed towards Raiders....

(splat)

This so much. "Help us lone wanderer! We have no weapons, without you getting out would be suicide!" *exits dialogue, proceeds to grab lead pipe from corpse and charge towards super mutant overlord* "LEROY JENKINS!!!!!!!"

Yes and no. I wouldn't mind if the last enemy standing flees, or they start running when they're about to die. But I don't want them to flee before I even engage them, even if I look like a single-and-ready-to-mingle Deathclaw in Power Armor.

For me, it's more important that fleeing enemies don't just stop fleeing and going back to attack you. Let them flee, and despawn them when they exit the cell. Maybe Bethesda could even incentivize showing mercy by giving us a karma/XP reward for letting enemies flee, although they'd have to do it intelligently so that we don't just randomly get rewarded for fleeing enemies we aren't even aware of.

Certain enemies should. Like, a wounded scavenger who is fighting against you (wearing full PA or something). He's wise enough to know he won't win that fight with you so he'll flee and scavenge elsewhere. Drugged up raiders should be completely oblivious to their physical limitations and throw caution to the wind. They don't know any better and should not run.

As a note, NPCs that aren't designed for us to kill (like townsfolk) have always been more intelligent about self-preservation.

Unless there's a dragon nearby and they feel the strong urge to fist-fight it.

Curious how our settlement NPC's will react to raiders. Do they run inside? Do they run in circles? Do they charge the raiders barefisted and run into our own traps?

Would be much like hunting deer in Skyrim.

Both Fallout and TES has part of this in place, Enemies in Skyrim might run away, or yield if seriously hurt but start fighting at once their health get up a bit.

In an setting where you outlevel an smart enemy a lot he should have easier for running away.

For one I hope civilian npc have the sense to run away, this was annoying in Skyirm, npc trying to fight dragons or vampires with iron daggers.

Let the guards handle it, its their job you pay tax after all.

Another, related, idea popped into my noggin....what if over-powered enemies can try to surrender?

I know most times even if they ~try~ it'll take the PC too long to realize it and they'll get killed anyway, but if you're consciously looking for an opportunity to spare a foe, for some good karma, that would be a nice feature.

The catch, though, is that the foe that "surrenders" CANNOT then immediately grab a gun from the ground and start shooting you again. I forget which game it was, but there was one game (Skyrim?) where foes would plead for mercy and even if you stopped attacking them, they would come back to attack you in short order. While I can see where some foes ~would~ try that tactic, when -every- foe does it, you just know that there's no point in sparing a foe.

But what if there -was- a point.

What if you got experience and good karma from surrendering foes? They might or might not drop / offer their loot to you, but I can understand that "losing" the loot they may have would be the price for the good karma.... I wouldn't be heartbroken to lose a set of broken raider armor and a lead pipe and a bag of chips.

Of course, you get good karma for ~killing~ raiders, too, and all their loot so the good karma / exp would need to be worth the extra step of sparing a foe. If the foe is legitimately fleeing, and you let them, they should run off screen and despawn (as 'rescued' prisoners sometimes do). Of course, if they surrender --- perhaps being required to relinquish all their weapons and loot ---- and then the PC attacks and kills the helpless, surrendered foe, then the PC could acquire ~evil~ karma, even though they are killing a raider.

Killing a raider = base good karma

Sparing a raider = extra good karma

Killing a raider who surrendered = evil karma

Killing a raider who surrendered but then started to attack again = base good karma

In particular, this would be great for a non-lethal play-through where, for example, you shoot weapons out of foes' hands and/or melee them and try to knock them out or make them surrender instead of blowing them to bits.

Of course, sparing a raider may NOT be 'good' karma... since it's unlikely your mercy will change them into good people; they may still be raiders and go on to do evil things, so maybe getting good karma for sparing them isn't the answer.

your welcome and what did i buy?

It would be great if there was a small chance that low level enemies would run away.

Especially if you have just killed 80% of their companions.

Should killing anyone get you good karma? If you are bring attacked, it's self defense and essentially neutral.

Good karma should be for going out of your way to be kind and or merciful.

Of course, in real life sparing someones life and not looting their corpse just means you're not a psychopath. But allowances have to be made for it it being a computer game, so we can call that a really nice thing to do.

balders gate did this it wasnt all that great if you didnt keep a close watch on your team mates they would chase low leveled enemies around the map sometimes triggering fights with enemies they couldnt handle themselves and getting killed because of it.

Hell yes, they should run.

I've always found it stupid that pathetic enemies continue to fight against you in spite of standing no chance.

You should have a reputation if you're supposed to be the badass legend of the wasteland they say you are.

Not everyone has a death wish, even in a post apocalyptic world, and just talking your way out seems rubbish. If I'm to intimidate my opponents, they should fear my mere image.

The masses to the slaughter gets boring after a while. A bit of flavour will help out in spades.

Oh no. I would hate that. In FO3 I would kill raiders for loot and gear. Just the thought of always running after those guys...

Not only that, I would need to fight them to get xp.

Yes! Its so annoying in Dragon Age Inquisition when weak enemies constantly attack you and serve no purpose other than wasting my damn time.

Ideally it should depend more on personalities. Raiders will attack regardless of competence, slavers will flee because their main objective is to capture slaves.

Then again, the Freeside thugs are more nuisance sprites..

Yeah it would totally be fun to chase this lone raider for 5 minutes around the map like a scene from Benny Hill show.

Have seen this ridiculous suggestion quite a bit of times, tells one why player feedback should sometimes be ignored as some people don't even imagine for a couple of seconds how that will play out in actual gameplay.

It actually kinda would.

I would like to see this as well as enemies losing moral if the fight goes south. They might have the balls to take me on in my power armor if there are 30 of them with heavy weapons, but once they start losing they should attempt to cut their loses.

On the one hand - yeah, it'd make more sense.

On the other hand - based on games I've played where enemies do run extensively away? It's spectacularly annoying.

Definitely one of those "gameplay trumps realism" times.

(Thinking about the topic.... it was always find of funny in superhero games like City Of Heroes or Marvel Heroes, when those dinky lv5 thugs would always be happy to charge out and attack, oh, Ghost Rider. Or the Hulk. )

Its pretty simple, if you dont want to do something dont do it. No one is forcing you to chase down and kill the last few enemies, and if you decide the reward for killing them is worth the pursuit then go for it, otherwise just carry on.

This is a feature that would add a new part to the combat, it would be unique, and even add a dosage of realism. The "im too lazy so it would be annoying" argument holds no water. Heaven forbid you be inconvenienced so beth can try a new feature.

I think that would be hilarious.Some hidden Intimidation stat, tied to reputation...kick in a door and all these Raiders go "Oh [censored[, it's him! GAME OVER MAN!"

Yay for ignorance!

You have a gun. Multiple most likely. Bullets travel faster than people. You also have VATS.

Problem solved!

This is why some player feedback that is ripe to rotten with narrow-mindedness should be ignored.

Was just thinking about that one idea someone had, of the enemies running off and then despawning when they get out of the cell/far enough away.....

...that would be really awesome, if they (for ex) picked up the unique gun off a table in the middle of the fight, and then ran off and despawned. Or if they were carrying a quest item. Whee!