Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Help/Tips/Tricks How to start a fight with an advantage!

Hey Folks,

I have a couple of questions about starting fights.

1. What determines how many AP my guys have when the fight starts? I have noticed that they are not always full, is there a way to get them to start with a full AP bar?

2. How do I ambush an enemy properly? Especially in the fire area of the first world, I run around corners in order to "ambush" an enemy but then the fight starts,my guys run back into formation (which is incredibly stupid if you ask me) and then most of the enemies get to act before I can do anything although I was "charging" and beginning the fight.

Cheers!

For 1: Mouse over Action Points in your inventory/character screen and you should see in detail how it's calculated (for max, starting and per turn AP) If you want to increase your starting AP specifically, you get 1 point of starting AP per 2 points in speed + perception, combined.

For 2:
Well, you're missing one key element in all this: Initiative.

Every character has an initiative rating and that's what determines who gets to act before whom. The Leadership skill helps immensely with that, having +5 initiative at levels 1,2 and +10 at 3,4 (and 5, I think).

I do agree with you that characters should start fights from their locations when the fight starts, not run back into formation.

Pretty easy to solve the last point: Take the line formation, lead with the character that you want to initiate the fight. This way the repositioning of your units often work to your advantage e.g. at chokepoints - your company will rush through the chokepoint to assume formation positions, thus avoiding spending action points.

Only downside - you must be careful advancing as the game engine sometimes has odd opinions on how the line should be built.

Regards
Thorsten