Archers and avoiding drawing single targets?

[TheShadow]

Hey! I often travel alone or with one or two people,  and as a archer usually only engage one or two monsters at a time. My question is this: How should I engage a group of monsters without only drawing one creature and thus abusing the AI?

The only ways I've thought of are 1: shooting at more than one target in a row, which has it's own problems or 2: Charging in close enough to draw their attacks, then running back far enough to make use of the distance... which pretty much either takes a /lot/ of room, or completely negates the point of being a ranged character.

Your thoughts?

[Caster13]

If you think you (alone or as part of a group) can't defeat a group of enemies in combat, perhaps you should be looking for a solution that doesn't involve combat? Sometimes there are more than one way to overcome a challenge.

Being an archer doesn't really change the situation that much. Let's say you're a melee-based fighter walking through the caves and up ahead you see a group of ten orogs. There's (usually) nothing that would compel that PC to attack the group of ten orogs instead of looking for some other way around or away from them.

[Gear Head]

If you truly wish to engage and not abuse the AI, one tactic you can try is to use some kind of AOE item, such as oil or grease, or flash powder, or choking gas, to aggro all at once and still engage them in a more tactical manner. This will make the entire group aware of your presence, yet still not have them necessarily all swamping you and your comrades at once.

[Paha]

I should really revisit AI settings a bit to make creatures more aware of things happening around them, or at the very least if something happens to their own "pack of spawns". No promises or ETA though.

[xXCrystal_Rose]

The easy way to engage a group of monsters without drawing only one as an archer is: don't. Wait until the monsters all engage one of the melee, then fight.

[Mushroom Mushroom]

Change targets frequently.

[PanamaLane]

When I must, I will typically change targets, or pull out a summon near enough to draw them all. But yeah, normally just find a way around those type of things with stealth or invis or just finding a different path.