Your follower resorts to the same tactic, so I guess that's one reason to keep it that way. Role-playing as a merciful person won't work when your follower is a deceitful warrior

Are we playing the same game here?!

Actually, some WILL do this - once you've creamed their allies, they won't attack, and instead will cower and run. I actually respect their level of intelligence, as they understand they're outmatched. And I let them live. I never had to attack them, they're at full health, but my sheer overwhelming might caused them to realize "Oh crap, I'm screwed". I wish more did this, because I actually very much value an AI that actually has concern for their own safety.

However, if it's a critical health claim, then they're freaking liars and I'm gonna kill them.

I'm assuming he meant forsworn, haha. But hey, the falmer could be an acquired taste!

Why is it that when I walk into a camp of dudes armed with leather armor and rusty swords that they don't all just ran away after I hit the first one so hard I flies across an entire castle courtyard?

Suicidal/homocidal AI is ridiculous, it's taken for granted in RPGs (computer and pen-and-paper) but it's so ridiculous. Okay, maybe zombies and hardened soldiers would stand up to you; but bandits? Really? Are they ready to die over some worthless piece of grass scrub?

It's called 'morale'. And, heck, more than that - just plain motivation. Why would a poorly armed thug attack two dudes in obviously magical super-armor?

In Mount & Blade heavily armed/large parties deter bandits and wild animals. For obvious reasons.

Relatedly, it annoys me that Lydia says, "No more, I yield," then once she's healed up a bit, returns to the combat. I mean obviously, some people are dishonourable, and you might expect that a bandit would stab you in the back if you showed mercy, but surely a nord carl ought to have a sense of honour? Once she's yielded, she ought to take no further part in the fight.

i had one bandit yesterday who was at full health, but was saying "no please, have mercy" "I yield I yield" and kept running away and cowering........I spared him and it felt good. Until Lydia came along with her Whiterun Axe!!

I don't remember more than once, but indeed once a bandit started running away from me and If I went after him he would just try to stay away from me, I left him live at the end just to see if he would try to stab me or something in the back but no, never saw that bandit again... I think.

If they really surrender they should run away, but if they decide to backstab then it should be done with intent, not just the AI going back into attack mode.

the fix would be to add execution animations to a surrendered opponent. people would like it so much that it would be a non-issue.

If the bandit begs for mercy, and you don't slaughter them, how hard would it have been to program them to go none hostile and run in fear. That would make a lot more sense than them getting back up and fighting again.

I've made a post about this once. Nope, even if you stop bashing them, they'll regain health a little and come back to kill you.

Idk, I've only had that happen once. Usually when they start to beg they just cower and run around like idiots, with a disturbingly satisfying NOOOOO!!!! If I decide to destroy them

I just Ice breath shout them when they yield. Encase them in ice and deep six with your favourite sword is the way forward for me.

Same here. "Get up and die with some dignity man!" I then promptly cut his head off and toss the body in a ditch.

This is so true. At one point (in the main quest) I had three people with me, and a dog. Still, a solitary thief comes up and tries to rob me. Is he mad?

It would be great if a yielding opponent offered 4 options

1. you get to loot them while theyre still alive and they run away naked or however you leave them
2. You get to do an execution- and loot the body
3. They backstab you with a dirty trick like dirt in the eyes or some kind of quick attack.
4. they just run away while youre preoccupied

When they surrender I sheath my mighty greatsword and let them run off. Then I take my bow out and shoot them in the back like the bottom feeding pond scum deserve.

I agree though, you should have options what to do with them when they surrender. It'd be nice to be able to shake them down for everything they have and send them off hobbling into the snowy wilderness in their undercrackers. Or even enslave them.

"I cannot best you..."
10 seconds later...
"Shouldn't have come here!!"

I would be happy if they would just stop fighting for awhile longer. If it is related to health then two mods should fix it. The first to increase the "ready to fight again" level, and a second to reduce the regenerate rate for player and NPCs both.

It would just require yielding set their aggression to "off" or the appropriate values, provided they aren't trying a feint. The problem is 95% of all combat in TES is an unconditional fight to the death, and has been that way since Arena. There's no negotiations, no speechcraft.....just all or nothing death matches.

Same here, I also have trouble wiping stormcloak/imperial camps. They are always housing wounded

Luckily for those of us on the PC, mods will likely come around that not only fix it, but allow us to capture and even enslave surrendering NPCs.

For those who aren't... complain to Bethesda or try to change the "games as assembly line products" culture I guess

Oh, and perhaps levy some of that blame towards Microsoft and Sony for pushing against mods on consoles.

Another poor AI reminder. Thanks!

dragonborn shows no mercy, although granted i feel like a total [censored] for killing them when they are begging for mercy on the ground