Bug, or maybe just a suggestion?

[Jazz]

Currently I am running into a group of bandits that show up as a random encounter on the roads, however I can't fight them. They just give me a patronizing message and tell me to get lost.

On a pervious run of the game I accidentally paid them off once and this was probably the reason why i would get this result when approaching certain bandit groups. On this run-through, however, I have attacked the bandits every time... and yet, this one group still pops up.

I'm not sure if this is a bug, or if it just happens randomly, but this spawned a thought. Could it be an option for you to attack a bandit group that you had previously paid off?

Maybe i'm just annoyed and ranting, but i just want to hack up the group of weaklings who seem to be making fun of my character...

Further thought... suffer a -1 reputation for the nation you are in when you pay off bandits, but get the reputation back when you challenge them later on and win.

 

[VDX_360]

Are you a member of the Thieves Guild?
How many times have you ran into them where you could neither fight nor pay them off?

If you FIGHT and BEAT the bandits, they won't attack you for a bit, even if you run into the bandits again. The message they give is the same as if you paid them off. That's done to avoid issues with getting the bandits too frequently (a problem at lower levels, not much of an issue at higher levels).

The protection from a repeat bandit fight, so to speak, should be temporary and brief. If it's not, than there could be an issue with a save file such as the game saved the temporary protection as a long term effect.

 

[Jazz]

Thanks, that actually explains the issue. I haven't had the problem pop up again, so i probably ran into the bandits too soon after beating them.