The party that initiated combat is regarded the attacker, so if you were to click on them first to open the engage dialog, they’d technically be on the defensive and be free to choose whether to charge or hold position.
Then that’ll be what was happening, since I always turn back and fight if trying to escape is too laborious. Could enemy parties not be made to always be offensive in battle if they were going to attack anyway (i.e. if they believed themselves stronger)? There have been so many times when I’ve decided to click back on a pursuing party just to save the bother of a long chase, only to have the even greater bother of a stalemate. And I’ve played the game for obscene thousands of hours while continuing to make such mistakes. I suspect that lots of newer players will do what I did and get frustrated by it.
