Automatic start to ranged combat like in Fallout

Arcanum is one of my favorite games, but I have a major peeve with it: if enemies go hostile to you, they will run all the way to you before combat automatically starts. In essentially every other role playing game, combat starts when the characters first decide to kill you (see, Fallout, Jagged Alliance, etc). This is a MAJOR problem for ranged characters like shooters and archers.

I haven't played in many years, so I'm wondering if anyone has made a patch for this issue. I tried programming myself a little but was stumped.

Thanks!

 

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