combat mode

in shrouded hills, you get a quest to destroy the town steam engine. i tried pressing alt, but unless i am already in combat i can't attack anything!

how do you do the quest? (as a techie i used dynamite, but now im playing a mage)

 

You use dynamite. Or your fists. Or crappy weapons. Or some of the spells that work on objects.

 

I used to just throw something from a trash can at it, this causes Virgil to begin attacking it.

 

Hit R (or click on the shield icon) to enter the combat mode manually. Hold Alt to target inanimate objects.