Aston's Guide to Party Layout

Introduction
Whilst many strategies are commonly discussed in this game, there are a few small ones that go under the radar.

In this guide I am going to talk about the layout of your party, and its significance.

Now you may be wondering why it should matter. It's just the order you play in, right?

This is a common misconception, and the order of your party can help your run be slightly more efficient.

The Basics
Your party's turn order is determined by your party layout. For example, if your layout from left to right in the pick screen is: Herbalist, Hunter, Woodcutter; the Herbalist will take their turn first, followed by the Hunter, and lastly the Woodcutter.

The round will always end with the party member on the right, and start with the one on the left.

I will now explain why this matter in terms of gameplay.

Combat
Whilst your turns are governed by Speed, and so are the enemies, the damage you take is not.

If you are running a setup with one particularly tanky or evasive character, put this character in the middle of your party layout.

The logic that I have developed behind this is as follows: Therefore it makes sense to ensure that the character in the middle is the most evasive/tanky, as they are the character that over the course of the game will take the most damage on average (unless blocked/evaded). Here is examples of the reasoning:
 * Enemy units attack targets randomly (unless someone is taunting)
 * If an enemy unit uses a splash attack, adjacent targets will be hit by the splash damage if they are unable to block/dodge it.
 * The character in the middle of the party (on average) is most likely to be hit with an attack (due to being directly targeted by attacks, or being hit by splash from the characters next to them)

Bad Party Order: Frail, Frail, Tank

Splash attack hits either frail character and both frail characters get hit, tank (with highest hit points or evade) challenges the least incoming damage in all scenarios. The tank is only negating the most damage it can if it is the target being directly hit by the attack.

Good Party Order: Frail Tank Frail

Splash attacks that hit any character will at the least not hit both frail characters for full damage, the tank is always negating the maximum amount of damage possible no matter which target is hit.

Also, it is often worth having your character with the highest Awareness score in the rightmost position in order to allow you to get the rest of your party in position and increase the chance of a successful ambush.

Non-Combat activity
Outside of combat, turn order matters. In my games, I keep the character I know will have the highest Intelligence score as the leftmost character in the select screen (first to take their turn).

The logic behind this is: Here are examples of the reasoning:
 * Consumable items' round timer ticks down when the final party member has used their turn.
 * Having the first party member use the item allows each player to use the item once before the item loses its first round.
 * Portal Scrolls, one of the most commonly used items of this type, scale off the user's Intelligence Stat, so it is best for the highest intelligence character to use them.

Bad: Consumable is on third player (Tinder Pouch)

Third player uses tinder pouch, placed with 3 ticks remaining, rests and ends turn. Next round starts, tinder pouch loses 1 tick, first player's turn starts.

Good: Consumable is on first player (Tinder Pouch)

First player uses tinder pouch, placed with 3 ticks remaining, rests and ends turn. Second players turn starts, ect.

Conclusion
Thank you guys for reading my guide! I hope some of you found it helpful.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions expanding upon this guide, please edit them into the section below this with your name attached!

Questions, Comments, and Suggestions
How do you swap party order? You can't. Once you have picked the order in the start screen (where you can customize your character) you can't switch the order - AD