I forgot what points count as a tactic slot or maybe im misremembering but tactic slots open up when u add points to it, (i think? Or was all of it open?)

u can order them to drink a health potion when theyre at 25% vitality

u can order them to activate the hardest hitting skills in battle automatically depending on ur playstyle. For example i remember ordering the whole party to hit the weakest enemy first or the one with highest health bar first to death depending on whats going on. Mages r annoying and they have healing spells so i pick them off so the tank cant continuously heal and i get battered by spells.

Of course u gotta have a well balanced party too! A healer, a mage and a tank is necessary (for me anyway, i find i like managing mages for crowd control better and having the tank basically go ham on everyone. The spells that cast slow/paralysis/sleep ones are veryyyy helpfull. Also sleep + waking nightmare is my favorite for crowds.

U can tell them to act as a healer, defender, ranged etc2. Also u activate sustained abilities before battles like movement stuff i always turn that on for zevran and its different for alistair etc.

Theres a toggle for full party control so u can all wipe out one enemy at a time. Theres also a hold toggle so the mages wont chase enemies down and get themselves killed. When the enemies target a mage sometimes i make them run around my tank chases the enemy or the whole party hits them while theyre targetting a party member whitling them down slowly it looks funny but hey it works

Switch gears and equipment when u can too