Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[codave]

After a few weeks of searching, I finally made a friend today.  He's a small guns companion, whose stats don't seem all that bad (from what I've been able to test).  In order to figure out some of his stats, and what weapons he should use I ran into some questions.  Since this is my first companion, and it's a new feature (a fantastic one, I might add), I'm hoping someone with more experience may have some insight.

How do they select what weapon to use if they have several in their inventory?

First I gave him an assault rifle, and all went well.  However, he ran low on ammo, so I gave him a mauser to hunt with.  When combat was over, he would put the mauser away, and re-equip the assault rifle even though he was out of ammo.  When combat began again, he would spend his first few turns putting the Assault Rifle away, and getting the mauser into the fight.

For a little bit I thought maybe it depended on what weapon I gave him first.  So I took all of his weapons away, and gave him a 10mm SMG.  I told him to arm himself, and he equipped it.  Then I gave him his mauser back, and a 14mm pistol.  I told him to put his weapon away, and when I told him to arm himself... he equipped the 10mm SMG. 

However, when the time came to shoot some molerats, he equipped the mauser again.  As soon as combat ended, he went back to the 10mm SMG.

So I think what is confusing me, is that I'm unsure if there is any way to get him to use one weapon as his "Primary", and one as a "Secondary".  Because it seems to me like he has a preference for the mauser, even though I would rather he use it as a backup.

Is it random?  Does it go based on deterioration?  Ammo count?  Range, AP, or ST considerations?  Does it matter what order I give him the weapons, or what he equips out of combat?

FWIW, all weapons were 100/100, and I even tried giving him the same number of rounds for each weapon.

[Tomowolf]

After a few weeks of searching, I finally made a friend today.  He's a small guns companion, whose stats don't seem all that bad (from what I've been able to test).  In order to figure out some of his stats, and what weapons he should use I ran into some questions.  Since this is my first companion, and it's a new feature (a fantastic one, I might add), I'm hoping someone with more experience may have some insight.

How do they select what weapon to use if they have several in their inventory?

First I gave him an assault rifle, and all went well.  However, he ran low on ammo, so I gave him a mauser to hunt with.  When combat was over, he would put the mauser away, and re-equip the assault rifle even though he was out of ammo.  When combat began again, he would spend his first few turns putting the Assault Rifle away, and getting the mauser into the fight.

For a little bit I thought maybe it depended on what weapon I gave him first.  So I took all of his weapons away, and gave him a 10mm SMG.  I told him to arm himself, and he equipped it.  Then I gave him his mauser back, and a 14mm pistol.  I told him to put his weapon away, and when I told him to arm himself... he equipped the 10mm SMG. 

However, when the time came to shoot some molerats, he equipped the mauser again.  As soon as combat ended, he went back to the 10mm SMG.

So I think what is confusing me, is that I'm unsure if there is any way to get him to use one weapon as his "Primary", and one as a "Secondary".  Because it seems to me like he has a preference for the mauser, even though I would rather he use it as a backup.

Is it random?  Does it go based on deterioration?  Ammo count?  Range, AP, or ST considerations?  Does it matter what order I give him the weapons, or what he equips out of combat?

FWIW, all weapons were 100/100, and I even tried giving him the same number of rounds for each weapon.

For first, when you give two weapons to merc/companion and tell him to arm urself he'll take best weapon, then carry it whenever he is out of ammo, and take out second weapon and go back to that primary you gave him, so you need to change it by dialogue.

[codave]

For first, when you give two weapons to merc/companion and tell him to arm urself he'll take best weapon, then carry it whenever he is out of ammo, and take out second weapon and go back to that primary you gave him, so you need to change it by dialogue.

So what if the best weapon in his inventory has 300 rounds to go with it, and he switches to the other anyway? 

And I have no idea how to change it by dialog.  I can't tell him to use a 10mm SMG instead of a Mauser by dialog.

Unless the Mauser actually is better than the SMG, though I doubt it.

Still doesn't make sense to me.

[Tomowolf]

So what if the best weapon in his inventory has 300 rounds to go with it, and he switches to the other anyway? 

And I have no idea how to change it by dialog.  I can't tell him to use a 10mm SMG instead of a Mauser by dialog.

Unless the Mauser actually is better than the SMG, though I doubt it.

Still doesn't make sense to me.

Just leave him only that smg, tell him to arm and then give him second weapon.

[codave]

Just leave him only that smg, tell him to arm and then give him second weapon.

He will have the SMG in his hand, in the encounter, loaded and ready to fire.  Instead of firing, he takes the time to switch to the Mauser.  It doesn't matter if the SMG is already equipped or not.

That's why this is so perplexing.

[Slaver Snipe]

How about you just give him the gun you want him to use and don't have another on him.  The mechanics of how they choose a weapon shouldn't really matter.

[codave]

How about you just give him the gun you want him to use and don't have another on him.  The mechanics of how they choose a weapon shouldn't really matter.

This is most likely what I'll have to do.  However I still would like him to have a second weapon just in case he runs out of ammo, since I can't keep an eye on his inventory in the middle of a fight.  I thought if someone understood this behavior, I could work with it or around it.

[Slaver Snipe]

Then give him 2 different weapons, both of which you are fine with him using and voila problem solved.  He shouldn't have a mauser on him anyways 

[Michaelh139]

The AI truly is a mystery when it comes to weapon selection.

There are no obvious or not-so-obvious  factors into it...  Impossible to test this kind of thing really without going on for about an hour(s) with a very large variety of weapons.


Just give him the smg.     And be happy they don't burst their masters anymore, like pre-wipe...

[Malice Song]

He shouldn't have a mauser on him anyways 

SF Ants, backup for 10mm weapons in a low maintenance solution, easily suppliable weapon when hunting raiders, comp with low ST/SG banking on weapons with accurate perk, complementing a newbie hunting party to weaken critters without killing them ...

[ToxiCAVE]

give them only 1 weapon

[codave]

give them only 1 weapon

I had never considered this.  Thank you for the insight.