Cass is the best companion

[Professor Q]

Speaking of how companions benefit you mechanically, assuming you haven't maxed out Charisma, Cass is the best companion.

ED-E is obviously the best "pet" companion, especially if you're using the Tri-Laser, but he's not competing with Cass. I'm only mentioning him now so no one else bothers to say "Nuh uh ED-E!" (Someone will say it anyway.)

Anyway let's compare:

Raul is great with a Minigun and the Full Maintenance perk route if you're using super breakable weapons like the ELAER, but his role can be replaced with just carrying more Weapon Repair kits. Convenient, but he's not actually adding something unique.

Veronica and Gannon are basically the same; Veronica is more resilient and Ganon helps your healing. Gannon's benefit is of course similar to Raul, so you can just use a wider variety of healing items instead of using Gannon. Nevertheless what makes these two good companions is they have Energy Weapons tagged, meaning they can use the Gatling Laser and do the most DPS a companion can do as long as you're feeding them ammo.

Cass gets her vengeance perk though, so she's not that far behind energy weapons for damage. What hurts her the most is she has the least HP of your options, so she's got some risk if you're playing on Hardcore mode (even if you're not, she's not doing DPS if she's unconscious.)

What makes her the BEST though is her Whiskey Rose perk. There are three types of whiskey that add DT to you, and they all stack. Stack all three and you could have +18 DT at 100 survival. Realistically you're probably only stacking two at a time just because Large Wasteland tequila is harder to come by, but +12 DT is like 4 ranks in the toughness perk.

To get whiskey you can just buy it from the Atomic Wrangler, and to make wasteland tequila, just give whiskey to Cass and she will give you back the empty bottles to use. With Old World Blues it should be easy to get the other two ingredients.

With Chemist and Day Tripper the whiskey buffs last 10 minutes.

It doesn't end at free armor though, Whiskey also gives +3 Charisma at 100 survival. With Nerve that mean that Cass will be doing +15% more damage and take 15% less. This bridges the damage gap from Gannon and Veronica already, and remember it stacks. If you down both a tequila and a whiskey, you're at 30% extra damage, up to +45% with other alcoholic drinks if you completely dump charisma and don't bother with an implant or charisma boosting armor. Now Cass even looks more resilient than Gannon and Veronica, and that's not counting the fact she gets 4 minutes of +2 DT if you give her Whiskey during a fight too.

Minigun Cass with Power Armor ftw! Mojave Drunk squad, go!

[Mechenyi]

Cass cucks you in the ncr(NTR) ending... 0/10, would not wife

[Vex Hilarius]

Stopped reading after the Raul slander.

[Professor Q]

I said nothing untrue about Raul

[Boink]

The only real gear for Cass is Chained Outfit.

[Insomniac Jack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3T8WbthnZ4

[Punished Rusty Shackleford]

Originally posted by Insomniac Jack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3T8WbthnZ4

/thread

[Professor Q]

This ain't simping, it's facts.

Boone and Lily are good picks if you're going Stealth Build, Boone just for Quality of Life and Lily because of the obvious Stealth Girl benefit.

On Lily, you could use Lonesome Road instead for just straight up 10% damage, but depending on your weapon choice you may want to be taking ED-E anyway so might as well get the damage benefit. Lily is decent at both guns and energy weapons too, so while she can't optimally use the best options she's not a complete waste either. She can't wear gear which sucks for stat bonuses she otherwise could have gotten, but she's got ludicrous HP at least.

Boone, is just outclassed. His perk as I said is good Quality of Life and might be someone's preference, but besides that the only thing he's got going for him over the others is his high perception and thus high range, but of you give Cass/Arcade/Veronica an advanced riot gear helmet they're getting +2 to perception anyway.

[jomigaru]

Originally posted by Professor Q:

This ain't simping, it's facts.

No, not are facts. Some are, some are subjective opinion (specially when you refer to the other companions)

In terms of my opinion, I think Cass has the best companion quest and she is definitely one of my favourite characters.
To maximize Cass benefits as you cleverly describe you have to put your points in survival and stock alcoholic drinks. A clever method but there are other ways to play and enjoy.

I mean, do you wear the armor which provides more defense and use the absolutely most damaging weapon in the game? Because not everyone does that to enjoy the game.

[Professor Q]

I think I established I was talking about mechanical optimization, and not just subjective preferences.

It is a good point that you do need to stock up on both booze and survival skill, but the booze is cheap and easy, and survival if something you should probably be doing anyway when you're optimizing.

[Insomniac Jack]

Originally posted by Professor Q:

I think I established I was talking about mechanical optimization, and not just subjective preferences.

It is a good point that you do need to stock up on both booze and survival skill, but the booze is cheap and easy, and survival if something you should probably be doing anyway when you're optimizing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUfift7822g

[jomigaru]

Originally posted by Professor Q:

I think I established I was talking about mechanical optimization, and not just subjective preferences.

It is a good point that you do need to stock up on both booze and survival skill, but the booze is cheap and easy, and survival if something you should probably be doing anyway when you're optimizing.

Yes, you did stablish that. And you mixed some actual facts with some subjective opinions (specially regarding the other companions). I specified it was my opinion to make clear that I do distinguish objective facts and subjective opinion.

Moving on. As I said I find your method clever and it does optimizes Cass Perks.
Does that make her the best companion? We are then heading into subjective opinion because the best numbers do not necessarily make her the best companion objectively.
So the question remains open. Is Cass the best companion? Maybe for you according to maximizing her perks. Maybe for me according to her quest and background.
But, for everyone as an objective fact? Of course not.

[Professor Q]

Any talk about the story aspects are obviously going to be completely subjective.

So let's talk those numbers.

What parts are subjective in what I said that I didn't point out could be subjective? (i.e. Boone's and Raul's benefits being quality of life, for instance.)

Cass does have low HP, which is problematic, but she also gets +15% damage resistance if you're drinking whiskey the whole time. That doesn't bridge the entire HP gap, but it mitigates the problem. Between the guns buff she gets from her quest and the 15% from Charisma buff she gets from the Whiskey, the damage gap is bridged, so what's left is YOU get huge amounts added to your DT. That's a net positive overall.

Unless there's something I'm missing about the other candidates.

If you're maxing your charisma then yeah, Gannon or Veronica are better, but you're losing a lot of personal benefit if you do that.

[jomigaru]

Originally posted by Professor Q:

Any talk about the story aspects are obviously going to be completely subjective.

So let's talk those numbers.

What parts are subjective in what I said that I didn't point out could be subjective? (i.e. Boone's and Raul's benefits being quality of life, for instance.) (1)

Cass does have low HP, which is problematic, but she also gets +15% damage resistance if you're drinking whiskey the whole time. That doesn't bridge the entire HP gap, but it mitigates the problem. Between the guns buff she gets from her quest and the 15% from Charisma buff she gets from the Whiskey, the damage gap is bridged, so what's left is YOU get huge amounts added to your DT. That's a net positive overall.

Unless there's something I'm missing about the other candidates.

If you're maxing your charisma then yeah, Gannon or Veronica are better, but you're losing a lot of personal benefit if you do that.

(1)
"ED-E is obviously the best "pet" companion... but he's not competing with Cass"
"I'm only mentioning him now so no one else bothers to say "Nuh uh ED-E!" (Someone will say it anyway.)"


"Raul is great... but his role can be replaced with just carrying more Weapon Repair kits. Convenient, but he's not actually adding something unique."

"Veronica and Gannon are basically the same"; "Veronica is more resilient and Ganon helps your healing" "Gannon's benefit is of course similar to Raul, so you can just use a wider variety of healing items instead of using Gannon" "Nevertheless what makes these two good companions is they have Energy Weapons tagged, meaning they can use the Gatling Laser and do the most DPS a companion can do as long as you're feeding them ammo"

If you dont see subjective statements in these parts, lets better change the subject and focus on the title of this thread.
Can you please thnk where or when has been universally stablished that best equals max stats? I mean...Is the neighbour´s daughter the best daughter because she is taller than yours?
Perhaps a more precise title for the thread (Cass is the best according to numbers or something like that) would have been more suitable.
Anyway I agree with you 80%, Cass is probably the best companion (or one of the two best companions). But I know I am being subjective.

As for numbers I will try your method because I find it intriguing and at this point New Vegas does not have much to offer what I havent seen before. For that, thank you.

[Professor Q]

I didn't think ED-E being the best small companion was something that was debated. With Comrader-E he adds the most utility, and incredible damage if you're using lasers. Him being a ranged option also makes him way more versatile than Rex. There are some objective benefits Rex provides that come down to preference but for overall value I don't think there's a contest.

Raul being replaced with weapon repair kits isn't subjective. Whether you consider the hassle of keeping enough repair kits on you worth the trade-off is subjective. The statement "what he provides isn't unique" is objective though.

I don't know what I said about Gannon and Veronica that is subjective. Using the Gatling Laser is objectively the most damage that a companion can do, and if you want your companion to do damage, that makes the two characters with tagged Energy Weapons the best choices. So between the two it comes down to whether you want Veronica's tankiness or Gannon's heal bonus (money isn't hard to come by in New Vegas, especially if you do the DLCs, so you can argue that you can replace his benefit with just using more heal items.)

These are all facts.

Now obviously if you're playing on normal difficulty, especially on non-hardcore mode, none of this stuff matters that much.

As far as the title of the thread goes, again, I think I established in the first paragraph where I was going with this analysis.

Something else worth noting, on Very Hard mode companions aren't affected by the damage variables due to difficulty, so having a good companion is even more valuable on the harder difficulty.

[jomigaru]

Professor there are some subjective statements between some of the facts you mention.
I dont want to go deep into it, because Id rather invest my time somewhere else than in a thread where I mostly agree with the original poster. Couple of examples

"Raul is great... but his role can be replaced with just carrying more Weapon Repair kits. Convenient, but he's not actually adding something unique."
Thats is besides being a cowboy ghoul. And note something: that reasoning about Raoul and repair kits could be used for Cass and the benefits alcohol grants her. Equipment and other consumables may increase DT or charisma.


"Veronica and Gannon are basically the same" Subjective statement. I think they are far from being the same.


I am not intruding in your thread anymore (sorry for the inconvenience but I see nowadays how people oftenly mistake opinions with facts) I will give a shot (never better said) at your strategy since a booze addict character is something I have never gone into in New Vegas, and I have played it since it came out.