Ian Stopped Fighting

[Phaedruss]

My 2nd day of playing Fallout and Ian stopped fighting.

is there a reason? He follows me around -- he's good to carry my stuff, but I want him to fight. Google search didn't turn up anything useful.

[damesh2]

check his inventory...is he out of ammunition?

[Phaedruss]

Originally posted by damesh2:

check his inventory...is he out of ammunition?

Yeah, that was one of the suggestions that came up with Google. I checked and he does.

But even if he doesn't, I don't think that would cause him to stop fighting. He actually ran out of bullets in the radscorpion cave. I only found out because he started to use melee attacks. He appears to use hand to hand combat when he runs out of bullets.

This is a strange lack of aggression -- he refuses to fight, whether with a gun or melee.

[Jeff]

Do followers need ammo? I gave him a submachine gun and 100 ammo for it, he burnt through it and then the gun disappeared, he is back to his starter pistol which seems to have infinite ammo.

[Dustin81]

The thing is, they can't switch ammo type. Let's say a weapon was using 10mm jhp, they will only refill it with that. To switch it you will have to do it for them or give them gun for each ammo type.

[Vassago Rain]

Originally posted by ysnyder77:

Do followers need ammo? I gave him a submachine gun and 100 ammo for it, he burnt through it and then the gun disappeared, he is back to his starter pistol which seems to have infinite ammo.

They don't have infinite ammo.

[Fahrräder]

Tried telling him to 'use his best weapon next time you get into a fight'?

[dtt.scanner]

He may be wounded and avoiding the fight altogether. Check his health.

[=CrimsoN=]

Originally posted by dtt.scanner:

He may be wounded and avoiding the fight altogether. Check his health.

^This. If none of the other suggestions work. Also if he isn't wounded, you may want to try dismissing him and recruiting him again. I've had this happen before where he had enough ammo, wasn't wounded or anything, but refused to fight. Dismissing him and recruiting him again fixed it.

[Jeff]

I gave my dude some healing items and sometimes he uses them after he goes waaaay too far into enemy territory and gets surrounded by baddies as if he has a deathwish.

It's a good thing I can save before a fight...

[Phaedruss]

Originally posted by damesh2:

check his inventory...is he out of ammunition?

Definitely has a weapon and ammunition[i.imgur.com].

[Phaedruss]

Originally posted by Fahrräder:

Tried telling him to 'use his best weapon next time you get into a fight'?

This is where it gets weird.

At one point in my game, he did seem to run out of ammo because he was using melee. After the battle was over, I peeked at his inventory and discovered he had no bullets. So I gave him bullets.

The next fight he was STILL using melee. That's when I started playing around with talking to him and discovered that "Use the best weapon next time you get into a fight" dialogue.

I'm not 100% sure, but I *think* that he stopped fighting immediately after I told him to use the best weapon.

[Phaedruss]

Originally posted by dtt.scanner:

He may be wounded and avoiding the fight altogether. Check his health.

I'm pretty sure he's completely healthy, but just to make double dog sure, how do you check his health? I Googled and found this, but I don't know where the inspection tool is.

[Phaedruss]

Originally posted by Cook-Cook:

Originally posted by dtt.scanner:

He may be wounded and avoiding the fight altogether. Check his health.

^This. If none of the other suggestions work. Also if he isn't wounded, you may want to try dismissing him and recruiting him again. I've had this happen before where he had enough ammo, wasn't wounded or anything, but refused to fight. Dismissing him and recruiting him again fixed it.

OK, this actually sounds pretty hopeful. I'll try dismissing and rehiring him. Thank you for the suggestion!

[Phaedruss]

Originally posted by Cook-Cook:

Originally posted by dtt.scanner:

He may be wounded and avoiding the fight altogether. Check his health.

^This. If none of the other suggestions work. Also if he isn't wounded, you may want to try dismissing him and recruiting him again. I've had this happen before where he had enough ammo, wasn't wounded or anything, but refused to fight. Dismissing him and recruiting him again fixed it.

It was a good idea that didn't work. I gave Ian all my guns and ammo, gave him a stimpack and dismissed him.

Saved the game, quit the game, loaded the game.

Talked to him and rehired him. Picked a fight with the Skullz and he just stood there during the battle. He had the presence of mind to use a stimpack when he got hit. And he did try to follow when I had to run away. But he refused to even defend himself.

[dtt.scanner]

so weird. Honestly, by the time you get Power Armor, you don't really want them following you anyway... it's too hard keeping them all alive. It's fine for the early game, but really a nuisance in the later game. I drop them all off in the Vault 13 lounge and go it solo for the rest of the game. No big loss.