Most useful followers

[Sabi The Worst Player Ever]

Dear discussion board.

You guys helped me greatly before with optimizing team members and I would kindly ask you for help with another deal - picking up proper NPC followers.

Right now, after clearing AG Center and infected village/farm/water station I went to Rail Nomads camp, with Angie and Rose along with me. I heard positive opinions about Ralphy before but turns out he is pretty much useless - low level, 7 AP, low CI and only single point in brawling, 2 in Animal Whisperer and 5 in Toaster Repair. Given that I could simply pump Toaster with my weaponsmith/repair character from main squad, he just skip turns during combat.

Thats why I would like to ask you about best followers to pick up, so I could plan ahead. I know Angie wont help me for long and I guess I will keep Rose for some time at least (pumped some points into energy weapons, she got quite useful in combat as well).

Like before, thank you for any replies.

[Demonbox]

In order of how I get them:
Angela, for obvious combat reasons early on but also for her temper.
Rose, I really prefer her to Vulture, also 'cause I always create a sniper ranger myself.
Ralphy/Pizepi, the 1st is basically another custom ranger (unless you pick him up too late), the second is perfect for energy weapons.

Who I never take:
Scotchmo, he's noisy, I already always have a rogue and usually a brawler with points in shotguns.
Chisel, never actually really tried him, but didn't look so good.

Neutral, everyone else, they are either not too good for my party or come way too late.

[SlicerDicer]

i actually don't like any of the npc's since their base skills never mesh with my 4 core rangers. technically i only need them for the extra combat actions.

though i do like the personality and back they are born with in vanilla i just editted their skills to supliment my core quad.

so i am waiting for a good editor to come out once i get three i like (ralphy, vulture's cry and Pizepi Joren [cuz who doesn't love having a green chick in their party ]}

[Dorok]

Yeah but a mod could just edit their attributes to make them more coherent.

I think some are designed so you have more orientation choice from a level 10 and 20 perspective. But it's not that cool anyway. For example at level 10 for VC you can choose gain 1AP with Coordination, or gain 1Init with Perception, or gain 1Init with Speed. Or you can have plan for level 20 like Int to 10, or Str to 4. It's the same for Ralphy and probably Rose.

But they won't be as focused than a polished custom character. In my opinion the core problem is coming from the inportance of Initiative in combats which is a bad design element, but companions aren't designed accordingly and most start with a too low initiative for making a good combat character.

[Vic]

IMO, much of their usefulness depends on your starting squad, but here is my list in order of usefulness, with no major spoilers:

-Rose: Good and useful skills for starting game ( surgeon and computer), very high int. Low attributes but you can train her later. She is more a supporter than a fighter, but very good at that ( Starts with handguns and her custom shotgun-handgun is outdated fast). Interesting backstory. Useful in some places, like Darwin. A good natured woman, he despises cruelty and the killing of innocents.

-Vulture: Nice int, sniping and good animal companion/outdoorsman skills. You can skip this skills in your starting squad and use Angela and then Vulture to take care of this. A nice pocahontas-style girl with a sniper rifle and spanish speech. A pity you can´t take Rose and Vulture, this one and Scochmo have the funniest commentaries about the world.

-Ralphy: Guy is terrible when you pick him ( he has brawling, the worst combat skill and low str), but you can rush to Railroad, take him early and make him a decent fighter later on. Very high toaster repair skill. Even if you dont take him in your party you can use him to repair all the toast in Arizona before you leave to L.A. Not much to say outside railroad camp ( at least in my playthrough).

-Pizepi joren: She has energy weapons and all the perks associated to them, plus some add skills. Surprisingly good carry capacity for a non-melee oriented character. Needs relatively high charisma to get ( 22 I think). A innocent-minded mutant girl, her commentaries add some colour to the worst parts of the wasteland. Plus, as said before, who doesnt want a dreadlock-wearing green girl in party?

-Scochmo: My favorite character, even he has very low int and uses shotguns. You can take him early rushing to Railroad camp. There are better characters but I take him for funny comments.

-Brother Thomas: Solid supporting combat medic. A must when going to God militia HQ for backstory. A pity you can´t take him early.

-Lexicanium: Very wierd character. Nice skillset and decent stats. He is the best brawler you can have in the game ( if it is your cup of tea). You can take him instead Rose as a techie supporter if you have Vulture. Needs 12 Ch at least. I kind of like his strange speech and personality. Like Rose, he despises cruelty and the killing of innocents, so beware. Can be more useful if he don´t...(spoiler, spoiler)

-Angela: She can be the best if you can use her for more than a third of the game. She is very useful at the start, with her combat and support skills. She has a nice personality and her cool story intertwines the most with the main mission.


-Takayuki: Very good pack mule and bomberman. Not much good at anything else. Low speed for a melee character. Plus he uses blades, not blunt, wich are useless in mid to endgame.


-Pistol Pete: Nice to use him to go shopping, with his high barter skill ( not that this skill is particularly useful). He has 5 charisma, if you need to buff up your party charm. I prefer to have him as a vendor. At this point you surely have better companions.

-Chisel: Good pack mule, and a better melee fighter than Takayuki, but lacks skills. You have far better options at this point. His laid-back personality and tribal looks are his major point.

-Ertan: This satan worshipper uses heavy and blade weapons ( combat skills that I dont find useful at all) an has 2 int and very low skills for Lvl 27. You take him too far in the game to be useful. You can take this satan-worshipper airhead for laughs. You will have plenty.


I dont have much experience with the three recruits in RC or the guys from the Canyon of titan, but they are used in somewhat specific conditions.

[Doniazade]

The main problem with Vulture's Cry is that her initiative is horrendously bad and she has no hope of ever getting enough action points for two shots in a round. A well-built ranger on the other hand can comfortably get 12 initiative and two shots with 10 int, meaning an endgame damage output of almost three times what you can get out of Vulture's Cry.

[Revolucas]

Originally posted by Doniazade:

The main problem with Vulture's Cry is that her initiative is horrendously bad and she has no hope of ever getting enough action points for two shots in a round. A well-built ranger on the other hand can comfortably get 12 initiative and two shots with 10 int, meaning an endgame damage output of almost three times what you can get out of Vulture's Cry.

Tinker +1 AP
DeadEye +1 AP

Perks help

[Doniazade]

Originally posted by ๖ۣۜRevolucas:

Originally posted by Doniazade:

The main problem with Vulture's Cry is that her initiative is horrendously bad and she has no hope of ever getting enough action points for two shots in a round. A well-built ranger on the other hand can comfortably get 12 initiative and two shots with 10 int, meaning an endgame damage output of almost three times what you can get out of Vulture's Cry.

Tinker +1 AP
DeadEye +1 AP

Perks help

No they don't since the .50 cal requires 7 AP per shot, meaning 12 AP+Deadeye required. Similarly a lot of the earlier sniper rifles take 6 AP which means a custom sniper can pull off two per turn with those before Deadeye but Vulture can't.

Also 9 initiative is just so horrendously bad. With good CI you're often able to shoot with the sniper to start combat and then take another two shots before they can act.

[Dorok]

Most have a too low initiative, it's not just VC, 9/10 is low. The double shot quote is wrong, it's 3 shots versus 4 shots, because 2 points can be report to next turn. Moreover for first turn some movement is often a better choice removing the double shot for this turn.

No matter the companion you can do such math. At VC level 10 you need make a choice +1AP or +1Init. And so on with more attributes and perks, to improve her. But all companion will be less good than a polished custom character even after level up.

[Wub]

lololol. Good followers. If you're worried about min/maxing, have at least two number-phobic cqc squaddies and turn your followers into skill/pack mules. Being a machine of cutting and bullets at level 2 is a great way to ignore anyone who forgot how turn order works. Also, stabsies is a pretty good investment 'cause it's only 2 AP to attempt a disarm. Bosses tend to suck at fisticuffs.

Otherwise, it's safe to assume that these characters don't have the training and discipline (Scotchmo >_>) that a ranger has (Angela/Echo One). Making aesthetics more important than actual combat-readiness, so pick the ones you like (Scotchmo) and smooth AP later.

[chebur2012]

Best followers: Pizepi, Vultures Cry and Ralphy. No need for anyone else, really

[chebur2012]

Scotchmo has CI 8 which means that you will not see his turns ever. Besides, 2 skill points per level mean that you eather have to give safecrack and lockpick to someone else (making him useless) or put a point in his intel, making him even more useless in combat. He is just fun to have around for awhile

[Welcome to Idiocracy 2023]

I took the earliest avaible companions Scotchmo, Ralphy and Rose.

Rose was reskilled to a sniper and she is covering Computer Science, Surgeon and Alarm Disarming.

Scotchmo is my "thief" character and with the right shotgun perks he never hits a group member.

I have turned Ralphy into a heavy weapons gunner.
But I am not really a big fan of this weapon. Worse than Assauilt guns and its wasting lots of ammo. Would turn him into a SMG or assault dude next time. He starts with pretty high toaster repair and animal whisperer.

The rest of my team is a leader guy with SMG, one sniper, one assault and my skillmule with energy weapons.

Every team member is a specialist and the only skill I have multiple times on every character at lvl2 is weapon smithing for the +1 AP perk.
Everyone has its uses and is not exchangeable. Without Scotchmo for example I would have zero points into lockpicking or safecracking :D

The beginner companions are very good and with a wider spread of skills so that your group will have all available skills at a high level pretty fast.

[One]

Here is the full list (SPOILER) https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=8733 - you can review it yourself and make conclusions on who is good and who is bad basing on their stats.

Basically everybody with CI below 10 and AP below 8 is bad (my personal opinion) though you can fix it with levels up later for some of them.

My choice for Arisona is: Rose, Chisel and Pizepi.
I teach Rose into a Sniper and Pizepi into Assault Rifels while they save ther initial handguns and energy weapon skills as a backup weapon.

[|$m0k!n|-Mr. 4HyDe-]

A bit the same.

I played with just one player-character and six recruits (Chisel, Takayuki, Scotcmo, Vultures Cry, Brother Thomas, Ralphy) and maxed out one primary weapon skill, but the rest only so far that they unlocked useful Perks or increased chance of success in appliance, which left me with a kind of Jack-of-all-trades Specialists.

+ Weaponsmithing 2 - to get Tinkerer (+1 AP when wearing Light Armor)

In the mid-end game, around level 35-40 I start working on a fixed set of additional skills for all characters to get specific Perks..

+ Perception 3 - to get Tactical Positioning (+15% damage on Back attack)

+ Hardarse 7 - to get Bloodthirsty (+1 AP for each killing blow)

I guess I am kind of glad that InXile have added Perks to the game, because then I have something to use my skill points on at higher levels.. But it feels a bit weird somehow.. It's almost as if I just don't have enough skill points..

I really wish InXile had improved companions Intelligence and Awareness considering how vital those are, instead of leaving most at 1, 2 or 3.

[One]

Originally posted by |$m0k!n|-4HUD-DK:

I really wish InXile had improved companions Intelligence and Awareness considering how vital those are, instead of leaving most at 1, 2 or 3.

Yes, most companions have really weird and not effective atributes point destribution as if it was some noob who created them or it was a purpose to make them bad.