Fallout: New Vegas companions

Companion wheel
The companion wheel is a new feature that is added to Fallout: New Vegas. The wheel provides easier control over non-player companion characters in the game.

There are 8 sections on the wheel, each with a specified function.

The available orders are:
 * Toggle melee/ranged fighting - also displays the weapon they are currently using when highlighted. Also if you instruct a companion to change their combat style, they will make a comment hinting towards the best combat style for them.
 * Open inventory - This displays the companion's current inventory, inventory weight, and weight limit.
 * Toggle stay close/keep distance.
 * Back up - makes them back up a few yards.
 * Toggle aggressive/passive AI. Aggressive means that they will any attack enemy on sight, whilst passive mode means that they will wait until you enter combat. This is very handy when sneaking around places with lots of enemies, as they will hold back on a [Caution], and wait until the enemy has properly engaged you in combat.
 * Use stimpak - heals your companion, and also shows current health.
 * Toggle wait here/follow me.
 * Talk to your companion with the regular dialogue boxes. This also provides an alternative method of giving orders to your companions, but somewhat redundant considering you have to use the companion wheel to get to dialogue mode in the first place. You do need to go into this mode to be able to dismiss your companions, however.

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Nerve
Each companion also has a special attribute referred to in the game as Nerve. Nerve affects a companions combat effectiveness significantly and can only be increased by increasing your Charisma.

Permanent companions
You can have up to two companions,one humanoid and one non-humanoid. All companions default weapons have unlimited ammo. If you equip your follower with a better weapon (DPS is checked) add ammunition and check its count from time to time - they seem to hold on to the new weapon when out of ammo or switch to melee instead.

While actively following you, permanent companions are treated as essential (unless you are playing on Hardcore Mode, see below). It is important to note that they are only essential when following you, and they can be killed both before they join you and after you tell them to leave. In Hardcore Mode, companions can be killed even while actively following you, but they do not require food or drink, and are not affected by radiation.

Should you tell your companion to wait for you at The Lucky 38 they will be waiting in your presidential suite ready to be rehired. In both Casual and Hardcore mode, companions sent to wait in the Lucky 38 will take consumable items left out and can possibly even take items stored in containers. These items are not retrievable from your companions' inventories. Consumable items may also be used by active companions when transferred into their inventory.

Humanoid companions

 * Arcade Gannon, a member of the Followers of the Apocalypse with a mysterious past. He can be found in the Old Mormon Fort.
 * Craig Boone, an Ex-NCR sniper with a grudge against Caesar's Legion. He can be found in Novac.
 * Lily Bowen, a friendly nightkin and former member of the Master's army. She can be found in Jacobstown.
 * Raul Tejada, a ghoul mechanic and former gunslinger held hostage by Tabitha, the mad leader of the State of Utobitha. He can be found in Black Mountain.
 * Rose of Sharon Cassidy, a caravan merchant and the daughter of John Cassidy. Also known as Cass. She can be found in Mojave Outpost.
 * Veronica Santangelo, a disillusioned Brotherhood Scribe. She can be found at 188 Trading Post.

Non-Humanoid companions

 * ED-E a prototype eyebot designed for combat and reconnaissance operations. It can be found in Primm.
 * Rex, a cyberdog belonging to The King. It can be found in The King's School of Impersonation.

Temporary companions

 * Neil, a disgruntled super mutant.
 * Sunny Smiles
 * Trudi
 * Ted Gunderson
 * Deputy Beagle
 * Securitron Mk II (Or Securitron Mk I)
 * Rhonda, a Mr. Gutsy Bot looking for Tabitha.
 * Private Halford
 * Victor
 * NCR Ranger (activated via NCR Emergency Radio)
 * NCR Trooper (activated via NCR Emergency Radio)

Returning Lost Companions (PC)
Push the Tilde key and then type in.

The Ref id's for companions are listed on their respective pages.

You can use (instead of both commands stated above) too - if you want to know where you lost your companion. Be sure to make a new save before using any Console Commands.

This bug might be related to times when a companion wants to converse with you about his/her quest. In that case, after retrieving him you will need to initiate such a conversation yourself to make the person start following you again. If he/she still stands there and doesn't run after you after the conversation, you can try firing the person from the team and rehiring soon after. This should make them follow you again.

Sometimes a companion will disappear and not seem to be retrievable by fast travel or the moveto command.

In that case, attempt this:

Move all items from the targeted companion over to yourself to avoid losing them.

See Console Commands for more information on how to use the console.

Returning Lost Companions (Consoles)
The following fix seems to work when you lose one or both companions and are unable to find them at either your Lucky 38 suite or in their original home locations. Confirmed to work multiple times on PS3, also confirmed on XBOX 360 multiple times. *** XBOX360 *** I just tried this walking down to the bottom without repairing the elevator and it did not work.


 * Go to Vault 22 and use the central elevator (which you may need to repair at a skill level of 50). Choose to go to Level 5 - Pest Control. Your missing Companion(s) will be waiting there at the exit of the elevator. You will need to use the Companion wheel to tell them to follow you again as they will be in "Wait Here" mode. It appears that the game does some sort of companion check when using this elevator, and will move your companions here regardless of their status. Credit to Evolus05 on the Gamespot forums at this thread for the fix.

Bugs

 * Bringing companions that have weapons into Casinos and other places that remove the players weapons will sometimes remove the companions weapon also, putting it in the players inventory. If dropped on the ground -- it will say "Steal" or "Take" with no weapon name shown, and you cannot pick it back up and your companion can only use your weapons with ammo supplied with it. This is somewhat common, and can be extremely problematic since the fix for this has not yet been discovered (if there is any).
 * On PC - This happened to me repeatedly at Gomorrah with Cass and Ed-E. Ed-E wouldn't even fire at enemies. I checked his inventory and saw he was missing his "Electrical Zap" weapon. So I used console to "additem" Cass's caravan shotgun (00176E55) back into her inventory and Ed-E's "Electrical Zap" (00166B94) back to its inventory. Seems to be back to normal for now.
 * In addition on Xbox 360; giving modded weapons to companions appears to null the mod (ie: silenced sniper rifle to Boone, Boone will use it as a regular sniper rifle); upon entering the casino and being stripped of weapons, and then exiting (regaining all weapons), Boone did not have the sniper rifle at all. Counting it lost, I headed back to Lucky 38 to swap Boone for Cass for a change of pace after having bought Boone a new anti-materiel rifle. For some reason, Cass had all the modded weapons that had been taken from Boone in the casino.
 * Note: Rex and Ed-E are safe, as they don't use actual items for weapons.
 * If you choose to upgrade Ed-E's armor or weapon by leaving him with either faction upon completion of Ed-E's mission, be sure to take all of his inventory before you do, as he will have lost it once he returns to you (confirmed on PC Xbox 360 and PS3). This may be because the upgraded ED-E is a "different" NPC and the old ED-E is gone.