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.

Nerve
Each companion also has a special attribute referred to in the game as Nerve. Nerve grants a total bonus of +50% damage and damage threshold to companions with a perfect charisma of 10 and only +5% to both at the minimum score of 1. A person with a starting charisma of 1 can boost their companions nerve to the maximum by use of an Empathy Synthesizer or Intense Training, Party Time Mentats (+5) and high Survival (so that alcohol adds +3 charisma).

This is most effective with companions that gain increases to their damage or damage threshold upon completion of their companion quests and less important for companions who gain items or abilities not associated with nerve.


 * Rose of Sharon Cassidy - Hand of Vengeance
 * Veronica Santangelo - Bonds of Steel
 * ED-E - Brotherhood Examination (DT+8) or Followers Examination (+??% Damage).
 * Rex - Rey's brain

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 or drowning.

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 (confirmed, they WILL TAKE and CONSUME items from containers. Preferably Nuka-Cola Quartz...). These items are not retrievable from your companions' inventories. Consumable items may also be used by active companions when transferred into their inventory. The only exception herefrom seems to be ED-E. It's safe to store Nuka-Cola Quartz/Victory and other consumable items in his inventory (except for the ED-E upgrade bug, see "Bugs" below or on ED-E's site).

There are 8 permanent companions and recruiting them all will earn you The Whole Gang's Here Trophy/Achievement. Note: This does not mean you must hire all 8 companions within a single play through the game. You may recruit half of them with one character build, and recruit the other half the next time you build a character. It seems to be enough TRYING to hire a companion for that achievement, even in one game. If you already have one or two followers (1 human + 1 non-human), and try to hire another one of the same category, the potential companion will refuse stating that there's no space. This already counts towards the achievement.

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, also a reference to the book The Grapes of Wrath.
 * 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
 * Ted Gunderson
 * Deputy Beagle
 * Securitron Mk II (Or Securitron Mk I)
 * Rhonda, a Mr. Handy Bot looking for Tabitha.
 * Private Halford
 * Victor
 * NCR Ranger (activated via NCR Emergency Radio)
 * NCR Trooper (activated via NCR Emergency Radio)
 * Body guard (hired in Freeside)
 * King Member (hired in Freeside)

Returning Lost Companions
The following fixs works 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


 * 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.


 * 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.

In that case, attempt this:
 * Sometimes a companion will disappear and not seem to be retrievable by fast travel or the moveto command.

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.


 * Veronica sometimes will appear, if lost, when you enter the armory in Vault 34.


 * Also, when entering the Legion Fort, upon leaving via fast travel, your companion(s) may not follow you. They will be waiting at the Forts main gate.

Bugs

 * ED-E will lose everything in its inventory when you leave it with the Brotherhood of Steel or Followers of the Apocalypse for upgrades so make sure to empty it beforehand.


 * Be careful which healing items/consumables you have your companion carry as they will use them.


 * Companions attributes drop to a very low level, eg. Veronica, original unarmed 103, drops to 31. You can use console command 'GetAV unarmed' to check the value. Don't know how it happens, needs comfirmation.


 * 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. You can workaround this problem using the console. Select the companion and then use "additem  1" to return his or her weapon.


 * Note: Rex and Ed-E are safe, as they don't use actual items for weapons. (EDIT:  Not entirely true; Rex's "Bite" can be placed in your inventory with certain bugs, most notably after completion of "For Auld Lang Syne".)


 * Sometimes in a fight, a companion's limb(s) may become crippled. If the fighting ends before the player has a chance to heal them, the companion in question will regenerate their health, but not the health of the affected limbs.  This happens especially if the companion was knocked unconscious during the fight and will result in them hobbling around behind the player holding the injured limb.  The issue may be resolved by dealing non fatal damage to them and then using a stimpak on them via the companion wheel. Sometimes same happens and your companions voice keep complaining about limbs when dismissed or replacing with another companion. (Happened with Veronica) There is no verifiable way to resolve this problem.


 * Dismissing companions to the Lucky 38 can sometimes result in them staying in the same location instead of moving to the Lucky 38. So if you cant find your companions at the 38, check where you dismissed them.


 * The option to dismiss companions to the Lucky 38 will disappear even before Mr. House becomes hostile to the player.


 * Sometimes, companions will constantly talk to you if you look in their direction (Boone and Cass).


 * Companions may sometimes end up with the weapons of other companions (i.e. Boone having Arcade's plasma defender as his default weapon), causing the other companion to lose their weapon permanently. This may be caused by the weapon removal glitch in casinos or the Fort.


 * When picking locks, sometimes you will get the hack screen overlaying your lock. You will be able to see the bobby pin peaking out on the right or left and it is still possible to pick the lock, just difficult. Leaving and re-entering area can SOMETIMES help. Issue has been seen in several parts of Vault 34 but is not limited to that location.


 * Sometimes when wandering near mountains, your follower(mine was Arcade)may get stuck in a part of the mountain. When I had Arcade, he was only shown from the waste up and he was stuck in the rock. You will still be able to speak and dismiss the follower but the follower just stands in place. The only way I know to fix is reloading from a previous save where this wasn't happening. "Needs confirmation" On the PC, this can be fixed by targeting the companion in the console and typing moveto player.


 * Sometimes when you're going through a door your items bar will show in the loading screen. After this happens, you won't be able to pick locks and hack terminals


 * Sometimes you will lose companions completely and they won't just show up. You will still have their perk and they are considered invited with you, but they are nowhere to be found. Several players have found that they will reappear if you use the elevator in Vault 22, wait for over 72 hours and they will return to their home as if you dismissed them, or just randomly show up while you continue to play.


 * Others have had issues where their companions will be lost for dozens of hours and have yet to find them, or have them return home. While they are "lost" you are unable to dismiss them, or recruit another companion to take their place. If you cannot find your companion eventually you will be unable to visit Caesar as you are considered "not alone".


 * when dismissing companions in the fort they will walk to the main gate to cottonwood cove and wait there

If the player recruits Boone, Veronica, Raul, Rex, and Ed-E they will get the achievement "The Gangs All Here".
 * Upon completing the quest "I Could Make You Care," Veronica may sometimes stop following the player. Though she remains a companion and her companion wheel can be accessed, she remains standing in place once the player finishes speaking to her, and will not move from her position unless her companionship is terminated. (Confirmation needed on many of these particulars)


 * Leaving certain areas (notably the Lucky 38 and the Novac Gift Shop) with Boone in your party may cause a bug where the screen goes black while the audio still plays. This can only be solved by loading a save outside the area. (note: if you can get the game to autosave during a blank screen you will be able to load that autosave with no problems.)