I don't like that weapons you give companions degrade. Oddly though melee weapons don't appear to degrade, and I think the same for unarmed weapons.

I gave Boone an AM rifle, judging by how much ammo he used he got about 50 shots off before it was completely broken and he threw it away. Long before it was completely broken I'm sure it had reduced damage. If it wasn't for Boone saying he the weapon was spent and he was throwing it away I wouldn't know to even look for it. Throwing it away is really annoying since I can always repair them myself.

It's just not worth giving followers decent guns or energy weapons compared to their unbreakable infinite ammo default weapon. Not only do you risk them throwing away a valuable unique weapon, they eat threw ammo far quicker than I do. I gave one follower Pew-Pew-Pew and 20lbs (200 shots) of energy ammo and that was gone pretty quick. Traveling the waste land especially, they'll fire non-stop at distant enemies they have little chance of hitting.

Good melee weapons or a power glove don't seem to degrade and don't use ammo so they are worth giving to a follower.

I never had companions items degrade. I alway give boone a AMR or Minigun with plenty of ammo for the respective gun. Minigun 10,000 rounds later still in mint condition same thing for the AMR only with fewer rounds. (to expensive and to little enemies)

You would think at least Boone would have the ability to repair and maintain weapons, he was a soldier!, Veronica is so she should also be able to repair and maintain, Cass while good using a gun might not be as good maintaining them, I cannot say about the others as so far those are the only companions I've had.

Weapons or armor do not degrade when given to companions, ever.
You must have a player mod, or are giving poor quality weapons to your companions.

I have seen my companions shot in the weapon (gatling laser) repeatedly and when inspected later, they still retain the 100% condition that i gave them to begin with.

pew pew eats 15 ammo PER SHOT so duh you cant afford to give it to a companion. You would need to give them 3000 rounds of ammo for just 200 shots and that weighs in at about 240 lb of ammo...

Are you playing hardcoe?, in my game I'm playing on that and companions even run out of ammo.

I was playing HC mode on the 360, and Boone had a fully repaired AM. Maybe it got broke in combat? He also had that unique super sledge and that nor his armor ever got damaged.
He made a comment about the weapon breaking and he was ditching it, and when I found it the weapon was at 0 health.

Their weapons can be destroyed when hit during combat on the PS3 version, that much I know for a fact. I went to take a shot at a Freeside Thug with my AMR, but Boone got in the way and I blew his to pieces. It went from 100% CND to completely broken in one shot lol. 6000+ cap repair =/

Unfortunately I can't tell you whether or not he would have discarded it, as it flew out of his hand on impact. Which is fair enough I suppose lol.

If it the same as FO3 they do degrade but at a much slower rate then the PC. I'm guessing they also take damage from being hit as well.

Huh.
I gave Veronica my http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Q-35_Matter_Modulator...
Upgraded, unique Plasma Rifle that has double the firing rate of the usual Plasma Rifle.
And she fires it like... crazy. Spending lots of ammo on enemies. (When I'm not allowing her to indulge in some fun punching, that is)

I play on hardcoe mode, if that matters. I check her inventory a lot, and neither of her weapons, the Matter Modulator, or the http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Paladin_toaster seem to degrade, despite the fact that she uses them a lot.

I gave Boone a Light Machine Gun and after 6000 rounds the gun is still in perfect condition. Must be a glitch you're experiencing as both the LMG and power armor I gave him are still in full condition over a hundred hours in.

I just keep’em with their defaults. They seem to do just fine and I don’t have to baby-sit them. Most of the time I pick them off from so far away that my companions never fire a shot anyway.

Actually, I’m getting really sick of Boonetang complaining about me shooting at nothing.

“Whats your problem?” “You want me to aim that for you next time?”
“You want me to aim that for you next time?” “Whats your problem?”
“Whats your problem?” “You want me to aim that for you next time?”
“You want me to aim that for you next time?” “Whats your problem?”…

Hmmm, that is odd. Boone does have a voice script for ditching a weapon, so I know it's not completely a bug.
Are people reporting no weapon degradation playing in normal or HC mode?

ugh....Weapons given to followers only degrade with hit directly by hostile attacks. Basic game mechanics 101 here.

Between Cass and Boone those two have fired 1000+ 5.56mm surplus rounds (3xCND rate) from the All-American and that weapon is still at 100% CND.

Playing in hardcoe. Maybe the scripting for ditching is in case the weapon is destroyed by gunfire or being hit by a melee weapon? Not sure but can say for a fact that the gun isn't degrading from use with tons of surplus ammo in my game.

Veronica has thrown away multiple Super Sledges and Ballistic Fists that I've given her in hardcoe. Some she threw away even before they were broken! Her Power Armor has endured pretty much throughout the whole game, however. I always wonder how deathclaws can shred mine in 4-5 hits but hers never gets a dent.

I was wrong.

hardcoe mode on consoles (probably PC also), weapons can be damaged by enemies, and companions will discard 0% condition weapons.

However, they do not degrade on any mode.

When a companion runs out of ammo, they should not discard thier weapon, they should just switch to either another weapon with ammo or their default weapon, whichever weapon they perform better with (in terms of thier DPS rating).

20lbs of ammo is not 200 shots for Pew Pew. Pew Pew uses 1.2 pounds of ammo PER SHOT.

You gave the follower less than 20 shots.

I never noticed weapons/armor degrade in my Companions inventory.

They WILL degrade if using ammo with a CND penalty.

Found this out the hard way with Arcade and a modded Plasma Caster and max charged ammo.

You don't have to be on hardcoe mode for it to happen. It happens on Very Hard/non-hardcoe as well. I've seen it in my game, even have a video of Boone tossing his gun to the ground while shouting "This gun is done."

I think it's just very rare for the enemy AI to actually target a companion's weapon (vs their limbs or head), so it doesn't happen very often for most people, if at all. But it can and does occur, in any mode I think. It's also possible that AOE weapons can cause dmg. to their weapon because of overall damage effect (such as sentry bot rockets?) but I'm not actually positive of that part, just a guess.

And yea, they should go back to a default/other weapon. I keep two rifles in Boone's inventory just in case.

You are wrong. In one game I played Veronica beat up and threw away a Gauss rifle and O-Baby, both which were in top condition when I gave them to her (I was playing on Hard difficulty). I will say that I haven't seen damage on every weapon I've given her as she's been using Pushy for quite some time and it's just the way I gave it to her.

LOL

Actually, it's really annoying when he says that, even after you've just one-shot sniped a dude from a very long distance.

Me: *BANG!* Enemy in distance goes down, with the critical hit animation
Boone: "You want me to aim that for you next time?"
Me: "Boone! I just headsploded that guy!!!"
Boone: "......"
Me: "....."
Boone: "What's your problem?"
:facepalm:

Anyway, to get back on topic, I took Boone's weapon away (he uses the Assault carbine instead of the AMR for some reason) and repaired it for him when I found another one. But I don't remember if it was at full health to begin with, so I'm not sure if was wearing out as he used it. However, I do know that once they run out of ammo for a weapon, there's the possibility that they'll toss it.

With his 3INT, no one is going to accuse Boone of being a genius...