ED-E's perk is very helpful in spotting enemies far away, and Veronica is good at busting ghoul heads. Still in Vault 34 for example... No, don't run into the tunnels ahead of me and get ambushed by enemies! :swear:

Companions need to be strong to survive their brain-dead AI at times. If they weren't so effective then they'd become annoying backpacks you'd need to baby sit.

You can't do that. If you give a companion a weapon that is weaker than their primary weapon they won't use it. And, you can't take away their primary weapon. I tried, I want Veronica's weapon.

This is getting spoilerish so I will move it now.

You could set them to passive, using melee and keep them close. That helps a lot. I just leave Boone behind now and keep ED-E the way I described. So he is basicly a mule.

Well since I didn't make an action hero build I'm glad to have the companions..

I wish there was a setting for "Follow me around so I can use you as a backpack and talk to you about things and do your sidequest, but don't fight anything". I like walking around with companions because it feels a little more interesting, and I like their quests and perks and the extra inventory space. But my character is a sniper, and I'm so sick of getting a shot lined up just to have Boone headshot him right before I pull the trigger. And the way ED-E likes to charge into any building and start going upstairs and all over shooting things is kind of stupid, especially since they're both set to passive.