Game Skyrim Forum

Why won't companions use non-standard ammo? Or is it just Boone? I gave Boone hand loaded .308, and 10mm. He won't touch it. I later gave him an Assault Carbine for up close fighting. I gave him about 300 5mm and 250 surplus 5mm. He used up the 300 pretty quick, and won't use the surplus. He pulls the fire axe and charges in. He loves the fire axe. Is there something special you have to do to get them to use it?

I've wondered this myself. It's rather important with the DT thing. I'll watch cass attack an armored guy and be like: "great, glad she dusted his armor off for me to do some damage"

Maybe because it would make them even more powerful than they already are?

I thought they would at least use surplus/boxed ammo before the patch, tho...saw someone mention that here once. Maybe it's a new change?

I tested it and Boone will use AP ammo and Boxed 38 special ammo. So that part still seems to be the same. I don't have any handcrafted ammo to test with tho.

Wierd. He will not use anything but standard ammo in my game.

i can give jsp 308's but he spams bullets like a imbred dumb ass lol.20 bloody rounds for a single death claw -_-/cassidy emptys a clip of lmg on like 2 raiders/*stabs cassidy*

They use special ammo if it makes the gun's damage greater than their default weapons. AP rounds lower the gun damage so that might be part of it, but I have never had a problem with NPC's and ammo on my PC version.

They choose the weapon and ammo best for that weapon, I had Cass with a hunting shotgun with slugs and Magnum buckshot, she went through the slugs while in her inventory 100% of the time, and switched when I took the slugs out to the magnum cartiges.

My guess is that boones A.I package will not allow any other .308 rounds to be used with "his" scoped hunting rifle, add a fully repaired and modded version with .308 jsp's and he may switch.

As for the 10mm his hunting rifle is far superior in dam and range, so he should never switch despite the 10mm doing more DPS to most enemies.

Raul Seems happy with firing SWC ammo from both the Trail Carbine and Brush Gun. Never had a gun loving Companion turn down the All-American and surplus 5.56mm ammo.

That's true for the 10mm pistol, but he will pick fairly well repaired (doesn't have to be quite max-repaired) 10mm submachine gun over his default rifle.

Good thought on the dam. reduction for some of the ammo types, too. That could very well be it, at least in some cases.

That just might explain why Veronica used her 10mm pistol instead a Plasma Rifle with Bulk ammo.

Thanks for that info about the smg Lady :thumbsup: , I've only used one character with Boone and another that used smg's, and combining the two is quite appealing.

Not as much as Cass with a riot shotgun, though :biggrin: .

One of the things at play could be the magic companion ammo. I actually got some once when switching gear with Boone. Since their default weapons are scripted to take MCA, can they even use anything else? I've never had any of them use special ammo in their default weapon, but they use the stuff with weapons I've given them. Since Boone's Hunting Rifle takes MCA, it can't use .308 JSP, can it? Perhaps someone could check in the GECK?

-Gunny out.

Boone has no problem running .308 JSP in the Sniper Rifle I put in his inventory, and Cass has no problem utterly running through .357 hand-loads with a nice Cowboy Repeater I put in her inventory.

Yes, they won't use other ammo in their default weapons. I was assuming the OP was talking about him not using ammo with a weapon they had given to Boone since the OP mentioned the carbine.

Yes, I was referring Boone not using ammo with a weapon I gave him. He loves the 10mm pistol, especially fully modded. He will not use non standard 10mm ammo with it. I took away the 10mm SMG because he wastes ammo with it. He is doing very well with the Marksman Carbine, but will not use .223, AP, or surplus ammo. svcks as I have a lot of it. Thanks for all the replies. Boone will not use .308 JSP even when I give him a sniper rifle.

Agreed. I have no problems either. All my companions use hand loaded ammo.

Oh? Odd, I could swear I gave him a 10mm once and he refused to equip it. But my game, while generally free of "big" bugs, tends to have all these little minor glitches here and there. Or I'm remembering wrong. Maybe I'll try it again.
I've come to like him with automatic weapons when I want him to be more forward-aggressive vs. sniper-strafing from 100 yards away.

I'm not sure about Hand Load ammo, but any of my companions use special ammo. I give them a Hunting Shotty for example, and they will use up the slugs too, I'm not sure if they use it first or after standard ammo though.

Once I complete Boone's quest I will pick up another humanoid companion and see if they will use non standard ammo. I do play on a PS3, so maybe it is a PS3 thing.

Because Companions' weapon use "Companion Magic Bullet"