... has the better 'special' perk? (In your opinion).

Better Healing: This perk grants you the ability to regain more health from all consumable sources.

Spotter: Spotter will highlight all hostile enemies while you are aiming at them.

Stealth Girl: This perk increases stealth boys duration by 200% while also granting sneak attack criticals an extra 10% damage.

Regular Maintenance: Slows the decay rate of weapons and armor.

Whiskey Rose: This perk lets you consume whiskey and not have any adverse side effects or addictions, while raising your damage threshold.

Scribe Assistant: This perk lets you craft workbench items through Veronica's dialogue.

Enhanced Sensors: With this perk you can detect enemies at a very far range, and enemies that are cloaked can also be targeted in V.A.T.S.

Search & Mark: With this perk, chems, firearms, and ammunition within a short distance are highlighted when you zoom in.

Since I plan to play on 'hardcoe' mode right from the get-go, as of right now, I personally plan to use either Arcade Gannon (Better Healing) or Raul Tejada (Regular Maintenance).

I don't like using companions but I imagine Lily. Hopefully she won't run off shooting the first enemy she sees and stays stealthy

Rex's perk is awesome

Honestly I dunno really. Im liking EDE, Boone, Raul and Arcade, but can only have one of them along with my little eyebot.

I'll say Lily's. At least for my playstyle. I don't often use stealthboys because they are somewhat limited, but if they make them a more common item (buyable off vendors, or found on common enemies, like nightkin) then I can see Lily's bonus to sneak attack crits, and bonus to stealth boys duration to be a HUGE advantage.

However, on a hardcoe runthrough, I'd say probably Gannon or Ed-E for survival purposes

Rex is cool, but the requirement of having to zoom in seems rather.. unnecessary. I'd much prefer a passive ability.

Agreed.

Rex seems to have the worst 'special' perk out of the 8 different permanent companions.

Permanent?

personally, i think the best e-companion would be a Kindle, however make it fallouty by using a different name and change the look slightly. in new vegas, the map or manual in the Amazon Kindle. Actually.. isn't the Amazon river closest to the state of Nevada than any other? so you might be able to do some fun with that.

Permanent, until you 'relinquish ownership' so to speak over them.

There are also temporary companions that can / will help players upon certain missions in-game. However, you won't have a choice to possess permanent ownership over them like the 8 I mentioned above. Also, temporary companions don't possess a 'special' perk.

These temporary (announced) companions include:

Neil
Sunny Smiles
Trudi

Agree with the OP; in HC Arcade or Raul are the smart choices.

I might be way off here, but I have I read that you can have two companions at once?

Oh, and gabriel77dan, I imagine in NV as in 3 there will be a few temporary companions (like Sticky, Sydney and so on) who are distinct from the permanent companions (Charon, Fawkes et al).

Ah, I see.
But I would just call the companions companions.
Permanent sounds like they will sew themselves together with you to create a PC/Companion hybrid.

Lorca1, you can have 1 humanoid and one non-humanoid companion. So yes, two.

You're right, which makes the choice between ED-E and Rex. I think the choice here comes down to your Perception, whether the game is HC and the attack/HP of the respective companions (as yet unknown).

HC will change this dynamic a great deal; Rex could be a lifesaver. Arcade and Rex could be a good combo, Rex spots the goodies and Arcade increases their efficiency. Easier and cheaper to recover after a tricky firefight.

For me it was a tough call but I narrowed it down to weapon maintenance and being able to spot enemies further away and target stealthed enemies in vats.....

Eventualy I decided being able to target stealthed enemies and spot futher away while your companion was small and had the least chance of filling your reticle when you want to shoot somebody the best.

Better Healing: Not very good in my opinion. There are still going to be weightless Stimpacks EVERYWHERE, even in hardcoe. Might be useful at the very early stages of the game until you are sitting on endless Stimpacks.

Spotter: Again not very good, its not really hard to spot enemies. Even if you are having trouble you can always enter and leave VATS.

Stealth Girl: Stealth Boys arnt really common items, its very situational. Good for when you are using Stealth Boys but nearly useless when you arnt.

Regular Maintenance: Could be helpful early in the game.

Whiskey Rose: One of the better perks, requires you to keep whiskey around however but that could all be piled onto the companion.

Scribe Assistant: Terrible.

Enhanced Sensors: Situational. Might be worth taking when you are going to be fighting stealth users and ditching after.

Search & Mark: Is finding stuff really that hard?

Overall I cant say I would take any of the companions purely because of the perk they bring. The best out of the lot I would say is Regular Maintenance early on in the game and then Whiskey Rose a little later. This is just first impressions though without knowing the fine details which could change my opinions.

I agree.

The only perk that interests me much is Regular Maintenance - although that's great for me because I like ghouls and Danny Trejo has a great voice.

Enhanced Sensors might be useful and it's attached to a companion who may be fun. The rest don't do anything for me. Veronica looks like an interesting companion but I see no advantage to Scribe Assistant unless crafting has changed considerably. I hardly ever use stimp packs in FO3, rarely used stealth boys, and never used alcohol so there are three perks that are unlikely to impact me.

I didn't use companions much in Fallout 3, if I really like them in NV I think I'll be taking them for the characters and not the perks.

Don't workbenches allow ammo crafting? If so Veronica's perk becomes useful in hardcoe since you do not necessarily have to lug around extra ammo types, just craft the ammo needed for that particular situation (though this still depends on if you need to lug around extra stuff to create hollow points or +P).


For overall usefulness, Danny Trejo and ED-E seem to be the best though.

Definitely Cassidy :foodndrink: Regular Maintenance is really useful but i dont really "like" ghouls

SHAME! :slap:

Anyway. I doubt I'll pick a companion. I mean, ED-E and Rex look cool. But eh, I'll likely stick to 'loner'.

ED-E or Rex

I'm wondering if Cassidy is underestimated. There has to be a lot of alcohol around Vegas; does it count like water towards your health if she's your companion? Does anyone know?

Well i have to admit. Veronica is to tag with me. Hot name, Hot body!

Here.... You can have a Non-Humanoid (Animal or robot) and a Humanoid on you at one time. You can not have Two humanoids or two Non-Humanoids at same time tho.

[quote name='MrBigglesworth' date='28 September 2010 - 09:03 AM' timestamp='1285682633' post='16431492']
Better Healing: Not very good in my opinion. There are still going to be weightless Stimpacks EVERYWHERE, even in hardcoe. Might be useful at the very early stages of the game until you are sitting on endless Stimpacks.

Spotter: Again not very good, its not really hard to spot enemies. Even if you are having trouble you can always enter and leave VATS.

Dont count on all those Stim packs you think, I have heard from many websites that stimpacks will be more rare in this game. The stimpacks also dont just heal right away making it so the doctor guy can increase how much is healed over time and probably speed of healing. Also. You need a science skill and a doctors bag to heal limbs, Stimpacks dont heal limbs in hardcoe mode. Hopefully the doctor guy can heal crippled limbs. If so he is a right choice. If not get him anyway then stash him to the side for when you think u might need him.

Now the spotter can be usefull due to the fact of long range combat. When in hardcoe mode direct on aproach is not advised. So having the spotter will be good. V.A.T.S has only a small range shorter in this game i belive. But with the spotter your V.A.T.S can spot enemys at a greater distance. Also, he is good with long ranged wepons and if you play hardcoe mode spotting locations before charging in is much abliged. To see good tips go to my http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1118133-wasteland-survival-guide-thread-2/

Care to provide a source for all of that?

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/09/15/fallout-new-vegas-for-ps3-meet-the-companions/