» Sun May 20, 2012 5:19 pm
Borgakh has been added. I've slightly switched her class (she inexplicably had increasing magicka instead of stamina, plus the archery skill didn't fit her), but so far given her no new perks. I like the quote the UESP page has for her to say if you use healing magic on her. Perhaps a boost to passive regeneration would be cool? She also should probably have a power similar to Berserker Rage.
About Aela, I have a working spell that she'll use when low on health to transform, but as I noted on the page, it never wore off. I plan on instead making it into a perk that automatically activates when she's low on health, probably with a cooldown on it. Having perks automatically slap spells on targets gives me a ton more control over their use, so you'll see I did that with a lot of things.
Some things I didn't though. For an example, Jenassa will use Letter From a Thief all by herself when she's wounded. Normally she's an extremely quick killer, but when wounded, she turns into a guerilla fighter, flitting in and out of invisibility to cut things without getting attacked. It's pretty cool to watch and it works great with the AI controlling it rather than some preset conditions on a perk.
If you do want to make things the AI will use, you need to stick a few tricks on them. To get followers to use spells at the start of battle, stick an armor effect on it. It doesn't matter the magnitude, just put it on and the AI will use it whenever it can in battles. To get things to be used when wounded, throw on a healing effect. This works for magicka and stamina too. I was able to get Belrand to use Rowell's Spell when low on magicka by sticking a magicka recovery effect on it (although it also constantly drains magicka to prevent casting while it's active). There are a host of tricks you can do to make sure the AI will actually use things.
Oh, and none of those tricks work for two-handed weapon users. That was terribly frustrating, but two-handed weapon users seem to really like their weapons and refuse to cast anything. You also need to be aware of the Combat Style of the NPC you're designing things for. Nearly everyone will cast spell effects, but some combat styles favor using them more frequently. Sven, for example, will pretty much never use his bow now that I've given him his spells. He now favors using spells until magicka runs out, then charging in with a melee weapon. Another example is Jenassa. Her combat style makes her really want to dual wield, something that most followers won't do at all.
I don't know if my rambling advice has helped you at all, but maybe it will. I learned a lot about forcing the AI to actually use things from testing it, so I hope that can help others too.
He is a good follower though.
