Too pissed off to even find out if this has been discussed before ....

I swear, if my Follower, Uthgerd the Unbroken (suggested alternative name: ... the Ugly), runs across my line of fire when I'm aiming an arrow one more time, I'll .... I'll .... send ugly escort girls to Bethesda HQ night and day!

Could they not have come up with a way for the AI to realize that, when you draw an arrow on a bow, you're about to fire it??

Furthermore, who came up with the idea of YOU being the only person who can kill your own Follower?

Uthgerd survives battles with dragon, bears and multiple Falmer only to be taken out by ... yours truly with one arrow!

So frustrating as I have to reload because she's carrying a shedload of gear for me .. and she doesn't natter on constantly like Mjoll, so I actually like adventuring with her.

Is this silly AI behaviour too deeply embedded in the game code to be fixed with a future patch?

Its so you can perform the traditional barbarian divorce.

To answer your question, yes it probably is.

Just do what I do and not use any followers. Never have, never will.

I have had that problem as well with Lydia and has gotten me pretty frustrated b/c of the amount of gear I have given her. (and others) I haven't heard anything about that being in one of the patches though. I would assume they wouldn't care and just tell you to take better shots

I had a follower that constantly weaved back and forth in front of me.Workman's comp?

Some followers are pretty good.
That marcurio guy, jzargo and jennessa are one of the best i seen. They dont run in ur line of fire and jzargo is the only follower to be able to reach lv 81

Hehe... Freekin hilarious!

Well they claim they will be improving the AI in the next patch that is targeted for the end of the month, so maybe they will improve.

At least she didn't attack out of the blue when entering the tavern.
On the plus side. The Jarl gave me whatever gold she had on her person!

Um, no, they probably could not. Soldiers and police have a great deal of trouble with pretty much the exact same thing- its called "friendly fire". Or are you expecting you 3ghz hero to be smarter than a real world trained combatant?

No but it would be nice if they didn't play pogo stick on every trap they come across.

Uthgerd used to be a Follower... but he took an arrow to the knee.

There is already an arrow-dodge mechanic implemented for Bandits/Forsworn, and others perhaps. Nothing worse than seeing those pricks bullet-time dodge an arrow, but it does add a certain layer of combat for an archer.

To be fair though, your companion would really have no idea that you are shooting an arrow... as their back is turned to you. I'd think if you wanted to effectively utilize your follower as an archer, you would probably want to flank your opponent while they are concentrated on fighting your follower.

Probably be easier if followers could hold the attention of an enemy a little more, gave followers a random dodge chance, but...

I just wrote about this in another topic. Im ready to retire my followers for this very reason. I cant take the constant going after the enemy im fighting when we are surrounded by foes,thus jumping in front of me or getting in my line of fire. Im at the breaking point

strange I just go Legolas on everything's ass and get a bulls eye even if there are 10 NPCs on screen fighting

I'm awesome

@vadagar

Exactly, I do the same thing. I love the followers. No problem with me.

I used her one time. A gift for a daedra

Hahaha I also did that with a guy I hired from the closet city (forgot which one) but yeah, he's dead.

I'm used to their behavior after 1000's of hours in Fallout 3, New Vegas, Oblivion and now Skyrim, so I've learned how to use them effectively and not kill them. For the most part, we're like a well oiled machine. They distract & engage the enemy (if I don't sneak/snipe them first), and I flank and destroy! I <3 my companions!

@Balok

yes, that also is very effective

When my followers run in front of me, I just stand back and let them deal with it. Until they kneel, then I go in and mop up.

Yes, I do that most of the time. But Uthgerd has the distressing habit of waiting until the absolute last microsecond and then running across me! Most of the time it's too late to stop the arrow and .... she's dead.

Easy fix:

Play as a lone wolf.

OK, thanks for your responses ... it seems there's a lot of frustration with the Companion AI.

One responder made the excellent point that enemies seem to be able to dodge your arrows ... therefore the game already has a way of alerting a NPC that you're about to shoot .... why can't it pass this information to your followers as well as to your enemies??????

GRRRRRRRRR!!! .... AGAIN!!!!! .... the stupid [censored] practically leapt across my line of fire in a cave while battling a troll ..... luckily my last save was only 5 minutes previously, but STILL.

C'mon Bethesda .... this silly [censored] can be fixed. Enemy AIs know when I'm firing ... so Uthgerd should too.

Furthermore, one point no one addressed is the appalling decision that somehow you're the one who can kill your Companion. If they die in a fair fight with enemies, that's fine and as it should be .... but for them to die accidentally by your own hand because of poor AI ... it's just amateur.

That's not a fix for those who want to use Companions. If the Companion system is there, it shouldn't have a fatal flaw this obvious.