Is there a method by which I can control my followers and housecarls to not initiate combat on our travels unless I start fighting something? They are constantly running up to stuff if it's remotely close by and attacking it. It's very frustrating. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

~sbm

Not that I ever could find out myself, which is why I axed Lydia and told her to go back to the Jarl. I've not bothered with a companion because of this very reason, so I travel alone.

That's what I feared. Seriously, between the fact that you can't control their combat, they constantly get in your way while fighting, and they take forever to find you if you've run on ahead, they are pretty miserable. :/ I hope this is addressed soon.

i make them wait at the opening of caves and tombs! haha.

That's hilarious! At which point, I assume, their "usefulness" is limited to carrying your extra stuff... hahaha

No, that's why having them svcks ass.

I literally had to resort to forcing myself to exploiting the AI in the Thieves Guild quest where you take Mercer with you to kill Kharlia.

First of all, I have no idea how you're supposed to beat that without exploiting the AI, but that was easily the hardest dungeon I've ever gone through in any of the TES games.

Makes me mad. I was trying to talk to Paarthanaux and Shadowmere kept attacking him so he'd fly away and breathe fire on het resulting in an infinite cycle where i couldnt speak to him. So I had to re-climb to the Throat of the World because when i fast travel she's right there beside me.

"M'aiq prefers to adventure alone. Others just get in the way. And they talk, talk, talk."

Eeep! I'm not sure I'm happy or frusrtated that so many of my fellow Skyrim Warriors are feeling the same about our "helpers". Meh. I am going to be hopeful that someone will improve this. Where is our new Creation Kit anyways?? :/

@HouseStark - What AI exploit are you talking about?

@Papa Khan - That's just depressing that it's necessary to "ditch" the followers sometimes. :/

@Hrul The Exiled - I hear ya. I believe the Companion player-created mods in Oblivion were better than this Skyrim follwers crapola.

I wonder about this. Lydia initiated banzai combat constantly. Aranea fromm Azura's Shrine is great, uses apprpriate weapons and always keeps out of the player's way and is very powerful. Lately I've been using Mjoll the Lioness and she's turning out very well. She'll use her bow a lot and only a few times charged in the way. Sneaking in dungeons she'll sometimes stand completely still, even while being hit, if the player stays in sneak, letting you get the first attack in and then she'll help.I'm wondering if the AI aggressiveness is set different for different followers, I'm going to try several to see if there's any difference in the way they react, or follow the player's lead instead of going berserk.

Companions are an absolute stealth killer, if you go into Sneak Mode, they should wait for the order to attack, now if you're standing that's another thing, because they're gonna attack anyways.

@Timberman - I would be very interested in the results of that experiment. I'm wondering if the AI has settings like in Oblivion - I think most animals etc were an Intelligence of 20 or something, right? I think this allowed them to open and close gates or something. lol Anyone know the actual numbers? Anyways, it determines the Radiant AI attributed to an animal... but I never knew it would be altered for the NPC's. Interesting... maybe someone will come up with a tweak then soon for adjusting these, at least on he NPC's that can follow you around. Right now I've started a new character and my first follower is Faendal - and he's a pain. But then, he's acquired almost instantly in the game - as soon as you tell him about the letter, he'll follow you anywhere. Seeing as how this is even before we become a Thane, i'm wondering if he doesn't have the same AI value as Lydia? And as we all know...

LYDIA IS A HOT MESS. Bleh. lol

@NoXAgeraXBo - You got that right. Very irritating. So much for sneaking when you have a follower!!

Also, is anyone else annoyed by the use of the Companions as a guild-like thing you can join vs the "companions" we can have tag around behind us? I found this quite confusing and well, irritating form the start. I found the confusion unnecessary - they could have well named that group something else. :/

Anyways, the persistent issues I was hoping to find a fix for with the Followers and Housecarls are as follows:

• They take FOREVER to catch up to you if you run up ahead - especially on uneven or rough terrain.
  
• They always set off traps - endangering themselves and you.
  
• They also can't seem to make it through traps to save their lives (literally - tho sometimes they die trying).
  
• Can't shut up - they talk and talk and talk.
  
• They get in your way during combat and often interfere.
  
• You can't control their combat status (i.e., attack only when I attack, stay passive no matter what, etc - standard MMO minion controls)
  
• ... Anything I missed? Feel free to add it here and unleash your frustration.

i really can't believe there are no fixes for these things yet - I thought for sure I was just missing how to control my followers and came here to find out how to do it. Shame on Bethesda.

Companions seriously lack control. There is no combat interface. i can't believe this was an accidental oversight.

Right now I have been using Areana and she can pretty much hold her own. She does suffer from most of the complaints made here. Until you begin combat, she will not attack unless you are threatened. She will sneak with you but if in combat she often forges ahead or tries to flank. She does not talk much.

Contrary to what I have seen in the forum the PC's Cloak spells will affect her and hers will affect you—she even killed me once with Flame Cloak.

She was always getting in front of me and either getting blasted directly or from an AoE spell. I finally had to make her Essential.

If companions are good for nothing else it's as a mule and distraction. Sometimes that's all you need.

Yea, they're not very ideal for sneakers. I really wish they imported a similar "wheel" from Fallout New Vegas. Companions were surprisingly not annoying in that game.

But once again, I usually don't bother with them. I sometimes have them follow me around town for RP purposes, or to dress them up. But sadly, the glitch where they always "remove" what you put them in just kills the immersion.

If you're playing a sneaky character it seems to help when you travel with similar sneaky companions. I could never get any sneaking done with Lydia, but I'm having much better luck with Aela the Huntress wearing muffle boots. I also gave her a bow only so she doesn't get in the way of my sneak attacking.

I'm assuming Brynjolf and Karliah are even more skilled in sneak, as they would rarely attack anything I didn't aggro first.

This is why I don't bother with companions. They only get in my way and die as I am shooting a sneak attack arrow or using my fus roh dah, or aggro enemies that I intend to avoid, etc. I just don't even bother. All they're good for is the extra bag space which I don't even need because of the steed stone.

the followers in new vegas and FO3 ran ahead just the same its no different, actually the stealthy archers with sneak skill followers in skyrim aren't too bad but you do have to leave em back a ways sometimes in dungeons etc, but the followers are totally cool in skyrim, way better than fallout followers, there's like 50 followers in skyrim, brelyn, aelo, illia, they rock, annaka crag jumper, they're hardly annoying, those are cool followers, jenna is cool, lots of em in skyrim are cool erandur, marco, all the ones at college are cool.

Main thing that annoys me is that you can't stop them fighting something!
Accidentally hit someone in a dragon fight in a town ------> They turn on me ------> I yield, they deal with it ------> Companion is obviously still mad because they are going absolutely crazy on that NPC and won't stop until they die.

yeah i wish they would be more passive overall, companions in these games really do mess up stealthy playing, i try to balance it, in some areas i make em stay back, once in a while i go solo, but i like followers, i do like being stealthy also, so its hard yo be super steathy with followers for sure...i'll make em stay back in some areas while i deal with enemies, then bring em in. other times we just go charging in. it all depends.

Im starting to like mage followers more now because they range and dont get in the way. The one I have now even quarters or even halves the enemies HP before I get to them sometimes. Ive also been saved by a companion spell finishing off an enemy as I was about to be struck down by said enemy.. Good times. I love seeing my enemies dead bodies after they were run through with an ice spike from aiela or whatever her name is.