Has anyone thought about making companions share in all of your hardcoe difficulties? I mean sure they can die in hardcoe but (as far as I could tell) they heal instantly, don't need doctor's bags, never get hungry or thirsty, etc. Food and water is so easy to come by in the game and players who want a harder hardcoe experience are more likely to have a slower timescale, so I think it would be quite manageable. You could even give them broad sets of likes and dislikes for bonuses/penalties, things they won't eat, and make ED-E instead require batteries and regular repair with scrap metal/electronics.

I assume Phalanx will do most of this. At least the healing part if not the hardcoe part, suggest it on his thread, he might be up for it, but the it will need NVSE.

I can't imagine what a nightmare it would be trying to keep track of the hunger, thirst, and sleep of npc's unless there was a HUD for it.

Even then, you can lead your companions to water, but you cant force them to drink. Thinking of the free water sources, beds to rest in and etc. It'd be a huge pain.