So I decided to arm Boone with something other than his default scoped hunting rifle. I gave him a Lever-action shotgun and went up against some feral ghouls. With....uh... mixed results. On the up side, Boone is very fast with it. On the downside, he shoots a shotgun the way he shoots his default rifle- from a LONG way off. Unsurprisingly, he didn't hit anything in three full reloads.

Which makes me wonder- do followers adjust their engagement range to the hit probability, or do they behave at all times as if armed with their default weapon?

If you have Cass with you for a while, you would know they just shoot as soon as get clear line of sight.

I guess the solution is to tell Boone stay back, and you fallback to him when you need better fire support.

So there's no point at all in giving followers shotguns? I was thinking of taking advantage of Cass' Shotgun surgeon perk later on, but not if she's going to try long-distance sniping with it...

You could try slug rounds

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Shotgun_Surgeon isn't Cass' Perk.

Edit: I stand corrected.

I have only seen two (gun) attack behaviors from companions.

1 - long scope range rifle profile (don't think that includes automatic rifles like AA), where they hang waay back (if there's room for that), strafe/run side to side (if there's room), backup sometimes to maintain distance, hide/take cover behind things sometimes.
2 - short range pistol/automatic type profile, where they start shooting as soon as something is in range/spotted, then start walking forward as they shoot (in a straight line, if available) until they're practically on top of the target, and then stay on top of the target, only taking a few steps back at a time to maintain a bit of distance.

They do not seem to take (the optimum) weapon range into consideration for when they start firing, that just seems to be a dictated by enemy detection range & direct line of sight, as mentioned.

(edited for clarity)

Personally I've noticed companions making weapon choices if they have options, for instance I had Arcade hauling a few laser rifles just as a pack mule. He also had some excess microfusion cells. He didn't equip it initially keeping his default weapon at the ready. But switched to the laser rifle when enemies appeared at range.

YES it is.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Rose_of_Sharon_Cassidy

Oh, sorry about that. :facepalm:
Only Cass gets to use it, right?

Yep its her own personal perk.

It's call Cass's being a crack shot.

Anyways, for optimal use of Cass, I suggest Riot.

I've occasionally noticed that myself, but I'm not convinced it's their AI since it's not consistent behavior (for me at least). I think it's more likely that the companion inventory-stat bug (or something else) causes them confusion about dmg. and selecting weapons sometimes.

The best think to do with Boone is give him good quality ranged weapons. He isn't to good with much else. Any weapon with a scope is what he is going to be best with. I have him using a sniper, and a .44 with a scope. That man will run through a bunker and clear the thing almost all alone. Keep your shotguns for yourself, or for Cass.

In their dialogue on the companion wheel, you can ask how to best use their skills. I'm surprised that Cass doesn't mention shotguns because she's powerful with the Riot Shotgun. Boone tells you he's not good up close but he's not so bad even in a Vault. I always give him the All-American. Raul talks about his pistol but I've seen him with the Heavy Incinerator too. I think he picked it up during a fight with some Fiends. Give Pushy to Veronica and you can pretty much put your hands in your pockets and watch.

I've been really amused recently with companions and grenades. Give them a lot of those and they sure like to use them. As long as you stand well back, it's quite hilarious. Not terribly effective usually, but funny.

I've once made the mistake of letting Veronica carry plasma grenades. 1200 caps' worth of them were wasted on the first goddamned Giant Mantis we ran into before I realized what was happening. Then she remembered she had a Ballistic Fist, and started swinging it threateningly at another Mantis from beyond a fence that neither of them had the brains to go around.

If follower tactics are as Lady Crimson describes, then ranged followers are best used with scoped long-ranged guns. Firing a Riot shotgun at things at the outer limit of combat range until they close in would mean a LOT of wasted ammo.

Don't companions get effectively infinite ammo though? So long as they have one round? (or is that completely wrong?)

Brush gun + Cass is a beautiful combination, especially with the +damage quest resolution perk thingymabobby.

No they use ammo just like you do.

Good thing about Riot is AI treat it like a SMG type; thus Cass would charge in with her extra RoF and -10DT.

But most economical is still AA/Maskman

Only their default weapon. The rest, they use ammo just like you do.

Never, ever give a companion a shotgun when outdoors.

Indoors though, that's another story. Vault corridors are the perfect place for buddies with shotties.

I have given a shotgun to Boone and I ended up taking it away from him.

I have just about given up on trying to give my companions better ranged weapons. Their defaults seem to be good enough and they way they go through ammo it makes keeping them stocked up a pain. The only success I have is giving them a different Melee weapon to play with. Watching Boone with a Bumper Sword is cool.

It is common I've found but.......

There is a major ctd bug if you give companions similar damage weapons with ammo and plenty of them.

I've confirmed it on Cass and Raul, both when loaded up with guns and ammo I did not need except for selling.

Would initiate combat try to switch gun and cause a CTD, multipule times I confirmed this by removing excess guns and leaving them with there base and then a stronger on or two.

The other way may just to be not to put any ammo for guns that they will not use in.

This seems to be linked to the buying multipule of the same caravan cards from the same trader at the same time...
And modifying a weapon when there is a hidden ( same type but not marked as stacked in the player inventory ) weapon.
As the CTD is the same effect.

On topic, Cass with a hunting shotgun is fantastic at low to longish range with it for my runs.

I suppose Hunting shotgun + choke mod + slugs would give more accuracy.

Trouble is, Cass starts off with 47 in Guns while Hunting shotgun requires 75 to use to full effect, so she's still going to miss a lot, I guess. Although slower ROF means less ammo wasted before she gets in range for good shots.

Snowy- Yes, indoors is the best for shotguns- but it's outdoors that you REALLY need that DT reduction from Shotgun Surgeon. Not a lot of Deathclaws inside Vaults...

There is always death wind carven.

@ Golem -- As mentioned, very short range weapons can work ok in places like Vaults or other tight/mountainous terrain where they tend to behave the same because of line of sight issues. On some terrain the super-sniper-range behavior gets wonky too, so neither are perfect/entirely predictable because the terrain isn't usually perfect. But w/multiple companion mods you can really see the difference when they're all together. Given large, flat, open area, I've watched Arcade/Raul charge forward while Boone w/his Sniper Rifle crouches/shoots from so far behind that I can't get them all on the same screen at once. http://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/media/33/falloutNV-776a.jpg The general/medium distance like pistols/machine guns usually work fine w/companions tho, because their damage/hit rate is ok from default start-attack distance, but shotguns, yeah, not so great (except in close quarter areas). (edit: the screenie is an extreme example...they do usually stick a fair bit closer together )

@CCNA - Early on it can be hard to keep them stocked on ammo, especially with fast-firing weapons. I don't find it too difficult with the slower firing weapons (rifles, pistols) and by the mid-late game when merchant stocks start skyrocketing it's no longer a problem. I can even keep Boone/Raul/Cass stocked up for the All-American for VH bullet sponges and that thing chews up 5.56 like gorillas stomping on eggcrates. But this refers to bullet guns. Gauss rifles/other energy ammo used to be a pain, and while it's a lot better now, it's still kind of a pain (for companion needs at least). I rarely give companions an energy gun for very long, unless I'm cheating the ammo.

@Madoc - I just woke up so maybe my brain is fuzzy, but I'm not sure what "common" thing you're referring to. heh. that their AI sometimes gets wonky about choosing weapons? At any rate, I've put lots of ammo and weapons types in their inventory before and sometimes observe as they literally switch back and forth between two weapons while idle, and have yet to have a ctd. I'm not doubting your result...only saying I don't seem to have it myself. Altho, I have never bought a caravan card so maybe that's why.

I have yet to try this, though I notice Boone will constantly switch to whatever weapon he has that I've given compatible ammo to carry.

Then he goes charging at a giant radscorpion with his handy machete.

Yeah, Boone, you just died.

Sorry my lingo is not reliable I'll try to put it better.

I've found that if
A: some weapons of the same type and are at the same condition they stack, but not like Hunting shotgun (#),.
Rather they are hidden from the inventory Hunting shotgun ( no stack # ) , you will see their weight but even if you equip them they will not seperate.
This is not just with weapons but clothing as well the most common I've found is the stormchasers hat.
The only way to know that these items are there is if you dump out all your weapon and or clothing inventories, and peel the layers off like an onion.

Now this normally does not cause a crash, but if you try to mod a weapon while it's on top of a hidden stack it will cause the game to crash.

B: Less space on this, caravan cards if two of the same are sold by a merchant buying both at the same time can / will cause a crash.

Been solved using the same metheods A and the companion glitch empty the inventory.
B: just buy one / no cards.

Tried causing companions to glitch using items and not able to self replicate it, but if the game stats to crash on combat automatically clear weapon stocks.