My personal answer is 4. I tried them on a few but now I go solo.

So after playing a character with no followers I really started to question the necessity and usefulness of companions in FO:NV (Vanilla, not talking about DLC). Anyway, my experience is that for new players they're useful and also for the perks and for carrying equipment, besides those though I don't see it. First off they tend to run into combat, even when they're set on passive, and get themselves killed. I can't even take them anywhere near Deathclaws as they enjoy running into packs of them. Second, they always get the kills before me. I know most people wouldn't see that as a bad thing, but I do, I see them as support (Unless your build is designed to use them for offense) and backup if I need it, not sniping all the enemies before I can switch weapons. The reasons I kill enemies is to get better guns to kill people more efficiently, not to have you taking all my glory. Third, and probably my biggest one, they must be dismissed before going into DLC. This makes sense, my only problem is that all my equipment is in The Sink, and I need to teleport there to refill every once and awhile. So basically every time I want to restock and what not I have to dismiss them both, travel to the Big Empty, travel back, go to the Lucky 38, and recruit them again. More then anything its an annoying hassle. And last, they like to attract bugs and get stuck odd places which require reloading or in some cases you need to spend hours freeing them. This has happened to me quite a few times using Boone in various places, and its really annoying. Then comes the bugs where you can lose the gun you give him if you go into a casino, and other similar things, I forget alot so that'd really svck for me.

Anyway, what was the point in that little rant/poll? Basically I just really can't decide if using Boone and Ed-e on my character are worth it...

I use companions regularly as I want to get their quests. After their quests are done, however, I ditch them. Sometimes I feel like going around with a buddy and pick one up from my Novac home.

I do their quests, because they're some of the more involved quests available, but otherwise I don't use them at all. I don't get the point of playing if a computer is going to obliterate all my enemies before I even spot them.

Queue

My feelings exactly, after their quests I'm pretty much done with em.

I use followers for RP purposes, really. Being alone doesn't suit any of my characters very much. ED-E or Rex always accompanies me and I also like to have Boone, Cass, Veronica, or Arcade backing me up. Sometimes I'll even trek up Black Mountain to get everyone's favorite Ghoul Vaquero/Repairman. I think they add flavor to your Courier. Your friends say a lot about you.

I only pick up companions when it would make sense for the rp. For instance, my current character is getting frustrated with lugging Veronica around because she likes to be alone, but she needs an in with the BoS. I've had characters who've been total sociopaths who wouldn't have taken companions and characters who could slowly drive themselves crazy without someone to talk to.

-Nukeknockout

The only character I've used regularly on nearly all my playthroughs is ED-E.

I love that little eyebot. :disguise:

I always bring my best friend, Rex, on missions with me.

Same here. He is the only Enclaver I ever liked (besides you, good sir - and Mr. Pistolero of course).

I go with followers for a while, I don't mind having them around as spare cupboard or live bait so I'm not in major fights alone. But since I got the Long Haul perk and Blade Of The West I don't really need anyone with me

I usually get Boone Arcade and ED-E on a regular basis because I love their quests. The rest of the companion quests arent bad, I just dont really like the companions themselves. i used to get each one on every playthrough, but now I play favorites a majority of the time and the others sit in their respective place and stay there

I like followers because I get bored without having someone to boss around. :hubbahubba:

....actually, I just find them & their wonky AI entertaining. Strangely I prefer using a multi-companion mod+difficulty mods and watching them all go nuts fighting everything vs. me doing the fighting. Don't care about combat-glory/hogging. I have played solo, but I always end up missing the companion goofiness & go back to them. That and I usually want at least some of their quests.

I tend to use companions all the time in the Mojave, for two reasons. One is extra carrying capacity: more companions, less running around to unload the quckly accumulating junk. I have a hoarder OCD, I suppose.

The other reason is saving ammo. When companions make kills with their default weapons, it doesn't cost you caps.

I bring every follower with me for the purpose of getting their companion quest done, though ED-E and Arcade will stay with me for as long as they can.

That said, I gurgle in annoyance every time that means I have to cart Veronica around because I see her as little more than fanservice shoe-horned in on the "Felicia Day is a gamer! FELICIA DAY IS A GAMER!" craze. Love that woman but every character she actually lends her voice to in a game tends to be extremely obnoxious and close to breaking the Fourth Wall on a regular basis.

I hate followers. They get lost, they get stuck, they don't shut up, they can't be sneaky for the half of them, they are just really annoying. I've only had one continuous follower and it was in FNV with ED-E I felt a connection to ED-E but I then lost him. Our love can rekindle now that we have the Follower's Terminal and I have the heartfelt backstory on ED-E. He is more a person than any NPC I know. :hugs:

Rarely. I don't like having to babysit them.

I've done every character's quest since my first playthrough, because I felt bad leaving them out to dry. ED-E is always accompanying me, because I love him so much, and he has a ridiculous survivability and ability to hold my stuff. I always do Boone's first quest to get that beautiful beret, and I generally keep him with me because he's as broken as any companion I've ever seen since Broken Steel Fawkes. If I'm not using Boone, I take either Veronica, Raul, or Cass. Veronica usually gets left behind because she has an unfortunate habit of running up to deathclaws, cazadores, and other nasties and trying to punch them. Raul and Cass are both a pain in the ass to recruit, and doing Cass' quest [censored]s over any characters trying to do energy weapons, but Raul's continuous sarcastic snark is too much fun to pass up. I don't particularly care for the rest of the cast, so I usually hang with just ED-E until I get Raul, and I switch out Raul when I'm done [censored] with the Legion.

I prefer to have a companion with me. Doesn't feel so lonely.

Mostly play sniper characters, so a combination of Boone and ED-E's perks can't be beat.

I use them most every time but not exclusively..although ed-e is always in tow

I have Ed-e. Even though his quest is a sightseeing trigger which I loath, he doesn't have emotional baggage.

I get a little tired of companions with emotional drama. It'd be nice to have had a companion in the game with no emotional issues, just wants their fair share of the loot and place to sleep. A quest yes but something exciting/interesting that wasn't triggered by sightseeing.

If it weren't for the above I would probably have all the companions at my home and take different ones depending on where we were going.

When I walk my road, I walk it alone.

Maybe I'm just a bad player, but I find that when I bring companions along, I rarely get to make a kill myself. Sometimes the first time I'm aware of an enemy is the +XP meter popping up. They also don't tend to die unless up against tough enemies like deathclaws, cazadors or sentry bots.

That said, in my last two playthroughs I've mostly been on my own, because killing stuff is fun. Having a companion who murders everything in sight is nice if you're concentrating on non-combat skills, but it's a bummer to get your Gun skill up and a nice gun and still get no kills of your own because Veronica is out there caving everybody's skulls in before you can take aim.

A while ago I tried a game where I didn't have any base. I wouldn't store my weapons or gear in any containers and I only keep the absolute bare minimum essentials.
I had to make two concessions:
-I wasn't going to play this on hardcoe mode because it just wasn't going to be fun.
-I was going to use companions because otherwise it just wasn't going to be fun.
I've decided that there are five weapons that once I get I will never sell.
-Lucky(have and gives me confidence)
-fully modded Hunting Rifle(have)
-Lil' Devil(have)
-fully modded Katana(have)
-CZ57 Avenger(don't have yet)
Playing this game I've since realized that companions are absolutely necessary. I'm already getting a headache from not being able to pick up everything like I used to. The scavenger/hoarder in me is crying.

I couldn't live with myself if I killed followers.