Ok so Cait can unlock locks, Nick can unlock computer terminals, what does piper do, what's her skill?

Piper has the "Gift of Gab" perk. Double XP from discovering new locations and succeeding in speech checks.

Thats the perk she gives you at max affinity.

She gives you junk food. Nuka-cola or gum or other junkie food.

piper gives you double xp for finding locations and also speech checks i think, not sure about the speech checks. Thats her skill

so if you have her gift of the gab perk AND you travel with her you get QUADRUPLE XP from discovering new locations and speech passes.

That's a perk man, its not a skill......

If I could activate her to initiate dialogue sequences and help me pass speech checks during the dialogue, now that would be a skill, but that doesn't happen

no her perk is gift of gab which gives 2x XP

BUT and heres the BUT her "have her along skill" is 2x XP from speech and locations. just aslong as she is traveling with you you get double xp from those it is completely seperate from her perk.

if you also have her perk they stack giving her 4x XP

in this game "companion perks" are what you unlock whereas "companion skills" are what they do for you

so for example Caits picks locks while traveling with you thats her skill, when you reach max affinity you unlock a "perk" "trigger rush"

with piper her "skill" when traveling with you is you get double XP from new locations and speech passes, when you reach max affinity with her you unlock "gift of the gab" which gives double XP from new locations and speech passes

now that may sound like the same thing but it is 2 seperate things, and if you have her "perk" AND she is traveling with you they both stack which is why you get 4x XP

ok kool i get what you are saying now, I'll pay attention to exploration and speech check xp gain, when she is with me and without me and see what happens.

Thanks

One of the overlooked skill from Cait is stealing and pickpocket, you could tell her to steal and pickpocket people often without being detected. It's especially useful when your sneak and stealing skill are still on the low side. Better yet, she approves of these actions, and another perk is she won't join in with the NPC if they attack you like with Deacon or Piper.

Don't forget Piper's most useful attribute - all those free gumdrops.

Man, I need me some gumdrops... they literally saved my life.

This actually explains a lot, I kept reading about keeping companion perks even when they're not travelling with you but I knew I had not been receiving as much XP for locations as when Piper was by my side so thanks for this info.

I had not travelled with anyone but Piper since meeting her because the double XP is just much more useful for me than any other companion perk but recently I decided to try and get all the perks since they stay around, plus I have just about discovered everywhere now I think.