Working with Companions

[CrisG]

I wanted to ask advice on how to work with Companions. I was a bit clueless about that tho I tried to find out how to do things but I hoped to ask for help with the following:

 

How do we "talk" to them privately? i see some people in close consultation with their companions but so far i was not able to figure how how to do that with the droid and now that Kira is my new companion i want to be able to do it right.

 

I understand we can find out about them in the Codex section under Important People...or something like that....so we have some idea of their likes and dislikes but i was not sure how we initiate dialog with them.. and if the dialog choices change as the game progresses...

 

How do we upgrade them when we get upgrades specifically for them? I got an upgrade for the droid ..a customization but i was not really clear how that works..... can we apply things like med packs and equipment to them? and if so how?

 

We can revive them...but can they revive us? just wondered about that too

 

and any other advice very welcome. I think we can only have one active companion at at time ..do we select them in the Crew window? i am glad to have a human companion...but was not sure how many we can have and if there are ways to select them....

 

thanks for advice on this....i don't have a copy of the manual yet so i needed to ask when i thought of this, i tried to use the in game help but it is pretty useless still, i guess they have not completed adding topics to it because i could not find answers to some very basic stuff....like how to repair stuff, (i figured that out by seeing the Repair topic in the vendor windows)....had to file a ticket but they did reply very quickly...so that was nice.

 

Cheers and thanks for help with the companions, i don't wan to get Kira mad at me...

[Scorge]

 

How do we "talk" to them privately?

 

You have to go to the cantina or your ship and talk with them. Currently, im a lvl 42 sith warrior and I had a lot of experiences with talking with them in private, sometimes they only want to talk on your ship.

[Miltiades]

There are two ways to talk to them in private: in cantinas and in your personal ship. You'll know by their portrait when a character wants to talk in private, because an icon will appear in it. Indeed, the codex gives you an idea what these companions like and dislike. The companion's affection is based on the choices you make in dialog and on the gifts you decide on giving them.

 

And yes, you can equip companions with new gear and upgrades. The way to do this when you acquire gear (which may or may not be specifically for a certain companion) is to open the character screen (use the key 'c') and open the tab of the companion and equip the gear you want by right clicking on it in the inventory (key 'i') screen. Customizations work in the same way.

 

A companion cannot revive you. When you die, the companion dies with you, even though you can still fight when your companion is defeated. You cannot revive anyone while in combat anyway. And yes, you select your companion in the crew window ('n' key). There's a button for that on the right in that screen. You can only have one active companion, and every class has six companions (including the droid that comes with the ship).

[CrisG]

cool thanks, ys i found out about the reviving, that was pretty cool that we can revive them....and i had some nice players revive me when i was lying there dead on the deck...a number of times..i could not chat to thank them but it was nice.

 

thanks for that info.. i had not known about being in the cantina, i dont have a ship yet, they are not available until Level 15 and I am still at 11..... and the trial i was in did not allow you to advance past 15 so i dont think i could have gotten a ship..but i will have the full game subscrption soon...so i can keep going then.

 

I wonder if they will add more features for companions in add on patches, that was a major source of mods for the Elder Scrolls series and it is very popular to be able to expand that. I noticed the companions move pretty well, tho i wish they did not move away so much when you might want to stand closer to them at times. I guess there is no way to control their movements other than the orders we can give...have to learn about that too...

 

i noticed that the enemies ganged up on the droid and attacked him first...i was wondering why they did not attack me ...they attacked him until he was dead and then they came after me...in bunches...is that where term "mob" came from i have seen in posts?

[Scorge]

You can get a ship at any level above 10, after you finish the class quests on the capital planet.

[Miltiades]

i noticed that the enemies ganged up on the droid and attacked him first...i was wondering why they did not attack me ...they attacked him until he was dead and then they came after me...in bunches...is that where term "mob" came from i have seen in posts?

That's where the "tank" comes into play. Like your own character, companions all have a specific role assigned to them. The Astro droid you get as a Knight is a tank, meaning it taunts enemies into attacking him instead of you. If you play a tank yourself, you won't be using T7 that much.

 

"Mob" is just a popular term in MMO's for a hostile NPC.

[mimartin]

I wonder if they will add more features for companions in add on patches, that was a major source of mods for the Elder Scrolls series and it is very popular to be able to expand that.

Companions already have many features, romance, companion missions and crew skills with a promise that more features will be added. Haven’t gotten very far with my Jedi toon, but my smugger is fairly close to maxing out all my companions affection towards her. She has also long ago completed all the companion quests for the one that actually allows you to accompany them on their quests. I’ll admit, the companion quests that don’t allow you to accompany them sound way more interesting than the ones I went on. Still getting the affection high with all your companions is a real plus when it comes to crew skills, so in my opinion it is worth it, at least for my main toon where I’m concentrating on biochem. Again not sure for all classes, but at least for the smuggler the secret to keeping all your companions happy is presents, lots of presents because there is no way to make everyone 100% from merely the missions and conversations. Hell I used the Wookiee 90% of the time after I got him and I still have to resort to bribery to get the last 2000 points in order to max him out.

 

Beyond presents and getting their affection up for crew skills, my biggest advice with companions is to make your party member compliment your play style. Traditional wisdom is if you are a tank, take a DPS or a Healer companion with you. If you are a healer, take a Tank or DPS with you. I played most of the game with a Tank with me as a healer because that was how I understood it was done. However, since getting to level 50 I have found a DPS companion way easier, even a second healer is faster than taking a tank with me on Dailies. Whatever, experiment and figure out which companion works best with you just remember to keep that companion well equipped or plan on may more frustrating encounters. Personally I tried to keep two companions well equipped, because certain companions work better in certain battles (at least for me). The Wookiee just wouldn’t cut it in one battle. I would get the boss down to about 5% or less health before dying like 8 to 10 times. Finally went back, repaired and bought stims for a second time and changed companions to a mele DPS. Kill the Boss first try with a different companion without even taking any damage to my toon.

 

Originally I did not follow the keep companions’ well equiped and it made me have to find help getting past a mid-level class battle that was impossible for me to complete solo. That battle still makes me want to re-roll with another healer smuggler just to prove to myself I can do it. After that I kept my Wookiee upgraded and while I still had some difficult battles, I never again had to have Mav and Lynk come to my recue to get past a part of the game.

[CrisG]

wow, Miltades and mimartin, thanks so much for all that great advice, it helps a LOT... i can understand 90 percent of what you say, and it all makes sense....even the parts i havent done or learned about yet. thanks again so much for the help, i am trying to prepare so i can learn as i go along and this was just the sort of help I needed to make decisions when i get back in the game...and it will be very nice to be part of a Guild and be able to help and also to recieve help from others when we all need it. that really makes it a lot more fun.

 

And thanks MrObiWan, i did not know we could get a ship that soon, i am still working thru Coruscant and need to finish deciding on my class and other things...but thanks a lot that is good to know about the ship and the level at which we can get one. I am at Level 11 now and expect after i finish some more missions, i want to clean out the Black Sun completely and get that one boss in the docks, now that i have a decent companion, i hope to be at a higher level as well. I got tired of being smacked about by the Black Sun jerks and want some pay back. But being a good Jedi, i am doing it only for the good of the Galaxy and to promote Balance.