Allow Dogmeat to equip Melee Weapons

[mikipatam]

The idea is simple, equip a melee weapon on Dogmeat and his bite attacks will now deal the same damage (and effects give by mods and legendary status) as the equipped weapon.

Let's say I give him a Furious Sledgehammer, for example, his regular bite attacks will now deal the same base damage of the Sledgehammer (23 + Dogmeat's Strength) and deal more damage the more he bites, if I decide to mod the Sledgehammer with a Heavy Searing Sharp Rocket it now deals the additional damage of the mod, burns and targets bleed.

I just thought this would be a nice way to make Dogmeat more useful in combat, we have plenty of mods that give him functional armor (My favorite being the K9 Harness) but I haven't seem any that increase his attack, at least not by just simply bumping all dogs base damage.

[aurreth]

Soooo, Dogmeat isn't actually a "companion" per se. He's more of an "accessory". That's why the game files originally allowed you to have a companion PLUS Dogmeat, and why putting that behavior back only requires flipping a switch in the game files.

 

Dogmeat is supposed to be used with VATS, which is why there are perks devoted to him. He's a restraint device that just happens to be able to carry your junk and occasionally fetch you worthless junk.

 

However, I agree his damage output should scale up with the character's level. A quick look shows one "weapon", UnarmedDogmeat, which is shared by both DogmeatRace and RaiderDogRace. Splitting that in two so that Dogmeat can be enhanced individually is fairly simple. Duplicate the weapon record, and change one of the two "races" to use the duplicate. Then boost the damage for the one Dogmeat uses.

 

Aaaand, that's pretty much as far as I can go. Someone would have to create variations on UnarmedDogmeat, put them in the game, and provide a method to switch between them. No reason it couldn't be done though.

[HeyYou]

Hhhhmmm..... Dogmeat is a dog..... His one weapon is his bite. I could see scaling his damage SOME, with HIS experience... (if he gets any....) just to reflect that he also learns what works, and what doesn't. But, nothing really dramatic.... and it likely wouldn't make him any more of an effective combatant as the player gets to higher levels. Thing is, as mentioned, dogmeat isn't really a weapon, he is supposed to restrain targets, so the PLAYER can kill them...... Giving him melee weapons really doesn't make much sense to me, as he doesn't have hands......

[aurreth]

Hhhhmmm..... Dogmeat is a dog..... His one weapon is his bite. I could see scaling his damage SOME, with HIS experience... (if he gets any....) just to reflect that he also learns what works, and what doesn't. But, nothing really dramatic.... and it likely wouldn't make him any more of an effective combatant as the player gets to higher levels. Thing is, as mentioned, dogmeat isn't really a weapon, he is supposed to restrain targets, so the PLAYER can kill them...... Giving him melee weapons really doesn't make much sense to me, as he doesn't have hands......

 

I can see the increase for one reason: the vanilla game replaces Dogmeat, who does fixed damage, with a companion, who can equip better and better weapons. The game claims Dogmeat is a companion, so he should be able to progress like one.

 

Of course the solution is to grab a mod that restores Dogmeat to his intended purpose, as a player adjunct in addition to a companion. It's not even technically a cheat, because those settings already exist in the vanilla game, they just aren't turned on.

 

Personally I don't use Dogmeat in any capacity, because I can't stand to see a dog, any dog, being hurt over and over again. But if he is going to be used to replace a companion I can see the argument that his damage should increase with level to reflect that. It should never be on par with a human companion because of his VATS benefits, but it shouldn't remain static.

[HeyYou]

 

Hhhhmmm..... Dogmeat is a dog..... His one weapon is his bite. I could see scaling his damage SOME, with HIS experience... (if he gets any....) just to reflect that he also learns what works, and what doesn't. But, nothing really dramatic.... and it likely wouldn't make him any more of an effective combatant as the player gets to higher levels. Thing is, as mentioned, dogmeat isn't really a weapon, he is supposed to restrain targets, so the PLAYER can kill them...... Giving him melee weapons really doesn't make much sense to me, as he doesn't have hands......

 

I can see the increase for one reason: the vanilla game replaces Dogmeat, who does fixed damage, with a companion, who can equip better and better weapons. The game claims Dogmeat is a companion, so he should be able to progress like one.

 

Of course the solution is to grab a mod that restores Dogmeat to his intended purpose, as a player adjunct in addition to a companion. It's not even technically a cheat, because those settings already exist in the vanilla game, they just aren't turned on.

 

Personally I don't use Dogmeat in any capacity, because I can't stand to see a dog, any dog, being hurt over and over again. But if he is going to be used to replace a companion I can see the argument that his damage should increase with level to reflect that. It should never be on par with a human companion because of his VATS benefits, but it shouldn't remain static.

 

I don't use him either. :) For much the same reasons. That, and he tends to interfere with my 'stealthy' play style. Hard to be stealthy when your dog runs out and starts biting people. :D So, I send him to sanctuary as soon as I find him.

 

But then, I don't use ANY companions, if I have a choice.... They are more problems than they are worth.

[aurreth]

 

But then, I don't use ANY companions, if I have a choice.... They are more problems than they are worth.

 

 

Totally agree on that.

 

EDIT: Dogmeat is set Aggressive/Foolhardy. You could change those to keep him from charging off to bite things.

Edited June 6, 2021 by aurreth

[HeyYou]

 

 

But then, I don't use ANY companions, if I have a choice.... They are more problems than they are worth.

 

 

Totally agree on that.

 

EDIT: Dogmeat is set Aggressive/Foolhardy. You could change those to keep him from charging off to bite things.

 

I would love to see someone turn him into a useful attack dog.... (he is immortal.....) So, he does what he is TOLD to do, not what he thinks would be a 'good idea'..... at the time. Having him NOT attack until told to, would go a long way toward making him more useful. :D Being able to point out specific targets would be nice as well.

 

Not that I would take him with me in any event. :) He's a dog. His Job is to protect my settlers, and make 'em smile. That's it. :D

 

DOES dogmeat provide happiness in a settlement???

[aurreth]

 

 

 

But then, I don't use ANY companions, if I have a choice.... They are more problems than they are worth.

 

 

Totally agree on that.

 

EDIT: Dogmeat is set Aggressive/Foolhardy. You could change those to keep him from charging off to bite things.

 

I would love to see someone turn him into a useful attack dog.... (he is immortal.....) So, he does what he is TOLD to do, not what he thinks would be a 'good idea'..... at the time. Having him NOT attack until told to, would go a long way toward making him more useful. :D Being able to point out specific targets would be nice as well.

 

Not that I would take him with me in any event. :smile: He's a dog. His Job is to protect my settlers, and make 'em smile. That's it. :D

 

DOES dogmeat provide happiness in a settlement???

 

 

No, but he should! Let me see if I can figure out how adding happiness works.

 

And yeah, he's immortal, but he's not invulnerable (although he could be made so....) So he stays where he doesn't get hurt.

[aurreth]

Hmm, Dogmeat has Sneak 4, he shouldn't be messing up sneaking. He's also immune to paralysis and radiation lol

 

So, I think it goes like this:

 

In the CK, go to Actor > DogmeatRace > Male, and double click on Dogmeat. Go to the Stats tab. In the Base Actor Values box, right click and select New. In the popup, find and select WorkshopRatingBonusHappiness, then change the value in the box that pops up from 100 to something reasonable, like 10.

 

Click OK to close the Dogmeat Actor window, then Save As a new ESP or ESL.

 

From what I've been able to find that should do it and have Dogmeat make settlements happier.

 

 

EDIT: Make sure to enable the new plugin, d'oh!

[RoNin1971]

:) I hardly play without 'm. Never had him mess up my sneaking and I sneak constantly.

I use the "everyone's best friend" mod combined with the K9 Harness. Healing him during combat will get you 'likes' from most companions.

The 'regular' companions are way more trouble when sneaking or in close quarters, especially if they get their hands on handgrenades ... :sad:

For me its the most consistent part of any playthrough. (mostly used as a walking container and to watch my back and, well... for the company :P )