How do npcs choose which gun to equip?

[nenina]

If an npc has two big guns in their inventory, what field/record do they check that determines which weapon they'll actually use? I've scripted weapons into raiders' inventories and even command-equipped them, sometimes they'll loop switching guns and even loop between gun and melee! If I force equip them they act very conflicted and their combat suffers terribly.

[Radioactivelad]

It's usually: Has Ammo > Damage > Relevant Skill Level.

 

Combat styles can also affect what weapons are used, but in the base game they're only used to force companions to use Ranged/Melee.

[EPDGaffney]

Mostly DPS. If their skill level is low with energy weapons but the energy weapon they have still has a higher DPS than one of their speciality that they have as well, they'll choose the energy weapon. The only other factors are combat styles and sometimes how out of reach the target may be (a melee weapons raider may shoot you if you're across a canyon such that they have no path to get to you).

 

But DPS is the major thing, so look into how that gets calculated, and make sure they have ammo.