Could companions Have Hunger/Dehydration Needs in Hardcore?

[draculavoice]

Hi Nexus mods, long-time downloader and first time poster. I was just wondering whether this mod already exists somewhere, or if it would hopefully be possible to be made by someone with more modding knowledge than I (read: basically literally any knowledge).

 

The basic "outline" of the mod is "simple," since it's probably not nearly as simple to implement as it is to describe: while in the player's party and while Hardcore Mode is enabled, companions will have their own hunger and thirst meters that fill over time, causing the same stat debuffs past the same thresholds, and companions will automatically eat any food and water that's in their inventory whenever these thresholds are crossed so as to keep themselves healthy.

 

I already have my game set up to where my companions don't have infinite ammo and don't regenerate health on their own because I really love the emergent, invested gameplay that comes from needing to keep not only myself, but my companions supplied and healthy with Stimpaks and ammo. What I'd really love to do is take that to the next level, though, by needing to keep their inventories topped off with enough food and water to keep them alive, too. I don't just mean that they would just automatically eat food that's placed into their inventory, I mean that there would be real consequences if they didn't have enough food and water every day, just like if the player shirks their own hardcore needs.

 

As it stands, I can only sorta-kinda pretend to be feeding my companion by just eating and drinking twice as much as I ought to, but it's rather pointless since there's no mechanical punishment for failing to do so. Additionally, what I'm really after are those hardscrabble, steal-to-eat scenarios where there's only enough food or water for one of us and I have to choose whether to keep myself or my companion healthy.

 

I also think it would be great if companions could suffer from sleep deprivation and radiation poisoning as well, but the only way I could think to make a companion sleep would be if their sleep meter was just tied to the player's. As for radiation, that would be great, too, but the use of Rad-Away or Rad-X might be more difficult to implement than just food and water.

Edited November 28, 2020 by draculavoice