Companion Guide

[Asd396]

There doesn't seem to be a good source on companions in Gekokujo except the wiki page with their stats, personalities and relations, so I thought I'd compile some information here. Since you can find their skill levels on the wiki, I'll just list suggested roles (descending order based on initial skill levels and proficiencies) along with any noteworthy stuff. Character references are partly guesswork; after all, I can't know what phlpp was thinking! I'm also using Gekonewer, so some equipment might have changed.

Spoiler: Role explanations

Combat
Cavalry should have Agi 9, riding & weapon master 3 for good proficiencies and best horses. Dedicated combatants are best mounted, but it doesn't matter much for skill monkeys.
Archer: Bow with melee backup. Max strength and power draw, put rest in fighter skills. Invest a few points into horse archery if they're mounted.
Fighter: Primarily melee, two-handed weapons and polearms are the best. Max strength, power strike, iron flesh.
Gunner: Guns or crossbows with melee backup. Really lenient with stats, so it's good for all your skill monkeys. You can put leftover points in horse archery or fighter skills.

Skill monkeys
You can mix and match between the 3 Int specializations, as they have the same primary stat. Many skill monkeys start at a low level and have decent proficiencies, so you can groom them into combatants if you wish.
Medic: Max Int, first aid, surgery and wound treatment
Scout: Max Int, pathfinder, spotting and tracking.
Tactician: Max Int, engineer and tactician.
Thief: Max Agi, foraging and looting. Might work well as combat backup due to high Agi.
Trader: Max Cha and trade. You'll have tons of leftover points, so traders can work as backup for other skills or level their combat skills a bit.

In addition to the skills mentioned here I put leftover points in trainer.

Spoiler: Companions

Nobles marked with *. In addition there's 6 companions you can get from neutral settlements. They don't have friends or enemies, and they all have riding 1, trade 2 and 50 in all proficiencies.

Enrique
Notes: Cannibal from the Philippines. Skill monkey.
Personality: Roguish
Role: Medic, scout, tactician, trader

Francisco
Notes: Jesuit padre from Navarre (Spain). Skill monkey.
Personality: Benefactor
Role: Medic, scout, tactician, trader

George
Notes: American. Probably a reference to George W. Bush. Most useful for his skills, particularly his absurdly high trade, but is servicable in combat. In Gekonewer he's armed with a revolver.
Personality: Roguish
Role: Trader, scout, gunner, tactician

Goemon
Notes: Outlaw hero Ishikawa Goemon. Good for Agi skills, but his combat effectiveness is diminshed by bad weapons: one-handed and throwing.
Personality: Benefactor
Role: Thief, fighter

Gonnosuke*
Notes: Famous samurai Musō Gonnosuke, who dueled with Miyamoto Musashi; they're enemies in Gekokujo. Skilled with polearms and one-handed weapons and has particularly high Agi and weapon master.
Personality: Quarrelsome
Role: Fighter, scout

Hoshi
Notes: Buddhist monk skilled with firearms and polearms.
Personality: Benefactor
Role: Medic, scout, gunner

Hyogonosuke*
Notes: Swordsman Yagyū Hyōgonosuke, a friend of Musashi's. Skilled with both two-handed weapons and polearms.
Personality: Good-natured
Role: Fighter

Isosangemat*
Notes: Ezo (Hokkaido) native skilled with polearms and bows.
Personality: Martial
Role: Archer, thief

Kojiro
Notes: Swordsman Sasaki Kojirō, who was killed by Musashi; you can't have both in a stable party. Skilled with both two-handed weapons and polearms.
Personality: Roguish
Role: Fighter, scout

Mandukhai
Notes: Mongol, skilled with one-handed weapons and firearms.
Personality: Benefactor
Role: Scout, gunner

Mari
Notes: Horse thief. Would be passable in combat, but has bad weapons, one-handed and throwing.
Personality: Custodian
Role: Thief, Scout, fighter

Meiling
Notes: Hong Meiling from Touhou. Jaoooo! Pretty mediocre character with rather low non-combat skills. Good Str and proficiency levels, but they're in bad weapons: one-handed and throwing. Sakuya would've been more fitting
Personality: Custodian
Role: Fighter, trader, scout

Musashi*
Notes: Legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. His oversized bokken is a reference to his duel with Kojiro. Skilled with both two- and one-handed weapons.
Personality: Martial
Role: Fighter, tactician

Nagako*
Notes: Runaway noble daughter skilled with both two- and one-handed weapons.
Personality: Martial
Role: Fighter

Sessai*
Notes: Mountain ascetic and military commander Sessai Chōrō. Best tactician you can get, and also skilled with 2-handed weapons and polearms.
Personality: Self-righteous
Role: Tactician, fighter

Shih
Notes: Particularly good combatant with high weapon master. Most skilled with one-handed weapons and firearms, but even her lower proficiencies are 120, so you can give her anything you wish.
Personality: Roguish
Role: Gunner, Fighter, scout

Teruyo*
Notes: Possibly a reference to Kaguya Houraisan from Touhou. Skilled with bow and polearms.
Personality: Cunning
Role: Archer, medic

Tojiko*
Notes: Noblewoman from Kyoto searching for her lost husband. Skilled with bow and one-handed weapons.
Personality: Upstanding
Role: Archer

William
Notes: William Adams, one of the few Western samurai. Skilled engineer who is rather weak in combat, but he starts at level 1. Skilled with firearms and one-handed weapons.
Personality: Benefactor
Role: Tactician, scout, gunner

Youmu*
Notes: Konpaku Youmu from Touhou. Skilled with both two- and one-handed weapons and starts at level 1.
Personality: Martial
Role: Fighter

Yeosong*
Notes: Korean skilled with polearms and, uniquely, crossbows. The weaker crossbow may be used from horseback, but if you upgrade to the arbalest he can't reload it mounted.
Personality: Quarrelsome
Role: Gunner, Fighter, scout

Yoshio*
Notes: Might be Ōishi Yoshio, leader of the 47 rōnin. Samurai archer skilled with bows and two-handed weapons, but his lower proficiencies are 100 so you have plenty of options. High Agi.
Personality: Cunning
Role: Archer, thief

Spoiler: Party set-ups

Companion wheel works like in Native (dislike is balanced out by like), but you can turn it off in Gekokujo options.
Some quick notes:
There are many more companions in Geko than in Native, and their roles are more diverse as well. There are several good doctors, tacticians and scouts, and even a couple of thieves. The disconnected wheel also helps customization: in fact, you can get fill 3 of your support roles with just Enrique, George and Mandukhai, leaving only tactician and thief.
Some combinations are completely impossible due to the way likes work. In particular, Kojiro can't be in the same party as Musashi or Hyogonosuke, Yeosong and Isosangemat can't be paired with the people next to them, and you can't have all four horse archers in your party (Teruyo and Tojiko would need Francisco and Hoshi, which is incompatible with Yoshio). You could, however, make most companions into horse archers if you wish, but you'd need to invest some levels into power draw and archery proficiency (Shih is a pretty good candidate due to high proficiencies).

As you can see the right wheel is quite simple due to being disconnected: there are only 4 legal combinations (and their subgroups). You can pick Yeosong and Isosangemat;  Yeosong, George and Enrique; Mandukhai, Isosangemat and Shih; or Mandukhai, George, Enrique and Shih.
Here's firey5's excellent post on maximum party size and getting all the nobles. I've added some notes of my own in red.

I wanted to add my little bit about companions here.

Excluding the companions you get from the forts, you can have 11 companions without any conflicts. Just look at the companion compatibility circles, find a companion in each circle, and choose every other companion in the circle.

The maximum number of companions you can have is 14. You have Shih, Mandukhai, Enrique, and George in one circle; Meiling, Mari, Nagako, and Teruyo in the other small circle; and then Gonnosuke, Goemon, William, Francisco, Yoshio, and Kojiro in the big circle. Everyone except Yoshio and Kojiro hate someone, but they also have someone they like to balance them out.
This is the only 14-companion combination. 2 medics and scouts; 1 thief, trader and engineer. All support roles are fulfilled with some overlap, and the 7 rest are combatants (2 archers). I'd spec Mandukhai for combat so you have 8 capable fighters. Enrique/Francisco are particularly annoying, as they're both best as medics and rather pitiful in combat.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to have all of the noble companions at one time. I think the starting noble party should be Sessai, Yoshio, Hyogo-no-suke, Musashi, Gonnosuke, Yeosong, Isosangemat, Nagako, and Tojiko. You should also get Meiling to keep Gonnosuke happy. That gives you 10 companions.
You may add either William or Francisco and stay stable. I recommend Francisco for less overlap, and you'd also need to kick William in the next step.
With Francisco you have one tactician (if you give Sessai party skills instead of leveling leadership or something) and medic, and 9 combatants (or leaders).

To get Teruyo, you need to make Nagako and Tojiko lords. To get Youmu, you have to make these companions lords: Yoshio, Musashi, Hyogo-no-suke (in this order), and Nagako.  Then you need to get Kojiro to balance Youmu (You probably still have Meiling. You also shouldn't make Gonnosuke a lord until Youmu is a lord.)
Alternative way for Youmu: lord Gonnosuke and Nagako, kick Meiling. If you also lord Tojiko (for Teruyo) you may add Mari as well.

If you eventually make every noble into a lord the best remaining party would probably be: Meiling, Kojiro, Hoshi, William, Goemon, Mandukhai, George, Enrique, Shih (9 people). This gives you all support roles (build either Hoshi or Mandukhai for scouting, and the other for combat) and 3 dedicated combatants (+Hoshi/Mandukhai).

Please share any other party set-ups you've got, along with references I've missed!

 

[Kuroneki]

Who would you use as an Emissary to send out to persuade lords?

 

[Asd396]

No companions have any points in persuasion (it affects success rate in Diplo, right?), so feel free to give it to any Int companion. I've heard people say nobles are better as emissaries; if this is correct, Sessai is your best bet.

 

[Kuroneki]

Okay,  thanks.

 

[Coraline]

Favorite combination honestly.  Hoshi, William, Nagako, Tojiko, Hyogonosuke and Musashi. 

Hoshi + William = Gunners who focus mostly in Intelligence Based Skills. Hoshi Medical/Scouting skills, being he starts with a lot already you can focus on medical skills for a long time until you can start upgrading his scouting, perfect for the job. William, Training/Tactics/Engineering, seems fitting actually, both equipped with 9 STR so they can carry respectable gear, to help them if they have to get into melee.  Both are equally good for Persuasion as well as I focus heavy on INT for them. 

Nagako and Tojiko as Archers.  Yes I know Nagako isn't at her "Base" skilled in archery but that doesn't take long to fill up, plus her two hand sword skill makes for excellent protection for Hoshi and William when baddies get near.  Nagako I focus her on STR heavy, and AGI Mild.  Tojiko I focus on 9 STR (she has high archery skills already) and rest in agility, so she can loot, foraging, etc.  I often give her some INT so she can double as a back up medic if Hoshi is wounded.  Like Nagako her high one hand skill provides some defensive bite to help protect William and Hoshi in a fight, being they almost always spawn near eachother.  Basically I turn Nagako and Tojiko into body guards for my high INT characters. 

Hyogonsuke, and Musashi, obviously, high STR and some AGI, two hand Swords, or Clubs, with good armor.  Not much else to say.  I'd always recommend trying to get their Power Strike, and Iron skills to 6 before focusing on AGI, the better they can kill the faster they can level up so. 

I like this combination as none of them have conflicts with each other and they all fit well with my "Good" guy role playing.  Though there are a few other's I like, they often conflict with other Companions I want to use, while these not so much, outside of Right to Rule companion quest. 

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I tend to disable companion interaction so that I can have a full party so I can't speak for combinations. But one thing I will say is that you absolutely positively 100% want to make sure each companion has both a melee and a ranged option. Newer ever focus your companions to be one but not the other. There is nothing quite so fantastic as having an undying line of hamato grade troops at your side late in the game.

 

[Lord Vaelis]

How does one get the fort companions to join your party?  I have seen mention of that being possible but there seems to be no interaction for it.

It is a new thing for 3.1?

I tend to disable companion interaction so that I can have a full party so I can't speak for combinations. But one thing I will say is that you absolutely positively 100% want to make sure each companion has both a melee and a ranged option. Newer ever focus your companions to be one but not the other. There is nothing quite so fantastic as having an undying line of hamato grade troops at your side late in the game.

Also, I agree with Purple.  Companions are immortal.  Take advantage of that.  I have watched my decked out companions rip massive armies to shreds on their own.... and then get up and do it again later that day.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

How does one get the fort companions to join your party?  I have seen mention of that being possible but there seems to be no interaction for it.

1. Conquer the NPC forts. You need 2 leadership per fort you control.
2. Enter the fort and walk around it. Just like you would if you were in a village looking for the headman.
3. Find the NPC companion in question and talk to them. Select the option that goes something like "I want you to join me in my travels." The companion will respond telling you that it's not up to them because they need permission from the village chief.
4. So go find the village chief (that's the guy in charge of the fort) and select the relevant dialog option. It's something like "I want to talk about [companion name]".

 

[Bruhhh]

Here's one way to spec your companions, you get 2 Good-natured vassals 3/4 Combat Companions and all party skills covered.
For combat companions i like to go Polearms for all and then Guns/Bows based on their proficiency, as for non-combat i go Polearm and Guns, give then the longest polearm you can get and then you can give then the shorstest and fastest you find too instead of a 2nd bag of bullets/arrows.

Nagako - CHA (Trade)
Tojiko - Good Vassal
Meiling - COMBAT (Gun)

Hyogonosuke - Good Vassal
Hoshi - INT - (Tracking, Pathfinding, First Aid)
William - INT - (Engineer, Wound Treatment)
Goemon - AGI (Looting, Foraging)
Musashi - INT - (Tactics, Persuasion)

Shih - COMBAT - (Gun)
Mandukhai - INT - (Spotting, Surgery) - you can convert Mandukhai to be another fighter if you want.
Isosangemat - COMBAT - (Bow)