Questions with companions

[Hurricane Andrew]

if I focus a companions skill on being a medic, by upgrading his surgery, wound treatment and first aid, do they have to be in battle for the effects to work? Because I have a companion that I focus surgery on and I still see my guys dieing and very very little of my men get knocked unconscious.

 

[Filou]

Your medic has to be healthy and conscious, but I don't think he needs to be in the first wave of troops to hit the field.

Obviously he also needs to be healthy, if his name is red in the party window he's wounded and he doesn't contribute any of his skills.

 

[Wheem]

What Filou said - all relevant party skills are applied at all times that the companion is in your party and battle-ready (ie, name/hp % not in red on the party screen), whether or not that party member is actually on the field at that time. A lot of people seem to like putting their medic(s) at the very bottom of the party list once they're leveled up a bit, so that they're less likely to come onto the field and get knocked unconscious (which will prevent their skills from being used). It also may be a good idea to put your medic(s) in a separate soldier-grouping, in case you don't want them to charge into the thick of battle with everyone else - having them hang back can help keep them conscious longer (though they may still get targeted and picked off by stray cavalry and/or missile troops).

 

[Hurricane Andrew]

ok thank you for clearing things up for me I hate loosing troops

 

[annallia]

How high is the skill? I only ask because I really don't see much of a difference until you get to 5 or 6 + so just at 4 (Jeremus starts at 4) I never see much of a difference, it is there just not big enough to really notice.

Other thing is it seems to go in streaks for me which always makes me question if it is working. I will occasionally wonder if the skill is working at all because I will see 10 troops in a row die, but I forgot about the 40 before that were only knocked out.

 

[Wheem]

Also, your own character's party skill levels will add a bonus for your companions. At 2-4 points there's a +1 bonus, which becomes +2 at ranks 5-7 (or maybe it's 5-8? I can't remember). The bonus also applies to your own skill, so if your surgery is at 3 when your medic companion is knocked out you'll still get an effective skill of 4 from your own character (3 base points and 1 bonus point). I think it's pretty much always worth it to either put 2 points into surgery, or just 1 plus the surgery skill book; the bonus for your companions' skill is handy, and it gives you a little bit of a backup to fall back on if they go down.