Companions and Mercenaries

A companion in Last Frontier is not a faceless stat bonus but a separate participant by your side: they have a bond with their leader, a behavior mode, and clear rules for when you can give them orders and when they will leave together with the group. Below is how companions are recruited, how they follow you, what commands are available, and where the limits of the system lie.

A group and a companion are different things

The game has two layers. Ordinary group membership handles invitations, leadership, and the shared route. A separate escort layer turns a participant into a true companion: following, waiting, traveling together with the leader, inventory access, and help in combat. An important consequence: simply being in someone’s group does not yet mean being a companion. Until an escort bond is assigned to a character, the logic for transitions and combat support ignores them.

How a companion is recruited

A group starts with an invitation, not with an abstract button. The lead character sends a request, and after that the checks kick in:

• The leader invites. If a character is already in someone else’s group and not as its leader, they cannot assemble their own squad on top of another’s route.
• The other player confirms the choice. An invitation goes through a request with acceptance or refusal, not through forced addition.
• The target must be in a suitable state. A dead, combat-busy, or unreachable character will not become a participant. An NPC, in addition, must be alive, reachable, and able to perceive the leader.
• The roster is not infinite. A group has a size limit, so it is assembled for the task at hand.

A companion’s bond with the leader is preserved and restored across maps, location entries, and re-logins into the game — even when some companions are temporarily unloaded, a partner does not get “lost” just because you logged out and back in.

The leader sets the route

A group always has someone who actually leads. The leader determines the destination, the pace, and the moment to stop — the transition between maps forms around them, and the consequences of the choice affect everyone. Without transport, the pace depends on the participants, so a slow or wounded character holds back the whole squad. If the leader leaves the global map, the group tries to get a new leader from those remaining — first among the living participants, not among the transport.

Follow or wait

Escort has two basic modes, and this is not cosmetic — they change the companion’s behavior during transitions.

• Follow. The companion pulls in toward the leader and can be included in a shared transition if they stay close enough.
• Wait (hold position). The companion stays in place and is not dragged along automatically after the leader when the map changes. This mode also resets the attempt to catch up with the leader — handy for leaving a partner at an entrance, with cargo, or at a relatively safe spot.

The choice has a price: a companion left to wait may not make it into the shared transition and may not be in time to support you in the first second of a sudden clash.

Follow distance

For “follow” mode you can set one of three distances — close, medium, far (medium by default). The preset changes not only how close the companion stays, but also the threshold at which they count as close enough for a shared transfer, and how early the AI starts pulling them in.

Commands and where to give them

You can command a companion only when they are alive, near you, belong to your group, and are within talking distance. Commands are available through several surfaces, but behind them all is one and the same state:

• The character action menu — opened on the companion, toggling “follow” / “wait”.
• The companion dialog. Suitable humanoid partners have responses in their dialog: follow, wait, inventory access, and distance selection. Only the relevant options are shown — for example, “wait” appears when the companion is currently following, and the distance preset hides the one currently active.

Companion inventory

For a companion with a suitable dialog there is separate access to their belongings (this command is opened by the basic humanoid partner dialogs). This is not public trade and not a shared stash: the command is tied to the companion’s role in the group and helps distribute items within a small expedition, rather than turning the NPC into a trader.

Transitions between maps

The most important moment for companions is not the command itself, but the transition between spaces. Not all NPCs leave with the leader indiscriminately — only those who are genuinely ready for it:

• bonded to the leader as a companion (not merely a group member);
• in follow mode rather than waiting;
• living on the same map and in the correct relation to it;
• staying close enough.

A partner who falls behind, is left to wait, or has died stays behind — along with part of the cargo, if they were carrying anything. If a companion synchronizes to a leader who is already on the global map, they join the leader’s existing route rather than creating a separate “twin group” on the map. A simple preparation rule: before entering a new zone, make sure the companions you need are nearby and not left to wait.

Combat and cargo

A companion can join the defense when their leader or a member of the bonded group is attacked nearby. This is support, not full manual control: help opens under several conditions — the companion must be alive, nearby, in your group, and in a suitable aggression mode. By default, companions do not lunge at neutrals at first glance.

• Nearby means useful: a companion who falls behind may not be in time to help in a dangerous second.
• Help with cargo: a strong participant will carry more out of a location, but you need to keep an eye on the porter — a porter who falls behind or is left to wait may be left behind together with the cargo.

The dog companion

Through the leadership ability you can recruit an animal companion — a dog. It is bonded by the same escort mechanism as ordinary partners, defends the leader, and lives by its own cycle (its own delay and revival after death).

What the system does not do yet

The escort system keeps evolving — this is not the final design. Right now the game gives you a leader, nearby followers, “follow” / “wait” commands, distance selection, transfer between maps, and limited help in combat. What is missing is full tactical control over every step of a separate party. Take a companion for a specific task, watch the weakest participant, and plan your return in advance.