Affinity is a gameplay mechanic associated with the companion system in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.
Mechanics[]
Once specific thresholds of affinity have been reached per each companion, they can develop personal connections to the Sole Survivor; some may even ask for help with personal quests of their own. Each companion has a distinct personality and values, so actions or dialogue that please one companion may displease another.
Raising the affinity value grants additional dialogue giving insight into their history; for some, even the possibility of romance. Reaching the maximum "idolize" affinity with a companion will unlock a special companion perk. The affinity value is a hidden statistic, meaning it cannot be seen in the Pip-Boy nor tracked accurately without the use of console commands.
Scale[]
All companions begin at an affinity value of 0 where they "tolerate" the Sole Survivor. If and when the affinity value reaches 500, they come to "admire" the Sole Survivor and often reveal new dialogue. Raising their affinity to 1000 (max is 1100) will result in them coming to "idolize" the Sole Survivor, at which point their unique companion perk is earned.
Lowering the affinity to -500 will displease the companion, and they will issue a single warning to the Sole Survivor, asking them to change ways. If the affinity value drops further to -1000, they will become angry and refuse to travel with the Sole Survivor, permanently unable to be recruited again.
| Affinity | Relationship | Reaction |
|---|---|---|
| 1000 | Infatuation | "/Companion/ idolizes you." |
| 750 | Confidant | - |
| 500 | Admiration | "/Companion/ admires you." |
| 250 | Friend | - |
| 0 | Neutral | "/Companion/ tolerates you." |
| -500 | Disdain | - |
| -1000 | Hatred | "/Companion/ hates you." |
Reactions[]
There are four different kinds of reactions a companion can have towards the player character's actions/dialogue that will affect their affinity value:
| Reaction | Affinity change |
|---|---|
| "/Companion/ liked that." | +15 |
| "/Companion/ loved that." | +35 |
| "/Companion/ disliked that." | -15 |
| "/Companion/ hated that." | -35 |
However, these values can be further modified by being multiplied by an affinity size scalar:[1]
| Size | Scalar |
|---|---|
| CA_Size_Small | 0.5 |
| CA_Size_Normal | 1 |
| CA_Size_Large | 1.5 |
Some actions, such as modifying weapons, picking locks, and entering power armor will raise affinity with certain companions and can be repeated indefinitely to quickly gain the maximum affinity. Performing a single one of these actions within a range of multiple characters who respond to said actions will trigger the respective increases or decreases with all of them. However, these responses have a cooldown period, meaning it is not possible to perform the same action several times in a row to gain/lose affinity. For example, entering power armor will trigger only one instance of approval from Paladin Danse and/or X6-88 until sufficient time has elapsed. Most repeatable actions are of type CA_Size_Small, so it will only increase the companion's affinity by 7.5 for a "like" and 17.5 for a "love".
It is possible to perform different actions back-to-back and receive two or more separate instances of approval (for example, picking a lock and then hacking a terminal will grant two separate approvals from Deacon). Similarly, in a conversation with an NPC, each dialogue choice counts as an action unto itself, independent of the rest of the overall dialogue, so it is possible to obtain multiple likes and loves in the same set of dialogue with the same NPC (for example, in Order Up, the Sole Survivor can gain two likes from Piper by saying "You're both wrong" to Wolfgang, then agreeing to talk down Trudy). For a more detailed list of what specifically pleases or displeases a companion, see the respective companion's article page.
Affinity can be also increased passively by simply having a companion follow the Sole Survivor. The increase depends on the current affinity level and will be lower with higher affinity values. The formula for the increase is 40 - 0.033 x affinity value. (i.e. companions with 100 Affinity will gain a 36.7 increase, companions with 250 = +31.75, 500 = +23.5, 750 = +15.25, 990 = +7) The affinity bump is awarded after every ten minute period that the companion has been following the Sole Survivor, on the condition that at least 1 XP has been earned during that time. Assuming the above conditions are met and no other actions are done to gain or lose affinity, this means it would take 520 minutes (8.67 hours) to reach 1000 affinity with a companion starting at 0; however, it would only take 160 minutes (2.67 hours) to reach 500 affinity with a companion starting at 0.
When the player character recruits a companion, the companion's affinity increases by 3%. The companion recruit counter can be reset by finishing any quest or progressing any quest to next objective, meaning that the player character can recruit all companions and increase their affinity by 3%, complete a radiant quest and then come back and recruit them again which increases their affinity by another 3%.
Romance[]
Certain companions are potential candidates for romance, accomplished throughout the course of their positive affinity conversations, starting with the second conversation once at a value of 500. Here, the dialogue option to "flirt" will be available. At the highest level of affinity and final conversation, the "romance" option will be available. Both the "flirt" and "romance" option will be Charisma checks. Successfully flirting will reduce the difficulty of the final romance check and successfully passing that will make the companion a love interest. This will typically result in them addressing the Sole Survivor in a more affectionate manner (for example, Preston Garvey calling them "Babe" or Danse commenting "I always have time for you" when interacting with him). Resting in any non-owned bed when a romanced companion is within a certain distance of it grants the Lover's Embrace perk which offers a temporary bonus to XP gained for a duration of time.
Companion romances are not mutually exclusive; if a new companion is romanced, previously romanced partners will still confer the benefits of the Lover's Embrace when resting (though doing so with multiple romantic partners nearby will not cause the perk to stack in any way). However, some romanced partners will "hate" or "dislike" flirting in their presence, including flirting with Magnolia at the Third Rail or Gilda Broscoe in Vault 118 
.
Even if one fails to romance a companion, they still have chances to try this again: after a certain amount of time the companion will initiate a conversation regarding their relationship with the Sole Survivor as their best friend and from there the player character can try to romance them again if they want to.
To end a romance, one must drop the companion's affinity value below 750 by doing things they dislike or hate until they tell they want to take a break. The progress of such can be checked by selecting them with the console and then using the command getav ca_affinity.
The following companions and allies in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 respectively can be romanced via raising their affinity:
Romance break-up[]
For PC users, a shortcut to breaking up with a romanced companion is to use the console command setav ca_affinity. Select the companion with the console and then use the command setav ca_affinity 764. Now do something the companion dislikes, lowering the Affinity value by 15 and dropping it to 749, the maximum it can be for them to initiate the break-up dialogue. Only the action itself can initiate the dialogue, and only if it drops the Affinity value from 750+ to below 750.
To fix a romance, raise the companion's affinity value back up to 1000+. One can use setav ca_affinity 999 to get to affinity 999 and then do something the companion likes or loves to bring it over 1000.
Conversely, affinity can be set between 1030 and 1100 before doing something a companion dislikes or hates, so long as the resulting affinity value is still above 1000 after the action. The message noting they disliked or hated it will appear along with the message noting they idolize the Sole Survivor. Very useful for companions like Curie that have few non-quest affinity triggers.
Do not use the modav ca_affinity command, as it messes up the gain/loss multipliers, which will cause the game to incorrectly change the character's affinity values in the future and will stop all future romance options. This effect also persists on saves and is irreversible without modifying the save file.
Companion perks[]
Unlike Fallout: New Vegas, every companion has a single companion perk that can only be acquired by reaching the highest affinity value of being "idolized". Also unlike Fallout: New Vegas, these perks, once obtained, are permanent and remain if the companion's affinity value lowers, even to -1000 where they leave permanently, or if the Sole Survivor chooses another companion.
| Perk | Associated character | Benefit | Form ID |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trigger Rush | Cait | Temporary 25% bonus to AP regeneration when HP drops to below 25% of its total. | 001F4187 |
| Robot Sympathy | Codsworth | Permanent +10 Energy Resistance against energy-based attacks of robots. | 001EB99B |
| Combat Medic | Curie | Heal 100 HP when it drops to below 10% of its total, once every 24 hours. | 001E67BC |
| Know Your Enemy | Paladin Danse | Permanent 20% bonus to damage dealt against feral ghouls, super mutants and synths. | 0008428D |
| Cloak & Dagger | Deacon | Permanent +20% bonus to sneak attack damage Permanent increase to the duration of Stealth Boys. |
0008530E |
| Isodoped | Hancock | Temporary 20% increase to Critical Hit accumulation when rads are at 250 or higher. | 00178D57 |
| Killshot | MacCready | Permanent 20% increase to accuracy in V.A.T.S. when targeting an enemy's head. | 00178D50 |
| Close to Metal | Nick Valentine | 1 additional guess when hacking terminals Permanent 50% decrease to terminal lockout cooldown (from 10 secs to 5 secs) |
001E67BD |
| Gift of Gab | Piper | Permanent 2x XP gained upon succeeding a Charisma check or when discovering new locations. | 00178D54 |
| United We Stand | Preston Garvey | Temporary 20% increase to Damage Resistance and 20% bonus damage dealt when against three or more enemies at once. | 00084298 |
| Berserk | Strong | Temporary 20% bonus to Melee Damage when HP drops to below 25% of its total. | 00084290 |
| Shield Harmonics | X6-88 | Permanent +20 to Energy Resistance. | 000842A0 |
Hunter's Wisdom 
|
Old Longfellow | Permanent 25% decrease to Damage and Energy Resistance of animals and sea creatures. | xx018621 |
Lessons in Blood 
|
Porter Gage | Permanent 5% increase to XP gained per kill Permanent +10 to Damage Resistance and Energy Resistance |
xx0479EF |
Repeatable actions[]
The following actions not only increase the affinity of the listed companions but can be repeated after an internal "cooldown" has reset:
Equipment[]
Weapon modding[]
- Codsworth and Danse love this. Gage, Preston, and X6-88 like this. The cooldown takes 48 in-game hours.
- This is easily repeated with the "None" attachment (e.g. when adding or removing a small bayonet), which simply removes an existing modification and costs nothing to produce. They can all be affected by being within range of the weapon workbench simultaneously, making it much easier to raise all five companions' affinity.
Armor modding[]
- Codsworth and Danse love this. X6-88 likes this. Unlike weapon modding, Gage and Preston do not react to this. The cooldown also takes 48 in-game hours.
Entering power armor[]
- Danse and X6-88 like this. Strong dislikes this.
Crime[]
Stealing[]
- Gage and MacCready like this. Preston and Codsworth hate this. Nick, Piper, Curie, Danse, and Hancock dislike this.
- This can be repeated by placing an item in a container owned by someone else and taking it back out, preferably in an area the Sole Survivor can close from prying eyes such as a hotel room in Goodneighbor (must wait 48 hours between each item stolen, or will not work).
Pickpocketing[]
- Cait likes this. Preston and Codsworth hate this. Nick, Piper, Curie, Danse, Longfellow and Hancock dislike this.
- A reaction can be triggered with items of any value, even a single, cheap .38 round. This can be repeated by reverse-pickpocketing the stolen item (or any item of low value and weight) back into the person's inventory (may require higher ranks of the Pickpocket perk to boost the chances of success). Taking grenades are not recommended as they will act as live grenades upon taking rank 2.
Lockpicking[]
- Gage, Cait, Deacon, and Piper like this. MacCready likes this, but only with locks owned by others, whereas Piper will dislike picking owned locks. Strong dislikes picking any locks.
- This can be repeated by using a safe that has a terminal attached to it, opening the safe and then using the terminal to lock it again. Such safes can be found in:
- Fiddler's Green Trailer Estates
- Medford Memorial Hospital - Advanced.
- Mass Bay Medical Center- On second floor across from the jail cells. Novice.
- Back Street Apparel- On the first floor. Advanced.
- Hubris Comics - Display case for Grognak's axe. Advanced.
- Greenetech Genetics - On the seventh floor. Expert.
- Super Duper Mart - Advanced.
- Ticonderoga - On the first floor near the exit terminal. Expert.
- Cambridge Polymer Labs - Up the staircase and to the left in the main lab.
- Fraternal Post 115 - In the second-floor office on the north side. Novice.
- Diamond City - In the mayor's office. Advanced.
- Cambridge Police Station - First floor to the left of the main entrance after completing Shadow of Steel.
- Atom Cats garage - In Zeke's trailer which is counted as stealing, attached to his terminal which is not. Novice.
Hacking[]
- Nick, Deacon, and X6-88 like this.
- This is accomplished by leaving a map cell for an unspecified amount, causing the cell and its contents to reset, including any terminals, which become "re-locked" and can be hacked again.
Cannibalism[]
- Strong likes this. Cait, Curie, Piper, Nick, Danse, Deacon, Preston, and Longfellow dislike this.
- This requires taking at least rank 1 of the Cannibal perk (rank 2 merely expands the options to use it).
Murder[]
- Gage likes this. Strong loves this. Longfellow dislikes this. X6-88 does not react. Everyone else hates this.
Drugs[]
Using chems[]
- Hancock likes this. Cait likes this prior to completing Benign Intervention; afterward, she dislikes it. Codsworth, Danse, Deacon, Gage, Preston, Old Longfellow, and X6-88 dislike this.
Addiction[]
- Hancock likes this. Cait likes it prior to completing Benign Intervention; afterward, she dislikes it. Nick, Piper, and Strong do not react. Everyone else dislikes this.
- Becoming addicted triggers a second reaction if it happens after the initial like/dislike trigger from using the chem in question.
Using alcohol[]
- Cait likes consuming hard liquor (e.g. vodka, rum, etc.) prior to completing Benign Intervention; afterward, she does not react. Old Longfellow likes this, though like Cait, he does not react to consuming beer. Gage dislikes this. Everyone else does not react.
Quests[]
Codsworth, Piper, Nick, Curie, Hancock, Strong, Deacon, Danse, and Preston like accepting Rogue Robot radiant quests from Isabel Cruz. Everyone else does not react.
Helping settlers[]
- Curie, Nick, Piper, and Hancock like accepting quests from settlers only if the peaceful dialogue is used. Preston loves this. Cait dislikes this. Gage hates this.
- This can be repeated and will occur if talking to the settler first, or after receiving the quest from Preston Garvey or Radio Freedom, then talking to the settler.
Factions[]
Brotherhood of Steel[]
- Curie and Danse like joining the Brotherhood. Cait, Piper, Nick, Preston, and Strong dislike this. Everyone else does not react.
- Doing radiant quests for the Brotherhood can raise affinity, but only for those in your party who are neutral towards that faction.
The Minutemen[]
- Codsworth, MacCready, Danse, and Piper like joining the Minutemen. Cait dislikes this. Everyone else does not react.
The Railroad[]
- Piper likes joining the Railroad. Cait and Curie dislike this.
The Institute[]
- X6-88 likes doing Institute radiant quests. Danse hates them. Everyone else dislikes this.
Misc. actions[]
Nudity[]
- Cait and Hancock like this, regardless of the player character's sex. Longfellow dislikes this.
- This can be triggered by transitioning between two areas (indoor or outdoor) while not wearing any clothing underneath armor; this includes hats, bandanas, eyewear, military fatigues, army fatigues or vault jumpsuits.
- The player character can still wear arm guards, leg guards, chest pieces, and the wedding ring; only the torso has to have armor unequipped to be considered "nude".
- A simple way to do this is to buy the Home Plate house in Diamond City for 2,000 caps. Place a bed in front of the door, sleep for two hours, then exit to Diamond City and re-enter Home Plate. Rinse and repeat as necessary. (Note that this gives 7.5 affinity for Hancock, not the expected 15)
- Another way is to find two areas with chairs the Sole Survivor can wait in and a door separating them into two different maps. 'Wait' for 2 hours in one, go through the door and wait 2 hours in the other, and go back through the door. Rinse and repeat as necessary. Approval triggers once on each pass through the door. A good example is a couch in Publick Occurences and the couch against the wall of the barber stand outside.
Healing Dogmeat[]
- Everyone except Strong, X6-88 and MacCready like this.
- Repeating this will likely require deliberately wounding Dogmeat in a settlement with the character(s) in question nearby, as the Sole Survivor can only have one companion out at a time.
- Settlers will attack if the Sole Survivor attacks Dogmeat, so be sure to bring him to an area with no settlers.
- Dogmeat can be wounded by falling damage which can easily be caused in workshop mode, by building several stairs that can then be selected or deleted from under him.
Gathering junk[]
- Old Longfellow likes this. Everyone else does not react.
- Piper will also share positive comments about the player character gathering junk similar to Longfellow, but her affinity will not change.
Fighting[]
- Strong and MacCready like this. Everyone else does not react.
- Pacifist companions like Curie and Piper will actually gain a 'Like' trigger if they are told to wait nearby while the player character alone attacks enemies in the same location.
Notes[]
- Danse, Curie, Cait, and Nick cannot reach max affinity until their respective personal quests have been completed.
- MacCready's quest cannot continue until an affinity level of 750 is reached.
- Affinity will stall if the appropriate dialogue has not been activated yet. When they've reached a tier limit - no actions are counted towards positive affinity, but the messages of approval still appear. For example, MacCready and Curie will stay at 499 until the player character helps complete their respective quests, Cait will stay at 999 until her quest is completed (romance dialogue appears at 1000 affinity), Danse stays at 999 until Blind Betrayal is completed.
- It is not necessary to romance companions to gain the respective perks for reaching maximum affinity. This just enables the Lover's Embrace perk.
Preston's affinity will instantly drop to the lowest value of "Hated", even from "Idolized" if the Sole Survivor helps take over a settlement for the Nuka-World raiders during Home Sweet Home.
References[]
- ↑ Function TryToModAffinity in CompanionActorScript.psc