Adds 6 prospectors who live independent lives in the wasteland. You can trade with them and they provide repairs, which gradually improve with use. They travel around trying to make caps through prospecting, sometimes in dangerous places. They will only sometimes take items in competition with you, but as they search they mostly find their own loot. They all use Novac as a central trading hub. They will spend their caps in the casinos, and occasionally win more instead. If they are rich enough they will go to the Strip.
(no other modifications required, only adds the new characters and makes some minor scenery alterations; should be very compatible.)
They will usually rest between 10PM and 5AM, wherever they are. At other times when travelling outside they will walk, but if the player gets near to them they will run instead, so you can run with them and be their companion. When travelling inside they will continue to move at the speed they were at when they entered. Unless it's night time and they are resting they will usually not stay at a location for very long before moving on. If they have any, and they get the chance, they will use a Stimpak during combat. They will occasionally find or buy their own Stimpaks, which you can also buy from them, but a couple of them will refuse to sell any and will keep them for their own use.
The characters are the standard prospector characters that you normally see, but two of them are rare. So you will occasionally see the same characters elsewhere, but they won't want to trade with you this time, or you may see them working as a mercenary - they do whatever pays the caps!
The extra 6 characters will respawn later if they die, and they may also respawn while they are still alive, and their outfit and weapon may change, as well as their inventory. But there is one that always keeps the same high quality weapon and armour. She starts in the abandoned shack at Goodsprings, and may stay there for a while if you do not go inside it.
The only changes made are some obstacles are removed at Primm and a door is unlocked in the Atomic Wrangler. These changes will help any modification that uses free roaming characters, as these obstacles can get in their way, and they can also get stuck behind the locked door.
VERSION 2 changes...
The 6 prospectors are now much less likely to change their destination if the player is following them over a long distance, and they are more likely to choose the next destination on the list rather than keep going backwards and forwards all over the place.
3 extra prospectors are added. 2 of them have different behaviour and can be recruited as companions. They will follow in their own time and do whatever they want instead of standing still. Either they will relax and pick up food and drink items or they will run around searching for different types of items. If you go on alone they will explore by themselves and search the wasteland or whatever location they are in for items. The female one rests an hour earlier than all the other prospectors, at 9PM.
One of the followers starts outside Goodsprings Prospector Saloon and the other starts at the bottom of The Devil's Gullet. If you have never met them before they will probably still be in the same location.
The final prospector is a bit dodgy. He behaves mostly like the first 6 but has a few different behaviours. He will have interactions with a couple of characters, including the player under certain conditions, and he may steal items.
These characters are experimental, the first step in creating independent people that live in the Mojave, and they may do things the Courier would normally do...