Recruits (Wasteland)

The following characters can be a part of the Desert Rangers' team.

Starting characters

 * Hell Razor
 * Angela Deth
 * Thrasher
 * Snake Vargas

Recruits

 * NPCs differ from regular PCs in two significant ways. One is that you don't get to decide which group they will target in combat, or whether they'll fire single, burst or auto. The other is that they'll sometimes refuse to trade away equipment or perform an action. If they do, just try again (so this feature is more of an annoyance than anything else, with the exception of Redhawk). Over time they become less prone to rebellion.
 * If you fail to hire an NPC, just try again.
 * When you disband an NPC permanently, make sure you use the pool cash command on someone else first. If you used the NPC as a mule and sold stuff to a shop there's a chance he or she is still carrying the cash.
 * You can save the game (save state in an emulated game) to recruit and evaluate a new NPC if you already have all slots filled. If they suck, reload.
 * The rank of a new NPC is pretty irrelevant. An NPC like Redhawk who needs special treatment until he can realize his potential for fast initial advancement isn't better than a higher-ranked NPC like Covenant who pulls his weight from the beginning.
 * Even low levelNPCs have at least one use, as mules. You can also disband them from your main party and use them as decoys to draw enemy fire.
 * NPCs don't leave loot bags if killed. As a rule they also give very little experience, and have much less MAXCON if you fight them instead of recruit them; exceptions to the latter are Christina, Mort and the doctor who have much more.
 * You can get most of the best NPCs pretty early in the game if you want to, if you know what you're doing anyway. Once you've got 2 Chemicals from Quartz you can go to Darwin and get Mad Dog Fargo and Metal Maniac, and for Covenant you just have to dodge into Las Vegas and push a button. However, you shouldn't do this until your PCs have reached rank 5 or so, or you risk your NPCs sucking up all the experience and preventing your PCs from catching up.
 * It's possible to delete all your PCs in the Ranger Center and keep playing with an NPC-only party, if for some reason you'd want to do that. Reportedly fights become much tougher when you can't select firing modes.