someone's gotta farm, someone's gotta stand watch in the tower, not all of them need to be mission-useful; and those negs are really only slightly annoying once you hit 7 everything with them, maybe just roll with what the RNG gives you and give em a chance? their neg traits don't seem to come into play when you page them as loot runners and such, grandpa's weak old knees still seems to diveroll away from being grabbed just fine under AI control...

if they turn out to be that bad, well, it's survival, sacrifices must be made for the greater good. consider this, use them for dangerous runs where you're not sure you have the ability or gear enough to survive... if they die, at least you didn't lose a hero like G'bani!

re: lvl 8 so you're doing breakdown? well don't get too choosy son, there is coming a time very soon, you'll be happy for any survivors at all, even the worst stats possible, just for one more human... and in those rare times you have surplus, well, not everyone can fit on the RV can they?

Makes sense!
I just had to sacrifice one of those because of a mistake while scavenging - did the fast search and boom, noise attracted 2 ferals, 1 screamer and one bloater. I tried to save him throwing firecrackers but inside a house it wasn't that effective so I had to run to save my main character. Luckily I didn't lose Ray!

Focus Aim is great for easily killing a feral.

Having a vehicle nearby kills ferals easy too, just drive slow and let the feral come in behind you, then let it smash its own head on your back bumper.