NPC teammate not helping: "Cripple the Arachnos Base" (redside)

[RikOz]

In Bane Spider Ruben's arc, "Destiny Follows", the second mission, "Cripple the Arachnos Base", has the player teaming up with the villain Icecap.

 

Icecap fights alongside the player ... right up until completing the mission's first objective. From that point until the end of the mission, Icecap just follows the player and does nothing except describe the next objective.

 

I assume this is not the intended behavior. I think this is the second time I've played this arc, but I can't remember if the same thing happened the first time.

[RikOz]

Encountered another apparent bug in the very next mission of the arc. The Longbow lieutenant guarding the computer is simply named "Scrapper". The other lieutenants encountered had correct names.

 

[Six-Six]

For the NPC minion, It's not a bug. you have to watch their health. After it dips to a certain point, they'll say something like "that's it, I'm spent..." which you can check in cutscene captions/npc dialogue. It means they've "outlived their use". 

If I'm not playing something that can heal allies, I try to leave the buggers behind as they are way to aggressive, often running to engage far off enemies... or just let them get killed/spent.

 

[RikOz]

I dunno, I've just run into virtually the same thing in the hero alignment mission, "A Cloud of Odorous Smoke". Rescued Silent Blade, and afterwards she never drew her sword. In fact, since I tabbed out of the game to add this fact, I didn't notice we got ambushed, and Silent Blade went down without defending herself.

[Six-Six]

IIRC, that's how Silent Blade behaves for that particular mission. I rarely play blue side, but there's another mission (I forget which one, but it takes place in a cave) where you "meet up" with Silent Blade when she does help.

For the OP and Ruben's arc, all the NPCs you'll encounter for that mission behave like that. I usually get Echidna, Martial Gloom, and the burning guy (blast furnace???) and they all behave like that. Just keep cutscene captions or npc chatter on in your chat box and you'll be able to pinpoint the exact moment they stop helping. Or you can keep healing them, and they'll help you until the end.

Another tip for Ruben's mission is to save most of the enemies for later. When you meet up with the Longbow Lieutenant, don't talk to him/her right away. Instead, have the longbow team follow you to engage mobs and they will help. Of course, they go off on their own and there's no way to command them who or where to attack, but they can be healed and buffed.

[RikOz]

Erm, the Silent Blade mission was a hero alignment mission that I've done dozens of times (I have a lot of alts), and she always helps with combat after she's rescued. This last time, she didn't.