I am working on a quest from Irwin in the Hub (Fallout 1). This involves killing about 10 thugs in a building. I have Tycho and Dogmeat with me, and the problem is that no matter what I do, at least one of them gets killed.

I have worked out that I can tell Tycho we're parting ways, and he will just stand where I leave him, and will rejoin me upon request. But I can't talk to Dogmeat, nor apparently control him in any way. Having read elsewhere about what a tank Dogmeat is supposed to be, I'm reluctant to let him die (hoping he'll get stronger over time), but he always charges into the building and is slaughtered quickly. I can't move too far into the building until I kill most of the thugs, because they surround and kill me.

I can't do much to defend him because I find I need to use the SMG burst mode in order to take out this gang, and my bullets hit Dogmeat if I shoot anywhere in his general direction.

Is there some way to control Dogmeat, or will he always dive into the worst of the action no matter what I do? I wonder if I should postpone this quest until my party is stronger (I think I'm level 4), or just let Dogmeat die?

Thanks for the info, very helpful. It's not so much that I am attached to either Tycho or Dogmeat. But I do worry that I might run into a battle that I can't win without support, so keeping them alive seems prudent. This is my first time playing the game so I don't know how necessary the NPC support will be.

Funny thing about Dogmeat is that I didn't do anything to recruit him, he just started following me everywhere, which I found annoying until my first battle with him. After researching a bit, it seems that he automatically joined me because I was wearing a leather jacket at the time.

Ugh, just discovered that I don't actually have a savegame at the start of this Irwin house. I have two savegames: one after a successful battle but with Tycho dead and Dogmeat alive, another where I just went back to town with both of them, thinking I could try the quest later. Upon talking to Irwin again, it looks like that won't work - now that I left the battle site, I can't go back. Hm, guess I'll proceed with the first savegame, unless Tycho's death is likely to cause problems down the line.

That's a blessing about them being afterthoughts. At worst, you lose out on a one-liner reaction to a location, printed above his head.
Don't worry about it, really. The Fallout Bible, widely accepted as canon, lists their deaths at various points in the adventure. Followers die. *shrugs, sighs*
Pity, I know.

Well, I just lost Dogmeat in the very next battle, doing an assassination for Decker. As there's no obvious way to keep him alive, I'm not going to sweat it

I should read the Fallout Bible one of these days. I've only read about half the manual and bits and pieces of walkthroughs. I think I'm just going to wing it from this point forward rather than worrying about making the "right" decisions. As far as I can tell, as long as I satisfy the main constraint of finding the water chip within the next, hmm, 108 days, then I can play the game however I like. Can always replay in the future if I want the game to go differently.