One Man Army should work like this:
You get the boost as long as you are the only party member in that combat. If another party member joins, you lose the benefit immediately. No more futzing around or figuring out the difference between Companions and human-controlled players. It's called "One Man Army", so it should only work if you are the only one in the fight.
I don't really agree. The name and description may be confusing but the idea is good (except the odd distinction between the companions you control and companions another human controls).
To get one man army you have to not take any talent point apart from what you start with. While some of them are pretty useless IMO (arrow recovery, guerilla, five star diner). There are plenty of others that are useful or even essential depending on what you are playing.
The problem is the scarcity. You want to play a rogue you need backstab. You want pet-pal as well then you can't get one man army full stop because you've used your one and only second talent as you get one at level 4 and that is it so far. You struggle getting to level 8 before the last fight without pet-pal in the same way you struggle if you play explorer mode or you don't fight Dallis in the fort. You can but the more XP you lock out the more seekers you have to kill.
For example, taking pet-pal gives you access to the XP from the dogs in the fort (2000ish I think) plus the 600*5 for the pigs and 1800 for the zombie. Fighting Dallis gives you 2880 for each of Dallis pets and another 1140 when Dallis and Alexander give up and run away. Explorer mode reduces the number of enemies in various groups. If you forego XP through your choices you'll have to kill a few seekers (they vary but all over 1000) to get to level 8.
There are plenty of other talents that give extra AP in certain circumstances - that is no problem. The problem is the name. Unfortunately I have no imagination so I can't think of a better one except for "talent that gives you a boost due to not having taken another talent" talent.
I also understand why it is not available until level 8 as the game would be too easy if it was available earlier.
What would be nice (and here I agree with you) is if there was a talent like lone wolf. Some people like playing solo (I do) and it is a bit frustrating doing it ATM. That would be a different talent though - not this one. Something that did what this talent describes perhaps but doesn't actually do. If one man army did what it said (rather than what it does) then doing as you describe and allowing it from level 1 would be an excellent choice for solo runs.
I'm doing a playthrough with 2 (human controlled) archers to see what the penalty is out of interest. That will take me a couple of days. I can't do 3 or 4 as my PC is too crappy to start more than 2 instances.
EDIT: There is no reason or need to get to level 8 to finish this act anyway of course. In fact it makes the last fight too easy. I just find it fun seeing how it works...
