Editing Power Armour (section)

=Fallout Power Armor=
[[File:T-60.png|thumb|right|300px|The newest iteration of atom-powered tin-can, the T-60 Power Armor.]]

Unlike Warhammer 40,000, [[Fallout]] powered armor is Fluff-wise more "power" than "armor". It was originally made to allow troops to use heavy weapons on the move and with increased weight limit it was obvious to put some extra armor on the exo-suit. Even while it turns you into a nearly-indestructible walking tank, there is no shortage of stupidly powerful and/or armour-piercing weapons in Fallout, so sneaking and camouflage are always considered better protection than armor, so the main reason people use it is strength and radiation resistance bonuses. It is also possibly the most realistic armor here, strangely. Around Fallout 1 and 2, power armor was an almost cheat button up to the endgame, with an obscene bonus of +3 STR and near immunity to all small arms fire up to energy and heavy weapons (and Gauss in Fallout 2).

Afterwards came Fallout 3, where a leather jacketed character high on morphine could soak more damage than a sober power armored dude and mow him down with a cheap Chinese assault rifle. It had become a glorified metal full plate, met with [[RAGE]] until New Vegas came with some decent power armor, though it still got overshadowed by a badass riot armor that didn't need training(Lonesome Road DLC) or a clingy female AI driven stealth suit(Old World Blues DLC).

Power armor got a massive overhaul in ''Fallout 4'', turning them into basically an infantry fighting vehicle rather than just better armor. The crafting system extends to upgrades and new systems for the armor, including neat stuff like a stealth field and a jet pack. On one hand Fallout 4 is one of the few games where power armour feels like actual power armour and not just the best armour you can get, but on the other, it was so strong they couldn't help but give it to you right at the start of the game (because working towards rewards requires an attention span they don't think we have, apparently) and had to [[Retcon|change the fact power armour comes with an internal battery so you could only use it until you ran out of fusion cores. Which you never did as they were cheap to buy.]]

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==Power Armor Frame==
[[File:Power Armor Frame.png|thumb|right|200px|The power part of power armor.]]
Developed sometime after Alaska, the Army showed worry in maintaining the suits of armor they already had during a possible Chinese invasion. With multiple varieties currently in use, and more being developed, a version designed for ease of maintenance was going to be required. Instead, this was developed. Basically all the wires and joints of the armor without the actual armor, one can easily slap individual power armor sections onto the frame allowing for bits of damaged armor to be used to form up a singular complete suit. Think the Heresy armor from 40k above. With the internal workings bare it also made modifying and maintaining the armor a total breeze, though did come at a cost. All American armor post T-45 used a internal reactor allowing for centuries of use before requiring a recharge. Since every armor variety used a different level of power, putting in a reactor would have resulted in a situation of either too much or too little power being produced, resulting at best a sluggish barely working suit and at worst a nuclear explosion. Instead commonly used fusion core batteries were used as the power source. While these cores did hold much more power then the Microfusion packs of the T-45, they still didn't last long when used.

Fluffwise, a fusion core battery lasted around 10 hours on full charge, and that's just moving on a brisk pace, no sprinting or doing fast combat maneuvers, which would drain the battery even faster. While realistically this seems horrible to have to deal with during extended operations beyond friendly lines and a logistical and engineering nightmare to deal with in the middle of a conflict, there are ways to greatly extend the battery's lifespan (and/or optimize the armor's power consumption) through character skills and perks, so we'd assume that pre-armageddon, there were already ways to make the armor last much longer in the field, but these improvements weren't standardized for all suits yet by the time the bombs fell (since power armored troops stateside wouldn't have to worry about running out of fusion cores on their home turf, compared to the soldiers stationed overseas). That or Bethesda didn't think this concept all the way through and really shouldn't have overcomplicated the armor's power source in FO4, whichever makes more sense to you.

The frame was used extensively in the eastern region of America, but none were deployed to the West by the time the bombs dropped. For the record:
*T-45, T-49, T-51, X-01, X-02, X-03, and Horned Power Armor all have interal reactor versions (or Microfusion in the T-45 case).
*T-60, T-65 and EX-17 were built exclusively with the frame in mind.
*The original C-00 model no longer exists, so it's frame only for that guy.
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==T-45 Powered Armor==
[[File:t-45.png|thumb|right|200px|More of a 'proof of concept' than an effective piece of military hardware.]]
The first generation of power armor to go into the field, the T-45 series was rushed into service to hold back the invading Chinese from taking over Alaska. It worked and contained the invasion, but had a lot of problems. Later used on the homefront. The T-45d is most commonly seen in the Capital Wasteland.
[[File:big_willie.jpg|thumb|left|200px|The T-45 prototype.]]
After Bethesda got the rights to make ''Fallout 3'', they were like "Guys, guys, let's make a SHITTY POWER ARMOR!" and they went through with it. The result was <s>far from shitty</s> a [[skub|mixed bag]]. Sure, it has -2 AGL, less radiation resistance, and makes you move around like the [[/co/|Comic Book Guy]] from ''The Simpsons'', but it looks '''<u>''BAD-ASS!!!''</u>''' Noted for using Microfusion packs and batteries to power the suit like an RC car, which make recharging quick but run out of power often. As of Fallout 76, we have what could be considered a more canon representation than Fallout 4's. T-45 has the most common spawns of all the military armors and the lowest base spawn level. When compared to an at-level suit, it has worse protection than any military suit, but is lighter with a much cheaper price tag on builds and repairs.

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===NCR Salvaged Powered Armour===
[[File:scrap-armor.png|thumb|right|200px|The BOS equivalent of killing Jesus and wearing his skin.]]
This is the 'zombie' version of the T-45d. After the Battle of HELIOS One, the NCR recovered many suits of T-45d from fallen Brotherhood Paladins. However, either because the NCR do not have the capability to manufacture spare parts, lack the actual knowledge to use and maintain power armor, or a bit of both, the "power" part of the armor was stripped, so its just...armor.

The servomotors that augments the wearers' strength have been removed along with a good chunk of the extra plating, and the back-mounted rad scrubbers were replaced with a cheap air conditioner so the wearer doesn't die from heat stroke while using it (and lords help you if you're patrolling in the middle of the desert with heavy metal plates all over your body). As its not "true" power armor, it does not require special training, nor is it vulnerable to electric-based attacks, so just about any mook with some measure of brawn can be fitted into it and send him off. The result is, for a lack of a better term, plate armor with an AC strapped to the back. It has less protective qualities than the armor it's based on, has no built-in rad protection, and has no mechanical assistance to carry all this weight since it was ripped out, so its cumbersome as all hell.

Its use is less for practicality and more as a moral and political tool, basically letting the NCR brag "See? We got power armored troops too!" without actually having the knowledge and technology to build and maintain said troops, which goes with the central theme of Fallout: people of the future attempting to recreate the past, without having a firm grip on what it actually is.

Crunch-wise....what you see is what you get. It has a -2 AGI penalty with no +2 STR bonus to offset the 40kg weight of the armor, or rad protection to help you wade through heavily irradiated areas, with some pretty alright DT if you have the full set. Due to the infinitely better late-game options for personal protection (either just as good with less penalties or full-on upgrades), the salvaged armor only becomes useful if:

A. You want to cosplay in power armor, without wanting to bother getting the perk to actually use it (as there are only two ways to get them, both of which are difficult and late in the game).

B. In need of scrap material to repair actual suits of power armor with.

C. You're ''really'' desperate for high-DT armor.

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==T-51 Powered Armor==
[[File:FNV T51b Armour.png|thumb|right|200px|The T-51b Power Armor. By far the most popular variant, though it's certainly not because of the doughboy look of NPCs in New Vegas...]]

The second generation of power armor, the T-51 series managed to get all the kinks ironed out. Used to kick the Chinese out of Alaska and invade China. The quintessential Fallout power armor suit. The T-51b variant is common among the West Coast Brotherhood of Steel. Two suits are known to be in the Capital Wasteland.

This armor only has +1 STR for some reason. What's even stranger is that the hunk of metal that you put on your head (AKA the helmet, but who calls it that?) gives you a +1 CHR bonus (probably because it's heavily featured in old world propaganda, but yet again, so was the T-45d variant). We really should be wearing around hunks of metal on our heads these days. After all, this armor be pullin' all dem bitches...

T-51b is the most advanced power armor that existed in the world before the Great War. Some confusion came with the introduction of the T-60 by Bethesda, who never bothered to tell anyone that this new armor was for the rank and file soldier while the T-51b was used by veteran squads. For the record, yes it is still the best and no the T-60 did not replace it.

Used as the standard armor for Paladins, the suit has become an icon (both in universe and real life) for the Brotherhood of Steel.

Due to a developer error that Bethesda never bothered patching, the Winterized variant that you receive as a reward for completing Fallout 3's ''Operation: Anchorage'' DLC is actually the version meant to be worn by NPCs in the Anchorage simulation, so it's [[Awesome|functionally indestructible, with a whopping 999,100 HP]] (the version you were meant to get has only 100). However, the vanilla game's suit was involved in a rather difficult fetch quest (where you were hired to retrieve it for a ghoul called Crowley), and the NPC version of the winterized armour still has that version's quest script assigned to it, so taking it will [[Fail|prematurely mark that quest as completed by making the game think you stole the vanilla suit for yourself]], locking you out forever. However, anyone in their right mind would have stolen the suit instead of giving it to Crowley anyway, it's not all bad.

==X-01 Power Armor==
[[File:x-01.png|thumb|right|200px|The original, the best.]]

Developed as a prototype before the war, the X-01 was later improved drastically by the Enclave into the technologically sophisticated Advanced Power Armor. Crunch-wise, both versions are the same, though fluff-wise, the latter is MUCH better then the former, even if they both look identical. Standard issue for the Enclave (at the peak of their power) the Advanced variety of the X-01 to this day still outclasses all other power armor by a wide margin, utilizing secret underground engineering centres and factories to use the most advanced materials for construction. These things were BAD ASS, with the Enclave eventually losing the war thanks to:

A: The player blowing up all that shit used to make them.

B: NCR using zerg tactics.

Sadly (for the Enclave), these aren't produced anymore thanks to losses in manpower and resources during the Enclave War, forcing the Enclave to develop and produce shittier armors instead. A neat little trick these armor had was an optional addition of tesla coils. In-game this is just better armor, in universe it uses small zaps of electrictiy to hit incoming projectiles melting bullets and detonating explosives before they can deliver their payload directly into the target.

Just remember the difference between the Prototype and Advanced versions. The former tends to have more balanced stats (4, 76) while the later tends to be OP (Fallout 2, New Vegas).

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==X-02 Power Armor==
[[File:x-02.png|thumb|left|200px|The shitty 'urban' version]]

Developed by the Enclave Department of the Army after the Enclave's loss of the Oil Rig back in FO2. Produced in their base in Raven Rock, the X-02 was supposed to be a step-up from the previous X-01 series, utilizing lighter-weight ceramic plates that granted better mobility without compromising defense, a segmented armor pattern to better absorb damage, removal of the hump and replacing it with more traditional armored pauldrons, and a redesigned helmet that provides a more menacing but reduced head profile. They were apparently produced in enough numbers that the Enclave managed to phase out the older X-01 suits for these. Due to the black coloration and sinister helmet design, Brotherhood soldiers dubbed it the "Black Devil" power armor.

Crunchwise....well, it sucks. Atleast in FO3. It’s barely an upgrade over the T-45 armor (you know, the first armor the US ever fielded back in the Great War) and is completely inferior to the Brotherhood's T-51b armors, ''despite it being hundreds of years old''.

It returns in FO4 as Creation Club content, where it now gets better representation as having the same stats as the X-01 suit (which is already a clear-cut upgrade over the more common T-51 and T-60 suits), but better energy weapon resistance.
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==X-03 Power Armor==
[[File:hellfire.png|thumb|right|200px|Hellfire armor, the compromise between X-01 and X-02]]
Also known as Hellfire, the armor was produced near the end of the Enclave-Brotherhood war on the East coast. Basically an attempt to use more recent discoveries in robotics of all things, the armor is remarkably tough for something that costs only slightly more resources than the X-02, boasting a huge increase in heat resistance as befitting its name. Originally used by flame troopers, it has since become standard issue for the Enclave. As far as power armor goes it's above average. It's only issue is the heat resistance seems to mess around with the tesla coil systems no longer giving it the option without extensive modifications.

The armor becomes usable in FO4, and much like all Enclave-issue armors, is one of the best armors in the game in terms of pure protection stats.
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==T-60 Power Armor==
[[File:t-602.png|thumb|right|200px|"Can never have enough pauldrons." - Bethesda]]

A new addition to the series in Fallout 4, introduced as the other “best” Power Armor. The T-60c was designed to supplement the T-51. With a more canonical stat base in Fallout 76, it has inferior protection levels to the T-51b. However, it is much cheaper to build and repair, making it better suited to mass production and deployment. This frees up the superior T-51 for deployment in elite units, which also explains the T-51's prominence among the Brotherhood of Steel until they set up for mass deployment in Fallout 4. It draws many of its design elements from the T-45, as that allows it to use many of the same internal components as the earlier models. The double pauldrons look is still silly.

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==Horned Power Armor==
[[File:horned_armor.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Don't piss off Rudolph.]]

Used in the semi-canonical (due to Fallout 3, New Vegas, and Fallout 4) Fallout Tactics (Bethesda's offical stance is that the major events are canon, but many fans choose to believe the whole thing is canon) the Horned Power Armor is used by the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel with it's defining feature being, you guessed it, horns. The Midwestern Brotherhood stands out as fully incorporating itself into wasteland life, offering protection to tribes and towns in return for resources, recruits, and information. This in turn is shown in the design of the armor, being the only suit designed from scratch by a Brotherhood faction since the war. Designed for mass production over protection (similar to the more recent Enclave designs), the armor still incorporates many mechanical elements from the T-51b such as an internal reactor. It's also slimmer and less bulky than other armor designs (though not on the same level of the newer Enclave designs).

Overall, the armor is a compromise between mass production and protection, with heavy modification possible due to the more scrappy way it is produced unlike the more industrial Enclave. While it is numerous enough to equip all of their Paladins (keeping in mind their numbers are MUCH larger then other chapters), it still leaves more of the lower ranking infantry to use more traditional protection.

The armour's horned helmet, greaves, and slimmer design are reminiscent of the Enclave's Mk. II advanced power armour (or X-02), which may imply that they're connected. One of the complaints about the original Tactics armour design was that it didn't look retro enough for Fallout, so it's possible that it's actually scavenged or stolen Enclave armour (which wouldn't be a stretch, since the Enclave are also known to have been active in Chicago), and the design was just "retrofied" for its reappearance in Fallout 3. Alternatively, it's possible that the X-02 was made by hybridising elements of this armour with the earlier Enclave X-01. Bethesda haven't said anything about the similarity though, possibly due to Tactics' weird place in Fallout canon.

==Raider Power Armor==
[[File:raider_armor.png|thumb|right|100px|If the T-51b was a Tiger tank, this is an armored car.]]

Raiders in the Commonwealth and beyond have managed to refurbish power armor frames, and by cobbling together scraps of T-45 and T-51 armored suits and scrap parts, this.....thing, was made. Raider power armor is the least versatile & weakest of all the armor types. It's complete shit against anything that has a caliber above .38 and laser pistols can kill the user within 4-5 shots. Turns out a bunch of drugged-out vindictive assholes who shun society are not the best engineers. [[Orks|Still looks metal as hell though]], and it is still better than even the best non powered armor while being cheap as hell to repair.

Despite how it looks, however, it ''is'' functioning power armor. It’s not very good power armor, but it’s power armor. It’s fully sealed, so it has some measure of environmental protection, the servos work to an extent, and it meshes in standard power armor frames. Yes, this means that a couple of crack-addled junkies are capable of making and maintaining functioning suits of power armor, but a large nation state with an established technology base can't..

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