The Power Armor dilemma in New Vegas

Power Armor are not that hard to find, true:

EDE personal quest can lead you to a pair, though it involves running, hacking and a pain in the ass.

Veronica can get you into a quest that give you opportunity to loot the above, plus two more location. Easier than EDE, I think.

The armory in HV has some set you can steal.

Great Khan armorers sometimes can sell a poor condition set I think. Non-BOS of course. I got a set of it for use.

There're a few places where you can get them.

The problem is repair them. Jury Riggers have it relatively easier by using metal armors. Expensive but doable. Non-Jury Riggers will have to use the above to repair each other.

And the less obvious problem is the utility of PA. Very heavy = less place for loot. +1 Str or +2Str/-2AGi are not very attractive. The few medium armors we can get to might be equal in term of utility, like geckobacked metal armor reinforced, etc...

Compared to the be-all end-all armors of Fallout 1 and 2, one can see why it's hardly attractive at all.

I dont use PA. For companions, like Boone or Raul, okay. Myself? Nah~
 
laclongquan said:
Compared to the be-all end-all armors of Fallout 1 and 2, one can see why it's hardly attractive at all.

I dont use PA. For companions, like Boone or Raul, okay. Myself? Nah~
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Personally I never saw the attraction to PA. My last NV character rocked Ulysses' Duster which I found 13 DT to be plenty along with it's +5% crit.
 
In New Vegas power armor generally doesn't live up to its reputation. Medium armor is where it's at. A mark 2 reinforced combat armor and helmet is lighter, easier to acquire, faster to move in and has 25 DT, more than enough to protect against most threats, and only 6 shy of the T-51b's DT.
 
With Cass by my side, a quaff of Whiskey is enough to surf my DT. Wasteland Tequila? Marvellous.

Recently I take my char running around MOjave in the nude. It's not that dangerous.
 
Agreed that PA in FNV still felt not as useful compared to the originals. I found myself only using the remnants for endgame as the elite ranger armor in the divide is just too godly to ignore.

I mean awesome look, great stats and NV? BTW, how the heck does PA, with all of its complicated electronics, not offer some kind of targetting or sensor suite??

Check http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Elite_riot_gear out
 
I think Power Armor itself was fine (maybe it could use a few little boosts/enchantments) but the problem was that the other armors were too good. That coupled with the lack of DR mixed with DT (without mods) made it so there really was little reason to choose T-51b over Combat Armor Mk.II. In Fallout 2 there was no comparison between the two.... in NV, well they are notably trade offs between the two armors.


I've never been a fan of balance over realism.
 
laclongquan said:
With Cass by my side, a quaff of Whiskey is enough to surf my DT. Wasteland Tequila? Marvellous.

Recently I take my char running around MOjave in the nude. It's not that dangerous.
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I tried this with my unarmed char; kinda sad that it works. I was wearing some naughty nightwear though.
 
Lexx said:
Like I wrote in a different thread, power armor in new vegas is very rare and late-game gear. Also it's super expensive to keep it repaired and in working condition over time.
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Moderate hard to get I would say, and getting the skill to use it much harder than fallout 3, and if you don't have that repair perk that makes you able to repair stuff with similar but different other stuffs (jury rigging) it makes them if not hard at least expensive as hell to keep in full condition, expeically if you want your buddy to have one as well.

Unless you take the NCR Power armor that doesn't demand any power armor training. Altough they only show up after you reach a certain level.
 
Nuka-X said:
Yes, in Fallout 1 & 2 to get Power Armor you needed to actually work for it and needed to have a good character to get so far in the game to get it. The armor itself actually is good, you take damage from nothing and only thing that could hurt were advanced energy weapons.

In Fallout 3 you could get Power Armor as the first thing out of the vault and the armor isn't really too helpful "protecting" you.

Haven't found PA in NV.
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Seriously?? Did we play the same FO2? Even in FO2, with APA, I still took damage from the higher end standard weapons like the Gausse rifle--that's not an EW. Rockets will also still hurt, too. You think PA will make you immortal, get the Child Killer status and fight the bands of mercs that start to hunt you! Yes, it's a lot *harder* to be killed with Power Armor in FO2, but it's far from impossible, even against standard weaponry.
 
I wonder if sawyer's mod with the modified DR values make Power Armor a lot more damage resistant than other armors? I haven't gotten to testing this myself.
 
The Powered Power Armor mod is a very nice addition to the game as it adds the need to charge it, keep it cool and I believe the DT is boosted while letting you move faster while fully charged. Also it talks to you.
 
I prefer light armor in New Vegas; the perks are too good to pass up, and if I'm under heavy fire, I just find cover.

Although for my current play-through, I'm thinking at some point late game I will go "retro" and rock the T51b with the Smitty Special....
 
I spent the majority of my time with the combat armor in FNV; it wasn't until a second playthrough that I even did the remnants quest. The ability to move faster is worth it in FNV anyway, but the remnants armor (especially Gannon's family armor) is just neat since the older enclave armor just looks fantastic in an updated game.

The PA in F3 was a joke, mostly because it was abundant and you can get to it with a glitch from the very beginning of the game. After I discovered the glitch I'd start a new character, leave the vault and head straight for the Citadel, get my power armor training and take care of business.
 
I made a quick edit that adds Sawyer's mod's DR/DT values to various armors. In theory, the relatively high DR values given to power armors should make these much more resistant to high damage weapons (more so than other armors). Haven't gotten around to testing this a lot, but it seems quite a bit harder to kill a BoS paladin with these values.
 
I suggested the idea a while back for Fonline but it would be nice if armors had ccertain pros and cons. PA for example, would make you nigh invincible to most kinetic energy weapon attack/flame/gas/laseretc. However, AP would damage you and rockets could kill you. EMP weapons would be devestating as it could potentially either kill you or shutdown your armor.
 
Power armor is not that great character-wise. Sure it is powerful, but so is the almighty Med-X+Slasher(+Battle Brew if you have the DLC that adds that) combo.

Plus, isn't the courier supposed to be some kind of wasteland wanderer? a garbage can suit of armor kind of makes that hard to do.
 
Theoretically, the armor would make it quite a lot easier to be a wasteland wanderer-- your strength and durability would be greatly enhanced, the leg servos would probably increase your movement speed significantly, the headgear would block out glare and possibly even boast visual augmentations (night vision, etc), the seals would make you nigh invulnerable to radiation, environmental dangers, and all but the highest-grade weaponry, and the cooling and fluid recycling systems would turn the deadly harshness of the wasteland into a minor inconvenience.

Of course, it doesn't actually do any of that stuff in game.
 
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