I don't get the Power Armor, it never works for any of my characters from a Role Perspective. I tend to play sneaky agile characters, Tanks are not my cup of tea. I am glad the PA is in the game, I just choose something else, usually Reinforced Leather or Crafted Leather.

If your not playing a sneaky character in power armour, something went wrong somewhere along the way. Imagine the surprise when out of the shadows pops this person in freaking power armor with a chainsaw already buried in your chest. Hahaha so gruesome and creepy. This was my playstyle. If I was smart enough and existed in this post apocalyptic world HELL YEAH I want the best freaking armor to stay alive. I can't help if I am stealth mode in power armor or even http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Acrofatic jumping and running all over the place.

In FO Tactics PA actually gave huge penalties to sneak skill. And I think a couple others that required precision but I can't remember what.

Just figured I would share that, as it added to the realism of trying to sneak in PA.

Of course maybe it penalized skills in 1 and 2 but I can't remember. However, in the old games PA was relevant. Not so much now, and that needs to change.

See, I would expect that. All those servos and pumps and valves and gears and such have to make noise. I can see myself sitting there in a dark corner waiting for that ghoul to get just a little bit closer. Then, all of sudden, my suit decides it needs to vent some excess pressure, so a machine fart gives away my position.

IIRC it applied to skills that required lots of fine manual dexterity too like lock picking and trap disarming.

Yep I think that it and maybe first aid and doctor also.

Tbh i like the way armors look (after their DT and so on). I do like power armor, but I think it looks ridiculous and after wearing it for ages I just couldn't get over how small my pea-sized head looked. I prefer medium armors cause they look pretty cool; Leather Armor and Combat Armor I like (to probably sound completely average) and also provide pretty good protection, as well as not being too heavy.

I do like walking round the strip in normal clothes as an RP thing too.

Medium armor for the ones i've played. Not totally weighed down, but you're not totally vulnerable. Plus when i got to fnv, and got the versions of riot gear in lonesome road, hoo boy, love the looks and stats.
Light armor- Joshua Graham's armor takes the cake.

I'm still waiting for customizable armor. I usually just wear clothes... I'm eager to see the FO4 armor, hopefully some changes will take place.

Depends on what I am role playing:

civilian contractor/scientist = clothes
sniper = light armor
mercenary = medium armor
professional soldier = power armor

something along those lines

3: Most Raider armours as they look really cool. Combat armour for muties and tougher creatures and a set of winterised T-51B for the really heavy work.

Vegas: US army combat armour/beret for standard fighting, lightweight leather for traveling or killing the occasional mole rat and the NcR power armour on the long 15 if I nuke NcR on LR.
Another favourite is Stealth Suit MKII for sniping and Riot armour, all variants. Especially using the desert camo and the Gobi Scout Sniper...

Still, I prefer T-45D or T-51B for cosmetics. Purely for the more 'military' feel it has. T-51B for actual DR, as it is definitely better.

In order of importance for survival; stealth is most important; then speed; then resistance. I wear whatever meets those priorities best in a given situation unless I'm overexposed and it's impossible to avoid getting hit; then and only then will I put on Power Armor and slog through the hail of bullets.

I remember sneaking around in Power Armor on my very first character thinking.."clunk..clunk..clunk..they'll never see this coming!"

..and they really didn't.

On another note; I hope I get to see how worn and battle damaged my armor is in Fo4.

Assassin suit + lobotomite mask..yuhs!

Power armour in everything but NV.
In NV, it's Elite riot gear.

Power armor in FO3 is almost essential I feel, as soon as I learned how to wear it I had it on all the time, occasionally switching to clothes for stat buffs. I never even learned how to wear it in NV so I carried on without it. I always strapped some NCR veteran ranger armor on, especially when I completed the Hoover dam, it just looks so awesome.

I can't quite remember how I usually loaded out in FO3, but in New Vegas (which I've recently picked up again) I use light armor 90% of the time. I think I have a hang-up concerning mobility and dislike the slower movements of medium and heavy. I quite often begin with the Light Leather Armor and gravitate toward Reinforced or Gecko-Backed a little later. I have often paired Graham's Armor with the Recon Beret as well. If my character ends up being more of a direct combat type, I just make sure to get both Toughness Perks and the Sub-Dermal Implant, not to mention enjoying the perks of completing OWB.

On a related note, did they nerf the Chinese Stealth Armor in FO3 a bit in a patch at some point? For some reason I seem to remember the stats falling a bit not too long after it had been out. I could be mistaken.

I never have used the PA in any of the games for my main character. I usually give it to companions. In the old FOs I'd use leather until I could get combat armor. In FO3 it was the black & maroon merc armor and a bandanna until I got the ranger armor, then it was ranger armor and trader hat for a "contractor" look.

In Vegas, my first playthru was all cowboy ( muttonstach and all ) with the survivalist desert ranger armor and old cowboy hat. My 2nd playthru is back to contractor with Grahams armor and trader hat.

I usually go light or medium. I don't sneak around or anything, I just generally find heavy armor unappealing and slow.

By the way I saw this BoS armor cosplay on 9gag, thought you might like to see. Looks awesome: http://9gag.com/gag/4929104

I usually choose based on looks and rp.

But usually some form of light armour, sometimes medium on occasion.

I hardly use heavy armour though.

But mostly looks.

In the newer games Power Armor is almost useless so I mostly never wear it, just hoard it. I mostly just use Joshua Graham's outfit or the Desert Ranger Armor if I'm going in heavy.

I think they should keep the riot armor in future titles just make it rare or unique with or without the duster though I realy like the duster

Like all rpgs I play my goal is to becaume as powerfull as possible that being said my vote was for walking tank.

You know what dr is right?

Does that get noticed by the NPCs?
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@OP: PA as soon as it's available ~in all of the games.

*This includes adding to the game if it's not available.