does it matter?

is it smarter to pick a very light version, that doesn't protect you, when wearing power armor, to save weight?

is there any point on wearing heavy armor in it? ^^

long story short: it doesn't matter.

You can go in butt naked into Power Armor and you would still get the same armor stats and SPECIAL stats that power armor provides.

You're just as well going naked, normal armor isn't counted when wearing power armor, likewise bonuses from mods don't count either. But they do count towards weight.

alright thanks

Yeah, but it's going to chafe something fierce!

I just wear my high charisma outfit under my PA, then when I get out of it at a trader, I'm ready.

Its one thing that I thought was fairly annoying. I get the logic behind not stacking armor, I just don't see the point. Power armor offers a fairly insane amount of protection, so the low amount you might get from armor.. doesn't seem to matter. As for stat bonuses, the only reason I'd care is for carry weight and trading purposes, otherwise the stats are for the most part meaningless.

The only *major* concern would be legendary effects. Stacking those ontop of power armor bonuses.. could cause balancing issues.

If a part of the power armor fails (zero hitpoints), you will wish you had armor underneath.

that' the question though... does it matter then?

let's say all my power armor falls apart and I have only the frame without any parts on it

do I get the stats from my armor underneath then? or do I only get the stats from the power armor frame?

Stepping in a frame, regardless of whether armor is on it or not, nullifies all armor underneath I believe.

Just a point of clarity.


There's a real-world logic going on with the fact you don't get an armor bonus from wearing additional armor under your PA, aside from balance reasons (god, can you imagine ballistic weave+combat armor+x01 PA?)


Any attack that can pass through a few inches of steel, ceramics, etc. is probably going to be more than enough to bypass regular body armor.

That is the reason I don't use PA. I play a VATS build, and all my gear gives +AP, agility, perception and reduces VATS costs, so with PA equipped I am crippled. Got a fully maxed out X01, but never use it.

HOWEVER, if you pop out of the PA for any reason, it would be useful to already be wearing your "walking around" armor. (Such as, a combination of Chameleon armor suitable for sneaking around.) Or as has happened quite often to me, the PA pieces are so shot up as to no longer be providing any armor protection worth speaking of.

It dose not matter. The armour you are wearing dose not carry over when you get in the power armour. Just get in there naked.

It does not count ingame. And I don't think that you could and should wear armor in your power armor especially für roleplaying purposes. In my view power armor is not made so spacy that any bigger armor could be worn in it. It would make sense if you entered it naked, so that all kind of data could be easily transferred to the armor and body functions could be supported or at least only in a thin overall. I do it in this way when I use power armor.

It's a pity btw that you wear a generic clothing when in the armor instead of it being a real frame showing your actual clothes.

You could be a dark souls crispy bacon underneath, but dat power armor doe.

Doesn't matter.

mybye off topic, but is a question about PA, I stole one from the Cats, ( undetected), are there any consequences?

Not really sure who the hell the Cats are but if they didn't detect you you're probably good.


You would really have known otherwise when they all attacked you.lol

I mostly play without power armor except during quests that I know will be more difficult, but this is my strategy whenever I do wear power armor. I typically wear a Vault Suit. a full suit of Combat Armor, a Combat Armor Helmet, and Patrolman Sunglasses as my combat/exploration outfit, and I also almost always carry Reginald's Suit, the Black-Rim Glasses, and a Trilby Hat for +5 charisma. When in power armor I just leave my whole combat/exploration outfit behind and wear my charisma outfit beneath. Since resistances and legendary perks don't stack with power armor, it makes sense to just leave it behind and shed unnecessary weight.

Off topic is right lol

No, there will be no consequences. Aside from having to sleep at night knowing that you stole from coolest faction in the Commonwealth.

In the "no spoilers" section but yeah no worries dude. I knew who they were.

o_O


If you know who they are then why did you say "Not really sure who the hell the Cats are"?

Perhaps I was playing to the whole NO SPOILERS rule.


Almost and if imagine like a somewhat subtle hint.

To be honest, I highly doubt that. You see, once the bullet or projectile makes contact to the Power Armor, most of it's energy has literally dumped into trying to penetrate said armor, most of it's velocity has dropped, it's probably fragmented or begins to tumble. This is when polymer armor or just armor overall will help lessen the impact, making it less likely that you'll end up like soup in a can.

Right. Sort of like the effect of wearing TWO bulletproof vests. It's actually ridiculous to suggest that underlying armor would provide NO resistance to whatever made it through the outer layer. Unless the projectile force MASSIVELY overpowers any and all armor. Like being at Ground Zero to a hydrogen bomb. (NOT one of those pissant pitiful mininukes.) Max PA + max basic armor + ballistic weave still wouldn't save anyone.

And massive damage is exactly the kind of stuff that's likely to pass through PA to begin with. I can't see a .32 or .45 pistol round really harming PA to the point of failure. But a missle could, and the combination of concussive forces in an enclosed space would likely liquify your insides.