Okay, so just last night I was able to acquire the only set of T-51b Power Armor in the vanilla game; so, obviously, I went crazy with it. From raiding Springvale Elementary to the Super Mutants downtown, I did it all (And it still held up pretty well at about halfway for the helmet and less than a quarter off the armor itself). While this is decent, I was expecting a huge set of steel (or whatever material it is) armor to take some serious abuse. Now, after every firefight, I have to check to see that it's at a decent level of repair. After three or four clashes with Enclave hit squads, however, the armor starts to look a bit sketchy. Naturally I just wait for Crazy Wolfgang, whom I invested in for the Merchant Empire quest, and who also can repair up to 85%.

Uncle Roe says he is missing.

Is there anyone else in the game who can repair just as much or more than Wolfgang, or am I just screwed?

There is a Repair person in Point Lookout, if she survived one of the battles in MQ that can repair weapons to 100. She is on the boardwalk near her robot protector.

As for the traveling merchants, they die in the stock game. Expected Life for them is about 20 to 30 game hours before you start losing them, less if you meet up with them in a cell away from one of their stops. It also helps to not walk away from a town that they just left, but to wait an hour or two so you don't get the game enemies all revved up in the cell which makes the world even more dangerous for the Merchants.

Which is why the Essential Caravan Merchant mod is so popular. I use the one that makes both Followers and Caravan Merchants essential. One of these mods will also respawn these merchants if they died before you added the mod.

Of course, some think the merchants being killed by the game is a good thing. I don't.

What battle in MQ does she have to survive? I have only seen her at Point Lookout. According to "The Vault, the Fallout Wiki", she can only repair to 41%. However, the owner of the hardware store can be leveled to 100% repair by leaving the store and returning and having a repair done.

The one that occurs across the street from her shop when your putting up the transmitter. She has died about 50% of the time on me after the battle. I keep forgetting about the guy in the hardware store, I never knew what his repair level was.

They may have also fixed her repair level in a patch, I do not do the PL MQ that often (I just explore the area) as I do know her repair level is supposed to be lower before the MQ is finished. Her skill is listed as being much lower than what she can repair to. Probably why it was fixed in a patch.

Agreed. And thank you for the help. Another thing I have noticed, however, is that the value of the armor drops significantly after use, even if it *is* in perfect condition. Guess that's just a consequence of stingy traders.