As a secondary runthrough on my current character, I've decided to do a PA/BoS strictly play to get over my loathing of both of them.


I know where to get cores and can get a perfectly serviceable 45 right out the gate (although missing a few parts), but am looking for some advice on SPECIAL allocation and weaponry very early on.


Thoughts?

AD VICTORIUM!


9 Intelligence

8 Charisma

4 Strength

3 Endurance


Put the Special Book point into Strength so you can get heavy guns.


Use a double barrel shotgun early on until you get a laser rifle from Danse, then mod that ASAP and use that for a good portion of the game, You can use a pretty wide array of weaponry from then on although the Gatling laser is your pinnacle of achievement, pretty fun build I'm currently on level 51 with this one but I sided with the institute instead of BOS

Hard to go wrong with power armor. Endurance is basically a waste. Strength is good if just for when your pieces of armor get shredded and you have to hoof it. If you use settlements to sell water/food, you really dont need the fusion perk.

Personally I find a PA run mixes well with energy weapons, since its very useful to put ranks in science, so a int of at least 6, since the PA is your main piece of gear, a strength of at least 3 is also recommend for armourer.

Low Int for sure

Oh I did forget to mention jet packs use Action points along with your core power. So, if you plan on doing a rocketeer impression, investing in agility isnt to bad.

Investing in agility in a Power Armor build is like investing in Intelligence in a Melee build, pointless. While the Jetpack and Stealth boy use AP you'll get by fine without agility, mine is at 2 currently.

Great suggestions! Thank you! Will start building Gideon tonight.

Nuclear Physicist is really nice in the early game if you want to spend as much time in Power Armor as possible, but the ready availability of Fusion Cores means that it's not really needed later in the game. Whether it's worth "wasting" points on is a personal issue. If you decide not to, you might need to put off using Power Armor longer to build up a bigger pile of Fusion Cores, but you'll also save about 3 SPECIAL points, so it's a trade off.


To make the most of your Power Armor, you'll need Science and Armorer, so that means 3 Strength and 6 Intelligence. Beyond that, it's simply a matter of what perks you really find essential. I'd personally put Perception at 4 to get Locksmith, and Luck at 5 for Idiot Savant. Sure, 6 Intelligence means Idiot Savant won't trigger as often, but when it does, that's free XP, so you'll be ahead of the curve just by having it. I use Idiot Savant with 6 Intelligence, and it triggers fairly regularly, I'd say. That setup gives you 10 points to distribute as you like between Endurance, Charisma, and Agility, and the "You're SPECIAL" book in Sanctuary gives you another point. Assuming you don't want Strength, Perception, Intelligence, or Luck higher.


Also, a VATS-focused build isn't a great idea with Power Armor, as anything that consumes AP also increases Fusion Core drain. Because of this, Agility isn't going to be as useful. I'd consider dumping it for a Power Armor character.

Also if ya doing a PA build, its very useful to get the repair bobblehead at the corvega car assembly.

Since Danse is such a putz, are there any companions that are worth it for a PA/BoS build or is Danse or the robots about it?

Well since all human companions can enter a PA, just pick the one you used before and just put the person in a PA.

I found it better to travel with no companions at all, and simply invest in line wanderer, but that's just my preference. But yes, apart from Danse and the robots there aren't really any much better companions that fit the build well.

Nuclear physicist is absolutely needed for a Power Armor build, once you start getting into the late game and getting late armor upgrades like jet packs and stealth boys it will drain down your fusion core like water if you haven't invested in nuclear physicist.

Did everyone else know that there is an alternative to the 'guard the suicidal scribe' quests (I had one survivor from three quests and one of those died waiting at the airport), I just discovered I had advanced the story enough that the Brotherhood has decided to send me out with

I found joining the Brotherhood very beneficial early on since the missions send you all around the Commonwealth rewarding your exploring and later you get a vertibird for the rest of the game.

Never had a int higher then 6, besides the repair bobblehead I have no reduction in core, by the time my PA guy hit 30 I had so many cores I didn't even look at the meter.


Then again I found mods on PAs that has extra core drain to be gimmicky things, so I stuck to those that dont.

You just answered your question, you don't use the high specialty power armor upgrades, stealth boy and jet pack can both be extremely useful and extremely fun.

I tend to agree with this. The Jetpack is just an increase to jump height, so it's not really terribly useful. It's a nice tool to have, sure, but you can't really get anywhere special with it that you can't without it. And yes, I know about the Freefall Greaves, but considering that the only way to get to them even with a Jetpack is to wedge yourself into a corner that has no business holding you, I don't consider that to be any less of a glitch than the Trashcan glitch.

Jetpacks can jump pretty high, 3 stories, if I am right. And if one sprints and use it sparingly by firing the jetpack in short bursts, he can cross a river without needing to look for a bridge.

Going from rooftop to rooftop is also pretty awesome.

So no, Jetpacks are extremely useful.

I didn't really wanted to metagame that much on my current Survival character and I am running a BoS one. I invested mainly on Intelligence and Agility, that way I can get the best upgrades for my power armor, mostly those that increase it's capabilities. And Agility to help me outside the PA when I need it to complement my robotics expert perks, these robotic expert perks needs you to sneak undetected near a robot and press the activation key. If your level is high enough you can have any robot as companion, including sentry bots and assaultrons. They pretty much fit your Power Armor.

I didnt invest a single point in luck and I am finding lots of Fusion Cores, my biggest problem was to defeat the first deathclaw in concord, but thanks to my knowledge in hacking I managed to get a lot of power armors easily early in the game. I used them without a fusion core, I gave my fusion cores to Codsworth at that moment and I just went out walking and killing stuff from the distance with the laser musket and some rifles while codsworth does the job for me. It has helped me so far nicely. I currently have 7 power armors and I am level 17 with 30 fusion cores. I learned that fusion cores last longer if you never use AP, and if you walk with your weapon drawn after you have the first nuclear physicist perk they dont seem to deplete at all. So if you want to get the best of your fusion cores early on, don't use V.A.T.S. and don't sprint, don't bash either that way your Fusion Cores will last enough for a couple of quests, and I also never use Fast Travel which has helped me to find even more Fusion Cores.

My SPECIAL was this: S3 P5 E1 C1 I10 A7 L1

It's been working so far, but maybe you might not want to miss some dialogues and some settlement options, so maybe it won't suit you. In my case it's been perfect since I am running some sort of a scientist who's interested in technology, he uses a lab coat to increase his intelligence and gain more exp. I also take advantage of the agility to increase my sniping abilities when outside of the PA, and when I am in PA I take a closer approach. I give the Fatman and the Missile launcher to codsworth.

All of this on survival and without metagaming, I just played normally without using guides or anything.

Exactly, especially when I could just jetpack to the top of a building instead of having to traverse the whole building

So are you RPing as a Dalek or a Nazi in this play through? They both fit the BoS so well

Ooo! Dalek. Now there would be something fun! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!

Well this playthrough has turned into a power armour playthrough again. And i can say that there are no lack of cores even for constant PA use. I have 6 in science which is fine and just went with the standard guns for the most part. Combat and then assault rifle work for me. Piper and my girl were running around in their underwear until I acquired some BoS suits. 4 in armourer and 4 in scientist unlocks most things and I've never been above 6 in any stat apart from bobbleheads. At some point I will get a jump pack but so far I've not needed it.

I've stuck with the T45 - up to F now - this time though and have no complaints. It's quite funny to run off to a red rocket in the middle of a fight to repair armour in one's underwear and then head back into the fight. The more advanced armours need adhesive and aluminum for repair, but boring old T45 just needs soup cans and a circuit board for the torso. Have fun, it really is a blast.