I was just thinking about the power armor the Enclave used in Fallout 3 (not specifically referred to as "Advanced Power Armor") and it got me thinking - did, on their trek east, the Enclave have some sort of strange synthesis with the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel? I know it's probably not likely, given the Enclave's xenophobia, but many Brotherhood members (not the ones recruited, of course) are pure-strain or close to it, so it wouldn't be impossible for them to join the Enclave. As we know, the Midwest BoS went rogue, and as we know, by 2277, they were quite small, despite the manpower accessibility around them. This leads me to believe, along with FO3's power armor inconsistency, that some weird synthesis between the Midwest BoS and the Enclave (who gained quite a bit of manpower and equipment, despite being a broken army heading east) must have occurred. I realize these factions are nowhere close to being amicable, which makes such a synthesis unlikely, but it's speculation on my part developed using the clues we're presented.

Pure strain has nothing to do with it, the Enclave kill Vault Dwellers in both Fallout 2 and 3; an admirable attempt to explain Fallout 3's flaws but I would say impossible, the don't Enclave recruit from the outside.

Yes exactly. I would imagine that Bethesda was influenced by the midwestern brotherhood armor, but in the game universe there's really no way they could have intermingled.

I personally liked the Enclave power armor in Fallout 3, I just sorta wish Bethesda could have explained the MKII power armor paradox or named the armor something else.

I like to think its the other way around. MWBoS picked up some Enclave. MWBoS came across the Chicago outpost and made a deal with the Enclave there. Enclave went along with the deal to keep from being wiped out. Over time they past info to Raven Rock.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1147247-factions-you-would-like-to-see-in-fallout-4/page__view__findpost__p__16920878
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1147247-factions-you-would-like-to-see-in-fallout-4/page__view__findpost__p__16925361

With spies and black-ops raids, perhaps. Except the wikis tend to explain that the East Coast Enclave had no choice but to develop power armor from the T-51b because they didn't have the brain trust the West Coast did to develop the Advanced Power Armor Mk.II. Granted, the MWBOS and ECE armors do look a lot alike.

Yes