Hi all! This is my first ever post on here so please go easy if this sounds kinda stupid

My question is this: considering the ncr had heavy troopers in salvaged power armour, surely at the second battle for the dam would be as simple as deploying around 10 heavy troopers to take on the main legion force as very few legion weapons would even come close to making a dent in the PA, even considering as adapted/ modified the armour is?

Get to the end, they do that. Also I don't think they have 10 suits of salvaged power armor. Also the Legion aren't exactly pushovers.

Considering the death toll for bos at Helios one was around 60 IIRC I would have thought the ncr would have mabye atleast half this number of working pa units ready to deploy and lore-wise pa makes you nigh untouched by small arms fire, add to this the legion's guns are mostly in poor condition I would have thought mass casualties for the legion would be in order

Realistically the Legion wouldn't be able to kill Power Armored Troopers or the NCR quasi Power Armored units. But then again realistically an NCR trooper with an AR-15 would kill a Centurion in one shot to the head so...

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/NCR_salvaged_power_armor aka un-powerd armor is not as good as the Brotherhoods, basically its just fancy metal armor. Centurions are known to have thermic lances which ignore armor. The NCR should just stick with the Rangers since the best way to kill a legionary is give them a sudden case of lead poisoning from a distance.

Unfortunately the game play doesn't always reflect the lore. otherwise I would think the BoS would have won at Helios one unless they run our of ammo or starve.

Actually I think they did run out of ammo.

Eh, not quite. At Hoover Dam II, the Legion deploys its best men who are armed with the legion's best weapons. These include Thermic Lances, Super Sledges, and Anti-Material Rifles -- all of which can tear apart a trooper wearing low-grade, quasi-power armor. A Heavy Trooper is a big obstacle for the individual Legionary, sure, but when they swarm that trooper in close quarters or pick him off at a long range with an AM Rifle... well, the Heavy Trooper doesn't really present much of a threat anymore. Also, keep in mind that their armor isn't that much tougher than a Centurian's armor.

I think that Veteran Rangers present a bigger threat to the Legion at Hoover Dam II, since they have better training and (imo) better armor than the Heavy Troopers. I say better armor because Salvaged Power Armor comes with some pretty significant movement penalties while only offering the same DT as Veteran Ranger Armor.

It was mostly them running out of manpower to combat the waves of NCR. Still don't like the turn the war took.

Anyway on-topic. Heavy troopers have Salvaged PA which has all the servo-motors and such ripped out so anyone can use the armor. The T-45d isn't great as is, so with it essentially being un-powered makes it pretty crappy. A single Legionary would have trouble as Tycho pointed out, but if you had a few men with some good weapons they'd probably handle the heavy easily. Basically the salvaged T-45d suits aren't great enough an asset to turn the tide of a war like suits of full T-51b the Brotherhood has.

Moral of the story: The salvaged power armor isn't a big help at all. The Legion still handles the NCR just fine.