I'm sure by now most people reading this have seen the relative wealth of new footage. I've noticed a few topics voicing concern over the new power armor, and I think I've put together a rough idea of two it will play.

If you've seen the brief bit of gameplay from the mission using power armor to clear out some raiders and deathclaws, you may have noticed that it was done at a low level. My guess is that the mission is indeed available close to the start of the game as a sort of power trip intro. This is a relatively common technique used in games to give the player a preview of the power they will later possess. I hypothesize that taht mission involves finding a pwoer supply for a dead set of armor, then using it to clear the raiders, then fighting the deathclaw in it. By the end the deathclaw damages and tears apart the armor, leaving just the chassis for our player to keep.

I figure that, throughout the game, we will then set to scavenging pieces of other power armor too build our own around that chassis. Functionally, it seems to operate like a vehicle. There are several readouts along the bottom when the player is using power armor. They include a piece by piece damage display, HP% (probably overall health of the suit, though it could be for the person within), rads (obvious), the compass, AP% (action points), ammo capacity, and then 'Core' and 'Spot'. The last two are the mystery ones. Core would seem to indicate that the suit's fission core has some sore of limited fuel. The dial around it runs from 0 to 100, like the other percentage dials, but it also has a direct number readout, in the case of the video it says 11. Still guessing here, but I propose that the player can carry multiple energy cells for the core to run off of. That would be the 11. The percentage dial would be to show the power of each cell as it drains. More than likely different power armor parts will change how fast the power drains.

All of this together makes the armor much more like a vehicle, and more like the massive, bulky, robotic stuff seen in the originals. However, it will also restrict how often and how much the user can implement it. If power armor does indeed work this way there may be a way to get it airlifted to you, or perhaps using the airlift or fast travel does not use energy.

One other point that I've noticed is in the crafting video. When swapping out power armor parts in can be seen the helmets have attachment slots. Most were empty, but several had a slot filled with 'Headlamp.' This implies two things, one, that the power armor may be able to support things like night or thermal vision, and two, that flashlights in general may now be a standard beam rather than the area light that the pip-light casts. If that is the case there may be several other weapon and helmet attachments, along with other lighting options. I think this will do wonders for the atmosphere in areas that are intended to have a more horror focused atmosphere. Still hoping for road flares to come back.

Anyway, those are my thoughts, I guess we'll see how close I hit.

tldr, power armor may be a vehicle that uses fuel and you can put different attachments on the helmet

I hope flashlights are finally implemented, the pip boy light is okay but it would be nice to have a light that shines in front of you rather than in your small bubble. How power armor will work, i hope you're right. people will bring the fact that power armor power supply is supposed to last a long time but maybe there will be some sort of new limit that stays just within the boundary of lore with out changing it too much. Maybe because the power armor is based off of a t-60b chassis though it is some sort of experimental armor with power problems.

You can see the flashlight working in the demo video, it's illuminating the Deathclaw. It's a bit harder to make out since there isn't much need for a flashlight in that scene, but it's there. And it's directed, not an area light like the Pipboy.

That's a really interesting point actually, about the Deathclaw being a scripted event that destroys the Power Armour.

I for one don't think there will be death animations at all, and so the Deathclaw animation seems like a scripted animation, and as far as I can tell the most plausible explanation for that is indeed to destroy the Power Armour, because surely the player doesn't get to keep it.

The animation where the Deathclaw picks us up and kills us is separate from the Power Armor stuff, if you're talking about that; you can even see the blue of the Vault suit as he's reloading before getting grabbed. And I'm pretty sure that was a kill-cam and not a scripted thing; Skyrim had them, and the player could get killed that way too.

There's no indication that Concord, where the Power Armor is found in the trailer, is close to the starting area. It does make sense that a suit would be left behind at a crashed vertibird, and I don't see why you wouldn't get to keep it.

Guess I wasn't watching close enough. That's good news to me.

Was it really that bad how power armor worked in previous games? i personally like having power armor just like a high tier armor. Sure the feeling of wearing it has clearly improved from what we have seen in the trailer. But i am no quite sure i like the idea of it being vehicle like, i cant put my head around on how the player will take the armor with him, and one thing i don't want for sure is the player being forced to use it.

In the trailer we can see the character face a dethclaw without the power and get killed instantly ( i guess from the kind of "kill cam" that shows up). Will we be able to finish the game without the armor ? or is it indispensable to face some enemies ?

I know theres a lot to to be known about the game yet, i am just speculating, i may be totally wrong about my concerns

Nevermind, misread, delete this if possible.

As mutch as I aprove of the idea of flashlights I also hope we get something like light my flair mod in game. I likes being able to fire off ilumattion

It doesn't seem like just moving in it depletes a resource, like power, so you can move however you like in it. I'm sure once you're clear of whatever mission starts out the sequence where you get it, you can keep it. It's a one-time thing. You can probably step out of it whenever you like and leave it sitting around.

I'd really like some road flares that can be carried with a one handed weapon, or tossed out with a quick key. Started a mod like that for Fallout 3, but only got as far as making the flare model.

Yes there is. It's literally just past the Red Rocket gas station which is literally just past Sanctuary Hills which is directly below Vault 111.

This has me slightly concerned. Can I explore in my Power Armor? Can I take it anywhere? Will I have to exit it for certain quests/scenes?

Seems like a feature of a pure action game if not.

How do you know that?

They wouldn't let you customize it if all you could do is use it in designated missions. I'm sure, you can use it anywhere, but I'm not sure how you access your inventory/pipboy while in it. Seeing as the power armor has it's own hud. At this point, we're just grasping at bits and pieces of speculation with no real confirmation, other than the tidbits shown.

Just watch the gameplay that's been shown. When the player first exits the vault you can see the red rocket symbol just past the settlement called Sanctuary Hills, and in the shots of Concord you can see the red rocket symbol right before Concord. Furthermore, the shot of the player in the Vertibird confirms this, as it flies over the red rocket gas station and then straight over Concord.

My theory is that they'll use the Vertibird we saw the Dweller summon and ride. I think it'll also be able air drop your power armor to you. Could give you access from just about anywhere. This is what I'm hoping for at least.

Why should the deathclaw or other serious damage destroy your armor? Yes it could be damage on you and not armor but you don't have any hud outside of power armor then you are far more vulnerable.

Now the kill player animation is "scripted" as in Skyirm kill player animation.

The armor repaired itself, however it looked like they was runing in god mode as they did not use ammo either.

I'm saying it would make sense for it to be a scripted event, as I'm assuming we don't get to keep the Power Armour for balancing reasons.

And we don't know that that is the case yet. Death animations are not confirmed at all - in fact the only animation we've got that alludes to that is the Deathclaw scene, which makes me think that it might just be a scripted event that occurs.

In Lore, Power Armor; T-45d power armor The first version was powered by small energy cells and it burned through them at an alarming rate. Some later versions were either manufactured or retrofitted by the US Army with built-in microfusion packs, a technology that was developed later by West Tek.

T-51b power armor, The armor is fitted with a back-mounted TX-28 MicroFusion Pack which generates an output power of 60,000 Watts to power the HiFlo hydraulic systems built into the frame of the suit. Made of a poly-laminate composite, the outer shell of the T-51b is lightweight and capable of absorbing over 2500 Joules of kinetic impact. The 10-micron-thick silver ablative coating can reflect laser and other radiation emissions without damage to the composite subsurface. The armor usually carries enough fuel to last for one hundred years.

This is what we know regarding past sets of Power Armor. The Institute and whatever Brotherhood or Enclave forces may exist in Boston and it's surrounding areas may have altered the Power source, improving it or making it safer. It is possible the Core used in the suit in game is outdated and we can find a better one a TX-28 MicroFusion Pack or more advanced version to use throughout the game.

It is also possible that Power Armor has certain limits to how much energy it can draw from the Core to prevent damages or overloading. And that this meter shows just how much energy we can use at once before things cool off or shut down.

Actually concord is just past the gas station where you find the dog.You can see this in the atom bomb baby trailer when the vertibird flies over the gas station.EDIT,this time BoomCheese beat me to it.

http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?t=8d0f7d517d632b5b2b2a67cd631df494the markers I droped were for the Concord, Vault 101s current estimated location and Boston.

I have not seen anything to indicate that the current estimate of its location is incorrect.

the devs have indicated that you get the ability to custom modify the power armor so obviously we get one sooner or later.

Vault 111 is not in Watertown,it is slightly north west of Concord.Vault 111 being in Watertown was a speculation from the announcement trailer.We have much more info about the map layout now.

PA was never a requirement to get past certain quests or areas. There are quite a few perks to using PA but it has negative modifiers, too. Things like reduced agility and also being really expensive to maintain/repair.

I don't like the aesthetic or representation of power armor in Fo3 or NV. It's not some suit of armor you just slip into. It was and is the pinnacle of military technology and makes people into walking tanks. Think terminator's from the Warhammer 40k universe. Power armor is like it's big, 1950's brother - and that [censored] became standard issue to combat soldiers.

The current rendition of PA makes it true to the lore.