You know what. I just had an idea. What if he was a Power Armor Trooper during the Resource War? That actually makes since because he looked 'natural' using it in the Concord scene against the raiders and the Deathclaw. That makes since, at least to me.

Consider that if your character is a pre-war veteran, they might actually already know how to use power armour.

It may be that the first set you get has a broken reactor and requires a secondary power source.

I was thinking about that myself actually, so maybe to replace power armor training theres power armor perks.

It most certainly will for three reasons that are immediately obvious. How often you have to refuel is not known, but in the demo the player had a counter of 11 below the fuel gauge, which leads me to believe that the armor will automatically refresh itself until the counter runs out.

1) Overall game balance

You're running jogging around in a suit of advanced, military grade armor that outright ignores small-arms fire, and can shrug off missile weapons and still function normally. Moving slower than usual isn't enough to balance something that turns you into a walking dreadnaught.

2) The armor is scratch built

Self explanatory really. It's unlikely that the player is going to run into pre-war nuclear reactors that had the 1,000 year warranty sticker on them.

3) The nuclear source was stripped

This is similar to number 2, but it's very likely that the original PSU was stripped by scavengers, who felt that a source of energy would be far more valuable to use on other things than a single suit of armor. Therefore, the player has to jury rig the reactor from other sources.

Statistically, the T-45 isn't that indomitable. It's got 100 defense vs normal damage on the head, 200 on the torso, but only 50 per limb, and only 2/3rds as much energy defense on each piece. It'll let you trash low-level raiders and smaller wasteland critters, but if you take it up against anything serious it'll get wrecked fast.

It's very likely. It's really hard to guess at though since we don't really know how Vertibirds are fueled, so it's even more difficult to wonder how airships are powered. I almost want to say they use traditional fueling methods, but it's also possible that if they figured out how to put tiny nuclear reactors into power armor, they also figured out how to do it for larger objects.

There was actually a big shift going on in the move to fission but ti cost to much. Verti-Birds in the lore were technically not complete until AFTER the Great War. The ones we see pre-war were either prototypes deployed in the emergency situation they were in, or it was an oversight.

Probably a function best left to Endurance perks.

First thing that comes to mind is the way lycantrophy worked in Skyrim.

You will have access to it eventually, some power armor perks and a limited time usage.

Yeah, they were definitely prototypes. They never saw combat flights before the great war, but operation anchorage contradicts this heavily. Then again, the OA simulation was said to have been tampered with by the General who oversaw the development of the program.

I also wonder if all kinds of armor can be worn beneath it and how they would affect the player's defense. Additive? Cumulative? Diminishing benefits? Only clothing was worn in the videos, I wonder if that's a limitation.

If it is T-45 isnt it supposed to have Recon Armor beneath it? I dont think the later models needed that but im positive T-45 did

I dunno, I'm still partial to this.

I was a fan of just doing everything with my PA in every Fallout game so far (once I got it). I guess they wanted to balance it out a bit, rather than it being the best choice no questions asked.

Many on ideas how this will work floating around but remeber that we can customize it heavily. This includes decals, paint, and attatchments. All of this is basically useless if its such a niche item. Its more likely that early on it will be expensive to repair and expensive to fuel (think of energy weapons early on), however later on in the game the use of power armor becomes more liberal and common place (like energy weapons).

Again why put so much effort into customazation if you cant use it the majority of the time?

^this i think at some point you be able to trudge around anywere you like in power armour. i think repairs and no snecking are big draw backs power running out is almost too much imho late game that is.

i did most the "hard parts" in new vegas/ skyrim with my trusty sneck and anti-materiel rifle/bow deathclaws have hard time killing you when they can't see 50cal bullet coming at their face.

Edit also they might keep power cel thing but im sure like everything in vanilla fallout you might end up haveing so many power cells that will not matter.

Firstly, the tech demo showing the power armor and its usage was likely "cheated" just to show us stuff, or maybe just jumps to different points in saves to show us.... so by all means, power armor shouldnt be early way in the beginning.

Personally though, I think power armor is going to be Fallout 4's equivalent of your "Mount" like in the other Elder Scrolls games.

You wont get it right away, has maintenance and upkeep, and will likely will have to be left behind, like a horse, when you enter areas that "arent allowed"

How would this work? I Would think since its power armor and so huge, you could climb out, "lock it up" and come back to it later. Its too large and heavy to be stolen and carried away..but COULD be attacked (like your horse)...

Could also rule out theft by piloting, since not everyone can use them.

You would likely start collecting "parts" pretty early in the game, which would give you plenty of options when it comes to size, speed, protection, armament etc etc. (hopefully painting them is a thing, one of the chest pieces had "Flames" painted on em.

As far as armor goes, you see examples of during combat scenes, your actually BLOWING CHUNKS OF ARMOR OFF the hostile creatures (like a big orc)... So no only would this mean, if your hammered enough, part of your armor is gone, you now have a hole to be shot through... AND... thsi could be a way of collecting parts... Mutants and raiders wearing parts of the power armor like normal armor (just slung on them in random places) and thats how you collect parts in some way..

I would think that perhaps you could get air delivery at some point..like Skyrims magic "whistle for your horse" thing...If you left your power armor someplace.. perhaps you find a working virtibird and pilot, who you hire to find your suit and bring it to you..things like that.

I bet also, that due to its size, they might impose restrictions on inventory management...IT can only use certain weapons.. and collecting loot involves hopping out, pick [censored] up, then back in you go.. again, alot like the horse combat in Skyrim.

All in all, another awesome thing to build towards, long term goal to have ingame..along with the settlement building and such, collections etc etc..lots to do aside from teh main storyline.. which BE has always been great at doing!

Yeah, it did. Maybe having it so that that specific model needs to have recon armor worn with it could be a drawback? Because it is most likely going to be the way it was in the lore more or less: weak (comparatively) and bulky and restricting and power hogging and required an under suit, but on the other hand it's still power armor and is probably in surplus supply, making it very common in comparison to the other models.

While I don't mind it being impractical to use in the early game, I'm hoping that by the time of the mid-to-late game, it'll be practical enough to wear most of the time.