So we have two highly trained/skilled cyborgs vs Brotherhood Knights. Who do you think would win? Knights obviously have the advantage of power armour and are also highly trained, but i can't help to think that the Institute assassins have them outclassed and outskilled. Anyone?

I think it would be more fair to have them fight paladins, yeah? Considering the rank difference there

Knights.

They're really OP this time around.

Dunno, considering Kellogg's fighting ability I think he could take out 2 Knights on his own. I sure can.

Knights can take out squads of gunners, synths and super mutants by themselves. They also make mince meat of generic coursers. They have been massively upgraded since 3/NV. I don't even think the Brotherhood NPCs in 1 were this powerful.

I can load up the game later and spawn them in, see who will win.

Hm, my question was more lore oriented than gameplay since i'm not that familiar with fallout lore. Tho I guess Coursers are a new addition to lore and possibly largely an unknown factor, yes?

Yes, they can take down squads of the weakest gen I synths. Put in seekers, leaders, troopers, stormers and eradicators and the situation changes drastically. ( if you want the gameplay example )

A knight would still most likely win one on one, but they would definitely not clear whole squads.

X6-88 can cloak as well, depends on the environment I guess, open field favors the knights, buildings / ruins favors the assassins.

Troopers and Coursers don't seem to make any difference. Brotherhood NPCs are just flat out OP against all other enemies.

As for the lore bit, direct combat would favour the knights, Kellog and the courser would be better if they can strike from the shadows, but they still have to contest with the power armour advantage of the Knights.

When I met X6-88 for the first time, to collect that synth raider leader, a Vertibird flew over Libertalia. He opened fire on it and I decided to just sit and watch. Strong was getting a bit restless, but he obeyed.

X6-88 managed to shoot down the 'Bird, but one of the Knights dropped earlier and a firefight between the two ensued. According to Lore, one Knight should not be an obstacle for a Courser, but X6-88 didn't even manage to damage the Knight 10% before going down. After 10 minutes of him going down and getting back up again, Strong rolled his eyes. I agreed and killed the nearly undamaged Knight with a single shot to the back (not even a headshot)...

Lore wise BoS Knights as the T-60 power armor is unaffected by laser rifles that the institute issues.

Gameplay wise it is a different issue.

Wasn't laser and plasma specifically designed to counter power armor?

Laser wasn't and there's even someone being shot with a laser rifle on the Prydwen to test their power armour. T-51b was also designed to help protect against laser weapons too.

Don't recall anything about Plasma being designed to counter power armour either, but it's been some time since I played either Fallout 1 or 2.

The T-51 and armor made after that used a 10 micron thick silver ablative coating that reflects laser rifle fire.

Plasma rifles being made later probably was designed to defeat power armor, but the institute didn't have plasma rifle planned till after phase 3 was complete and thus relied on laser rifles.

The T-51b power armor could withstand 2500 joules of kinetic impact and laser rifle fire. The T-60 is an improvement over the T-51 so it should be even more impervious to kinetic and laser weapons.

Also the BoS have people on the Prydewen testing the T-60 against their standard AER9 laser rifle with it doing practically no damage to the armor.

Edit: also from comments within the institute when you wear power armor during your visit, they have none and they don't know how to make it.

Multiple scientists mention they would love the opportunity to examin it and take it apart to see how it works and how it is made.

The weight of the fire is what matters. Even Astartes can succumb to waves of lasgun fire. And Brotherhood of Knights as impressive ( For fallout universe ) they are, they're still pale shadows of 40k Astartes. Imo, they're closer to Sisters of Battle. I mean, they get beat around by NCR.

Sure. But you have to remember both Kellog and X6-88 are specifically assassins/killers, which means they should be more proficient in the art of murder than knights who are soldiers. Also, both Kellog and X6-88 are augmented cybernetic beings. From what I know, Knights are just highly trained humans in power armour.