Imagine, an idyllic apocalypse, where (over the course of 200 years) technology did not degrade over time. Wires never fray, metal never rusts, and the paint on your old Corvega looks just as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line. And the Power Armor? Oh baby, of course your T-51b is still running like a charm. Cold Fusion power supply rated only for about 100 - 125 years somehow still kickin', armor plating gleaming in the radioactive sunset (never needing a good polishing), hydraulic / pneumatic pumps, chambers, and rotator cuffs still retaining their seal (despite the gasket age).

Now, come back to reality... Aging Power Armor/Suits left out in the wastes for well over 200 years would have (despite their durability in heavy combat) been 'almost' completely unusable. For example, if you have ever worked on a car from the 1960's and below you almost HAVE to replace the wiring (especially if you found said vehicle in a field) and that's only after 65 years (if you started one today). Wires themselves (as in the metal) do not suffer badly from the age, though the covering for said wires do. The coverings would have pretty much disintegrated causing problems with arcing and touching of the other wires (not to mention that the connectors would be corroded all to hell). This would cause unintended effects such as, power failure, fires, loss of mobility due to ill managed power, etcetera.

The metal of the armor plating (depending on said model of your armor) would be fairly dilapidated. In example, the T-45d Powered Armor was a full steel body and frame covered in a silver ablative coating. The silver itself (if not flaked off by the intense heat or completely stripped by the dust storms years after the war) would be pitted and therefore extremely (read almost impossible without the necessary equipment) hard to polish without further damaging the precious reflective surface (which is used as a hard counter to energy weapons). Not to mention the state of the steel itself, which would fairly rusted out leading to structural failures in the frame due to the weight of the suit itself (combat notwithstanding). The armor plating (due to it being much more exposed) would again be severely pitted and, possibly, completely rusted through.

Now, everyone's main concern, the power supply. Wiring notwithstanding, the cold fusion reactors used in all the pre-war Power Suits was only rated for around 100 years (125 at max). So even if the reactor core never suffered failure or a breach it would sadly be out of juice to run your new toy. Good luck refueling the blasted device the normal way (as the reactors were made to be replaced like batteries not refueled like a standard reactor). And as put by Eric Todd Dellums as Three Dog, "Good luck sourcing that part ever again. The factory's gone, as in leveled."

Thus said, the fact we have functioning PA in Fallout 4 is already a godsend. Do you honestly expect your armor to be in tip-top condition AND have a 'magical' never ending replacement power supply? It's not 'retconned' or 'dumbed down' this is literally the struggle you would have IRL maintaining ANY high-tech piece of gear after an extended apocalypse.

Just remembered, T-45d also had an under suit it required you to wear... That is another discussion in itself how you would procure a working model.

Just as a general heads up, most people see blocks of text like that and don't read it. Having some indentation and paragraphs breaking up ideas and the writing in general make it east for people to read. Doesn't feel like they need to run a marathon with their eyes

Done. Anything I missed?

You know? I totally agree that the PA would just be scrap at this point, but so would all the robots and energy weapons.
All the sensor modules and fission batteries would be toast.
Things don't really mutate in those ways when exposed to radiation. It takes thousands upon thousands of generations over the course of millions of years to increase in size as exponentially as say, Radscorpions.
Not to mention the Super Mutants are at a complete loss for realism. A body could never undergo such a vast transformation over such a short period of time. It would consume countless calories and the muscle tissue would tear, the skin would stretch and rip like a shopping bag tied over a fire-hose.
I think the biggest thing to keep in mind when it comes to these "conveniences" in the Fallout series is to suspend your disbelief and have fun with it.

Yes: the fact that manufacturing new power cores is still possible. How do you think the BoS kept their suits running by the first two games? How do you think the Enclave powered their new suits? What kind of power system do you think Liberty Prime uses? Heck, you could even retrofit old power armor to use the new Enclave power cores. Do you not think The Institute has the technology to make new power cores? From what we've learned, it doesn't look like we're ever going to have the option to obtain a fully functional power core. As for the state of the plating, wiring, etc., have you never heard of Theseus' Ship? If the most technologically advanced factions out there can't make/maintain a fully functional suit of Power Armor, that's a freaking retcon.

i like the way power armor works now, it was too powerful in the other games, the end all armor. people are just mad they can't walk around in it 24/7. to me it seems more powerful now but with limits, adds balance and realism.

as for the wiring, and fusion core not holding up after 200 years, well most things in the fallout universe wouldn't. there would be no structures left that weren't maintained, food, guns/ammo.

Eh, fair enough. Though hobbyists like me are driven insane by certain aspects of Fallout's garnered 'charm'. Not to say that I hate it, I actually love the fact that this crud is still working (that and full realism is quite boring). What I'm getting at is the fact people are complaining that 'Powered' Power Armor breaks the game's pseudo-realism.

More maintenance drawbacks would've been better, but the fact that it requires a power supply is pretty amazing considering the lengths that Bethesda go to dumb down their games.

The reason the BoS has working suits that almost never fail is something called 'plot armor'. In said case, it would destroy the plot of Fallout if none of the Armor / Weapons worked. The Enclave did not share the ability to create these power cores with the rest of the wastes. In fact anyone besides the Enclave, West-Tek, and Big MT would not have the resources to produce these power cores in mass quantities. The sole fact that the BoS in Fallout did not have a facility to produce said cold fusion cores yet still had functioning suits shows a significant plot hole.

Also, Theseus's Ship implies that you have fully replaced your power armors components and only holds a truth that the Armor may or may not be what it once was.

Functional Power Armor has nothing to do with plot armor. The BoS has an entire army of scribes to maintain its equipment. They probably replace components all the time. And who cares if the cores aren't mass produced for everybody? The point is that there are perfectly functional power cores out there, and your character doesn't appear to be able to obtain one. That's a metaphorical invisible wall. I wouldn't necessarily even consider never seeing cores actually being produced a plot hole. Barring damage, the BoS would only have gone through two power cores for every suit of armor by the time the game takes place. I doubt the Army wouldn't have a stockpile of power cores somewhere in California. The East Coast BoS is probably good to go too, considering they already brought cores in the suits they sent East, and probably found more at the Pentagon and various military bases. Not to mention all the tech they could have salvaged from the Enclave.

Either or, considering your logic into mind (no offence, it's solid), the BoS doesn't share their tech to anyone outside their ranks of trusted individuals. It seems you scavenge your armor to begin with, so until you get a good ranking with the Brotherhood (possibly a way to obtain said 'unlimited power supply'), I don't foresee a way to just scavenge a working power supply without the proper tools ( never mind installing it). As I said before, it's a godsend that these things even work.

Honestly it's my hope that as the protagonist we stumble across an old West-Tek manufacturing plant. This would satisfy everyone on both sides of this argument. Either way, mods nuff' said

I get where you're coming from there. It's just that the perk that increases power core life would be completely pointless if the PC were able to obtain a fully functional core, which leads me to believe that Power Armor as we knew it, as the lore said it was, no longer exists anywhere that you can get it.

Well the bright side about this change is it makes it easier on my choice of heavy or stealthier melee. Stealth it is it seems.

Never had to change 1 wire in my 1950 dodge and she ran fine for 5 years until I started to tear it apart. Found in a barn though.

Theory defeated.