Ok so I have a Play-Through I wanna do, just like the title says its a All Power Armor Play-Through. Not I know what type I wanna work it with, MELEE for when bullets start running low (or just don't feel like slinging the Minigun out), TRI-BARRELL MINIGUN as Primary, and .44 BULL PISTOL as Secondary.


Now I just want some tips and tricks from people who have already tried this, I have the Stragety Guide (Normal Edition, I'm cheap) if that helps too. If it also helps I also got my own personal backstory for it too, but that's if you wanna know, may need help there too.


I kinda don't wanna go for the Brotherhood Of Steel though, not that I don't love them I'm die hard Brotherhood, if they existed in real life I'd join in a second, but I don't want to run them right now. So if you got tips for ending then let me know (minus spoilers of course).


If it also helps I haven't started it yet.


So, yah, any tips and tricks?

Play the game. You will run into one quite soon. Tips and tricks, I dunno, keep it repaired?

English? I don't know what you mean by "play the game, you'll run into one soon enough"? Plus I already know 5-6 places to get Power Armor, and above stated weapons, just wanted some tips.

OK, do you know about these PAs because you found them? Or did you just read about them?

Tips on what exactly? Seems like you know what you need to know already. Mini gun drains ammo super quick hard to keep that filled at the start.

Just play the game. It should become apparent how it works. Your guide may get in your way. If you have any actual problems with it, I know a lot about PA. Feel free to PM me.

SPECIAL tips

You most likely want a very high int stat, getting nuclear physicist early is vital for power armor use early on, before you get enough cores, it also helps you level rapidly, allowing you to more easily reach the point high tier armor spawns

decide at the start whether you want strength or not, if you don't want to invest so much in strength, you only need 3-4 for the armorer perk, whether you want the bobblehead early or not being the factor, if you want to start with higher strength to access perks you probably want to be within reach of pain train, which is not worth taking at the start, but once you gt to the level where stage 2 and 3 are accessible it is quite good for close combat.

the other stats are more preferential, end is good if you want to be a super tank, but you can ignore it and use the power armor as compensation to take other stats

You really want to get armorer and science asap, upgrading armor to have more durability is more important than upgrading the suit type, a fully upgraded t-45 is good enough, and the benefit of Xo-1 is that it lasts longer, with the increase in protection only being significant when dealing with nukes, otherwise the difference between the suits is fairly minor.

As for weapons, I prefer using heavy weapons and unarmed combat, although the later less so as I am climbing towards level 100. Minigun is a great choice, but the other heavy weapons are rather ineffective as primaries, the gatling laser has an irritating bug where it bugs when your power armor loads a new core, and annoyingly only loads full cores, drains them part way (with the bobblehead and/or nuclear physicist) and then leaves them cluttering your inventory when reloaded or unequipped.

Melee is an effective option, super sledge being a good option as well as certain unique's.

One thing I think is underestimated is the minigun shredder mod, I use it as a chainsaw (aka not carrying actual ammo) and it is extremely effective as a melee weapon, benefitting from both heavy gunner and basher perks afaik, it also stun locks most enemies better than normal melee weapons.

Otherwise the biggest thing is you need to really develop your settlements, as without them it is very hard to maintain your armor, the perks for the ability to connect settlements and build power armor stations should be considered when determining special and kept within easy reach, I didn't and it delayed my use of armor significantly as I have to grab several special levels

i suppose the first hurdle will be getting enough power cores initially.

So you might need to get enough stuff to barter for them and you might need to find a market straight away or find the locations where you can loot them.

The rest should be straight forward although you won't be able to sleep or operate some consoles that require sitting in a chair or craft your suit, or do crafting in general as you have to exit the suit to do that.

I'm running a character who uses Power Armor exclusively myself, and the biggest piece of advice I can give: figure out how you play. My character only has 6 INT, so I don't have any ranks in Nuclear Physicist, and I'm doing just fine. I'm currently sitting on about 15 Cores, and I've also made it a point to not buy any at all; all the ones I have I've found. I'd be swimming in Cores if I was actually buying them. Oh, and the character is currently Level 21, so I'm not super-high-leveled. The thing is, this works because I don't Sprint, I don't use VATS, and I hardly ever use anything other than a Recon Scope (which means I don't hold my breath a lot to steady my aim), so I'm not putting an excessive drain on my Cores. I can therefore afford to live without the Nuclear Physicist perk. If you're regularly doing the things I'm not, you're probably going to want to invest in the perk.

Keep in mind that there are about 5 Fusion Cores within easy reach of Sanctuary. They are:

1. Under the Red Rocket station.

2. Two at the Robotics Disposal Ground by triggering the self destruct on the Sentry Bot there. You can occasionally get a third one from the military trunk just to the right of the bot, too.

3. Satellite Station Olivia.

4. Concord Civic Access. I'm pretty sure you can get this one even without triggering the Deathclaw; there are several entrances to the Civic Access, and the Core is located in an area that isn't blocked off by the chained door.

And these are all full cores; the half-drained Core you get at the Museum of Freedom isn't included! This is great, as it can allow you to get down to Diamond City much more easily, where Arturo regularly sells Cores. With these to start me off, and heading to Arcjet Systems with Danse, I've literally been wearing Power Armor from the moment I got it. There were a few times I thought I might run out, but I generally found a core or two in time, and once I got to the Prydwyn (I did join the Brotherhood), several more fell into my lap.

Keep in mind that joining the Brotherhood and doing enough to get access to the Prydwyn is the easiest way to get access to a set of T-60 Armor. You can certainly work without it and rely on fixed armor locations to have T-60 pieces, but this is a guaranteed upgrade, so at least keep it in mind.

You're going to want at least 3 Strength and 6 Intelligence. This will allow you to get the Armorer and Science! perks, which will let you build the majority of the mods for Power Armor. The Arm mods will require points in Blacksmith, but it's worth noting that Unarmed damage in Power Armor is lower than out of it, since you can't equip Unarmed weapons. The tradeoff is that the increased defenses make you harder to kill, though, so I wouldn't say Unarmed is gimped in Power Armor; it's just a different focus.

For the purposes of doing the most damage with Melee weapons while using Power Armor, you don't need to worry about your Strength, as getting into Power Armor automatically sets your Strength at 11. This also applies to carry weight. However, the Pain Train perk works only with Power Armor, and requires 10 natural Strength. I do not recommend Pain Train at the start of the game: it requires you to Sprint, which uses AP, which drains Cores faster. It's possible to work around this with ranks in Nuclear Physicist, but setting Strength to 10 and Intelligence to 9 results in only having 4 points left to spend elsewhere, so your character becomes unable to pick up useful perks in other trees without spending several levels investing in the appropriate SPECIAL stat. Better to have a lower Strength stat and build your way up to it later in the game than to screw your build over early on.

Those are the things I can think of off the top of my head. If I think of anything else, I'll post it.

I'm currently playing a Soldier playthrough that has fallen back on his military training (with a male SS to RP the Veteran angle - only male I've played). That's T-45's, Explosives, Battle Drugs and Commando with NO crafting perks whatsoever. (Because "grunts" don't do that kind of thing.) The lack of crafting has been interesting. You'd think it would cripple you but actually, being able to spend those perks on combat-oriented things instead of Gun Nut and Armorer seems to have accelerated his fighting ability. With full repairs possible using only steel and a single circuitry, it's been very freeing not to have to haul all the junk around the Commonwealth.

I didn't think about the settlements, usually I upgrade them as they need it, though usually I just wall them off and forget about them. But a lot of great tips, and considering I rarely Fast-Travel kinda brings the point of not putting too much stress on the fusion cores as a point.


Also can thank swk3000 for mentioning Sattalite Array Olivia, since I know a Power Armor suit is near there, along with a .44 Pistol on the way, and a raider inside carries a Minigun.

I adapted this build for my PA character

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb8_J2vU1So

Aside from the stuff mentioned previously (Nuclear Physicist etc)

1) Obviously you won't be joining BOS and investing so heavily into unarmed.

2) Consider Pain Train since it's a great way to clear out lesser enemies.

3) You'll at least Blacksmith 1 to upgrade your PA arms for reduced AP for power attacks

4) Science to upgrade your PA legs for reduced AP sprint cost

5) I wasn't a fan of switching to melee weapons so I put a few points into Gun Bash. The minigun has a cool looking shredder (might as well use it)

The main play style is sprint into fodder, Gun bash if necessary. Use the minigun to bring down the big guys and your .44 for annoying stuff like turrets, flies etc.

Have fun and Ad Victo .... oh wait nvm.

i did a PA play thru last game. i never had a core problem. too many to be found. never paid for em either. i still got the save file some where. if i remember, i had like 9 suits. i went with a lot of science and armorer perks so i could mod my armor out as much as possible. i guess the only tip i can give is make specific suits. design them for specific needs. i got one PA which lets me sit in a crowd of ghouls, watch them dink my armor to no avail, then i start wailing on them with my tesla bracers.

I'll give you this one tip. While you need armored and science you don't necssarily need to invest perk points in it right away. Most PA upgrades require 2 ranks in those perks. There's a couple things you might want but it also might be better to invest in other perks early in the game and get science and armored closer to level 20.