I just personally see the Tesla In FO3 (not 1,2 and tactics) as the pinnacle of armored protection. Even though Bethesda seriously messed up in calling it plain Tesla Armor, maybe mods can fix the many things they did wrong... one of the biggies is Power Armor and it's "meh" status.
If you look at the over all protection granted by the Tesla, it IS better armor, it is just that I didn't want to make a one size fits all power armor. There would be no reason to do the quest for the MKII if the tesla had all the same DR plus better resists. Basically, Tesla is for resists, MKII is for DR. I am trying to find a balance between the two so instead of there being a plain winner they are each a sidegrade to each other.
The view is mostly from a balancing standing. If there isn't one best suit that is hands down better than all of the competition, you suddenly have to make a choice when entering battle, better overall protection or better resists.
But the armors are not done yet, still tweaking them so I may side with you. . .but that would mean putting in another, most likely harder, quest to get it. . .so. . .maybe
This mod looks interesting to me. The add-on carry weights are far less then a mod I'm currently using (Forged power armor) but that's definitely a good thing. that's a bit absurd now that I think about it.
I agree, carry weight should basically make the armor carry itself(or slightly less, there should be
some penalty for wearing the heaviest armor in the game).
Don't know how much I care about the Talon company getting T-51b armor though. I hate them enough with their normal equipment (Mainly because they always pop out of nowhere on me.) However, the model looks pretty decent. Maybe could use some more of a spray-on appearance to the undermesh though, if you haven't updated it since the first post preview.
I am not doing the texture(I have no clue how to even approach that, I could try my hand at it but don't have the software, so I look to others), but the texture looks pretty good, making it look more beatup was the primary concern. The thing about the Talon mercs is that only do the ones on the highest leveled loot lists actually have the armor, my character is level 20 right now and I have only ever been confronted by a group that had one T-51 user. So no worries, it is mostly luck based, but it seems to have a low occurrence, I need some further testing, but for the most part, no problems.
As for making it harder to get the armors (Brotherhood armor, Outcast armor, Regular armor, Enclave and whatnot) here's a suggestion that comes to mind: Offer two paths of getting them: Building them and painting them from parts, or doing quests to gain access to either steal or be handed them to you.
When it comes to quests, I can think of a few areas you'd be able to steal complete and good-conditioned armors. Outcast in Fort Independence, Enclave regular in Raven Rock, and Brotherhood of course in the Citadel. Means doing the main quest a bit for some, but that means you need to work more for it.
As for building the armor from scratch, why not do something similar to Buildable Robots? When a Power-armor user falls in battle, make it so you must loot parts and pieces instead of just "Broken Power Armor" that can be repaired at any shop. Instead, make it so you must repair it at either forts or Robot facilities. It'd make it harder, but also make it possible to acquire the armors without being mr. gopher of the Brotherhood gang. As for making it Brothood looking, Outcast looking, etc. Just make it so you need paint and stencils or an idea of what the look is.
As for the T-51b... Here's how I always looked at it: Paladins did have T-51b, but all the suits that were used and brought with them are now broken beyond repair from 20 or so years of fighting Super Mutants. Unable to get proper maintenance on them, most the now unusable armors are piled in a corner of the Citadel, Fort Independence, etc. Again, another "need to build unless you're a quester."
I like your idea and if I had the knowledge I would make all armor non drop and force you to work for all of it. Maybe in a later version of this mod I will use some of your ideas, but right now I simply don't have the ability to incorporate something that huge. Rebuilding the enclave armor is a little out of the question, but the older stuff could be quite doable, although I would have to find someone who can work meshes and get them to part out the other power armors for me, and then I would have to make icons and textures for all those, and script the construction process.
As for the T-51 from paladins being broken, know what the #1 rule any military or paramilitary personnel is? Make sure your gear is in peak working order at all times. Now if you're in the field that isn't something you can always do, but the BoS isn't "in the field" as they have the citadel to fall back to(which
Spoiler since they found Liberty Prime there you know there is at least some high end tech in there, maybe even a production facility
). If your armor gets damaged, you fix it. In the right scenario nothing can't be repaired to at least a working condition(duct tape anyone?), if your weapon gets damaged, you fix it. I cannot see anyone like a BoS paladin(which IMO translates to either a first sergeant or a major) being the high ranked and battle hardened person they are let there armor get destroyed beyond repair, especially when you have the means and resources(and knowledge) to keep it up and running.
The quest part would be interesting, but again would be hard to do, would have to script the quests, make new npcs(and voice-overs) remove the armor from all leveled loot lists and from all vendor lists and several hours later of testing it might have to be redone. Again, I like the idea but am lacking the skills, although I am working to correct this(not small) problem. If I can advance my skills enough I will at least attempt to add quests to get the power armor, but I think I will have to change the repair lists a bit too(which I plan on doing already and kinda need to do now that I think about it.
» Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:08 pm 
. If you're interested, PM me and ill send you some lines.
