Alright, so I recently saw the photos that were released for the Operation Anchorage DLC, and frankly I was disgusted. First off, with reference to the Chinese "stealth armor", it looks absolutely horrible. I mean honestly, this isn't the "Future Force Warrior Program" here. The PLA, would not have had anything that looked remotely like, what we are being fed. The whole concept that the stealth armor, is streamlined, exotic and generally tasteful, is NOT what you would have found in Maoist China. The Communist Bloc, was not known for their "designs", but instead they relied on mass produced items, which generally had a singular purpose. I mean look at the Soviet designed Kalashnikov, or just about any other innovation in the Eastern Bloc...they were meant to be functional, not aesthetically pleasing. Secondly, if we totally ignore, that the Cold War ever happened....it still doesn't explain the look of the stealth armor. Secondly...the Chinese Officer's Sword....I mean seriously...this is the year 2077...not 1907....enough said. Overall, I think that most of the developers...probably did not THINK, before they designed the DLC. They went for the "Cool" factor, over the "Lets actually stick with Fallout Lore".

Anyhow, if there is anyone out there, who can find more plausible designs, for the stealth armor...it would definitely be a welcomed change!

The http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Chinese_Stealth_Suit was actually made up by the developers of Van Buren. Of course, it would probably have looked different than in the O:A DLC.

Did the Van Buren, developers ever leak any concept art of their "stealth armor". Also even the Un-American Activities Force armor, would have been a better conceptual source.

Nope, no concept art for the Hei Gui nor for the UAF Armor was ever leaked.

I cant think of anything else a chinese stealth armour might look like.

I think you're underestimating just how good the chineese are at technology- Huweii for instance is one of the few companies in the world that can build a 3g Phone network from end to end (and are repsonsible for the Mobile Broadband devices which every network in the UK sells).

After all, they invented Gunpowder and Hot Air Balooning centuries before the Europeans.

It's not about how well the technology works. It's about the design looking too modern.

Fair Point. Maybe instead some sort of Mcguffin obviously technological Backpack (like the Tesla Backpack) would be look more fallouty instead? Basically a steath boy on steroids?

I like the idea of a backpack, or even a belt...or some other clothing accessory...maybe even a fusion powered Ushanka.

i see why ppl are freaking out about the design not staying with the "theme" fallout has set, but thats exactly how i would see a stealth armor looking, maybe if they scale down how cool the helmet looks maybe it will look more in line with fallout

I'd expect something similar to the combat armor (although based more on Maoist China uniforms than on American ones), but with various tubes and cables for the stealth tech to work.

i like the idea

Really, it should look more like power armor, US style, since the Soviets were known so well for stealing our best technology from us, from nukes to tanks, they had no real original thoughts that they didn't steal from the West, except maybe the AK-47. The Chinese to today continue to pirate and steal our patents the cold war never ended for them they are still "communists" remember. They made the Chinese more like the Japanese, the Officer Swords for example, now this streamlined armor that reminds me of stereotypical Japanese Anime. I could see the relevance of making the Asians all alike, the game is based on 1950s misconceptions after all, of the future, the over-importance of nationalism, and communism being evil and all those affiliated with it are the same.

I thought of that for a while, but Powered Armour was in its infancy in China, they hadnt perfected the regular kind, much less the kind with enough power remaining to run a stealth field. I could however see a stealth Power armour for the US.

China had superior stealth field technology, while the US had superior power armor technology. They each tried to imitate the other's achievements, but they were much inferior to the originals (China had some inferior power armor prototypes, while the US had the unstable Stealth Boy units, reverse engineered from Hei Gui).

So China wouldn't be able to make a stealth power armor because their power armor tech was lacking, and the US wouldn't be able to make one because their stealth tech was lacking.

That was kinda of what I was talking about, back engineering tends to make an inferior product, by the very nature of trying to do something your not use to. By the way, am I supposed to believe the Stealth boy was 'inferior' because it lasted for a short time? Doesn't that mean the Chinese Power Armor should be clunky and underpowered? I think we can all agree on that, Power Armor should be clunky.

As I am to believe, 'power' in power armor means that the armor is powered by something. America at first use of the power armor had difficulties when it came to fueling power armor. While armor leads me to believe it is armored plating distributed across the body to protect it. However, this model of Chinese armor looks like a suit, rather than actual armor, I think there is a preconceived notion that because the Stealth Boy was a box there needs to be a box on a Chinese suit.

The Stealth Boy, however, was back engineering, thus inferior. So there doesn't need to be a box. They have, after all, been building stealth suits a lot longer than the Americans, you think they could miniaturize, that seems to have been the direction the power armor design took if you observe the difference between the more slender Enclave advanced Power Armor and the clunkier Brotherhood Power Armor, not to mention it seems both slowly became easier to make and mass produce. In fact, Brotherhood armor seems to have became disposable, as does the Enclave armor. Both seem to have loss the need for energy cells.

The power armor suits used by the Brotherhood, whether the T-51b used in FO1 and 2 or the T-4x series used in FO3 are all pre-War. Unlike the Enclave, the Brotherhood does not have the technology and resources to manufacture new copies.

I was talking about the pre-War design of armor, I knew that the Brotherhood used modified T-4xs that used TX-28 MicroFusion Packs from the Pentagon. Though, in Fallout 3, it seemed armor had become disposable on both sides. You would think something as valuable as power armor, which is finite, would have the Brotherhood losing couriers just to find it, let alone holotags.

I believe the Chinese in the Fallout universe were very good researchers in their own right, and much unlike the Soviets of the cold-war era. The Shi in San Francisco were able to accomplish a good amount on their own in their 170 years stranded there. Plant engineering, spacecraft, engineering a new fuel supply, new armor designs, boasting of the ability to fabricate a vertibird with the right plans!

I find it easy to accept that if these people represent what China was capable of in this world, that they could have advanced polymer armors for 'Stealth Armor' and who knows what else. Maybe US=Brute Force and China=Elegance in the Fallout world ? I would say the only reason they didnt have good power armor of their own was their lack of Fusion power!

See, I don't see Stealth Boy as being "inferior," but rather an example of the fad that was big in the 1950s, namely miniaturization. Back in the pre-transistor and solid-state days, when vacuum tubes were still king, the fact that everything from radios to computers were slowly shrinking due to the proliferation of miniature tubes that had been developed for the war effort was big. You could get a radio that had all the function of the huge unit your daddy had bought 20 years before, but was the size of a breadbox. Thus, I think the idea behind the Stealth Boy was that you'd get all the benefits of the Hei Gui armor, but in a form that could be used to supplement the power armor that was already in use. Not only would you have a soldier that could knock out a tank, but one that could walk right up to that tank without ever being seen.

Problem is that, in war-time, long-term testing is a luxury that is often overlooked in an effort to get much-needed weapons that could spell the difference between victory or defeat to the front as quickly as possible. And when you've got brass breathing down your neck about getting said weapons out the door and onto the battlefield, you're liable to cut some corners. So, while the boys in R&D succeeded in not only reproducing the cloaking effect of Hei Gui armor, but in miniaturizing it, they never got a chance to find out what prolonged use of it would do. After all, if the Chinese were having problems with the armor, they wouldn't be using it, right? Only, like a lot of the wonder weapons of WWII, Stealth Boys never reached the front in large enough numbers to make a significant impact before the Great War ended in a nuclear holocaust.

As for why Hei Gui armor looks all sleek and black while US Army power armor looks bulky, it's probably because they were designed to meet two different criteria. Power armor, by its nature, is bulky, especially when its the rather crude examples you see in Fallout. You're essentially taking a powered endoskeleton, then slapping as much armor on it as it can carry and still remain upright. And you have to account for the computers that allow that suit to not only help you target and shoot, but also walk around without tripping over yourself. By contrast, Hei Gui is not designed to augment its wearer, but instead to allow them to move unmolested on the battlefield, letting they exploit the advantage they have in agility against lumbering walking tanks. That means you want an armor that hinders the wearer as little as possible, have its own natural camouflage (if the cloak fails, you can still move somewhat stealthy at night), and presents the smallest visible signature to any sensors that may be pointed at you. Hei Gui probably includes, in addition to the cloaking field, some manner of cooling that keeps the wearer's body heat from showing up on sensors.

And why does it look like something out of a Shirow Masamune anime? Your guess is as good as mine.

According to Van Buren lore, the Stealth Boys (reverse engineered from the Hei Gui) were inferior because they were unstable and caused brain damage leading to paranoia and schizophrenia if used for a prolonged time (it was not a gameplay effect, just part of the background lore for the Circle of Steel). Of course, the Hei Gui stealth field could have had a similar effect, just not as widely known (or the Hei Gui helmet could have protected the user).



In Van Buren the Hei Gui also increased your agility and perception, not sure if it will in FO3.

AFAIK, they've never really said whether it was unstable because the technology itself is inherently dangerous or because it lacks something that exists only in the Hei Gui armor itself. It's possible that the original suits themselves have the same effect, but the Chinese were better at covering it up ("retiring" soldiers to the rear when the symptoms began appearing). We may never know unless they decide to let the fans know or it pops up in the DLC.



To quote the late Johnny Carson, "I did not know that."

That is not entirely impossible. For an example the US Marines have swords.

They were not for and fighting purpose at all. They were just for cosmetic purposes only. So how hard is it for you to imagine that there armor incorporated some astetic value.

And look at Tesla armor they look cool and that is not from practical designs. They aren't as good as enclave armor.

edit: had a y at the end of the quote

I'm okay with ceremonial officer swords. But according to the screenshot, the Chinese actually used them in battlefield situations, which is quite silly. And carrying around stuff for cosmetic purposes is not very effective when you're trying to be stealthy.

Could be the sword they show in the screenshot is a placeholder. Maybe to be replaced with some-sort of silent Chinese 'ripper' made to cut into Power Armor!

Perhaps it is a player in the screen shot, not actually a NPC.
Also, consider the environment, it is inside some sort of base, close quarters. I dare say a guy with a sword might have a advantage if it is close quarters combat. Not only that but even in a larger area someone with stealth armor could most likely move in silently for a kill with it. Slitting someones throat is always going to be significantly more quiet than killing someone with a silenced weapon.