Am I handicapping myself not using Power Armor?

[Salem Graves]

I've never used PA in Fallout games because I enjoy being able to see my character, but in this I'm wondering if I'm just handicapping myself. My current armor is nothing special, just some Urban Scout armor with random legendaries. I do fine most of the time, it's daily ops where I really feel useless, I get one shot by just about every enemy in those things.

[AbsynthMinded]

Originally posted by NIkto Barada:

a: half the DOs ignore normal DR.
b: all PA have a 45% damage reduction different from their additional DR.
so even excav can help there, and urban scout isnt endgame anymore but no armor works during decryption

Perk/Stat Based DR and effects work. Blocker and Ricochet in particular is quite handy

[Traveler]

Not at all, just get your perks to work for your playstyle.

[Rabidnid]

Originally posted by Unremarkable Rat:

I've never used PA in Fallout games because I enjoy being able to see my character, but in this I'm wondering if I'm just handicapping myself. My current armor is nothing special, just some Urban Scout armor with random legendaries. I do fine most of the time, it's daily ops where I really feel useless, I get one shot by just about every enemy in those things.

You get one shot in power armour as well. Daily ops are a whole other level of difficulty. I have a PA and heavy weapon build that works for everything else, but I need go full vampire to complete those events, and even then I will die a few times.

[Calistrasza]

I'd say no. I almost never use PA in any Fallout game I play. I find it clunky. Even if I'm not doing a stealth build, I'll rarely step into PA. I guess it depends on your playstyle, build and personal preferences. If you want to be tanky and rush headlong into battle, then yeah, possibly you're not doing yourself any favors by not using PA. But in general? Nah. I don't think so.

[morikaane]

Originally posted by Unremarkable Rat:

Am I handicapping myself not using Power Armor?

Nope, depends upon your build though. I'd suggest that you have one though, as you might find situations that may require the extra DR.

[climbingeastofwinter]

Originally posted by Unremarkable Rat:

I've never used PA in Fallout games because I enjoy being able to see my character, but in this I'm wondering if I'm just handicapping myself. My current armor is nothing special, just some Urban Scout armor with random legendaries. I do fine most of the time, it's daily ops where I really feel useless, I get one shot by just about every enemy in those things.

Power armor provides incredible defense. You can use 'emergency protocols' as a misc mod on the torso piece to provide 50% damage resistance while you're below 20% health. It works super well with a bloodied build, giving you 50% reduction from emergency protocols, the ~49% reduction from the power armor frame and pieces, and then the massive physical/energy resist (and whatever else the pieces provide). Combining that with bloodied/adrenal reaction you'll have a high damage build with virtually no investment besides a mutation, a bloodied weapon of any kind, and a torso misc mod that you can pick up real cheap for excavator of the T- series of armor.

Edit: On the other hand, with a full set of 1* standard armor and a low health build, you can easily hit 30 on multiple key abilities before other stat bonuses, which can mean hitting luck 34 and agi 30 without much work for every-other-hit vats crits and a massive pool of action points. Basically, power armor is for defense and standard armor is for offense, though if you aren't using VATS then power armor can still hit pretty great damage numbers with heavy weapons, tesla bracers unarmed strikes, or the right melee builds.

[globefish23]

I don't use power armor.
I carry around a hazmat suit for blast zones and wear an umbrella hat for that extra protection against the sun and rain.

[Dracul]

My main character I never use power armor, though im drenched in Overeater secret service armor, main downside is eating radaway like candy when i go galavanting around a nuked zone.

[insert food here]

You are not doing anything wrong by playing with or without PA. I prefer non PA myself but i do have a dedicated PA character that i have played for years.

As others have mentioned you can just have a set on a frame in your inventory and deploy it when you feel you need it. Only issue is that depending on your build and the mods on the PA you may find yourself over weight when using it. When entering PA your regular armour, underarmour and backpack get removed. Yes you are in there naked against the cold metal

So you will need to have the ability to switch perks around and have the calibrated shocks mod on the legs for increased weight carrying and have weight reduction legendary effects on the armour pieces to possibly make it work for you. Not a huge deal but something to be aware of.

You are at some point going to need to have some way of going into blast zones to collect flux crafting materials or do events like SBQ or Earle. Also handy for situations or events where you just want to be more tanky and not die as easily. You can still die fast in PA though, it is not a fix for everything.

Radiation suits and the Chinese stealth armour get a 98% reduction to incoming radiation before the resistances get applied. All PA gets a 90% reduction to rads before resistances get applied. PA also gets a 42% reduction to incoming damage, 7% per piece.

Best legendary effects for PA is Overeaters prefix for an extra 6% damage reduction per piece. Effects that add DR and ER like Vanguards and Bolstering are far less effective than % reductions. Also there is a torso mod called Emergency protocols to reduce incoming damage by another 50% when you are under 20% hp. These are all multiplicative ofc or else you would be receiving negative damage.

Radiation suit and the Chinese stealth armour you can basically ignore rads as you just take a tickle per second. Using PA you still need to pop radaway from time to time as the rads will slowly build up, especially if you are bloodied with low health.

[teksuo]

kind of... now you gotta get a good bag (damn the pioneer/possum stuff), a good underarmor, a good armor set... instead of just a cool powerarmor set (hellcat is great and plans are provided...)

no PA is more efforts/expenses for less mitigation. and youre gonna have to fiddle with hazmats... yikes.

if youre really feeling the stealthy/lighter feel of no-PA... go for it... but it's a bit unfair.

*on top of that no falling damage in PA... it's not looking good for non-PA unless that's just the vibe youre going for.
only real downside is powercores but its cheap to get a charger for atoms even without ever subbing.

[Dracul]

Originally posted by teksuo:

*on top of that no falling damage in PA.

I mean, if your not using a jet pack capable chest piece what are you even doing with your life :(

[Phantom]

Originally posted by Unremarkable Rat:

I've never used PA in Fallout games because I enjoy being able to see my character, but in this I'm wondering if I'm just handicapping myself. My current armor is nothing special, just some Urban Scout armor with random legendaries. I do fine most of the time, it's daily ops where I really feel useless, I get one shot by just about every enemy in those things.

Power armour
Pros =
-42% damage reduction as a default (but suffers diminishing returns)
Heavy weapon perks
Never seems to need any repairs
Lots of paint choices
Near radiation immunity

Cons =
Fusion cores
No unyielding
Most paint choices are ugly
Bloodied perks like serendipity (stops 100% of any incoming damage 45% of the time)
Much slower leveling speed
No fall damage

Conclusion - For people who never want to risk death and those who are doing PvP... if you die wearing power armour you are doing something seriously wrong
For PvP
For Heavy weapon use
For immortality in PvE



Regular armour
Pros =
Unyielding = 75 carry weight, melee damage increase, vats accuracy, enemy detection increase, max buy/sell values, 45% bonus event/quest exp, 45% bonus kill exp, bonus scrap from weapons/armour, 75 bonus ap, bonus ap regen (function of higher base ap), max stealth (absurdly high), easy to reach every other shot is a critical (32/33 luck), weapons/armour dropped has better condition (very minor), pass any conversation SPECIAL check

Bloodied + unyielding synergy = neigh immortality if built in a non incompetent way (blocker, serendipity, richochet, fireproof, nerd rage, dodgy)... also 135-145% bonus damage, also massive ap regen = infinite vats

No fusion core requirements
Lots of outfits (most are garbage)... best outfits are for non pa
Faster leveling speed
Commando and vats synergy
Immortal if you use sentinel + above mentioned perks but takes more work than PA
Can have it for no fall damage but requires more work than PA
Better mods for the armour than PA
Backpack functions with it (effectively massive bonus)

Cons =
No radiation immunity unless using chinese stealth suit [or rad suit] then negate the bonuses above
Armour feels like it often needs repairs, mostly legs

Conclusion
PvE choice, bloodied unyielding commando = king
Vats choice
Any non heavy weapon choice, and even with heavy weapons you are on par or slightly better than PA with the right effects
PvP it takes more work than PA but is doable with god rolls
PvE immortality takes more work than PA but at 5% health nothing aside from daily ops enemies getting lucky on a few successive hits can kill you with a competent build

[Vinnolo]

only real reason to use PA is for heavy weapons synergy, otherwise you arent losing much