Sneaky Sniper's Survival Secrets - ARMOR

[FroggyGodFriend]

Warning: The following revelations will SURPRISE and AMAZE you! (heh heh)

ARMOR is arguably the most important part of your equipment. That incredible weapon will do you little good if the enemy kills you first.

So armor has to be, most of all, protective. Got to get those ballistic and energy protection numbers as high as possible.

But armor must also be light weight to allow maximum sneakiness. So it's a fine balancing act for the Sneaky Sniper.

Here's how he has kitted himself for maximum effect.

The single most important piece of armor is the basic undergarment. Certain ones can repeatedly save your ass. If you know the SECRET.

On my first Fallout 4 playthrough I paid little attention to this lowly piece of clothing. It could add color to my wardrobe, two SPECIAL points, and most importantly keep the Bad Guys from seeing my underwear.

But with judicious use of the Armor Workbench you can actually make it into powerful protective gear.

Basic Military Fatigues offer +2 Agility, quite useful for a Sneaky Sniper. (For the hittie and stabbie types, Army Fatigues offer +1 Strength and +1 Agility. And certain other undergarments offer different pairs of SPECIAL points.)

But Military Fatigues only provide 0 ballistic and 5 energy protection. Useless right?

BUT with each point in the Armorer Perk you can improve your undergarment's protection by increasing its Ballistic Weave.

At zero Armorer Perk points use the Armor Workbench to increase the protection by 30 points ballistic and 30 points energy.
One Armorer Perk point provides 45 ballistic and 45 energy protection.
Two points 65/65
Three points 90/90
And maximizing Armorer to 4 points allows you to craft an undergarment with 110/110 protection. Pretty amazing.

And this improvement does not add to the garment's weight. It stays at 3 pounds.

My Sneaky Sniper is fully armored and has many armor related Perks. Yet these simple Military Fatigues provide over one third of my total protection. Often the difference between life and death.

One important note: Ballistic Fiber is a necessary component for Ballistic Weave armor protection. But Ballistic Fiber, found in Ammo Bags and Military Grade Duct Tape, is incredibly rare. You can go weeks without finding any. So when you do, cherish and hoard it.

With Military Fatigues providing so much protection, you can choose the rest of your armor to primarily provide extra Perception and Agility points, or AP improvements (VATS action point reduction, and Increased AP refresh speed).

These very special pieces of armor are quite rare. You'll find some as one-offs at Merchant stalls so check their offerings. But most of them will only be dropped by the Legendary monsters you kill.

Because these special pieces of armor are so rare, you cannot be too choosy about their weight. But you can make them lighter:
Once you have 3 levels of Armorer Perk, use the Armor Workbench to add the Ultra-Light Build. This will greatly decrease their weight, and -BONUS- will add to your AP. Ultra-light chest armor adds 10 AP, and each arm and leg piece will add 5, for a total of 30 additional AP. Possibly providing an extra shot in each VATS volley.

To round out your Sneaky Sniper wardrobe, certain glasses and hats will add points of Perception making you a dead-eye shot.

Finally, obtain a Hazmat Suit for those radioactive situations (IIRC the basement haberdashery sells one).

With this amazing armor setup providing protection, AP bonuses, and multiple points of Perception and Agility, all you need is a fully tricked out Gauss sniper rifle and you'll be the unstoppable Master of Good (or Evil) in the Commonwealth.

Happy hunting!

[Ommamar]

You can get ballistic fiber as shipments from certain merchants. In the Vanilla game you need to get in good with PAM of the railroad then talk to Tinker Tom. There are several mods that add to how you can get the ability to use ballistic weave, I also think there is a console command for it although I never looked into that too deep. Also don't forget there are some head gears that can also have ballistic weave applied plus some dog armors if you choose to run around with Dogmeat.

[FroggyGodFriend]

Thanks Ommamar for the information.
I will look for head gear that I can apply Ballistic Weave to.

[Iron Knights]

One word - Vault Armor, with shield and weave it's up to 225 + 15 rad, combined with Army Uniform & Marine Helmet (likewise modded), you'll be up to overall 600/500/40 without power armor.

[felmari]

armor is important especially in surviva this is very true. if your going stealth like devoting skill points into it it can become its own armor in the form of non detection and works maybe too well. you can compliment that ability with running lighter especially if your going sniper. rp wise i see a stealthy sniper running light.