Power Armor Lore (Fusion Cores)

[Boombro]

I guess it beth way of blanching stuff.

[Deagroth]

*snip* The training, sure, there were sometimes other ways to get that, but I figured I'd have to put a suit together pretty much from scratch once I found out there'd be armor crafting. *snip*

 

From a lore perspective, if you choose Nate, he might already have power armor training from his back history. "At some point before 2077, Nate served in the US Army during the Sino-American War, in the 108th Infantry Battalion's 2nd Regiment." (Source: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Nate ) This could explain the lack of needing any power armor training in the game. It would put Nora at a disadvantage with her non-military background as a lawyer, so to make choosing one over the other have no significant difference in mechanics they just took out needing the training at all.

 

Along with this, even raiders have their own power armor in this area (or they steal ones with cores that are there by default). I think that they should have added some form of training, either via the Brotherhood or the Institute or perks that allows better freedom of movement with power armor alongside having the armor more sluggish to begin with. Another option would have been to have the power armor not offer it's full damage resistances until you've learned how to handle it properly.

 

One -could- see the perk that extends fusion core time as a replacement of training in that you're more familiar with how to move in the armor and waste less of the fusion core's energy, but it's a bit of a stretch.

 

As for the Lyons and his group traveling to the East Coast, the Brotherhood (and Enclave) could have a way to recharge spent fusion cores that they keep highly secret to preserve their power armor advantage. They could have also used Vertibirds to leap frog from one military installation to another and scavenged for fusion cores and supplies that way.

 

I really do enjoy the feeling and animation of getting into a set of power armor though. Almost as much as the feeling I get when I pickpocket the fusion core off a bandit or other enemy and then sneak attack kill them.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

 

It would put Nora at a disadvantage with her non-military background as a lawyer, so to make choosing one over the other have no significant difference in mechanics they just took out needing the training at all.

 

I think it would've been better to just have whichever character you chose to play have the default military background. With all the other voice acting in the game, it would have been absolutely trivial to just re-record the cutscenes with the other VA... maybe tack on a button in the gameplay options to select which version you want as the default. Or... even better still: just have both backgrounds available for both characters and leave it up to the player's choice at character creation. That would have been a nifty opportunity for a few early-game perks; power armor training and a small bonus to combat skills if you choose the military background, and a boost to speech checks, knowledge-based dialogue options, and bartering if you pick the civilian/lawyer history. Sigh... there are just so many "almost... but not quites" in this game.

[Boombro]

 

non-military background as a lawyer

Says who? For all we know she knows how. We hardly know anything expect she went to law school and she could be any kind of lawyer.

[bben46]

Beth does not care about your lore. They have changed things for each game based on things like the story line or game mechanics or just because they didn't like some feature that you consider lore.

Everyone, including the loremongers has their own concept of what is and is not lore. They are all right, and all wrong. Lore is what YOU as an individual want it to be. This is a single player game and besides Beth ignoring what you consider lore, mods can be non lore for you and lore for someone else. Again, as It is a single player game why should you care if someone else is using a mod that you personally don't think is lore.

 

Whichever way you lean on this I am sure there will be mods to suit your personal concept of what the lore should be. Both unlimited power from a core for those that want that, and extremely rare cores, and rechargeable if you want that.

 

I lean in the direction of cores being more rare, and more expensive, but also needed for other equipment such as a generator or water purifier. But also have the capability of being rebuilt. I rarely used Power armor in FO3 or NV preferring to rely on stealth as much as possible.

 

As for Nora not having the opportunity to learn to use PA. How about maybe she was in ROTC at the university and it was taught there? Up until about 1960, the university I attended required ROTC, and there were even rifle racks in the older dorm rooms left over from that era. :thumbsup:

[Boombro]

Beth does not care about your lore. They have changed things for each game based on things like the story line or game mechanics or just because they didn't like some feature that you consider lore.

Everyone, including the loremongers has their own concept of what is and is not lore. They are all right, and all wrong. Lore is what YOU as an individual want it to be. This is a single player game and besides Beth ignoring what you consider lore, mods can be non lore for you and lore for someone else. Again, as It is a single player game why should you care if someone else is using a mod that you personally don't think is lore.

 

Whichever way you lean on this I am sure there will be mods to suit your personal concept of what the lore should be. Both unlimited power from a core for those that want that, and extremely rare cores, and rechargeable if you want that.

 

I lean in the direction of cores being more rare, and more expensive, but also needed for other equipment such as a generator or water purifier. But also have the capability of being rebuilt. I rarely used Power armor in FO3 or NV preferring to rely on stealth as much as possible.

 

As for Nora not having the opportunity to learn to use PA. How about maybe she was in ROTC at the university and it was taught there? Up until about 1960, the university I attended required ROTC, and there were even rifle racks in the older dorm rooms left over from that era. :thumbsup:

I think people want some kind of fixed lore. Power armor that need cores is the most noted change that why more are bothered but it than other changes.

[Vagrant0]

 

I think people want some kind of fixed lore. Power armor that need cores is the most noted change that why more are bothered but it than other changes.

 

I would argue that it is only a change that bothers people because of how trivial it becomes later in the game to stockpile cores, meanwhile the ones you have don't last very long. Unlike previous games where once you had a set of power armor you were golden, in this game you get a set of power armor right away, but can't use it till middle game for lack of cores... And by that point you just can't be bothered. It's because they balanced the whole thing weirdly that it just feels wrong. The fact that Boston also seems to be one of the least destroyed locations that we've seen in a fallout game also sets things strangely.

[Boombro]

 

The fact that Boston also seems to be one of the least destroyed locations that we've seen in a fallout game also sets things strangely.

How? Boston seemed very destroyed to me. NV is much finer.

[Boombro]

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Edited November 19, 2015 by Boombro

[Warmaker01]

 

 

The fact that Boston also seems to be one of the least destroyed locations that we've seen in a fallout game also sets things strangely.

How? Boston seemed very destroyed to me. NV is much finer.

 

It's been forever since I played FONV but yes, as I recall, out of all the settings of the Fallout franchise, the New Vegas region was the least damaged. FO1 and the Los Angeles region got nuked hard. FO2 in the region of San Francisco / Central California got hit but not like L.A. FO3? The Capital got wrecked real good. FO4? Boston region got nailed the worst, IMO. A lot more bomb hit sites and the entire south western corner is a total radioactive wasteland, the likes of which you've never seen on that magnitude in any previous FO game.

 

New Vegas? It got hit but just not as hard as the other locales. The people were doing better there when you start the game than any other FO games (I haven't played FO Tactics).

 

As for remaining on topic with my reply, lore-wise, the inclusion of Fusion Cores for Power Armor use is more of a gameplay element, balance. You never had to worry about powering your Power Armor before. But in FO4, unlike the previous games, Power Armor is literally a juggernaught. Some of those mods if you have the works in Science, Armorsmith, Blacksmith, Gun Nut? It's almost God Mode and most things will barely hurt you. I mean, you can get mods to turn the armor into Warhammer 40k styled Assault Space Marines with Jump Packs! (I predict a WH40k styled mod specifically taking advantage of this in the future) Power Armor in FO4 is literally Power Creep compared to previous versions. Prior FO games treated them as the endgame armor set but in reality, they were nothing more than statistically better Combat Armor.

 

Add onto this, you can get a set of T-45 armor early on and there's sets of armor scattered about. I came across a set of the FO1 styled T-51 and I just came across the torso and helmet for the X-01, i.e. Advanced Power Armor that the Enclave symbolically used.

 

Which was why the Fusion Cores are included in the game. PA is readily available and far more powerful than before. You also have to remember in a Vanilla game, especially in the early levels where you're counting caps, getting those Fusion Cores can be costly. Finding reactors to pull cores from is also another deal. For early, early-mid levels, I still regularly used my regular armor. I saved the Fusion Cores and Power Armor for the special occasions. Power Armor is also now, unlike FO3 and FONV, the only equipment that you actually have to repair. If you're running around the Commonwealth all the time in PA, you're sucking up power and cores, something you may not be able to afford in the early development stages of your character where resources are more scarce. Now, if you're using cheats, then it's all out the window in terms of balance. But in a vanilla game, the cores are more precious. You need the caps for everything else still, especially ammo and mats.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Warmaker01