Power Armor problem?

[Enneptt]

I don't know if it is supposed to be this way or not but i have fully upgraded X-01 Mk VI power armor, i am playing in survival mode, it seems like i take damage way to fast while wearing power armor, i take damage so fast its almost like I'm not even wearing any PA. I was playing a little bit ago, my PA was at full health and a raider was shooting at me with the junk handmade machine gun and i could barley get off 3 shots at him before my hp dropped more than half. When i went to go get another shot off a raider in power armor punched me and i died. Surely a fully upgraded X-01 should have way better protection and if this is the way it is supposed to be then whats the point of even wearing PA? When i go to repair my PA the armor is not even that badly damaged. Or is the damage threshold for Power Armor way way lower in Survival mode?

Edited August 29, 2016 by Enneptt

[JimmyRJump]

I've never played Survival mode; too many restrictions. I always play 'Very Hard'.

 

Anyway, PA -even X-01- is a bit of a joke in FO4 and indeed is shot to smithereens pretty quick. There's a few mods out there that counter this, however.

 

I'm using Improved PA Strength. Works like a charm, although you still must be careful...

[spacefiddle]

I'm sorry to say that's just how PA works now, in Survival or otherwise. I think vanilla survival (unmodded) boosts both your damage output, and NPCs damage output; this makes the terrible state of PA even more obvious.

 

You'll note that you have, like, 1000 points of rad resist - but still take rads even in slightly radiated areas. You have a thousand points of ballistic resistance - but some idiot with a .38 can still damage you (while the armor pieces hardly take damage at all).

 

The formula for how damage is applied, how damage resistance works, Armor Piercing, other effects etc. is insane. I have no idea what the goal was behind it. One sec while I dig up a link...

 

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Damage_Resistance

 

I hope you like Calculus.

 

 

Note that the most important factor is the ratio between damage resistance and potential weapon damage:

• 50 damage against 0 damage resistance (no ratio): ~50 damage is done (~0% damage reduction).
• 50 damage against 10 damage resistance (1/5 ratio): ~45 damage is done (~10% damage reduction).
• 50 damage against 25 damage resistance (1/2 ratio): ~32 damage is done (~35% damage reduction).
• 50 damage against 50 damage resistance (1/1 ratio): 25 damage is done (50% damage reduction).
• 50 damage against 100 damage resistance (2/1 ratio): ~19 damage is done (~61% damage reduction).
• 50 damage against 250 damage resistance (5/1 ratio): ~14 damage is done (~72% damage reduction).
• 50 damage against 1000 damage resistance (20/1 ratio): ~8 damage is done (~83% damage reduction).

 

So if you're walking around in combat armor, upgraded, running a total of 100 DR or so, you take 19 damage from a 50 point rifle shot. If you are in Power Armor and take the same shot, you take 8 points of damage..... per shot. The net effect is that bullet sponges still rule the day, and a large health buffer will be more effective at slowing the rate your health bar melts away than adding like, 50 points of DR.

 

100 would be pretty good normal armor, right? 19 damage from that 50 point shot. Somehow boosting it to 250, let's say from good Ballistic Weave which is only gotten from the Railroad, would get you 14 damage per shot - for the questline, and faction, and significant material cost, you're reducing damage by 5 points per shot.

 

Now combine this will multiple enemies shooting at you, or much larger hits from Sentries or explosives, or overwhelming the target with automatic weapons fire. This is why you can be in PA and watch the health needle swing faster than a politician's ethics.

 

Fortunately, there are a ton of mods that change all sorts of things about PA. They take many different approaches and provide different effects, so your best bet is to browse around the Nexus and read up on what each one does, they're going to be very subjective.

 

HTH!