Radical Power Armor Overhaul(s)

[Jeffman12]

I loved the direction power armor seemed headed in since the announcement of FO4, more vehicle than outfit. Since release, however, not everything I had hoped for came to fruition.\

Here are some things I’ve been thinking about for a while that I’d like to see.

 

I'd like to note, I find multiple sources of input can only make an idea stronger.

 

Mounted Weapons: Basically a grenade override, like fusion core ejection. Requires parts from certain weapons found in the commonwealth to integrate as to prevent spontaneously generated tech.

Some ideas:

Shoulder mounted short range flamer. Ignites a swath of ground or foes in front of the armor.(Flame tank prevents usage of jetpack addon)

Offhand minigun, Replaces left hand in its entirety in favor of more daka.(Disables using weapon sights with primary)

Head laser, for anyone who's ever thought it would be 'beter' if I could kill just by thought.(Removes flashlight)

Inbuilt Pneumatic fists. Was anyone else a little disappointed that power armor didn't have an optional power fist attachment? (Added recoil absorption or prevents wielding guns?)

OFC, I think these sorts of thing should all be mutually exclusive, but if anyone's willing to make these changes, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. I think the major deterrent from relying solely on these weapons is that they'd probably be less configurable overall, unless they're not? I dunno, maybe you could detach the component and apply standard weapon mods to... That's not what I'm interested in here.

Fusion Cores as Collectibles: Think of Fusion Cores as bottles in a Zelda game instead of ammunition. They're incredibly useful, more common than most permanent upgrade items, but completely unnecessary after the first one.

Fusion cores can quickly become over-abundant as is, I had hundreds in my first playthrough by the time I found my first gatling laser. I feel like they shouldn't just be a disposable stackable, but a key component in certain optional aspects of the game. They don't need to be finite, but they should almost have their own economy about them, a give and take between the player and the Commonwealth, be it the people or the environment.

Changes I'd like to see are as follows:

-Similar to artifact handling in STALKER the player needs to contain charged fusion cores, but simply having them doesn't provide some passive buff. This can be done by a universal "pouch" feature added to all clothing articles(Jump suits and solo armors like Kellogg's, or what have you) The fear isn't so much radiation leakage, but core stability.

--A supplementary Core Harness/Bandolier(Concept) item could be used to add this function to modded clothing.

-Discharged fusion cores don't 'break' after use, but can be handled safely. They stack in the Miscellaneous category. Fusion cores exchanged between the player and NPCs are depleted first as a matter of courtesy.

-The Fusion Generators used throughout the commonwealth could at times be used to charge cores.

--They could, in some locations, be powered down before the PC gets to them and linked to a nearby locked door. Powering the generator up would then open these doors, allowing loot to be collected at the cost of one core charge.

Armor Frame Restoration

I've long felt the intact frames found throughout the commonwealth were a little too easy to get running. It made the 'old hotrod' feel the Atom Cats were seemingly meant to instill ring hollow.

Sure, maybe you can power them up still, there might even be a couple in good condition, but I think it's better for gameplay, in the long run, if you're replacing old components with relatively intact ones you've either learned to produce or scavenged from another frame.

I think there should be 5 core components to all frames, but they shouldn't simply be "plug and play" like armor components. You must first dissassemble the frame, which would allow you to swap out components, and then re-assemble it before being able to use it next. The parts I believe to be necessary are L/R Arms/Legs, and the catchall "Internals". More on that later.

To be clear, I don't think the frame parts should break down as you use them like with the armor itself(except maybe as some sort of alternative to limb crippling?) but the first suit you get from that wrecked vertibird on top of the concord museum shouldn't be in the same condition as the frame you pick up later from the sealed chamber atop the 35 Court building.

I think there should be a few tiers of these components with degrees of degradation due to exposure and time, or state of restoration. I’ll leave this to whomever might take it up. But basically, reduced PA benefits for low condition parts. I think an interesting buff to alter for such a thing is having low-tier components unable to confer the full fall damage reduction, but a percentage, until fully restored.

 

Ideally, internals as a component would be a user preference, as opposed to a quality thing. There isn't a "best" option here. In Fallout 3, different types of power armors were said to contain different mechanical components, allowing for different strengths and weaknesses. T-51b, for instance, made use of hydraulics and a waste recycling system. This would mean that the T-51b would be better suited to withstanding attacks from pulse weapons(Seemingly absent from FO4) and survival scenarios. Comparatively, the T-45d used servos, which I imagine would make it a more rugged choice overall. Maybe each frame tied to a specific set of armor could contain a thematically appropriate set of internal systems?

Armor Component/set Rebalance

I straight up dislike the armor tiering in FO4. I felt like it was a bad move to make any power armor a direct improvement over another. While I still believe X-01 should be harder to get, I think that should be for a reason other than “all the numbers are higher”.

Allowing the player to mix and match parts as desired was a masterstroke, and it was only to be wasted with the linear tiering.

Interface Suits

As I understand it, this was more implied in FO3 and nowhere else, but I loved the idea, and it saw its way in with a mod for New Vegas. Apparently the Recon Suits were intended to be some sort of neural interface with the armor itself, allowing the suits to better anticipate and react to user movement. I could see this as more of a mod that can be applied to any jumpsuit garment.

If a mild debuff was to be applied to power armor sans-interface, maybe -1 Agi(As in FO3’s default PA debuff)?

 

I’d feed you all the line that I was willing to work on any or all of this myself, and I’d sincerely mean it too, but I’m under no illusion that I would follow through unless someone basically held my hand through the process from start to finish, and I don’t think anyone has the time or interest in that.