Power Armor

Last updated for version `1.8.0-BETA-7`

*Main article:* Horizon Wiki

Power Armor has been drastically redesigned as Fo4 continued to be overhauled. Henceforth it is no longer possible to find fully equipped power armor frames with perfect condition pieces. All power armor frames usually either offer none to few rusted parts which the player may need to repair and upgrade.

The same goes for Fusion Cores, these may or may not be present and if present are either depleted, rarely fully charged. Since fusion cores can also rarely be found charged on reactors, this means that fusion cores are much rarer than before. It is much more difficult to supply a Power Armor with energy in Horizon.

Additionally, defense can't be increased by other armor parts. Power Armor counts absolutely, it overwrites all other defense values. Accordingly, other Armor And Clothing parts are not cumulative with a "Power Armor suit".

Power armor defense is now affected by a "Base Structure" modification. Base structure mods can be swapped between power armor types. Base Structure Mods require a corresponding potential in Metalworking and, depending on the complexity of the type, also Science skill. The base structure can mainly be seen as reinforcement of the actual armor plates. Depending on the material, the tank changes its weight and the defense values ​​against ballistic and energy weapons. A distinction is made between various Alloy Plating types; steel (conventional), aluminum (rare) and titanium (very rare) reinforcements. Steel is still easy to obtain and achieves the highest values ​​against ballistic attacks, aluminum is the opposite of steel and protects very well against energy weapons, while titanium combines the strengths of steel and aluminum in a balanced way.

The condition ("health") of the individual pieces is measured separately, is a separate item mod. The condition strongly depends on skill in Metalworking and Science. Power Armor types differ from each other only in nuances. The main difference is that certain types have higher condition (health values) and thus survive "longer" in battles.

Depending on the player preferences, special item mods can also be installed, as known from vanilla Fo4, e.g. to increase the defense values, increase radiation resistance, to highlight certain targets in color, to manipulate the AP consumption, to create an electricity field around the suit permanently or to charge power armor fists with electricity ... for more details see below.

## General

Special thanks to Redbaron148 for helping with Power Armor ideas and balancing:

* Overwrites all other defense values
* Grants +200 Carry Weight (+100 in the Strict Carry Weight addon).
* Landing impact effect should no longer effect targets who aren't hostile to the player (needs testing).
* Power armor tiers are now unleveled, but the pieces that frames and containers can drop are based on the rarity of the tiers.
* Bypasses any Strength requirement on Weapons. Exiting Power Armor will unequip the weapon if the player lack the strength.
* Low calibers scale worse against power armor.
* Using a Power Armor adds a significant amount of threat (Dynamic Encounter).
* Base armor value is no longer determined by the power armor itself, but with a new base structure mod.
* Condition (health) counts as a separate item mod.
* Armor values are rebalanced so that the different classes of PA aren't quite as far apart in stats.
* Materials no longer give any stat bonuses, some mods in this category are reworked.
* Each class of Power Armor has it's own differences, even if they're minor.
* Battery drain is now influenced by almost every movement made (walking, running, jumping, attacking).
* All armor pieces are named better and more consistant.
* Pieces can no longer be scrapped off the ground in settlements and require either a Field Kit or the architect building object: Shredder.

## Loot

The Power Armor Frames can be found at the respective fixed locations of Fo4 Vanilla and in certain containers (trunks, crates, and even large trash bins). Power Armor parts on frames will often spawn with varying health damage and quantity and will no longer automatically have only the "highest" class of PA based on the player level (T51, etc.). Under certain circumstances the player will find completely empty frames.

Fusion Cores may or may not be included and the charge will vary if available. Fusion cores in generators are still full power which makes finding an active generator rewarding.

There's a 75-85% chance of getting 1 usable PA piece per frame. For the Quest in Cambridge Polymer Labs (Piezonucleic Power Armor), there is a 25% chance, at level (x), to get either; one T45 (1), T51 (12), T60 (21) or X01 (28) armor piece. While the level is written in brackets.

Destroyed PA pieces are junk items with different amounts of components and can't be repaired.

### Loot Chances

Loot chances for power armor pieces attached to power armor frames have been altered:

* T-45 Arm 75% drop chance
* T-51 Arm 80% drop chance
* T-60 Arm 85% drop chance
* X-01 Arm 85% drop chance

No matter the player level, these can be found from level 1.

### Scrapping Pieces

Power Armor pieces can no longer be scrapped off the ground in settlements, but can be scrap manually, either using the Shredder or Field Kit which gives random materials based on helm, limbs, and torso;

### Power Armor Frames

Power Armor Frames can be locked to prevent settlers using them and salvaged for different purposes. Salvaging requires Settler Skill: Salvaging 1 and causes the frame to be removed completely in reverse a "Power Armor Frame Voucher" is given to the player's inventory. Vouchers can be sold, traded, or disassembled in the Tech Lab. Silent Jay will give 100 Vendor Credits per voucher.

 Power Armor frames change their appearance to a fully equipped power armor, even if it is not or only partially equipped with pieces.

#### Power Armor Frame Menu

Accessing the frame options menu can be done without any perk requirement. The main menu contains the following options:

* Lock/Unlock Frame
* Salvage Frame (Requires, Settler Skill: Salvaging 1)

A power armor frame can be locked to be completely unusable by both NPCs and the player. Accessing the options again allows to unlock the frame.

As soon as a frame is marked as salvage, a maker flag is placed next to it. This means that every interaction with the frame is no longer possible. The frame and marker will remain for 30 seconds until they disappear (just for some immersive flavor). This option can be disabled in the Architect Options menu.

📝 **Note:** Marking frames for salvage will automatically destroy all the items inside it!

#### Power Armor Frame Voucher

 Tech Lab | →
* Aluminum 6
* Gear 4
* Mixed Alloy Scraps 90
* Screw 8
* Spring 2
* Steel 8

## Battery Drain

 Per Impact Land
 Per Jump
 Per Melee Attack
 Per Second Running

* 5x lower from normal running
* 10x lower from sprinting
* 2x lower when using action points (power attacks)
* Standard melee attacks now drain the battery by a very small amount
* Landing on the ground (shock absorption) now drains the battery by a small amount
* Jumping now drains the battery by a very small amount

## Base Structure

The Base Structure or "Reinforcement" mod slot is the core of Power Armor pieces now, which allows to specify what material the base structure is made of.

* There are 2 categories for these mods: Torso and Limb (includes Helm).
* Limb mods are 1/4th of the protection that the chest gives.
* Structure mods are expensive/difficult to upgrade, but are interchangeable between different classes of Power Armor. Example: The player can unattach an Aluminum Alloy mod from a T-45, and move it to a T-60.
* Structure mods are the first mods that return their full materials inside of the "loose mod" item. So old detached mods can be scrapped and the alloys re-used again.

### Structure System

Most of the PA's DR/ER defense now comes from the Armor Plating (Alloy Plating) slot. There are 3 paths the player can take in the structure system based on the characters stat preferences, and the materials found and kept. Titanium is the best overall, but it can be costly as it is also the best for weapon crafting. Mixing Steel and Aluminum pieces can be a good balancing, but it's not quite as high as full Titanium.

📝 **Note:** Steel can be "reinforced" with Grade 0 which is not tied to any Steel Alloy.

 Aluminum Alloy | (Low, Mid+, High++)
 Titanium Alloy | (Low, Mid+, High++)

### Material Reinforcements

Each structure material has different properties...

* Rusted Steel: Very poor stats. Can sometimes be found on NPCs/frames
* Steel (Standard): Starting mod. This is the base default stats. Increased weight.
* Steel Alloy: Gives high Damaged Reduction (DR), low Energy Resistance (ER), adds armor health
* Reinforced Steel Alloy: Gives high DR, moderate ER, adds armor health
* Aluminum Alloy: Gives high ER, low DR, adds some fire resist, adds AP, reduced weight
* Lead-Lined Aluminum Alloy: Adds rad resists to Aluminum Alloy, moderate DR
* Titanium Alloy: Gives high DR and ER, adds armor health
* Insulated Titanium Alloy: Adds fire/cryo/rad resists to Titanium Alloy

#### Requirements

The following table presents an insight into the crafting costs per grade and alloy. As already mentioned, the Structure Mods can be exchanged from model to model. Accordingly, the crafting costs are always the same. The requirements apply to all types (Raider, T-45/51/60 and X-01).

## Condition

The "Model" mod slot is completely reworked and simplified for crafting. The slot is now considered an overall "condition" slot, which is long-term wear that can't be fixed with just simple repairs.

 Model B
 Model C
 Model D
 Model E
 Model F

Anything Functional and above, can be crafted in order to restore old and busted PA. These upgrades are cheaper than structure upgrades, since they are tied to the class of armor. Each level has increased protection, and significantly increased durability.

* The Condition slot no longer gives any DR or ER, but still gives health and some other defensive benefits (rad resists, etc.)
* The Condition slot varies slightly between the different types of PA
* The Condition slot is fairly cheap to upgrade (in relation to other upgrade slots), but still requires skill
* Condition upgrades only require 5 (or less) ingredients to skip scrolling components

### Example

The following table underlines the Condition System and shows the fundamental differences to each Grade based on the T-45 tank:

## Repair

Repairing Power Armor requires Metalworking Skill and sometimes even Science Skill. All PA repairs use "Mixed Alloy Scraps" instead of specific grades of alloys, which goes really well with salvaging PA and metal armor. Limb/Helm repairs are reduced in cost, so they actually match the ratio of defense they give in relation to the torso. All repairs require Oil instead of Adhesive.

When trying to repair a power armor piece requirements in skill and components will be shown.

## Utility

Utility mods are the finishing touches to every power armor. These define the tactical focus. Many utility recipes require skill instead of perks, as well as various materials. Depending on the players preference, higher weight tolerance, more melee strength, increased resistance and other fine things are possible.

## Skills & Perks

Metalworking allow to significantly increase power armor defense. It is worthwhile to keep this as high as possible. A metalworking value of 180 is desirable and will unlock defense 1000. Metalworking 180 allow for Grade 4 reinforcement of steel, aluminum and titanium alloys. Metalworking 100 is also required for crafting [High++] Alloy Platings.

📝 **Note:** The damage resistance formula of the source code of vanilla Fallout 4 aims only at damage reduction but not at pure damage resistance. Unfortunately with increased Difficulty damage reduction decrease too. PA might not feel like PA at some point.

## NPCs

* BOS NPCs wearing PA have greatly increased armor, and usually drop destroyed PA pieces instead of real ones.
* BOS NPCs cannot have their fusion cores stolen.
* Raiders can randomly spawn a "Raider Overlord" or a raider in Power Armor once a certain amount of Raiders has been killed.
* Danse's Power Armor actually has good defense (this was an oversight before).
* NPCs will no longer eject from Power Armor just because the core is shot out.
* NPCs in Power Armor should now have better balanced defense (in most cases, they will be much tougher now!).
* NPCs in Power Armor will now drop random "Power Armor Frame Scrap" junk items, which acts as salvage from the destroyed frame.
* Raiders with power armor will spawn with some variety of quality and paint jobs.
* Raiders in PA now have higher resistances, and drop damaged PA pieces (like BOS do).

## Developer Notes

* All power armor "Utility Slot" upgrades use the "ma\_PA\_Universal\_Misc" keywords, instead of specific PA classes
* Power Armor utility mods use the "T-45" data (although you should not modify these)
* Armor Plating/Condition: This was done to make power armor upgrades less confusing by having your main source of DR/ER come from 1 single source (and it also makes a lot more sense.) The armor plating slot should really be WHERE most of the armor comes from. The condition slot is purely the "guts" underneath, which increase other properties, as well as providing some insulation (for rad/fire/poison/cryo resists.) While the differences between the classes of PA are not very drastic, there are some.. but most of your PA stats come from your own custom upgrades. Pre-war PA that is rusted and worn down, will never be like it was out of the factory. You'll notice all PA alloy plating upgrades require at least 1 low-grade plating, which is to emulate the "front plating" which gets repairs the most (from alloy scraps).

## Technical Issues

🌀 *The content below transcludes to Technical Issues.*
* Vanilla FO4, Power Armor frames change their appearance to a fully equipped power armor, even if it is not or only partially equipped with pieces..
* The "Vault MK2 suit" always appears blue (regardless of the selected color) when using a power armor (frame only). other colors of that suit do not work in a power armor suit.

## See Also

* Armor And Clothing
* Power Armor Station