Sawyer on armour

[Briosafreak]

In the BIS feedback forum triCritical has made an interesting question:
<blockquote>So did anyone like the idea of an APA that was less like normal PA and more suited for other characters like sniper's, and guerrila commando's rather then straightfoward brute force combat. In other words, little to no addition in strength, and some addition to perception and agility. This way we do not have FO2 linearization of the combat character.</blockquote>
J.E. Sawyer replied:
<blockquote> I do not. However, I do like the idea of power armor not being "the best armor". I think power armor should be "the best heavy armor", which means that there are alternate armors in the same tier as power armor. I also think there should be some significant drawbacks to power armor. Very difficult to sneak, lower AG, possibly lower PE (there's nothing on the power armor helmet that looks like it would actually enhance perception). But, it should definitely be the best armor for actually protecting the wearer from damage.
Combat armor, should, I think, be the compromise between protection and agility. And I've previously suggested an ultra-lightweight high-end armor that has some cool advantages other than standard protection.
Now, what should the tier above that tier be? That's a good question. America developed power armor, so the Enclave's APA is as good as the world is going to get (barring the intervention of something currently outside what "we" know about the Fallout universe) within spitting distance of Fallout 2's timeline. However, the look of APA in whatever form could certainly be somewhat different from the Fallout 2 APA. Really, after looking at a lot of renders from Fallout 1, the exact details of standard power armor vary slightly in different places. Examine the power armor in the opening movies, then compare it to power armor on your character, then compare it to the shoulders of Rhombus' and Cabbots' talking heads. Small differences, but changing the details can have a huge effect on the overall appearance.</blockquote>
Now there`s some interesting points worth of your comments.

 

[NotHans]

so what the hell does "APA" mean? I hate it when people assume that we all know every friggin' geek-abbreviation for everything. Damnit!

 

[Sander]

Advanced Power Armor.

Well, I WOULD like to see some agility/perception enhancing armor, BUT it would be abit weird to see power armor(That carries itself, basically) impair someone's movements. It would be better, though, I think.

 

[Briosafreak]

so what the hell does "APA" mean? I hate it when people assume that we all know every friggin' geek-abbreviation for everything. Damnit!

You`re right NotHans, sorry.

 

[SimpleMinded]

I think the loss of AG might make power armor not so uber anymore as the loss of AP might be costly. However, it might make some sense to lose in either Perception or Agility as the armor does appear to be clunky and restrictive. Various boosting armors might be interesting however. I'm glad JE doesn't support giving power armor BOOSTS to Perception or Agility as then we'll get a little to powerful of an armor as it boosts strength AND other abilities... might be a wee bit to strong then.

 

[Azael]

Personally, I find the idea of armor that restricts your movement pretty ludicrous in the age of firearms.

 

[Frog]

I agree with Azael. If it slower ones moves it would be simply walking coffin.

I can understand that it is havy and clunky and so on. But that's why it's equipped with set of servomotors. Instead of lowering abilities it could affect skills.

Also, I'm surprised why it should lower perception. I allways thought that Power armour should increse it. Well, even now soliders are using helmets with noctovisors, binoculars and even personal computer displayers. So, why all of sudden army should develope ultra modern body armour but without that?

I know it could make Power Armour too powerful but if we add in game enemys using EMP waepon and make Power Armours vulnerable to such attack (which is logical in my opinion) game still will be balanced.

Besides we shouldn't look at equipment like on traits. There is no place for tradeoff. Some waepons and armours are just more modern and superior to others.


Of course some ability busting gear would be nice too. Then player would have a choice: greatly increase one (maybe two abilities) or chose "standard" protection of Power Armour. And then player could pick gear that fits his playing style (sniper, fast and deadly, stormtrooper and so on).

 

[SimpleMinded]

I agree with Azael. If it slower ones moves it would be simply walking coffin.

When I imagine Power Armor, I think of the scene in the book Rainbow Six when the terrorists took over a medieval fair? One guy there was dressed as a knight and so he charged at the terrorists. Because of the armor he was able to take a couple bullets without really taking much pain. However, it was clunky and he couldnt see well. Lol, maybe not a good thing to imagine considering ones a knights armor, the other is power armor but thats the way I see it.

It wouldn't neccessarily be a walking coffin as if it truly is a walking tank, then thats just what I see. A slow moving bruiser that can take a couple blows and keep charging without faltering.

 

[The physopathic Polock]

Actualy, I think that it is wrong.

Like, rember when the Vault Dweller said to that one Palidin about "that clunky-looking armor"?

Yes, Sawyer is [Marksman]ing over the cannon again, only this time he's "balancing" the armor instead of the bullets, skills, or perks!

Azael and Frog stated the points against the Agility penelaty in the best way I could figure: "Yes, wouldn't the technilogical advances produde a smoother joint-movement for the armor? Hydraulic servomotors anybody?"

And the preception thing has a bit more metit (in that you can't smell anything, and it's a bit harder to hear stuff), but a sight-perception dosen't make so much sense. Sure, that visor might restric seeingt things a bit, but power armor has that targeting lens. Besides, it would be better to have the preception penlties apply only when you wear the helmet in conjunction with the armor part.

This also means that the damage restiance stats would be a few percentages lower (because you head is more vunerable), and that the radiation restiance with the armor is probabaly canceled out (because the armor isn't airtight enough to keep out the bad old radiation without the helmet).

So yes, the perceprion penelaty does makes sense, but only if:

1. It is only -1 percertion, to count the "loss" of smell and the slight inhibition of sound.

2. Said penalty only counts if you're wearing the PA helmet.

3. The lack of a helmet can have the lack of PE peneltay be counterbalanced by a loss of radation restince and a lowering of damage restance stats.

The AG penelaty dosen't make as much sense as it seems...