Power Armor is an iconic element of the Fallout franchise. Owning a suit in any game immediately enhances the player’s ability to survive, take down powerful enemies, and provide a number of useful features. When someone thinks of Bethesda's post-apocalyptic franchise, they are likely to imagine the T-45 or another Power Armor iteration.
Yet there are a lot of things about these devices that seem rather strange when placed under scrutiny. Between the lack of useful features, lore-breaking mechanics, and other oddities, some things about Power Armor don’t make sense.
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Updated May 2, 2024, by Ritwik Mitra: Power Armor is one of the most iconic aspects of the Fallout series, providing unparalleled protection during a time when everything in the Wasteland is out to eat anything that moves. The TV show has done a great job of showing this suit in its entirety. Both old and new fans love the sheer power that this suit of armor can unleash at a moment's notice. While there's no denying that the adaptation has been nothing short of stellar, its introduction to the canon has added more questions that people ask about the mechanics of this armor and why some facts aren't consistent throughout the series.
17 The Voice Modulator Is Only Present In The Show
This Inconsistency Makes Certain Aspects Hard To Believe
In the Fallout TV show, the Power Armor helps Maximus transform from a lowly scribe into a powerful knight. He finally makes his power fantasies come true, only to realize that the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. The only reason why he isn't outed to his new squire is because of the voice modulator, which makes it sound like Maximus is more intimidating than he really is.
In the games, while a player's voice did change in Power Armor, it was nowhere near as drastic a change as this show would make viewers believe. It's a small inconsistency that is convenient for the plot, which makes it easy to ignore. Still, players can't help but wonder if integrating this change into the games would be a good idea or not.
16 The Show's Power Armor Lasts On One Fusion Core
The Armor Should Have Run Out Of Power Quickly
Despite the liberties that Fallout 4 takes with Power Armor, there's no denying that this suit has never been better. Its iteration in the game lets players customize each part and wear it like a second coat of armor as it should be, instead of carrying it around in a clumsy manner. However, players were frustrated by the sheer speed with which Power Armor burned through Fusion Cores, making it a pain to find and hoard as many as possible.
Meanwhile, the show's iteration of Power Armor lasts for ages, which is bound to make Fallout 4 players pretty jealous. It's mainly done for convenience purposes, but perhaps it would be a nice idea to make Fusion Cores more long-lasting while simultaneously ensuring that they're as rare as can be to offset this benefit.
15 The Player Can Carry Individual Armor Pieces
The Weight Of Each Piece Should Make This Impossible
It's unfair to only mention Power Armor in this context because the encumberment system in Bethesda games is pretty weird as a whole. Players can carry massive objects and place them in their magical pockets as though neither their weight nor their size really matters.
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Power Armor is one of the weirder items that players can carry in the game. Before Fallout 4, these massive chunks of armor apparently fit in the player's pocket, which is truly nonsensical and unbelievable.
14 Fallout 4's Treatment Of This Iconic Armor
Players Can Get A Suit Within 20 Minutes
Fallout 4revamps the Power Armor to make it more of a threat in the game. While this isn't the worst thing in the world, it's the manner in which it introduces this new and powerful armor that's pretty suspect.
After venturing into a town early on in the game, the player is tasked with recovering a Power Armor suit and using it to wreak havoc on the raiders and a Deathclaw that appears later on. This moment is meant to serve as nothing more than an amazing setpiece and ultimately hampers the reputation of both the Power Armor and Deathclaw as endgame equipment and enemies respectively.
13 For A Pre-War Armor, It's Perfect For The Post-Nuclear Apocalypse
Convenient To A Fault
Power Armor was apparently meant to protect soldiers in the pre-war era. This is already pretty suspect since it's hard to believe that authorities would back an expensive project that would have to be made for millions of soldiers all over the globe.
However, this project was greenlit across the West, with the Power Armor being kitted out in a way that made it perfect for the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse as well. It's so convenient that it's hard to believe at times.
12 Other Pieces Of Equipment Are Superior To Power Armor
It Should Be The Be-All, End-All
The Power Armor is meant to be one of the strongest pieces of armor around. However, players who are veterans of the Fallout series feel like there are better suits of armor that provide more protection without being too bulky.
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This, in itself, is a rather weird thing in the Fallout universe. Why even bother making an ultra-powerful and expensive suit of armor if a simpler and lighter piece is able to outperform it anyway?
11 The Dubious Protection Afforded By This Armor
Some Low-Level Sets Become Underpowered By The Endgame
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The RPG mechanics of Fallout games mean that most pieces of gear are bound to become obsolete after a certain point. That being said, it doesn't excuse the relative uselessness of certain Power Armor suits over time.
Pieces of armor that are supposed to protect players extensively become a joke by the end of the game. Lower-model suits might not have the capabilities of their modern counterparts, but how do they become so useless that bullets can suddenly start to pass through these metal shells with ease?
10 How Did It Handle Long Offensive Scenarios?
Changing Fusion Cores In Battle Would Be Challenging
For a Power Armor to be usable, the wearer needs to keep it supplied with Fusion Cores. The problem is that Fusion Cores burn out and need to be replaced. In fact, a single Fusion Core will last only 10 hours in-game.
Assuming that each Fusion Core would weigh a few pounds in real life, this would create a logistical nightmare for soldiers on the frontlines for weeks at a time. There would need to be a soldier in Power Armor dedicated entirely to carrying Fusion Cores for everyone else.
9 Integrated Fusion Cores Vs Expendables
A Simple And Avoidable Problem
Another interesting wrinkle with powering Power Armor is that, according to the lore, it used to be done with integrated Fusion Cores. These integrated units would keep the Power Armor running for 100 years before needing to be replaced.
Yet for whatever reason, every Power Armor utilizes expendable Fusion Cores that only last 10 hours. Granted, it could be the Fusion Cores lost some power over the years they sat idle; however, it’s hard to imagine the Enclave or another technologically advanced faction wouldn’t have solved this problem and integrated new integrated Fusion Cores given the obvious tactical advantage they provide.
8 Why Aren’t There More Industrial Based Models?
Power Armor Should Be Applicable In Other Situations
It seems the vast majority of Power Armors are designed with combat scenarios in mind. While this obviously makes sense given the protection and carrying capacity, it doesn’t explain why this technology wasn’t used in other industries.
There does exist an Excavator Power Armor for mining purposes, but only one design was created and ever used. No one thought to expand on that and make suits of Power Armor for other industrial applications. It is either an oversight or patent laws are really tricky in this universe.
7 No Defensive Turrets
A Simple, Effective Way To Bolster Offensive Capabilities Was Ignored
Power Armor boasts a variety of features and effects that are designed to keep the wearer safe and make them more lethal in combat. However, one glaring oversight is defensive features should the wearer be distracted or possible incapacitated in any way.
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With the advancement in robotics, AI, and weapon technology, it seems strange no one thought to put automated shoulder-mounted cannons similar to Predators. All it would take is one well-placed AI-controlled turret to keep anyone from sneaking up on someone in Power Armor.
6 One Size Fits All
Impossible For All Body Types To Be Accommodated Here
A strange feature of Power Armor is that one size seems to fit all. It doesn’t matter who puts it on, the Power Armor is guaranteed to fit them. In fact, it seems the only individual who couldn’t put one on is Strong from Fallout 4.
Tall, short, wide, or skinny, it doesn’t matter as anyone can step up and hop inside. Perhaps this was to make it so anyone could use a suit, but the lore states that soldiers were trained specifically to use Power Armor. The suits were also designed to fit the soldiers' measurements exactly to act like it was an extension of their own bodies.
5 Power Armor Used To Be Usable Long-Term
The Regression Is Hard To Believe
The lore of the games states that Power Armor used to have the Fusion Cores integrated into the suit and could last 100 years. They could also recycle urine to provide the wearer with clean drinking water. This allowed soldiers to wear the Power Armor for weeks at a time without having to take them off.
Yet in-game the player is constantly switching out Fusion Cores because they only last 10 hours and the player needs to provide their own water from external sources. Maybe these features degraded over the years and the Fusion Cores are old, but 10 hours is a huge difference from 100 years.
4 HUD With No Helmet
More Convenient For The Player, But Immersion-Breaking Too
In Fallout 4, Power Armor generated a Heads Up Display to provide the wearer with useful information about the suit and their own health. Yet whenever the player removes just the helmet of the Power Armor, the HUD remains.
There doesn’t seem to be a projection from the chest unit or the frame itself. The HUD also doesn’t appear when an NPC is wearing Power Armor without a helmet. There is no apparent reason for the HUD to appear at all and yet it magically does every time.
3 They’re Capable Of Stealth
It Should Be Impossible To Take A Step Without Alerting Everything Nearby
A set of T-45 armor weighs almost a hundred pounds of metal and requires powerful hydraulics and servos to keep it upright and allow the wearer to carry even more weight. The result is a large and bulky vehicle that should make a ton of noise when moving.
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Despite all that, a player wearing a suit of Power Armor is perfectly capable of sneaking up on an enemy. Granted, it’s a touch harder, but one would think stealth would be near impossible with parts hissing and booted feet clunking to the floor. This is even true for the old clunky models like the T-45 that were not designed for stealth.
2 No Power Armor In Vaults
The Best Suit To Protect The Masses Is Notoriously Absent
Considering Power Armor is the pinnacle of personal defense and offense, it’s rather strange that not a single suit resides in a Vault. While it makes sense in the experimental Vaults, they don’t even make an appearance in the Vaults intended to function properly.
It only makes sense that Vault-Tec would want at least one or two per Vault to protect the Overseer, protect the Vault from incursions, act as peacekeepers, or at the very least secure their investments.
1 The Armor Survives Fusion Core Detonations
It Should Be Completely Obliterated
The strangest fact about Power Armor is that it is capable of withstanding the detonation of its Fusion Core while it’s still inside the suit. A Deathclaw can rip the thing to pieces, causing the player to be left in nothing but a frame, but a Fusion Core going off has no effect.
Despite a mini nuclear explosion occurring in the center of the frame, the thing will be intact afterward as if nothing happened. Sure, it forces the wearer to leave the suit, but it’s a miracle they are still standing after such a catastrophe.
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