Excavator Power Armor

The Excavator power armor is a set of power armor in Fallout 76. The armor requires the player character to be level 25 to equip or craft.

Background
Developed by Garrahan Mining Co., the "Excavator" class of power armor never saw full production, despite being heavily advertised in Appalachia as the future of mining. Formally named the EX-17 Excavator, the power armor project was headed by Harold Frost, siphoned off directly from the United States Army Research Corps in early 2075. The project made headway at first and Frost was confident he could deliver a prototype within months.

As the Excavator was intended for mining, not combat, durability issues manifested quickly. The extra punishment the arm units took when boring into bedrock caused micro-stress fractures and sheared gear assemblies. By September 2075, the research team settled on using black titanium, native to Appalachia. The material had the necessary tensile strength to keep the arm components from tearing themselves apart. Although too expensive for the T-45 power armor due to the expense of the mining process, it was considered an acceptable choice for a corporate design. While using titanium solved the durability issues, the suit's extra weight made a more efficient reactor necessary. The team continued to experiment with new solutions as late as May 2076, but were already past specifications on the repurposed T-45 reactor, causing overheating and stability issues. After two months of fruitless experiments, Frost's team had to go for broke.

After more trial and error, Garrahan Mining Co. believed it necessary to use an ultracite reactor, as it had the power output and radiation signature necessary for the project. In exchange, they had to make a decade-long commitment to AMS technology. Pressured by AMS' reveal of Watoga and Hornwright Mining Co. launching the auto-miner industrial robot line, the research team was forced to work continuously for a month. However, they were able to complete the project in February 2077, three months ahead of schedule.

By April 3rd, three complete Excavator units were operational and proved to be a capable tool. Not only were they suffering few maintenance issues, they were already breaking records for the amounts of ore extracted in one day. CEO Vivian Garrahan decided to play va banque, challenging Hornwright Mining to a duel where the Excavators and auto-miners would compete to mine the most ore in a pre-set amount of time. The challenge was a calculated risk, aiming to raise the profile of the company and the project, while securing lucrative contracts in the increasingly automation-obsessed Appalachia. She had every reason to believe they could win: The Excavators were already distinguishing themselves with revolutionary mineral sensors, on top of other cutting-edge proprietary solutions.

The duel started on October 18 and lasted the next 24 hours. Thanks to interference from Hornwright mercenaries, the auto-miners won by a margin of 1.85 tons (less than a single truckload) and were declared winners by the media. Hornwright seized on this tenuous victory as an example of machine's superiority to man. Auto-miners became the talk of the region, while Garrahan's stock was sent into free-fall, making them ripe for a takeover. Although Hornwright was skeptical of the design, treating it as a titanium coffin, they planned on folding the Excavator ore detection technology into the auto-miners, giving their already formidable robotic miners the ability to pin-point mineral deposits with no oversight from human operators.

The Great War ended such ambitions, leaving the Excavator Power Armor for various wasteland parties to recover and put to use, namely the Responders' Fire Breathers Unit and the residents of Vault 76.

Design
The EXC-17 Excavator suit, more commonly known as the Excavator power armor, was developed by Garrahan Mining in collaboration with West Tek. It was designed to protect miners from rockfalls and airborne contaminants while increasing the speed at which they could work. Despite Garrahan's heavy advertising, the unit never entered full production and only five suits were known to have been made.

Created under the EX-17 Excavator Project, the suit not only borrowed elements of the T-45 power armor but was also spearheaded by a member of the T-45 development team, Harold Frost. The suit's parts were cast in black titanium to increase durability, as the extra punishment the arm units took when boring into bedrock caused damage to the suit. Atomic Mining Services were contracted to obtain their patented ultracite ore to power the armor, as the previous reactor caused overheating and stability issues. Excavator power armor technology increased mining yields, and the helmet also prevents damage and disease from airborne and waterborne hazards. bolstered by Garrahan's patented "Ore Sniffing" technology used in the helmet sensors. Helmet sensor calibration protocols were a jealously guarded proprietary information and required registration interface with Garrahan's Mainframe at their headquarters.

Characteristics
Registering the helmet is required to complete the Miner Miracles quest but has no effect on the use of the power armor. Excavator power armor has good Radiation Resistance. It has the poorest Damage and Energy Resistances of any power armor model at the same level but wearing a full set of Excavator power armor increases carry weight by 100. Wearing a partial set has no carry bonus. If a piece wears completely out, it is removed from the chassis, removing the carry bonus. When mining ore veins of some metals while wearing a full set of Excavator armor, mining will produce four times the ore per attempt. This does not seem to alter the number of attempts made, so this seems to produce four times the ore per vein. The specific metals with this bonus are listed in the table to the right. This does not seem to work on ore deposits.

Armor parts

 * Level 25


 * Level 35


 * Level 45

Locations
There were supposed to be five suits made, but there are no locations with existing Excavator power armor. The Excavator power armor can be crafted during the quest Miner Miracles after downloading its schematics from a terminal in Garrahan Mining HQ in the R&D section, which is on the left after coming through the main door. The terminal is located in a large room on a center table, where there are two power armor stations. Once crafted, pieces cannot be upgraded to a higher level. To obtain a higher level set, the player character must craft it. This can be done at any power armor station.

Plans for crafting mods can be purchased from vendor bot Greg in Grafton, vendor bot Chad in Camden Park or the Responders vendor in The Whitespring Resort.

Crafting supplies
Values as of patch 1.0.6.0. No changes as of patch 1.1.1.2.

Repair supplies
Values as of patch 1.1.1.2. Values that are available suggest that others will be about 1/3rd of crafting values. *Estimated

Armor modifications
Materials listed are accurate for the PC version (patch 1.1.3.11) as of May 4, 2019.