Fallout Tactics Apparel

Armour in FOT is similar to the armour in the RPGs, with two major differences:

-plasma is considered an energy weapon, and replaced with a new form of damage was included called gas, and

-Armour can now reduce skills by a predefined amount, ie. Metal armour mark I and II reduce the sneak skill by 25%.

The four major types of armour are below.

Leather
Leather Armor and Leather Armor Mark II, the basic armour available, good AC and no skill penalties, but practically no reduction of damage.

Metal
Metal Armor and Metal Armor Mark II, the protection of choice for grunts, trades AC and 25% sneak for improved resistance to damage.

Tesla Armor Falls loosely under Metal, due to it's overall similarity to metal armor, and is very good at absorbing energy damage, but overall seems to be a waste of time, because you'll have access to power armour by the time this is available, and power armor rocks!

Environmental
Environmental Armor and Environmental Armor Mark II are the new kids on the block, providing some protection against radiation and near complete protection from gas as well as improved damage resistance, these armours can be useful despite greater penalties to skills than metal armour.

Power Armour
Now this is what we're here for... Eastern Brotherhood Power Armor/Eastern Brotherhood Advanced Power Armor! The best AC and damage resistance available in the game, but comes with the biggest penalties for skills in the game. For use in heavy firefights, and let's face it, every mission from St. Louis (first super mutant mission) includes heavy firefights.