Power Armor

The Powered Infantry Armor is the peak of armored infantry technology, initially developed in the West Tek Research Facility laboratories. Now, only the most technologically advanced factions with ties to pre-War military or government, such as the Brotherhood of Steel or the Enclave, have access to those, and only the latter possesses the technology required to manufacture new Power Armor models, such as the Advanced Power Armor and Advanced Power Armor Mk II.

The first version of Power Armor successfully deployed in combat was the T-45d model, which originally ran on Small Energy Cells, burning through them at an alarming rate. In response, later versions were manufactured with built-in MicroFusion Packs.

The most advanced pre-war model, T-51b Power Armor is fitted with a back-mounted TX-28 MicroFusion Pack which generates 60,000 Watts to power the HiFlo hydraulic systems built into the frame of the suit. Made of the poly-laminate composite, the T-51b shell is lightweight and capable of absorbing over 2500 Joules of kinetic impact. The 10 micron silver ablative coating can reflect laser and radiation emissions without damage to the composite subsurface.

T-51b Power Armor and later models also include a complete waste recycling system. Basically, you can urinate in the armor and it recycles everything.

The Chinese counterpart to power armor was the Hei Gui Stealth Armor.

History

 * August 2065: The need for increased mobility among the units of the US Army Mechanized Cavalry leads the American government's defense contractors to focus their research on the development of a man-based tank - the ultimate result is Powered Infantry Armor.
 * 2065 - 2067: Research and development into Power Armor intensifies among the different firms involved in the project and several prototypes are developed, many of which prove to be unworkable once they are deployed in the field. These prototypes pave the way for several major future advances in materials science, robotics, and nuclear fusion technology in the decade before the outbreak of the Great War.
 * Summer 2066: The first crude nuclear microfusion cell is unveiled, one of the civilian technological spin-offs of the Power Armor project. The new technology is soon incorporated into a wide variety of consumer goods, including robots and automobiles. It begins to alleviate the terrible energy shortages plaguing the United States, but was unable to fully alleviate the world's energy problems before the outbreak of the Great War in 2077 made the problem moot. Ironically, had the fusion microcell technology had more time to disseminate across the globe from the United States, it would have solved most of the world's energy problems, thus ending the need for the armed conflicts that ultimately lead to the downfall of human civilization.
 * 2067: The first suit of T-45d Power Armor is deployed for combat duty among American infantrymen fighting the Chinese occupation of Alaska. While lacking the full mobility of future versions of the armor, this early suit of Power Armor is incredibly effective against conventional Chinese tanks and infantry. Its ability to allow a single infantryman to carry heavy ordinance becomes key in various localized conflicts during the Sino-American War, and it has the power to destroy entire towns without endangering the wearer from attacks by conventional firearms or even missile launchers. The Chinese People's Liberation Army rushes to create its own versions, but the Chinese are many years behind the United States' work on the project.
 * 2074: Contrary to the United States' claim of waging a defensive war that seeks only to retake Alaska from the Chinese, entire mechanized infantry divisions outfitted with Power Armor are deployed in an American invasion of China, but they become bogged down during intense combat on the Chinese mainland, putting a further drain on American resources and supply lines in the Sino-American War.
 * June 2076: The T-51b Power Armor prototype is finally completed, resulting in the development of the suit of Power Armor that the Vault Dweller finds in Fallout. This suit represents the pinnacle of Power Armor technology before the outbreak of the Great War ends all technological progress for many decades. Many of these units are sent by the American military to the front in China, and they begin to carve a swath through the Chinese forces defending their nation, ending the stalemate that had defined the Chinese front of the war in the two years since the start of the American invasion. Chinese resources are strained to the breaking point by the new American offensive using the T-51b armor, and the supply lines from the nations China has annexed in East and Southeast Asia begin to break down.
 * January 22, 2077: Power Armor is used for the first time for domestic purposes within the United States by U.S. Army units deployed within American cities for crowd and quarantine control duties related to the growing resource shortages and outbreaks of epidemic disease. Units originally serving in China and on the Anchorage Front Line find themselves fighting fellow Americans at home as the disorders grow worse across the course of this year. Food riots increase, and many civilians are killed in fights with the military and police. A growing number of soldiers desert from the American military both in Canada and the United States. These deserters are captured when possible by military policemen and are sent to various military prisons across the United States. Some of these prisoners are later used by American military scientists in illegal human experiments at the Mariposa Military Base in California where the Forced Evolutionary Virus is first tested.
 * 2198: The Enclave's scientists develop various new technologies, including the first new viable Power Armor variations since the Great War. None of these suits are much of an improvement over the original versions of Power Armor developed before 2077, and some are actually worse.
 * 2215: Under Presidential Order, the Enclave's scientists begin to work on an upgraded version of Power Armor that exceeds the performance of the T-51b model. Many prototypes are developed and tested.
 * October 2220: Enclave scientists finally develop a reliable version of what they call Advanced Power Armor. The prototype's capabilities (and the various accidents/explosions/deaths involved in its creation) are classified by order of the Enclave's President Dick Richardson for the sake of the Enclave's morale.

T-45d Power Armor
The T-45d Power Armor was the first version of Power Armor to be successfully deployed in battle by the United States in 2067 during the Sino-American War. After the Great War, it is employed by several factions, including the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel and the Brotherhood Outcasts.

Its variants, found in Fallout 3, are: Linden's Outcast Power Armor, Prototype Medic Power Armor, Ashur's Power Armor, Tribal Power Armor.

T-51b Power Armor
The T-51b Powered Infantry Armor represented the peak of armored infantry technology before the Great War, developed in the laboratories of the West Tek Research Facility. At the end of the Anchorage Reclamation in Janury 2077, the armor had become standard issue for American Soldiers in the Army's Mechanized Cavalry Regiments. Now, only the most technologically advanced factions with ties to the pre-Great War American military or federal government, such as the Brotherhood of Steel or the Enclave, have access to this type of Power Armor.

Its variants include Hardened Power Armor (Fallout and Fallout 2) and Winterized T-51b Power Armor (Fallout 3).

Advanced Power Armor
The Advanced Power Armor, first successful model developed after the War by the Enclave, is composed of lightweight metal alloys, reinforced with ceramic castings at key stress points. The motion-assist servo-motors used in the armor appear to be high quality models as well, enhancing the wearer's strength more substantially than the T-51b. It was issued primarily to Enclave troops operating on the United States mainland.

Advanced Power Armor Mk II
Like its older brother, the Mk II version is matte black with a menacing appearance, but with a few significant differences - it appears to be composed entirely of lightweight ceramic composites rather than the usual combination of metal and ceramic plates. Early versions (used by the Enclave in the 2240s), while composed of different materials, used the same design as the earlier Advanced Power Armor. By 2277, the Enclave redesigned its appearance while keeping the ceramic composition and the "Advanced Power Armor Mk II" designation.

Its variants, found in Fallout 3, are the Tesla Power Armor and the Enclave Hellfire Armor.

Athena Power Armor
An incomplete power armor project pioneered by the Enclave in conjunction with Poseidon Energy. According to initial tests, it had defensive capabilities above and beyond any other infantry armor in use before the apocalypse.

Midwestern Brotherhood Power Armor
This horned variant is used by the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel, a splinter faction based around Chicago. Its origin is unclear.

Midwestern Brotherhood Advanced Power Armor
A more advanced version of the former, horned variant, composed of lightweight metal alloys, reinforced with ceramic castings at key points.

Vault-Tec Power Armor
The origin of this armor is probably an attempt by Vault-Tec to produce some valuable combat equipment to help their own Secret Vault to successfully enter the post-apocalyptic world. A unique advanced variant also exists.

Appearances
Power Armors appear in every Fallout game. T-51b Power Armor and its hardened version appear in both Fallout and Fallout 2 (and was to appear in Van Buren), while the latter also introduces the Enclave's advanced variants. In Fallout 3 the T-45d Power Armor is the general Power Armor that can be found, as most members of the Brotherhood of Steel wear it. The Enclave's variant suits of Power Armor are also encountered. A rusty set of T-51b Power Armor is located in the Fort Constantine military base (but can only be obtained by doing a specific quest), and a Winterized Version of the same model can be found in the Fallout 3 Operation: Anchorage add-on. Quite inconsistently with previous games in the series, Fallout Tactics shows the T-51b model only once in the introduction of the game, and the Midwestern Brotherhood Power Armor is used instead in the game, including a technologically more advanced version, years before the Enclave's new model is developed. In Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel a very different version is used, with a modern appearance unlike any of the known models, despite supposedly being used by the same Brotherhood of Steel organization as in the previous games. The Power Armor from the canceled Fallout d20 was a mixture of the T-51b model and the Fallout Tactics PA model.

Fallout: New Vegas
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