X-01 seems like a technology demonstrator. If you look into the development of real equipment and procurement its pretty common for manufacturers to submit platforms with a whole suite of features they anticipate the Military buyers might want but won't all become standard for the production model.
Yeah, it kind of seems like something they shoveled loads of money and R&D into to serve as a trial for a lot of revolutionary ideas, not necessarily intending for all of those advancements to be employed at once in mass production. The Enclave later on were able to produce a lot of armor and innovate on it because they weren't as restricted by funding and resource availability as in the pre-war US.
I have a family member who is currently working as a carpenter on the us navy's NEWEST ships that are being developed. He told me that he has to laugh at the fact that it's the newest ships but when working he found A FLOPPY DISK PORT in the blue prints. thats how long it takes this tech to be developed even for the most powerful nation with the most resources to expend.
@@lazarussolomon3541 probably has more to do with compatibility. Older floppy disks are still around and usable, the newest ones are usually the trashiest. Even if the navy isn't using floppy disks it's better to put a little $20 floppy reader unit incase.
I always had the theory that midwest PA and APAMK2 (Black Devil) were built off of the same half finished prewar blueprints, explaining the similarities.
3:26 in Fallout 76 during the Steel Dawn add-on you infiltrate the “Enclave research facility”. Inside you can find many scorched including a Scorched Chief wearing a full set of X-01 power armor. So at least 1 suit of X-01 was created by the Appalachian Enclave.
@@OPTIMUSL1ME I dont remember properly but wasnt X-01 basically a prototype armor just entering production in fallout 4 I dont see how that necessarily breaks lore as Enclave kept developing the series
@@MrAapasuo X-01 was said to have been developed and used by the Enclave in a loading screen. This is fine, and is lore consistent, but makes it annoying to find it (and jet) in pre-war containers, since Bethesda is too lazy to make it not spawn there. The Nuka Cola Quantum X-01 in Nuka World takes it to another level since at the time it was explicitly a post war armor, as well as it being absurd to give a soda company your state of the art secret weapon (since power armor basically won the conflict in Alaska). The armor is sealed in this glass box untouched since the bombs fell, which doesn't make sense and is supremely lazy by Bethesda since so many people touched that area during development and nobody stopped or checked to see if it made sense. They did retcon this in 76 saying it was a pre war prototype that entered development post war, years after Nuka World's release.
I think the hellfire armor having fire resistance makes a lot of sense. You’re holding a flamethrower so it makes sense that you’d probably get hot in there. Since you’re gonna be in close quarters with a flamethrower you need to be able to resist fire while spewing it, so you don’t kill yourself as well
It's not about the flamethrower itself but the fuel tanks - they don't like being shot. Historically using a handheld flamethrower was a borderline death sentence, not just because everyone would immediately focus fire on you, but because if a round pierced your tank you were dead. If you somehow survived the explosion you'd just be covered in napalm/etc and burn to death anyway. The power armor would just keep you alive in the (likely) event that happened.
Someone in T-60 can survive the direct blast of a rocket engine, so I’m not sure what further fireproofing is needed for Hellfire- what, to be able to walk around on the surface of the sun? It would make sense to have extra heat resistance for fighting enemies with laser weapons, but the idea that it’s specifically for flamethrower troops so they don’t burn themselves is kind of silly.
@@QualityPen but Ramses armor was damaged and I believe the only reason he survived was because he’s a synth. Think about it, why not give the fire resistant armor to flamethrower equipped troops? Who else do you give it to?
@Guy Person This is incorrect. Only the German WW1 flamethrower was susceptible to firey explosions. It is incredibly unlikely for a US or Japanese flamethrower to explode like in the movies. The only explosion more likely to see is the nitrogen tank exploding (think shooting a spray paint can but huge) which would kill you but there would be no firey boom. Sorry just had to correct this as a big history buff.
@@SisterMisery Pointy stick is historically mankind's most reliable weapon. Spears and similar polearms were generally more popular and easier to produce than swords in most older militaries so it's kind of sad they don't get much attention in movies.
I would consider the Nuka Cola Quantum suit an Enclave suit, many governments use private companies to make military hardware, so having Caleb Bradburton, the ceo of one of the most rich and influential prewar companies work on a secret enclave project makes sense to me
@@tefnutofhoney2832 I don't believe the Space Section was ever opened to the public, I could be wrong, but the way Caleb talks about it, everything doing with project cobalt, which would include the Space park weren't finished
@@tefnutofhoney2832 I don't think everything they commission had to be top secret. As a real world comparison, Lockheed Martin showed off the YF-22 next generation fighter jet to the public decades before the Raptor entered service. Its a propaganda piece of sorts, "come look at the next generation of Powered Combat Armor, proof that America is at the cutting edge of technology"
It's true that the US outsources alot of military R&D to private companies, I find it weird they chose a soda company over literally anyone else. Regardless of how good their chemist are, getting the clearances for a company that makes soda would take years of bureaucracy alone.
@@saffronic3026 but it was going to be an attraction. It feels like that was even the intention of the armor there. Otherwise why would it be kept there, and not in, say, a secure bunker like bradbertons vault? Like the nuka nuke launcher that was made using the same project.
@@Rad_King At least more than 25 years as it still is comparable to t60 in 76. This could also explain the drop in quality in the advanced power armor mk2 between fallout 2 and 3 but it being stronger in New Vagas
This actually works on a lot of levels. I've heard of modern tank armor taking years to cool off. And X-01 has some advanced energy weapon protection, that is probably pretty thermally insulating as a side effect. What does this combo mean? In Fallout 76 your X-01 armor has that solid layer of protection against energy weapons but the inner layer that is supposed to be providing ballistic protection is a hot gooey mess that is cooling off painfully slowly under the strongest layer of insulation ever devised.
I would say it took more research into how radiation seeps past coating and alloys as well as gathering material for better armor. The fo3 version of enclave armor is a cheaper mass produced armor totally different because they reused what they could find in the DC area. Thus allow8ng them to produce quantity at the cost of quality. Makes sense to me
You know I started up the Pit dlc for fallout 3 and my first thought was, “wow, this is literally just Pittsburgh.” There is literally no fuckin difference form that shit hole and the real life shit hole 💀
When it comes to the loading screen bits, I always chalked it up to a sort of misunderstanding. When they say the T51 armor was the best in the Pre War days, they're saying that as if they're talking to people from the Pre War. The X01 was experimental, and thus wasn't known to the public, so therefore to pretty much everyone would be unaware of it.
I see it as the T-51 was simply the most proven and battle tested. Military hardware ALWAYS has teething issues upon adoption so in my headcannon the T-51 is "the best" because it was superior to the T-45 and also had all of its issues sorted out in successive updates. The T-60 was just rolling out of production lines, so there's likely a lot of teething issues not yet solved by the time the nukes went up. X-01 was still in prototyping and demonstrator phase, so while the proposed specs were definitely impressive I'm sure there's a lot of problems or design flaws not yet adressed.
To make this even more simple, the X01 was never deployed. T60 was the best pre war power armour, it’s just that if the world didn’t go to shit, the US government was probably gearing up for the X01 platform to be the new generation of power armour, but again, it never saw deployment.
@@CheemsofRegret Well it's also that T-51 spared no expense in the "what ifs." Overdesigned for projectile deflections and energy resistant coatings. Was pretty demanding on materials so the next step was massively overhauling what they learned in 45 and 51 to make the 60. Didn't use the coatings 51 did, but had very thick armor, redesigned plating and so on to give it better overall performance and protection.
also as an archaeologists watching gamers try to understand lore and division of PA development reminds me so much of trying to understand object typologies in my field.
I find the x01 controversy really interesting. When I encountered that in game I didn't really think anything of it; my immediate thought was that the t51 was the pinical of pre war power armor that saw any actual production, use, deployment, or considerable testing as it's hard to indicate something so unique as an individual prototype suit (which by nature of design, would have some form of schematics in existence) as a relevant factor in a broad statement because it's such an outlier. I real world example is the Des Lisle Carbine from WW2; it was a suppressed carbine that was incredible successful and silent (actually quieter than most modern suppressors), also being able to fire hundreds of rounds before needing to replace components vs. the small handful of rounds that could be fired by the equivalently silenced Webley pistol which aside from the above-mentioned shot difference, also had to be used at extremely close ranges; however, only 129 were made and only 1 of the prototype airborne model; as such they're occasionally brought up as the best individual suppressed weapon, but not the pinical by dint of extremely limited use. I think it somewhat unfair to include experimental or individual items in a braud statement of the pinical of an era. New follower, love your content! The fallout lore deep dives I've craved lol, Thanks for what you do! (P.S.: I apologise for any any grammatical, syntax, or spelling errors; severely dyslexic so while I do proof read, it is often extremely difficult for me to catch those errors.)
I agree with this, I didn't know about the X01 controversy and tbh I thing people and being kinda precious and taking things literally, like have the X01 being better doesn't break lore imho as X has been used to identify PROTOTYPE stuff (technically so has the T) so the X01 can easily be pre war prototype which has greater capabilities but has reached field testing or heck could even been a competing project to the t51b but the t51b was selected due to ability to field more units. Then the enclave has access to prototype designs or even a whole one doesn't matter and tweak it into there own gear
I agree, maybe X-01 was ready for use but methods of mass production never were. Enough to give some to pretty important people, but not nearly enough to be deployed, why would you try to put on the field something that is made to take a beating and have no way to repair (no mass production no spare parts )
That is precisely the way I saw the X-01. It might be more advance than the T-51, but if it isn't ready for wide use, is it really better? That's why is don't think it's contradictory,
Unfortunately some fallout fans have a tendency to overreact if they even think something might contradict any tiny bit of lore no matter how insignificant.
@@shadenox8164 These same Fallout fans get pissed over a drug in Fallout and the debate if it was pre-war or post-war. People claim that Jet was only made post-war and that Myron invented it, but the same dude who claims to have made it can be questioned through skill checks and eventually his claim of producing it becomes unreliable. It's a drug that can massively enhance reflexes to the point of the user feeling like time is slowed, I'd wonder why the military would keep that under wraps and not let anyone know it exists.
The hooks on the odd Advance Power armor face plate, actually makes some sense. I wager that by the time this is developed by the Enclave, they've gained some weight. So not unlike the old school 'hard hat' diving helmets, you wouldn't expect a soldier wearing the armor, or their tenders helping them enter it, to actually lift the armor themselves. So instead you use a simple small block and tackle type arrangement to lift the helmet up, or lower it down onto the wearer. There's also an easier way to explain why there are two Mark 2 armors. In the US military, it's not uncommon to see vehicles where you will have multiple variants of the same vehicle, sometimes even advanced variants. So, for example, with the Sherman tank, you get the M4 sherman as the base. Then there's the M4A2 which is a variant of it. Within the A2 type, you have A and B variants. However troops tend to default back to the simplest naming, so you'll see them referenced as M4A2 as opposed to the M4A2-A variant. I think the same is happening with the MK2 power armor. I think it's proper name is something like Advanced Power Armor MK2-B1 or something similar, but the troops wearing it just call it the "MK2" type. In with that, the only way you'd get MK3 is if something drastic was changed in regards to the armor. So the Tesla armor, would be a MK3 variant.
not to mention there were... SEVERAL m3 AFVs in ww2 all at the same time. M3 stuart M3 lee/grant M3 GMC M3 Halftrack M3 Scout Car These are all generally vehicles, some of them tanks, but the way it works was CLASSIFICATION. M3 medium vs M3 Light, ect. and theyre very different. mk2 advanced could be the assualt pattern in one region, and the scout pattern in the other, and the flamer pattern in yet another. Not to mention things get even crazier when youre dealing with retrofits and old stock. The m3 stuart was upgraded to the m5 stuart, keeping the name designation, but being a quite different tank... meanwhile the m3 lee/grant had clear differences... usually, but not always!
The Enclave Armory in the Whitespring Bunker has AT LEAST 17 full sets of X-01 in the back. Glitching there isn't too difficult, since you can use the openings around he Modus consoles to place your Power armor in the backroom and once you enter the PA, you will be in that area. Furthermore, as others have pointed out the Enclave Chief at the Enclave Research Facility is also wearing X-01 PA, so that's a total of at least 18 full sets of X-01 confirmed in Appalachia by 2103.
My best guess on the horns is that they are meant to make the armor look more intimidating. And I think a dedicated stealth suit of power armor with something like stealth boy tech built into it would be kind of cool.
I feel like the Chinese stealth suit kind of gives a precedent for stealth power armor being something the military was interested in pursuing, but I think it’d need to be a very exclusive prototype or post war to not feel retcon-y.
Actually, they're most likely com-antenna. They clearly have a communication system, so perhaps they simply made it a bit more external with the added intimidation factor.
Some insight to the "X-suit is the pinnacle of power armor" debate, when I was in the Marines, we were given the M27 to replace the M4 and M249, being told it was an extremely modern and advanced weapon, while the Coast Guard unit next to us had completely different weapon, the Mk.18, an improved version of the M4, and both of our weapons were very outdated looking compared to what the private security people on base carried, so it's really easy for your "pinnacle" equipment to be outdated by something that another group in the same area had and wasn't standard issue yet
I always assumed Hellfire armor have fire-resistance because they are expected to set things on fire and move thru said fire, they are epected to risk themself in their effort to wipe out the enemy, and thus the armor protect them against their own area-of-effect weaponry.
X-01 is my favorite of all power armors. The aesthetic just calls to me. The rounded off shoulders & bug eyes. The light from the eye sockets. It's a beautiful design.
There was one set of X01 prototype armor active in Appalachia. It is worn by a scorched enclave never within the Enclave Research Base added within the Steel Dawn update. The X01 scorched paint from daily ops is the skin this enclave member has on his PA
I've always assumed that the x01 not being ready for use basically just meant it wasn't ready for full production due to cost or some rare material scarcity
This is the most likely explanation. It was probably a trial for a number of revolutionary advancements, that were hopefully going to be utilized in more affordable platforms in the future. When the Enclave got hold of the blueprints, they found they could actually field a lot of units with it because they didn't have the funding limitations the pre-war USA had to contend with.
The fact that Erickson got smarter over time gave me an idea: what if FEV wipes the subjects’ mind? What if that’s why Erickson was able to get smarter, not because of any enhancements, but because he thought for himself, he taught himself, he learned on his own, and the other super mutants had been taught not to do that
I don't know what brought this up but fev causes anyone irradiated who's effected by fev to lose significant inteligence, but increase the intelligence of non-irradiated people. It's the plot of fo1
I've always loved the T-60 Armor. It looks bulky enough, powerful, assertive, fierce, well-protected, and post-medieval. I always thought the T-60 Armor really encapsulates the essence of the Brotherhood of Steel.
So in NV they have a cut armor called Enclave Shocktrooper armor that looks like the Black devil armor. I think that is the true explanation of the black devil armor in 3. They were storming the Capitol Wasteland and thus needed appropriate armor. I like the idea of them meeting up with another Enclave sector and them sharing tech and that being where they got the Black Devil armor, but with it just being one of their secondary projects of a cheaper, easily renewable armor and not what they came up with instead of the APA.
the fire resistance for hellfire power armour makes alot of sense, if you are using a flame based weapon, it makes sense to wear something that resists long term exposure to that heat. both for longevity of the armour and for the wellbeing of the user. it's a militarized firefighter suit!
I was thinking exactly this! in a more realistic setting than a video game, where buildings and bushes and your enemies stay on fire, being able to traverse areas that a few moments ago you set ablaze would be kind of important.
So the turbines on the black devil armor shoulders are magnetic suspenders. They hold the shoulder pauldrons in place without actually connecting them to the primary armor piece. This helps increase their kinetic absorption ability by giving them a little bit of movement room when being struck. It also adds to ease of change and maintenance; but does require more suit energy consumption overall. 😂👍
I think Black Devil and Tesla Armor are canonicaly more advanced than T-51 B but developers lowered their stats because of game balance. Enclave armour ale really easy to get.
Remember, more advance doesn't always mean better. It could mean that some on board systems are just better than pre war armor. Plus it'd make sense that enclave armor is weaker than T-51. It's produced in pretty big numbers after a war that destroyed nearly all production plants. So it'd make sense lore wise that they have less defense, just better tech.
How i would explain the difference in APA mk2: the only suit we can find in game is on the oil rig. Perhaps it was in prototype stage with the suit we find being the first model when the chosen one made the place go kaboom. With no idea about the original APA MK2, the raven rock enclave designed a new power armour that they named APA MK2.
putting the pieces of power armour lore together is like being given a 1000 piece puzzle, but its only bottom left corner pieces, 4 are missing, and somehow about 50 are from a different set altogether. well done, Radical Kingulous. that is your full legal name, right?
Leaving this here to note that they added enclave remnants to fallout 4 as part of the "next gen" update, all enclave personnel in it are equipped with custom painted combat armor, plasma weapons and units clad in X-02 (which has always been a theoretical name for the black devil armor but is now called that in fallout 4) and hellfire power armor (along with incinerators of course), there’s also a side quest that involves finding a suit of X-02 that belonged to a deserter who fled to the commonwealth and apparently started helping local settlements for a while, by the time we find his armor he long dead I think but in his terminal he describes the suit of X-02 that he has as being one of only dozens of prototypes, very interesting
I think it's a matter of lore, software bugs and all are mentioned. An example is when you recieve a set of power armor from the brotherhood in 4, the npc mentions an issue with the actuator in the leg causing random movements. While the x-01 is perfectly useable it could have been a situation where there was some kind of lore issue that was only fixed pretty late, or they simply could not program it into the game.
A lot of the sprites in 1 and 2 are the same even for different armor and weapons. Like metal armor and tesla armor or all rifles and pistols having the same model outside the inventory. I'd say the MK2 in fallout 2 and 3 are the same take 3s aperance as the canon one given the 2 version is just a copy of MK1 sprite. As for performance issues the BOS refers to enclave power armor as being far better than their T45 suits repeatedly in conversation despite damage restiance values being the same. I'd take them at their word and attribute the low damage restiance in gameplay as a balance measure to keep the basic enclave canon fodder manageable and to keep the player from getting a top of the line suit to easily.
As other people have commented the pre-war suits of X01 are most likely proof of concept items that are exclusive to the areas you find them in especially the quantum armor which is said directly to be a proof of concept item on the strontium coding. a lot of people at theorize that the X01 is the blueprint for the advanced power armor in advanced power armor Mark 2 that we get in the first to fallout games and three so that actually makes sense again X01 as is stated is most likely a proof of concept build and the physical blueprint for the other armors that The enclave creates
Ive always seen the power armors being X-01: the proto type APA MK1: The final version of X-01 APA MK2 being more like APA MK1 V.2 X-02: The prototype of actual APA MK2 Enclave fallout 3 armor: APA MK 2 V.1 Tesla armor: APA MK2 V.1.5 Hellfire being a different set
My headcanon is that X-01 and T-60 were competing for the contract as for the next power armor design X-01 being an experimental in house design by the US government using all new parts and technology whereas the T-60 was west-tek repurposing their old T-45 manufacturing plants to bring that old model which has now been relegated to riot control armor up to speed with their newer T-51b model to get them back on the front lines for cheaper The T-60 was finished first Considering it has an actual designation rather than having an X designation which is used in the real world to designate experimental military designs The enclave had these designs and improved upon them creating the Advanced Power Armor from those
That sounds pretty plausible to me. I could see the simpler more conventional design of T60 being a more streamlined development process, with most of the core technology development already left over from T45. X-01 being a radical new design makes sense to have been delayed, perhaps out of insistence from certain factions within the Military who were Enclave affiliated pushing for the platform to be the absolute best it could be at the expense of making it difficult to manufacture.
This Fo4 "controversy" was a nontroversy. Look, let me drop some real-world deep lore knowledge on you, whenever the U.S. military has companies develop new aircraft to replace existing aircraft, those new experimental aircraft are designated with X- followed by a number, point in case the X-13 "Vertijet". Now, the X-01, it's literally got a military designation for being experimental. We didn't NEED fallout 76 to tell us this, the literal name tells us it's experimental, ergo, no retconning occurred. The T-51 was the best armor in us, the T-60 had only just begun to roll off the production line and thus was unproven in battle and the X-01 never properly left the experimental phase of it's development hinting at the name X-01. X literally meaning experimental. Now, for the love of sanity, can we PLEASE put this bs to rest? I'm sick and tired of hearing about this nontroversy from overly emotional manbabies crying "retcon" where none exists.
I honestly always thought that the hellfire power armors fire resistance was to protect the wearer from splash back from their incendiary weapons and for your theory on the 76 version i thought it could have some use in the possibility of combat in coal fires in the Appalachians
I personally like the idea that Horrigan’s APA MK. II is a prototype, and that the final version was more mass producible and more easily reparable, as opposed to Horrigan’s prototype made partially from a refitted MK. II suit
Maybe Hellfire has that extra fire resistance because their weapon of choice is the heavy incinerator? I also wish you had mentioned the Hellfire from Creation Club, since you mentined the Black Devil they put there.
I always thought that the X-01 power armor was meant for space/lunar combat, and the little black tube on the face is for a Nutrient paste for feeding in a vacuum where you can't take your helmet off to eat.
So here is my head cannon on Enclave PA the X-01 is adopted after prolonged use of T-51 and other pre-war PA then once the Advanced PA is ready the fully switch over to the newer models. When it comes to the Black Devil PA iv always seen that as a necessary downgrade to PA due to the reduced state of the faction. However i see the Equalizer PA as a divergent design that was drawn up during the X-01 development period remaining in the Enclaves files only to be brought into use in a way when Frank Horrigan needed a custom suit with the changes in appearance mostly in the helmet being made then. Personally i see the F76 Black Devil PA skin as a retcon of how it looked in F3 due to how PA exists as of F4. Though speaking of the Black Devil PA the floating pauldrons i see this as clear use of alien tech that must exist in the turbine like items located in the shoulders. This would result in less of an impact to the body of the wearer as any physical or kinetic attack that strikes the pauldrons would in theory be completely unfelt. Love your videos RadKing my Atom bless you in your future endeavors in the spreading of his glory.
Actually the Hellfire Armor is mentioned in New Vegas along with it's production by the logs of the creator of ED-E. Because that most likely happened pretty early I think the west coast first produced Hellfire Armor and they might have send them to Appalachia.
In regards to still getting thirsty in power armor in fallout 4 survival mode, it doesn't say how it recycles waste. While the obvious one that everyone thinks of is turning it into drinking water, it could be recycled as reactor coolant or in the ac system to defrost the condensor
Honestly this really is a simple fix lore wise. The desighn from F2 is the Mark 2 Power Armor Series Model X-01, the Tesla version is X-01.2. The Black Devil Armor is the sleeker Mark 2 Power Armor Series Model X-02, the Tesla version is the Mark 2 Power Armor Series Model X-02.2. Hellfire Armor is the Mark 2 Power Armor Series Model X-03, no Tesla model variant has been made (though there should be) all of which was desighned and built Post-War. We could even make room in the lore for both F4s bulky PA desighn and F3/NVs sleeker desighn by saying the bulky version is the Pre-war desighn due to the limitations of the tech of the time and the sleeker version is a Post-War desighn refined over time by factions like the Enclave, Institute, and even the Brotherhood for more agility, mobility, speed, dexterity and less cost while taking a hit to deffence and survivability.
I always had a theory that the X0-1 wasn't ready for mass production because it was too expensive. If the government in fallout is anything like our government irl, price is overall. Even if the tech is crazy good, the cost of every unit will cause the government to buy or make a lesser quality
24:00 i love that explination! It doesnt suffer from "star wars syndrome" that tries to fit every little thing into the cannon. The Fallout 2 one is so disapointing. "Sweet! A new kind of power armor!" Looks exactly the same as the mark 1. It makes way more sense for the F2 one to be a variant of the mark 1, like in the newer games we have T-60A through F.
Maybe the Telsa armor's yellow sheen could be caused by some anodizing of the metal, since metal can be anodized in all different colors, including yellow. Also, 'gunk' on the armor looks like how copper would oxidize. :)
Assuming they based the Advanced Power Armor MKI helmet off of typical gas masks, those removable panels are possibly for additional filtration, communications (radios, voice amplifiers, vocoders were generally mounted outside of the mask), air hoses (supplemental oxygen, air conditioning, rebreathing), nourishment (hydration and/or liquid based food). Of course, this being Fallout they could be anything
The X-01 i always rationalized as having a decent prototype but they likely wanted to run further tests to optimize it, the materials and figure out a way to push it into production. The whole "quantum X-01" could have been a test to see what the result would be and potentially try to work out a deal to actually produce them in mass. They likely also may have had desire to test it more in lab environments before having live field tests.
For the Institute laser weaponry, it's most likely about cost/efficiency. Ammo economy in game doesn't reflect actual lore usage, so I would bet Institute weaponry is both cheaper to make in regards to materials (probably uses more plastics instead of metals, different focusing lenses etc) but also draw less power from the energy ammunition and prolong them. Edit for Fallout 3 bit: While I do believe the Enclave would have looked into both increasing performance while simultaneously cutting costs, the equal performance to regular T-45 is almost certainly a gameplay balancer. Best armor you can get in the base game from world exploration is the T-51B, so without breaking things you'd need this new Enclave armor that supersedes the armor in Fallout 2 to beat that out. It would have to be absurdly powerful, and would in turn likely need Bethesda to change their (admittedly awful) damage resistance setup they carried over from Oblivion. That said, assuming DR cap isn't a thing, that suit should realistically be like 60-65 on the body. Tesla moderately beating that, Hellfire blowing that out of the water.
03:18 > the noteable absence of this overworld, may indicate that the Enclave in Appalachia never actually constructed any suits themselves. Well, there's a lot of X-01 suits fenced off in the Whitesprings bunker, so I don't know about that. There's also the Enclave Scorched Chief wearing a suit of scorched X-01 Power Armor in the Enclave Research Facility Site-J 39:50 The Remnant Power Armor was actually meant to disguise you as a Enclave Remnant, rendering you hated by everyone while worn to balance very high armor rating and effects. This was cut as Joshua Sawyer said it was too annoying for the game.
honestly, regarding latter, if it had made it in, I would've hoped it would have far more durability, as if they had it with the final game's item hp of 1/5 of t-51, it would feel like a crummy reward to me, especially if they would have added the piece in promontory if it were the case
Found an IGN interview for Fallout 3, at, if i remember correctly, the 20 minute mark, Todd Howard states that the Enclave armor in Fallout 3 is the armor used in Fallout 2.
My favorite suits of power armor, in FO3 you can easily repair your own armor(if you use enclave) using your fallen enemies armor. In FNV it was almost to expensive to use because of the repair costs
If the Inferno armour is designed to resist heat, and they use Heavy Incinerators, then logic would say that the t-51 must have some sort of canonical weakness inherent to it. Either the armour wouldn't disperse heat, thereby cooking the inhabitant (most likely) or that the wiring or power supply would be extra vulnerable to heat (less likely)
i think the drama about the X-01 and the nuka-world armor can be answered like this, the T51 series power armor was the Pinnacle of Power armor in Acttive use by the US army before the bombs fell. the X-01 was still being worked on so wasn't in the hands of the army sides maybe some test modals and the Nuka-world armor was a brand tie in, something like if the usa army slaped coke adds on to the new line of main battle tanks.
For the enclave armor divergence its easy to understand in canon, The info was sent too all enclave groups. These group did NOT keep contact with each other Either by accident of breakthrough the west coast enclave created a superior armor to the other enclave groups. This knowledge was lost when the oil rig blew up.
You could probably explain both the X-01 armor and the new Fusion core mechanic together. T-51 was originally made with an internal generator that allowed it to operate for years without refueling or recharging, but at some point; the government switched to a quantity over quality approach and adopted the fusion core powered frame to make them cheaper and faster to produce, as well as possibly being easier to use and repair. Some existing T-51 might have had their parts retrofitted to work with the newer system, or they might've just adjusted the designs of ones that were made after the switch. X-01s, then, would've been an attempt to compensate for the reduced quality by making full use of the modularity and less demanding systems to cram in as much extra stuff as possible.
Did you mention the suit on the roof of Hub 360 guarded by an assaultron and a sentry bot? It might be leveled but after a certain level it is always a full suit
Personally i subscribe to the theory that later enclave armour had to be simplified just so that they could achieve some level of production. As for how the institute got a suit of XO-1 i believe it would be a combination of them contrary to popular belief not being entirely cut off from the world. We see many, many synth scavenging parties and investigations in fo4, and we know they allow high level personnel as far out as the capital wasteland. Its not that hard to assume that somewhere doen the line they came across an enclave base and either aquired the plans or an actual suit. And them being the radiation-phobes that they are would have added to the design to make it more resistant before falling back into "oh just send the synths out, its not worth it"
I would assume that X-01 not being ready pre war was an issue with mass production, not individual suits.The loading screen tip speaks of "The pinnacle of mechanical production", not the pinnacle of design, it would follow it was still in pre production testing and couldn't be rolled out.
Its a fun fact that cost is a genuine reason the prewar X01 would of been considered not ready, if you look at the real world US military. Which will literally deny really good pieces of equipment because of the costs
Imo my personal headcannon is that while the X-01 WAS made Pre-War, it was never brought into full production due to it being a bitch to manufacture. Likely due to its asymmetric design and higher quality metals used, not to mention fitting a radio, AC unit and recycling station within it. The Enclave didn't spent more than 100 years just trying to design the armor, they were trying to find a way to mass produce the armor, something that either due to a lack of time/resources was never achieved pre-war. And they had to mass produce said armor *post* war, with arguably less resources than the US gov had pre-war. Tl;dr X-01 was technically "made" pre-war, but the US Gov never found a way to effectively mass produce it an affordable cost. Also, X-01 in Appalachia is just non-canon, its only there for the player to craft because it was in Fallout 4
The black devil power armor was actually my favorite when i was a kid, particularly the Tesla variant. Though nowadays i tend to prefer the militaristic aesthetic of the pre-war power armor suits
I really love the fallout 3 enclave power armor I just love how sleek and intimidating it looks. I also love the idea that the DC enclave has less resources so their Mass produced armour is weaker than t-51b.
The enckave armor in 4 is referred to as advanced power armor MK2 which also showed up in fallout 2 as a unique version of the advanced power armor with the same sprite. The VOS in 3 also refers to enclave armor as being far better in dialogue when it's stats are basically the same as the BOS T45s. I'd attribute the weakness of it to gameplay balance given how common it is they needed it from what it is lore wise to keep the enclave grunts more squishy and keep the player from getting the best gear to early
So, I’m basing this question on a dream I literally had early this morning: *why* are there no boars/feral hogs in the Fallout franchise?? Like, they would be *perfect* hostile fauna! In my dream, they’re about the size of a mole rat, but the sows and alpha males are the size of Yaoguai, with cutters (tusks) roughly the size of a man’s arm! These creatures would be awesome change ups from Yaoguai and wild mongrels, and could also be used to illustrate my next suggestions for a future Fallout title: visible damage and cutscenes Imagine: you’re cornered in a wooded area and rushed by a boar, which throws you on your back and bites down on your powerfist. You shake loose (during the cutscene) and go to punch, but your powerfist is smoking and sparking, and showing visible crush damage. So, you bust out your combat dagger or 10mm and finish the hog. Cool right? Why isn’t Bethesda doing THAT, with gameplay?
I agree I think they make an amazing type of enemy I think the only reason we haven't seen them is probably just developer constraints what if we get a game in the American South it would be perfect for wild boars to come charging at the player
@@klaykid117 a *modern* game set in the American South would be cool, since we did get one previously (which shan’t be named according to most people), *and* it was set in an area where wild hogs are beyond prevalent.
My homebrew tabletop Fallout is set in Arkansas and uses hogs in several ways: Feral Hawgs as a wild creature between Feral Dog and Yauguai in power, Cart Swine which are used by settlers alongside Brahmin, and Razorbacks which are akin to Super-Mutant Hounds, but can get even bigger.
It was 2008 lol have you seen how far graphics are now a days? It was limited. I’m happy in fallout 4 the power armor was retconned. It needed to be a tank. I enjoyed all the fallout games. I watched ox horn for fallout 1,2 and tactics. I just don’t get the community or fan boys much. Bethesda did great with fallout 3 the main consensus and obsidian killed it with NV minuses the glitches on ps3 it was almost unplayable. And I loved 4 it needed more side quests. But the story was good. It’s leading to me is a civil war. West coast NCR vs East coast BOS. Bc the BOS is the main power.
Honestly, I love the APA helmet. It’s just so.. alien. If you see a soldier walking down the street in a regular helmet, you’re going to think “hey, that fella’s a soldier” but if you see someone walking down the street with a giant nuclear powered hunk of metal, you’re going to think “oh crap that’s not human” I think the smaller more compact design feels more alien over the x-01. X-01 gives you space for comfort, space for regular existance. You can tell a human has to be under there, but with the APA helmet, you.. can’t tell. It could be a robot designed to resemble a human, or it could be a soldier protecting their country.
Fuckin eh lol the Enclave is my favourite fallout faction there armor looks so cool. I remember when I was like 9 or so i got fallout 3 goty for Christmas but it came with a hardcover book full of concept art for fallout 3 and in one section of the book it had a bunch of cool drawings of Enclave and BoS power armor and also a bunch of concept art for liberty prime
I started with fallout 3, and I won't lie. Young me herd "they are the pre war government" and was like "yeah, I wanna help everyone bring order back" But never sided with Eden 😂 that's messed up, young me agreed to put FEV in the water just to get out of the base and never did it
X-01 to me sounds like thee power armor and tbh I can totally understand why it’s better than most if not all of them. One thing to take into consideration is manufacturing, if an army can utilize dozens of armor there is no way they will use quality armor. midrange to mediocre materials would be used, the idea it was a display and in testing shows how much power they could put into one but didn’t have the money/resources to massively produce such an armor and having a sponsor would greatly increase the quantity in how many can be produced or increasingly improve their baby. Most of the companies in fallout straight up lie to the citizens to make them feel better, so to say the T-51 was the best can clearly miss direct the consumer to buy out all that armor to do more research on the X-01 amor at the time. More over a person created an armor so good yet so low in quantity leads me to believe people in power just wanted this armor for themselves if not a very personal group to have it. The story doesn’t need exact explanation on to why it’s way better if in reality if we had a light bulb that never went out we wouldn’t buy any more.
X-01 seems like a technology demonstrator.
If you look into the development of real equipment and procurement its pretty common for manufacturers to submit platforms with a whole suite of features they anticipate the Military buyers might want but won't all become standard for the production model.
Yeah, it kind of seems like something they shoveled loads of money and R&D into to serve as a trial for a lot of revolutionary ideas, not necessarily intending for all of those advancements to be employed at once in mass production. The Enclave later on were able to produce a lot of armor and innovate on it because they weren't as restricted by funding and resource availability as in the pre-war US.
@@IcepersonYT absolutely, it gives vibes of being a proof of concept.
They even tend to be designated x or xm and then a number. Standing for experimental or experimental military, respectively
I have a family member who is currently working as a carpenter on the us navy's NEWEST ships that are being developed. He told me that he has to laugh at the fact that it's the newest ships but when working he found A FLOPPY DISK PORT in the blue prints. thats how long it takes this tech to be developed even for the most powerful nation with the most resources to expend.
@@lazarussolomon3541 probably has more to do with compatibility. Older floppy disks are still around and usable, the newest ones are usually the trashiest. Even if the navy isn't using floppy disks it's better to put a little $20 floppy reader unit incase.
I always had the theory that midwest PA and APAMK2 (Black Devil) were built off of the same half finished prewar blueprints, explaining the similarities.
We do know that there are, or at the very least were, enclave outposts in Chicago, which, coincidentally is where Tactics begins.
Nah it’s just bethesda representing their writing quality in a suit of ugly and weak armour. 😂
I think it's confirmed the Midwest Power Armor isn't canon, and it's fully confirmed that the "Black Devil" is simply a visual retcon to the MK II.
Apa2 isnt based on orewar it was created in fallout 2 as a upgrade to apa1 and tactics isnt cannon bethesda have stated that firmly on record
I like to think that Enclave forces fleeing east left some armor behind and the Midwest found it and tried to reverse engineer it
3:26 in Fallout 76 during the Steel Dawn add-on you infiltrate the “Enclave research facility”. Inside you can find many scorched including a Scorched Chief wearing a full set of X-01 power armor. So at least 1 suit of X-01 was created by the Appalachian Enclave.
You can also see X-01 suits in the armory in the Whitesprings Bunker as well
@@cipherxi8513 that's what I was gonna say
The Fallout 4 and onward X-01 looks great but makes me irrationally angry because of how it broke established lore
@@OPTIMUSL1ME
I dont remember properly but wasnt X-01 basically a prototype armor just entering production in fallout 4
I dont see how that necessarily breaks lore as Enclave kept developing the series
@@MrAapasuo X-01 was said to have been developed and used by the Enclave in a loading screen. This is fine, and is lore consistent, but makes it annoying to find it (and jet) in pre-war containers, since Bethesda is too lazy to make it not spawn there. The Nuka Cola Quantum X-01 in Nuka World takes it to another level since at the time it was explicitly a post war armor, as well as it being absurd to give a soda company your state of the art secret weapon (since power armor basically won the conflict in Alaska). The armor is sealed in this glass box untouched since the bombs fell, which doesn't make sense and is supremely lazy by Bethesda since so many people touched that area during development and nobody stopped or checked to see if it made sense. They did retcon this in 76 saying it was a pre war prototype that entered development post war, years after Nuka World's release.
I think the hellfire armor having fire resistance makes a lot of sense. You’re holding a flamethrower so it makes sense that you’d probably get hot in there. Since you’re gonna be in close quarters with a flamethrower you need to be able to resist fire while spewing it, so you don’t kill yourself as well
It's not about the flamethrower itself but the fuel tanks - they don't like being shot. Historically using a handheld flamethrower was a borderline death sentence, not just because everyone would immediately focus fire on you, but because if a round pierced your tank you were dead. If you somehow survived the explosion you'd just be covered in napalm/etc and burn to death anyway. The power armor would just keep you alive in the (likely) event that happened.
Someone in T-60 can survive the direct blast of a rocket engine, so I’m not sure what further fireproofing is needed for Hellfire- what, to be able to walk around on the surface of the sun?
It would make sense to have extra heat resistance for fighting enemies with laser weapons, but the idea that it’s specifically for flamethrower troops so they don’t burn themselves is kind of silly.
@@QualityPen but Ramses armor was damaged and I believe the only reason he survived was because he’s a synth. Think about it, why not give the fire resistant armor to flamethrower equipped troops? Who else do you give it to?
@Guy Person This is incorrect. Only the German WW1 flamethrower was susceptible to firey explosions. It is incredibly unlikely for a US or Japanese flamethrower to explode like in the movies. The only explosion more likely to see is the nitrogen tank exploding (think shooting a spray paint can but huge) which would kill you but there would be no firey boom. Sorry just had to correct this as a big history buff.
@@SisterMisery Pointy stick is historically mankind's most reliable weapon. Spears and similar polearms were generally more popular and easier to produce than swords in most older militaries so it's kind of sad they don't get much attention in movies.
I would consider the Nuka Cola Quantum suit an Enclave suit, many governments use private companies to make military hardware, so having Caleb Bradburton, the ceo of one of the most rich and influential prewar companies work on a secret enclave project makes sense to me
Its not very secret if they keep it on display in an amusement park.
@@tefnutofhoney2832 I don't believe the Space Section was ever opened to the public, I could be wrong, but the way Caleb talks about it, everything doing with project cobalt, which would include the Space park weren't finished
@@tefnutofhoney2832 I don't think everything they commission had to be top secret.
As a real world comparison, Lockheed Martin showed off the YF-22 next generation fighter jet to the public decades before the Raptor entered service.
Its a propaganda piece of sorts, "come look at the next generation of Powered Combat Armor, proof that America is at the cutting edge of technology"
It's true that the US outsources alot of military R&D to private companies, I find it weird they chose a soda company over literally anyone else. Regardless of how good their chemist are, getting the clearances for a company that makes soda would take years of bureaucracy alone.
@@saffronic3026 but it was going to be an attraction. It feels like that was even the intention of the armor there. Otherwise why would it be kept there, and not in, say, a secure bunker like bradbertons vault? Like the nuka nuke launcher that was made using the same project.
Maybe the X-01 needing more time to be ready could be a bit more literal? The materials it's made of could need time or radiation exposure to harden.
Knowing how military funding works, I imagine that they were trying to find cheaper way of doing things…
Possible, but how long do you think? Months? Years?
@@Rad_King At least more than 25 years as it still is comparable to t60 in 76. This could also explain the drop in quality in the advanced power armor mk2 between fallout 2 and 3 but it being stronger in New Vagas
This actually works on a lot of levels. I've heard of modern tank armor taking years to cool off. And X-01 has some advanced energy weapon protection, that is probably pretty thermally insulating as a side effect. What does this combo mean? In Fallout 76 your X-01 armor has that solid layer of protection against energy weapons but the inner layer that is supposed to be providing ballistic protection is a hot gooey mess that is cooling off painfully slowly under the strongest layer of insulation ever devised.
I would say it took more research into how radiation seeps past coating and alloys as well as gathering material for better armor. The fo3 version of enclave armor is a cheaper mass produced armor totally different because they reused what they could find in the DC area. Thus allow8ng them to produce quantity at the cost of quality. Makes sense to me
Anyone who tackles PA lore earns a cookie and a massive gold star ⭐ 🍪
Great video Rad! Applause all around
im the cookie stocker, heres the cookie for him :D 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪
Why thank you, this one was definitely a bit messy lorewise but I tried to make the best sense of it that I could.
@@Rad_King better sense that I made it when my son asked me why X-01 was in Nuka World 🤣
You know I started up the Pit dlc for fallout 3 and my first thought was, “wow, this is literally just Pittsburgh.” There is literally no fuckin difference form that shit hole and the real life shit hole 💀
@@MrEgg-zb2nf spoken like a true Clevelander
When it comes to the loading screen bits, I always chalked it up to a sort of misunderstanding. When they say the T51 armor was the best in the Pre War days, they're saying that as if they're talking to people from the Pre War. The X01 was experimental, and thus wasn't known to the public, so therefore to pretty much everyone would be unaware of it.
and the t60 was only being given to troops right before the great war,and only in small amounts
I see it as the T-51 was simply the most proven and battle tested. Military hardware ALWAYS has teething issues upon adoption so in my headcannon the T-51 is "the best" because it was superior to the T-45 and also had all of its issues sorted out in successive updates. The T-60 was just rolling out of production lines, so there's likely a lot of teething issues not yet solved by the time the nukes went up. X-01 was still in prototyping and demonstrator phase, so while the proposed specs were definitely impressive I'm sure there's a lot of problems or design flaws not yet adressed.
To make this even more simple, the X01 was never deployed. T60 was the best pre war power armour, it’s just that if the world didn’t go to shit, the US government was probably gearing up for the X01 platform to be the new generation of power armour, but again, it never saw deployment.
@@CheemsofRegret Well it's also that T-51 spared no expense in the "what ifs." Overdesigned for projectile deflections and energy resistant coatings. Was pretty demanding on materials so the next step was massively overhauling what they learned in 45 and 51 to make the 60. Didn't use the coatings 51 did, but had very thick armor, redesigned plating and so on to give it better overall performance and protection.
T 51 is the Sherman or Abram
Xo-1 is the Bradley
Both are gonna punch you're time clock out, but you never see the Bradley 😂
also as an archaeologists watching gamers try to understand lore and division of PA development reminds me so much of trying to understand object typologies in my field.
I find the x01 controversy really interesting. When I encountered that in game I didn't really think anything of it; my immediate thought was that the t51 was the pinical of pre war power armor that saw any actual production, use, deployment, or considerable testing as it's hard to indicate something so unique as an individual prototype suit (which by nature of design, would have some form of schematics in existence) as a relevant factor in a broad statement because it's such an outlier. I real world example is the Des Lisle Carbine from WW2; it was a suppressed carbine that was incredible successful and silent (actually quieter than most modern suppressors), also being able to fire hundreds of rounds before needing to replace components vs. the small handful of rounds that could be fired by the equivalently silenced Webley pistol which aside from the above-mentioned shot difference, also had to be used at extremely close ranges; however, only 129 were made and only 1 of the prototype airborne model; as such they're occasionally brought up as the best individual suppressed weapon, but not the pinical by dint of extremely limited use. I think it somewhat unfair to include experimental or individual items in a braud statement of the pinical of an era. New follower, love your content! The fallout lore deep dives I've craved lol, Thanks for what you do!
(P.S.: I apologise for any any grammatical, syntax, or spelling errors; severely dyslexic so while I do proof read, it is often extremely difficult for me to catch those errors.)
I agree with this, I didn't know about the X01 controversy and tbh I thing people and being kinda precious and taking things literally, like have the X01 being better doesn't break lore imho as X has been used to identify PROTOTYPE stuff (technically so has the T) so the X01 can easily be pre war prototype which has greater capabilities but has reached field testing or heck could even been a competing project to the t51b but the t51b was selected due to ability to field more units. Then the enclave has access to prototype designs or even a whole one doesn't matter and tweak it into there own gear
I agree, maybe X-01 was ready for use but methods of mass production never were. Enough to give some to pretty important people, but not nearly enough to be deployed, why would you try to put on the field something that is made to take a beating and have no way to repair (no mass production no spare parts )
That is precisely the way I saw the X-01. It might be more advance than the T-51, but if it isn't ready for wide use, is it really better? That's why is don't think it's contradictory,
Unfortunately some fallout fans have a tendency to overreact if they even think something might contradict any tiny bit of lore no matter how insignificant.
@@shadenox8164 These same Fallout fans get pissed over a drug in Fallout and the debate if it was pre-war or post-war. People claim that Jet was only made post-war and that Myron invented it, but the same dude who claims to have made it can be questioned through skill checks and eventually his claim of producing it becomes unreliable. It's a drug that can massively enhance reflexes to the point of the user feeling like time is slowed, I'd wonder why the military would keep that under wraps and not let anyone know it exists.
The hooks on the odd Advance Power armor face plate, actually makes some sense. I wager that by the time this is developed by the Enclave, they've gained some weight. So not unlike the old school 'hard hat' diving helmets, you wouldn't expect a soldier wearing the armor, or their tenders helping them enter it, to actually lift the armor themselves. So instead you use a simple small block and tackle type arrangement to lift the helmet up, or lower it down onto the wearer.
There's also an easier way to explain why there are two Mark 2 armors. In the US military, it's not uncommon to see vehicles where you will have multiple variants of the same vehicle, sometimes even advanced variants. So, for example, with the Sherman tank, you get the M4 sherman as the base. Then there's the M4A2 which is a variant of it. Within the A2 type, you have A and B variants. However troops tend to default back to the simplest naming, so you'll see them referenced as M4A2 as opposed to the M4A2-A variant. I think the same is happening with the MK2 power armor. I think it's proper name is something like Advanced Power Armor MK2-B1 or something similar, but the troops wearing it just call it the "MK2" type.
In with that, the only way you'd get MK3 is if something drastic was changed in regards to the armor. So the Tesla armor, would be a MK3 variant.
not to mention there were... SEVERAL m3 AFVs in ww2 all at the same time.
M3 stuart
M3 lee/grant
M3 GMC
M3 Halftrack
M3 Scout Car
These are all generally vehicles, some of them tanks, but the way it works was CLASSIFICATION.
M3 medium vs M3 Light, ect. and theyre very different.
mk2 advanced could be the assualt pattern in one region, and the scout pattern in the other, and the flamer pattern in yet another. Not to mention things get even crazier when youre dealing with retrofits and old stock. The m3 stuart was upgraded to the m5 stuart, keeping the name designation, but being a quite different tank... meanwhile the m3 lee/grant had clear differences... usually, but not always!
the black devil armor in 3 is my personal favorite design, I love all of the sets introduced in 3, that game had incredible art direction and modeling
Adam Adamowitz designs are amazing. RIP to the legend.
I absolutely love it as well. My favorite mods for Fo4 add this power armor into the world and I'm always using it.
The Enclave Armory in the Whitespring Bunker has AT LEAST 17 full sets of X-01 in the back. Glitching there isn't too difficult, since you can use the openings around he Modus consoles to place your Power armor in the backroom and once you enter the PA, you will be in that area.
Furthermore, as others have pointed out the Enclave Chief at the Enclave Research Facility is also wearing X-01 PA, so that's a total of at least 18 full sets of X-01 confirmed in Appalachia by 2103.
My best guess on the horns is that they are meant to make the armor look more intimidating. And I think a dedicated stealth suit of power armor with something like stealth boy tech built into it would be kind of cool.
I feel like the Chinese stealth suit kind of gives a precedent for stealth power armor being something the military was interested in pursuing, but I think it’d need to be a very exclusive prototype or post war to not feel retcon-y.
A bat-suit if you will 🦇
@@IcepersonYT I mean, the Stealth Suit Mark II exists
Yes, the stomping of powered boot will be very stealthy.
Actually, they're most likely com-antenna. They clearly have a communication system, so perhaps they simply made it a bit more external with the added intimidation factor.
Some insight to the "X-suit is the pinnacle of power armor" debate, when I was in the Marines, we were given the M27 to replace the M4 and M249, being told it was an extremely modern and advanced weapon, while the Coast Guard unit next to us had completely different weapon, the Mk.18, an improved version of the M4, and both of our weapons were very outdated looking compared to what the private security people on base carried, so it's really easy for your "pinnacle" equipment to be outdated by something that another group in the same area had and wasn't standard issue yet
I always assumed Hellfire armor have fire-resistance because they are expected to set things on fire and move thru said fire, they are epected to risk themself in their effort to wipe out the enemy, and thus the armor protect them against their own area-of-effect weaponry.
I really enjoy longer videos, is a nice listen while gaming
Im listening while waiting on a game I can agree also
Yes
A boatload of ads though, I get an ad every 5 minutes
@@flameconvoy7424 welcome to RUclips in 2022
@@okinawa8724 kinda, but it feels like this video especially has more ads. I just watched his alcohol video and it didn’t have nearly as many
Fallout 3 Enclave armor looks like it was designed by Batman.
X-01 is my favorite of all power armors. The aesthetic just calls to me. The rounded off shoulders & bug eyes. The light from the eye sockets. It's a beautiful design.
There was one set of X01 prototype armor active in Appalachia. It is worn by a scorched enclave never within the Enclave Research Base added within the Steel Dawn update. The X01 scorched paint from daily ops is the skin this enclave member has on his PA
I've always assumed that the x01 not being ready for use basically just meant it wasn't ready for full production due to cost or some rare material scarcity
Is it possible the reason the X-01 was never considered ready because of resource cost and a need for rare materials?
This is the most likely explanation. It was probably a trial for a number of revolutionary advancements, that were hopefully going to be utilized in more affordable platforms in the future. When the Enclave got hold of the blueprints, they found they could actually field a lot of units with it because they didn't have the funding limitations the pre-war USA had to contend with.
It was likely just still in testing. X stands for experimental, meaning the military was actively modifying it and testing its capabilities.
The fact that Erickson got smarter over time gave me an idea: what if FEV wipes the subjects’ mind? What if that’s why Erickson was able to get smarter, not because of any enhancements, but because he thought for himself, he taught himself, he learned on his own, and the other super mutants had been taught not to do that
I don't know what brought this up but fev causes anyone irradiated who's effected by fev to lose significant inteligence, but increase the intelligence of non-irradiated people. It's the plot of fo1
I've always loved the T-60 Armor. It looks bulky enough, powerful, assertive, fierce, well-protected, and post-medieval. I always thought the T-60 Armor really encapsulates the essence of the Brotherhood of Steel.
RadKing : (Uploads)
Me : What a lovely little treat 😊
So you're the man behind the sleep videos? Well done, sir. I may not always go to sleep, but I enjoy the ambience. I love them.
These long break down videos are some of my favorite videos on RUclips.
So in NV they have a cut armor called Enclave Shocktrooper armor that looks like the Black devil armor. I think that is the true explanation of the black devil armor in 3. They were storming the Capitol Wasteland and thus needed appropriate armor. I like the idea of them meeting up with another Enclave sector and them sharing tech and that being where they got the Black Devil armor, but with it just being one of their secondary projects of a cheaper, easily renewable armor and not what they came up with instead of the APA.
the fire resistance for hellfire power armour makes alot of sense, if you are using a flame based weapon, it makes sense to wear something that resists long term exposure to that heat. both for longevity of the armour and for the wellbeing of the user. it's a militarized firefighter suit!
I was thinking exactly this!
in a more realistic setting than a video game, where buildings and bushes and your enemies stay on fire, being able to traverse areas that a few moments ago you set ablaze would be kind of important.
So the turbines on the black devil armor shoulders are magnetic suspenders. They hold the shoulder pauldrons in place without actually connecting them to the primary armor piece. This helps increase their kinetic absorption ability by giving them a little bit of movement room when being struck. It also adds to ease of change and maintenance; but does require more suit energy consumption overall. 😂👍
I think Black Devil and Tesla Armor are canonicaly more advanced than T-51 B but developers lowered their stats because of game balance. Enclave armour ale really easy to get.
That’s exactly my thought
Remember, more advance doesn't always mean better. It could mean that some on board systems are just better than pre war armor. Plus it'd make sense that enclave armor is weaker than T-51. It's produced in pretty big numbers after a war that destroyed nearly all production plants. So it'd make sense lore wise that they have less defense, just better tech.
How i would explain the difference in APA mk2: the only suit we can find in game is on the oil rig. Perhaps it was in prototype stage with the suit we find being the first model when the chosen one made the place go kaboom. With no idea about the original APA MK2, the raven rock enclave designed a new power armour that they named APA MK2.
putting the pieces of power armour lore together is like being given a 1000 piece puzzle, but its only bottom left corner pieces, 4 are missing, and somehow about 50 are from a different set altogether. well done, Radical Kingulous. that is your full legal name, right?
Radiation Kingsley is his full legal name I think
Leaving this here to note that they added enclave remnants to fallout 4 as part of the "next gen" update, all enclave personnel in it are equipped with custom painted combat armor, plasma weapons and units clad in X-02 (which has always been a theoretical name for the black devil armor but is now called that in fallout 4) and hellfire power armor (along with incinerators of course), there’s also a side quest that involves finding a suit of X-02 that belonged to a deserter who fled to the commonwealth and apparently started helping local settlements for a while, by the time we find his armor he long dead I think but in his terminal he describes the suit of X-02 that he has as being one of only dozens of prototypes, very interesting
I think it's a matter of lore, software bugs and all are mentioned.
An example is when you recieve a set of power armor from the brotherhood in 4, the npc mentions an issue with the actuator in the leg causing random movements.
While the x-01 is perfectly useable it could have been a situation where there was some kind of lore issue that was only fixed pretty late, or they simply could not program it into the game.
I love how Nuka Cola had a experimental power armor suit for display. it really adds to the lore imo. Expands the absurdity of pre war America
Imagine an M1 Abrams tank having Coca Cola symbolism on it and you have an equivalency.
@@concept5631the american dream in one line
@@LuunieTuunie "the american dream in one line"
Copying your comment because it looks like it was shadowbanned.
A lot of the sprites in 1 and 2 are the same even for different armor and weapons. Like metal armor and tesla armor or all rifles and pistols having the same model outside the inventory.
I'd say the MK2 in fallout 2 and 3 are the same take 3s aperance as the canon one given the 2 version is just a copy of MK1 sprite.
As for performance issues the BOS refers to enclave power armor as being far better than their T45 suits repeatedly in conversation despite damage restiance values being the same. I'd take them at their word and attribute the low damage restiance in gameplay as a balance measure to keep the basic enclave canon fodder manageable and to keep the player from getting a top of the line suit to easily.
Even Todd Howard confirmed the MKII in F3 is the same as the one in F2. I don't know why people have such a hard time accepting that.
As other people have commented the pre-war suits of X01 are most likely proof of concept items that are exclusive to the areas you find them in especially the quantum armor which is said directly to be a proof of concept item on the strontium coding. a lot of people at theorize that the X01 is the blueprint for the advanced power armor in advanced power armor Mark 2 that we get in the first to fallout games and three so that actually makes sense again X01 as is stated is most likely a proof of concept build and the physical blueprint for the other armors that The enclave creates
You have some of my favourite fallout videos radking. Really glad that I was able to find your channel, keep up the awesome videos
50 minutes explaining the lore of power armor? You're spoiling us sir, amazing work.
Ive always seen the power armors being
X-01: the proto type
APA MK1: The final version of X-01
APA MK2 being more like APA MK1 V.2
X-02: The prototype of actual APA MK2
Enclave fallout 3 armor: APA MK 2 V.1
Tesla armor: APA MK2 V.1.5
Hellfire being a different set
My headcanon is that X-01 and T-60 were competing for the contract as for the next power armor design
X-01 being an experimental in house design by the US government using all new parts and technology whereas the T-60 was west-tek repurposing their old T-45 manufacturing plants to bring that old model which has now been relegated to riot control armor up to speed with their newer T-51b model to get them back on the front lines for cheaper
The T-60 was finished first
Considering it has an actual designation rather than having an X designation which is used in the real world to designate experimental military designs
The enclave had these designs and improved upon them creating the Advanced Power Armor from those
That sounds pretty plausible to me. I could see the simpler more conventional design of T60 being a more streamlined development process, with most of the core technology development already left over from T45.
X-01 being a radical new design makes sense to have been delayed, perhaps out of insistence from certain factions within the Military who were Enclave affiliated pushing for the platform to be the absolute best it could be at the expense of making it difficult to manufacture.
i always just assumed the black devil was the Enclave's T-60, you know, a mass produced model based on data from the more advanced suit
My only complaint is… your videos aren’t long enough I watch you while I play fallout and your easily my favorite fallout content creator
Finally, a bit of love towards me and the Enclave!
Another brilliant video.
I think we can all agree that advanced power armor is by far some of the coolest in not just fallout but all of gaming.
Absolutely!
I hope you keep covering all the armor lore love these episodes
So glad I found your channel! Quality work you seem to really care about you content an fans!
This Fo4 "controversy" was a nontroversy. Look, let me drop some real-world deep lore knowledge on you, whenever the U.S. military has companies develop new aircraft to replace existing aircraft, those new experimental aircraft are designated with X- followed by a number, point in case the X-13 "Vertijet". Now, the X-01, it's literally got a military designation for being experimental. We didn't NEED fallout 76 to tell us this, the literal name tells us it's experimental, ergo, no retconning occurred. The T-51 was the best armor in us, the T-60 had only just begun to roll off the production line and thus was unproven in battle and the X-01 never properly left the experimental phase of it's development hinting at the name X-01. X literally meaning experimental.
Now, for the love of sanity, can we PLEASE put this bs to rest? I'm sick and tired of hearing about this nontroversy from overly emotional manbabies crying "retcon" where none exists.
Finally, someone with a brain.
This is the perfect content to listen to in my drive to and from work. Another outstanding video radking. 👍
I honestly always thought that the hellfire power armors fire resistance was to protect the wearer from splash back from their incendiary weapons and for your theory on the 76 version i thought it could have some use in the possibility of combat in coal fires in the Appalachians
I personally like the idea that Horrigan’s APA MK. II is a prototype, and that the final version was more mass producible and more easily reparable, as opposed to Horrigan’s prototype made partially from a refitted MK. II suit
Maybe Hellfire has that extra fire resistance because their weapon of choice is the heavy incinerator? I also wish you had mentioned the Hellfire from Creation Club, since you mentined the Black Devil they put there.
I always thought that the X-01 power armor was meant for space/lunar combat, and the little black tube on the face is for a Nutrient paste for feeding in a vacuum where you can't take your helmet off to eat.
So here is my head cannon on Enclave PA the X-01 is adopted after prolonged use of T-51 and other pre-war PA then once the Advanced PA is ready the fully switch over to the newer models. When it comes to the Black Devil PA iv always seen that as a necessary downgrade to PA due to the reduced state of the faction.
However i see the Equalizer PA as a divergent design that was drawn up during the X-01 development period remaining in the Enclaves files only to be brought into use in a way when Frank Horrigan needed a custom suit with the changes in appearance mostly in the helmet being made then.
Personally i see the F76 Black Devil PA skin as a retcon of how it looked in F3 due to how PA exists as of F4. Though speaking of the Black Devil PA the floating pauldrons i see this as clear use of alien tech that must exist in the turbine like items located in the shoulders. This would result in less of an impact to the body of the wearer as any physical or kinetic attack that strikes the pauldrons would in theory be completely unfelt.
Love your videos RadKing my Atom bless you in your future endeavors in the spreading of his glory.
Finally we get a video on the Glorious Enclave. Down with the mutant and Bos
Actually the Hellfire Armor is mentioned in New Vegas along with it's production by the logs of the creator of ED-E. Because that most likely happened pretty early I think the west coast first produced Hellfire Armor and they might have send them to Appalachia.
In regards to still getting thirsty in power armor in fallout 4 survival mode, it doesn't say how it recycles waste. While the obvious one that everyone thinks of is turning it into drinking water, it could be recycled as reactor coolant or in the ac system to defrost the condensor
I love all the enclave armors but the black devil mk2s with the comms in the helmets.
Always my favorite power armor.
Honestly this really is a simple fix lore wise.
The desighn from F2 is the Mark 2 Power Armor Series Model X-01, the Tesla version is X-01.2.
The Black Devil Armor is the sleeker Mark 2 Power Armor Series Model X-02, the Tesla version is the Mark 2 Power Armor Series Model X-02.2.
Hellfire Armor is the Mark 2 Power Armor Series Model X-03, no Tesla model variant has been made (though there should be) all of which was desighned and built Post-War. We could even make room in the lore for both F4s bulky PA desighn and F3/NVs sleeker desighn by saying the bulky version is the Pre-war desighn due to the limitations of the tech of the time and the sleeker version is a Post-War desighn refined over time by factions like the Enclave, Institute, and even the Brotherhood for more agility, mobility, speed, dexterity and less cost while taking a hit to deffence and survivability.
I always had a theory that the X0-1 wasn't ready for mass production because it was too expensive. If the government in fallout is anything like our government irl, price is overall. Even if the tech is crazy good, the cost of every unit will cause the government to buy or make a lesser quality
24:00 i love that explination! It doesnt suffer from "star wars syndrome" that tries to fit every little thing into the cannon. The Fallout 2 one is so disapointing. "Sweet! A new kind of power armor!" Looks exactly the same as the mark 1. It makes way more sense for the F2 one to be a variant of the mark 1, like in the newer games we have T-60A through F.
Maybe the Telsa armor's yellow sheen could be caused by some anodizing of the metal, since metal can be anodized in all different colors, including yellow. Also, 'gunk' on the armor looks like how copper would oxidize. :)
Praise Atom, for our grand RadKing granting us a near hour long lore breakdown of those accursed Enclave's armors.
16:40
Aren't these straps justified by the lore? I remember that some supermutants cannot speak without them, but I don’t remember the exact reasons.
Lips are to big on some, mostly the Master's army ones
Chris Taylor was asked in the fallout Bible and he said he didn’t know and that he thinks it was an aesthetic thing more than anything.
Assuming they based the Advanced Power Armor MKI helmet off of typical gas masks,
those removable panels are possibly for additional filtration, communications (radios, voice amplifiers, vocoders were generally mounted outside of the mask), air hoses (supplemental oxygen, air conditioning, rebreathing), nourishment (hydration and/or liquid based food).
Of course, this being Fallout they could be anything
Oh thank you for a wonderful birthday gift
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I hope you had a great birthday!
The X-01 i always rationalized as having a decent prototype but they likely wanted to run further tests to optimize it, the materials and figure out a way to push it into production. The whole "quantum X-01" could have been a test to see what the result would be and potentially try to work out a deal to actually produce them in mass. They likely also may have had desire to test it more in lab environments before having live field tests.
I always just thought the Black Devil armour from 3 was just based off the armour from Tactics
For the Institute laser weaponry, it's most likely about cost/efficiency. Ammo economy in game doesn't reflect actual lore usage, so I would bet Institute weaponry is both cheaper to make in regards to materials (probably uses more plastics instead of metals, different focusing lenses etc) but also draw less power from the energy ammunition and prolong them.
Edit for Fallout 3 bit: While I do believe the Enclave would have looked into both increasing performance while simultaneously cutting costs, the equal performance to regular T-45 is almost certainly a gameplay balancer. Best armor you can get in the base game from world exploration is the T-51B, so without breaking things you'd need this new Enclave armor that supersedes the armor in Fallout 2 to beat that out. It would have to be absurdly powerful, and would in turn likely need Bethesda to change their (admittedly awful) damage resistance setup they carried over from Oblivion. That said, assuming DR cap isn't a thing, that suit should realistically be like 60-65 on the body. Tesla moderately beating that, Hellfire blowing that out of the water.
03:18 > the noteable absence of this overworld, may indicate that the Enclave in Appalachia never actually constructed any suits themselves.
Well, there's a lot of X-01 suits fenced off in the Whitesprings bunker, so I don't know about that.
There's also the Enclave Scorched Chief wearing a suit of scorched X-01 Power Armor in the Enclave Research Facility Site-J
39:50
The Remnant Power Armor was actually meant to disguise you as a Enclave Remnant, rendering you hated by everyone while worn to balance very high armor rating and effects.
This was cut as Joshua Sawyer said it was too annoying for the game.
honestly, regarding latter, if it had made it in, I would've hoped it would have far more durability, as if they had it with the final game's item hp of 1/5 of t-51, it would feel like a crummy reward to me, especially if they would have added the piece in promontory if it were the case
Found an IGN interview for Fallout 3, at, if i remember correctly, the 20 minute mark, Todd Howard states that the Enclave armor in Fallout 3 is the armor used in Fallout 2.
My favorite suits of power armor, in FO3 you can easily repair your own armor(if you use enclave) using your fallen enemies armor. In FNV it was almost to expensive to use because of the repair costs
I just always use jury rigging in new Vegas that way I can repair my power armor with metal armor lol
Even more so, APA in NV is a freakin' piece of porcelain - it breaks faster than t45!
42:37 small correction. Everyone who still plays 76 actually *is* a mutant psychopath...
If the Inferno armour is designed to resist heat, and they use Heavy Incinerators, then logic would say that the t-51 must have some sort of canonical weakness inherent to it. Either the armour wouldn't disperse heat, thereby cooking the inhabitant (most likely) or that the wiring or power supply would be extra vulnerable to heat (less likely)
i think the drama about the X-01 and the nuka-world armor can be answered like this, the T51 series power armor was the Pinnacle of Power armor in Acttive use by the US army before the bombs fell. the X-01 was still being worked on so wasn't in the hands of the army sides maybe some test modals and the Nuka-world armor was a brand tie in, something like if the usa army slaped coke adds on to the new line of main battle tanks.
I like to think that the X-01 was almost completely finished but not yet ready for mass production
For the enclave armor divergence its easy to understand in canon,
The info was sent too all enclave groups.
These group did NOT keep contact with each other
Either by accident of breakthrough the west coast enclave created a superior armor to the other enclave groups.
This knowledge was lost when the oil rig blew up.
You could probably explain both the X-01 armor and the new Fusion core mechanic together. T-51 was originally made with an internal generator that allowed it to operate for years without refueling or recharging, but at some point; the government switched to a quantity over quality approach and adopted the fusion core powered frame to make them cheaper and faster to produce, as well as possibly being easier to use and repair. Some existing T-51 might have had their parts retrofitted to work with the newer system, or they might've just adjusted the designs of ones that were made after the switch. X-01s, then, would've been an attempt to compensate for the reduced quality by making full use of the modularity and less demanding systems to cram in as much extra stuff as possible.
Yes thank god another video I normally put on a playlist when I gts
Did you mention the suit on the roof of Hub 360 guarded by an assaultron and a sentry bot? It might be leveled but after a certain level it is always a full suit
After level 20 its always X01
Having a fuck up day at work and about to lunch, but this notification made me happy. Glory to atom brothers!!!
Sorry to hear you had a hard day… hopefully my video could help just a bit.
Hell yes Radman, FOR THE ENCLAVE!!
This is like my new favorite all things fallout channel for when I'm at work
Love it 🛸🍄🛸
Personally i subscribe to the theory that later enclave armour had to be simplified just so that they could achieve some level of production.
As for how the institute got a suit of XO-1 i believe it would be a combination of them contrary to popular belief not being entirely cut off from the world.
We see many, many synth scavenging parties and investigations in fo4, and we know they allow high level personnel as far out as the capital wasteland.
Its not that hard to assume that somewhere doen the line they came across an enclave base and either aquired the plans or an actual suit.
And them being the radiation-phobes that they are would have added to the design to make it more resistant before falling back into "oh just send the synths out, its not worth it"
I still wish the Institute had used their own power armor as per the concept art for Institute power armor.
I would assume that X-01 not being ready pre war was an issue with mass production, not individual suits.The loading screen tip speaks of "The pinnacle of mechanical production", not the pinnacle of design, it would follow it was still in pre production testing and couldn't be rolled out.
Never stop with the content brother
🙌
Its a fun fact that cost is a genuine reason the prewar X01 would of been considered not ready, if you look at the real world US military. Which will literally deny really good pieces of equipment because of the costs
Imo my personal headcannon is that while the X-01 WAS made Pre-War, it was never brought into full production due to it being a bitch to manufacture. Likely due to its asymmetric design and higher quality metals used, not to mention fitting a radio, AC unit and recycling station within it.
The Enclave didn't spent more than 100 years just trying to design the armor, they were trying to find a way to mass produce the armor, something that either due to a lack of time/resources was never achieved pre-war. And they had to mass produce said armor *post* war, with arguably less resources than the US gov had pre-war.
Tl;dr X-01 was technically "made" pre-war, but the US Gov never found a way to effectively mass produce it an affordable cost. Also, X-01 in Appalachia is just non-canon, its only there for the player to craft because it was in Fallout 4
Fun fact
In US military arms procurement and r&d
X means experimental
And T or M usually means It has or is planned to see actual service
The Great War never ended, so The Enclave trying to launch nukes in 2080 is pretty much still just following orders.
The black devil power armor was actually my favorite when i was a kid, particularly the Tesla variant. Though nowadays i tend to prefer the militaristic aesthetic of the pre-war power armor suits
I really love the fallout 3 enclave power armor I just love how sleek and intimidating it looks. I also love the idea that the DC enclave has less resources so their Mass produced armour is weaker than t-51b.
The enckave armor in 4 is referred to as advanced power armor MK2 which also showed up in fallout 2 as a unique version of the advanced power armor with the same sprite. The VOS in 3 also refers to enclave armor as being far better in dialogue when it's stats are basically the same as the BOS T45s. I'd attribute the weakness of it to gameplay balance given how common it is they needed it from what it is lore wise to keep the enclave grunts more squishy and keep the player from getting the best gear to early
thank you RadKing for a lovely video to come home to after a long day at school!
So, I’m basing this question on a dream I literally had early this morning: *why* are there no boars/feral hogs in the Fallout franchise?? Like, they would be *perfect* hostile fauna! In my dream, they’re about the size of a mole rat, but the sows and alpha males are the size of Yaoguai, with cutters (tusks) roughly the size of a man’s arm!
These creatures would be awesome change ups from Yaoguai and wild mongrels, and could also be used to illustrate my next suggestions for a future Fallout title: visible damage and cutscenes
Imagine: you’re cornered in a wooded area and rushed by a boar, which throws you on your back and bites down on your powerfist. You shake loose (during the cutscene) and go to punch, but your powerfist is smoking and sparking, and showing visible crush damage. So, you bust out your combat dagger or 10mm and finish the hog. Cool right? Why isn’t Bethesda doing THAT, with gameplay?
I agree I think they make an amazing type of enemy I think the only reason we haven't seen them is probably just developer constraints what if we get a game in the American South it would be perfect for wild boars to come charging at the player
Same question can go with many animals.. Why there is no this or that.. Like where did all marine life go???
@@klaykid117 a *modern* game set in the American South would be cool, since we did get one previously (which shan’t be named according to most people), *and* it was set in an area where wild hogs are beyond prevalent.
@@Yuriq4 same with birds, though we do see crows/seagulls depending on the game and location.
My homebrew tabletop Fallout is set in Arkansas and uses hogs in several ways: Feral Hawgs as a wild creature between Feral Dog and Yauguai in power, Cart Swine which are used by settlers alongside Brahmin, and Razorbacks which are akin to Super-Mutant Hounds, but can get even bigger.
Radking more like SnackKing
Thanks for the lore, loredad
Welcome, lorechild
It was 2008 lol have you seen how far graphics are now a days? It was limited. I’m happy in fallout 4 the power armor was retconned. It needed to be a tank. I enjoyed all the fallout games. I watched ox horn for fallout 1,2 and tactics. I just don’t get the community or fan boys much. Bethesda did great with fallout 3 the main consensus and obsidian killed it with NV minuses the glitches on ps3 it was almost unplayable. And I loved 4 it needed more side quests. But the story was good. It’s leading to me is a civil war. West coast NCR vs East coast BOS. Bc the BOS is the main power.
Honestly, I love the APA helmet.
It’s just so.. alien. If you see a soldier walking down the street in a regular helmet, you’re going to think “hey, that fella’s a soldier”
but if you see someone walking down the street with a giant nuclear powered hunk of metal, you’re going to think “oh crap that’s not human”
I think the smaller more compact design feels more alien over the x-01. X-01 gives you space for comfort, space for regular existance. You can tell a human has to be under there, but with the APA helmet, you.. can’t tell. It could be a robot designed to resemble a human, or it could be a soldier protecting their country.
Fuckin eh lol the Enclave is my favourite fallout faction there armor looks so cool. I remember when I was like 9 or so i got fallout 3 goty for Christmas but it came with a hardcover book full of concept art for fallout 3 and in one section of the book it had a bunch of cool drawings of Enclave and BoS power armor and also a bunch of concept art for liberty prime
I love the concept art. Will probably do a video on just that sometime
@@Rad_King I can tell ya the name of that book if ya want cuz I still have it. There's a lot of other stuff in there
I started with fallout 3, and I won't lie. Young me herd "they are the pre war government" and was like "yeah, I wanna help everyone bring order back"
But never sided with Eden 😂 that's messed up, young me agreed to put FEV in the water just to get out of the base and never did it
X-01 to me sounds like thee power armor and tbh I can totally understand why it’s better than most if not all of them.
One thing to take into consideration is manufacturing, if an army can utilize dozens of armor there is no way they will use quality armor.
midrange to mediocre materials would be used, the idea it was a display and in testing shows how much power they could put into one but didn’t have the money/resources to massively produce such an armor and having a sponsor would greatly increase the quantity in how many can be produced or increasingly improve their baby.
Most of the companies in fallout straight up lie to the citizens to make them feel better, so to say the T-51 was the best can clearly miss direct the consumer to buy out all that armor to do more research on the X-01 amor at the time.
More over a person created an armor so good yet so low in quantity leads me to believe people in power just wanted this armor for themselves if not a very personal group to have it.
The story doesn’t need exact explanation on to why it’s way better if in reality if we had a light bulb that never went out we wouldn’t buy any more.