Power Armor Training is a Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas perk. This perk must be obtained before a suit of power armor or a power helmet can be operated. The perk can be gained in different ways in the two games.
Obtaining the perk
Fallout 3
Through the main storyline
After gaining permission from Elder Lyons, speak to Paladin Gunny in the A-Ring of the Citadel. There is no charge or other requirement for training - the screen simply fades to black as Gunny begins teaching it. Once that's done, the Lone Wanderer may use any kind of power armor, including the Enclave and the Outcast variants.
If having not asked for training on one's own, it will automatically be given at the end of The American Dream when becoming an honorary member of Lyons' Pride, however, these options appear very late in the main quest.
Through Operation: Anchorage
This perk is automatically gained when finishing the Anchorage Reclamation simulation in the Operation: Anchorage add-on.
Notes
- The easiest legitimate way to acquire the perk early on is to go through the Operation: Anchorage simulation directly after leaving Vault 101. The distress call will appear within 3–5 minutes of leaving the vault. This allows bypassing having to speak with Paladin Gunny in the Citadel.
- It is possible to obtain the perk without completing any quests past Escape! There is a mapping bug northwest of the entrance to the Citadel on the Arlington Bridge (The only bridge that fully crosses the Potomac River). There are a few mounds of rubble that one needs to get to the top of. The "bald" mound of rubble allows one to fall in, once under the map, working the way to the Citadel by going left when possible. See it in action here.
Fallout: New Vegas
- After completing the quest Still in the Dark, return to either Nolan McNamara or Edgar Hardin, depending on who is now Elder.
- If McNamara remains Elder, wait 24 hours outside of the bunker for the lockdown to be lifted, then talk to him. Telling him one wishes to join the Brotherhood of Steel will begin the Eyesight to the Blind quest. When this is completed, one will then receive Power Armor Training.
- If helped Hardin become Elder, complete the Tend to Your Business quest.
- The other option for training is the For Auld Lang Syne quest, given by Arcade Gannon. Once having gathered the Remnants together, the Courier will be provided with the perk, in addition to a suit of Remnants power armor.
Notes
- NCR salvaged power armor does not require Power Armor Training in order to be worn.
- Scorched Sierra power armor requires Power Armor Training in order to be worn.
- If first completed For Auld Lang Syne and later complete Still in the Dark, Elder McNamara will be astonished over already having Power Armor Training and will ask where the Courier learned it from. However, he then brushes it off as a result of the Courier being "well traveled" and will not give the option to alert him of the former Enclave bunker nearby.
- The player character is the only entity in the entire game who needs a special perk to wear power armor, companions like Raul, who would likely have no experience with power armor, have the ability to wear it. Even fiends can wear power armor.
- In Honest Hearts, there exists a dialog option enabled by this perk when talking to Ricky, where one can refute his suspicious claim that he shot a Brotherhood of Steel paladin through the eyeslit of his power helmet with a "11mm sub machine gun" by stating that the eye slits of the T-series are bulletproof.
Console command
Through normal gameplay, training is required to wear power armor of any variety. However, the skill can be unlocked via the console in the PC version by typing player.addperk 00058fdf. An alternate way to do this is to type SetPCCanUsePowerArmor 1 in the console.
Bugs
- [platforms tag needed] [verification overdue] In Fallout: New Vegas, if having completed all of the preliminary quests for Elder McNamara, and also helped have him overthrown, it is possible to end up with no way of receiving Power Armor Training, as the Elder will tell the Courier he is aware of the plot to overthrow him and to return later, and Hardin will also ask them to return later as he is busy. It does not seem to matter how long one waits to return if this happens.
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