When a Power Armor piece is destroyed, it's really destroyed.
No silly zero-weight, zero-health inventory entry, with the broken pieces of it on the ground.
what the hell am i carrying

Maybe now there can be some meaning and purpose to the ten jillion PA suits around the Commonwealth.

Fusion cores are also more rare, and will have a random charge -
not be "almost always 100% and sometimes 50%." (I did not edit cells or touch the various placed cores.)

So why use it now?

Scarcity's Power Armor is much more protective than Vanilla PA, preventing more damage from reaching the player, and grants immunity to poison and acid, when in good condition. But as its condition degrades, so does its protection. A completely banged-up suit of Scarcity armor will protect you less than Vanilla PA.

And it will cost you more to repair.
 
You can no longer fix the most advanced infantry weapon ever created by slapping 4 tin cans together.
Instead of "4 steel," repair requirements have been made meaningful, using better components.
 
Power Armor will protect you well - as long as you maintain it well.
And maintaining it will no longer be trivial.
 
For example: if any piece goes red, then the suit's seals are broken, you get a warning alarm, and you lose the poison/acid immunity (along with the decreased damage resistance). Thusly:



Oh, and... yes, NPCs get the added protection as well. You're going to have to blow someone's helmet off before you can shoot them in the head...

Two main versions available:

Power Armor only: 
Doesn't touch general loot rules. Compatible with loot-changing mods and overhauls.
Random Fusion Core changes are kept.

or
Full version with extensive changes to leveled lists, requiring higher levels for better loot.

The PA-Only version's Fusion Core changes edits a single record of "what kind of FC just dropped?" and is therefore safe with any other Loot mod - FROST, Horizon, whathaveyou. Put the PA version after any overhaul; it only modifies Vanilla Power Armor and the Fusion Core drops, so putting it second ensures the FC change carries over. Horizon has its own version of the random charge effect; but you'll need mine second to get PA changes. Let me know if Horizon's function is vastly different.

Technical note: it doesn't touch anything that calls for an FC drop. No containers, NPC lists, etc. Only the single form that determines what you get when you win a Fusion Core. So, if your overhaul makes FCs extremely rare - then not only will they be extremely rare, but they'll drop with a random charge.
Good luck!

The following additional changes are in the Full Version:

Significant changes to item drop rates and level thresholds.

• As with the PA-Only version, Fusion Cores are far more rare, and when they are found, they probably won't be at 100%. A variety of charge levels will be found, from nearly-depleted on up.
• Ammunition is less plentiful.
• Stimpacks, bobby pins, purified water, and antibiotics are less likely to be found in containers.
  

Weapon tech levels are greatly spaced out.

• You will need to be higher level before seeing the better weapons.
• You might actually want to upgrade that double-barrel...
• Your fully-modded pipe gun will be your best friend for a while.
• Finally finding a new weapon will feel like the major boost in power that it should.
  

and in keeping with more of a sparse, scrounging or solo play style,
Crafting station requirements have been altered to make some damn sense.

• You no longer need to be an accomplished politician in order to bang a hammer on a table, or light a freakin' fire
• Weapons workbench? Gun Nut 1 OR Blacksmith 1
• Armor workbench? Armorer 1
• You get the idea I think
• Any cooking "station" - an Int greater than 2. (Seriously.)
  it's a frakkin' fire with rocks around it

Supply lines and stores and things still require Local Leader, because those ARE about managing people.

NOTE: An upcoming update will also allow Science 1 to build the Weapons bench, as someone pointed out Energy weapons to me.
The cooking fires have a requirement at all because I know there are people out there who will enjoy their 1 or 2 Int character being too stupid to get a fire going. If I can figure out how, maybe cooking stations cause them a burn...
 
IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW
 
The full version alters the jumping begeezus out of leveled lists. There's just no other way to do it. The drop rates and pretty much everything tied to "crap you find" are all in the base leveled-list forms.

• If you use any mod that *adds* things to the leveled lists via script, you're fine. Just make sure they come after Scarcity.
• Anything else that also alters leveled lists for weapons, ammo, loot in boxes, etc., will conflict.
• Anything that alters vanilla Power Armor will conflict. Things like Worsin's Garage, that adds stuff or alters paint mechanics, are fine. (The acrobatics I used to get the PA destruction to work is ridiculous, and now every piece of Vanilla PA has a script attached to it.)
  

There is a PA-Only version in the installer that does not have all the list changes, which should make it compatible with all the various loot overhauls and total (non-PA) conversions.

WHAT I DIDN'T MESS WITH: Unique PA pieces
 
The Piezoelectric, the Tesla pieces from Automatron - they're left alone. They won't get destroyed; they will still become the silly 0-health phantom item in your inventory. As there's no way you could get them back outside of console commands, the mod is being released in safe-mode. If any masochists out there want a patch that will let the unique or named pieces get wrecked too, let me know.
 
I recommend using this on a new playthrough, to get the full effect of the changes to loot and weapon upgrades.
For an existing game: if you are wearing PA in your savegame, EXIT YOUR ARMOR, make a new save, and THEN activate this mod. The scripts don't seem to get applied correctly to existing pieces that are actively equipped.

---

Massive credit also goes to Wenderer for his FOMOD Creation Tool.
This thing is awesome and saves a TON of time getting stuff packed up.

I ALSO MADE DESE TINGS:

Accelerator Sound Fix - Custom Reverb and Quad's Reload Sounds
Gets rid of the Bethesda Bullet Bangs every weapon has outdoors and gave the Plasma Accelerator 9 custom reverb tails from its own firing sounds. Also custom reload effects, and a slight balance tweak. Plus a new optional skin for fun.

Unique Pickman's Blade and Bowie Knife Buff
A unique appearance and new name for Pickman's Blade, instead of the generic Combat Knife, plus buffs Mike Moore's Bowie Knives' damage a bit.

Effective Melee Blocking
Makes blocks actually stop enough damage to keep you alive, and more

Ad Pictoriam - Brotherhood of Steel Apocolyptic Visuals-Only Override
Strips out most of the game changes from Ad Victoriam, existing-save friendly, keeps all the cool new visuals

Useful Assault Masks
Changes the Assault Gas Mask to three varieties of hood/mask color - and gives it stats that make it worth using

Mastermind - Automatron Provisioners using Robotics Expert
Think it's silly needing to be a politition and salesman to program your robots? Now the Robotics Expert perk works too!
Time to build your robot army!

Companion Stealth Distance Fix (No Free Hugs!)
Tired of your companions standing on your head when you stealth? Now with Less Dogmeat Standing on Loot!
Still some. Just much, much less.

Bugfix for Dismissed Companion Endless Babble
A permanent fix for the bug that makes Companions spout all their comments endlessly after you dismiss them.
You know, maybe I like the rain, Preston! Custom interval times available!

Perforation: Better Automatic Weapons
Not a damage number tweak, but a changed mechanic. Preserves balance and ammo, and adds fun.
Did I mention it also affects the Minigun and Gatling Laser

Home Despot - Local and Linked Workshop Component Inventories
Shows the raw component totals from all the junk in your Workshops, local or linked.
Get a Grip on Your Junk

Scarcity: Destructible Power Armor and More
Permanently destroyed PA pieces. Fewer and randomly-charged Fusion Cores. Tougher requirements for repairs.
Less is... less.

FusionGun-VIS: a compatability patch
for the Fusion Gun by Fallout Suite (not me), tagging it like Valdacil's Item Sorting (also not me) using AWKCR (still not me).