Power Armor and Armor Defensive Improvements (PADI) is a mod that increases the immersion and protection of Power Armor, as well as improving a few other armors and outfits.


Description

Almost every change made by this mod will be useful both to you, your allies, and your enemies.


Power Armor

The changes made to Power Armor are not always beneficial to the wearer. The aim here is to make things more realistic and/or immersive, not just more powerful.

Protection

The Damage Resistance and Armor Health of all Power Armors have been increased between five and ten times. This means that Power Armor now offers significantly better protection from ballistic and other types of physical damage. Furthermore, wearing Power Armor will negate an additional 80% of the damage from any ballistic weaponry, and provide full protection from bleeding effects.

In contrast to this, the Energy Resistance has not been changed at all. This means that Power Armor is excellent for stopping projectiles, but laser weapons will easily chew through it. Instead, just like in the vanilla game, Energy Resistance is something that must be improved using the upgrading system.

Power Armor now also comes with a distinct weakness in the form of plasma weapons. When wearing any form of Power Armor, the incoming damage from plasma weapons will be amplified by 300%. However, notice that while having armor pieces equipped on the Power Armor, they will by default offer a fair bit of protection from the damage types that are used by plasma weapons. As such, a good set of Power Armor will still offer much better protection from plasma weapons than if you weren't wearing anything at all.

If you are using PADI (version 1.1 or newer) alongside Falltoxin (version 2.0 or newer), wearing Power Armor will provide extra protection from most types of venomous bites and stings. PADI should preferably be located below Falltoxin in your load order.

From a balance standpoint, all this means that Power Armor has become more specialized. For example, after joining the Brotherhood of Steel, fighting common raiders might suddenly become a lot easier, while the Institute and their synths will be a greater threat. And enemies with plasma weapons will of course be extremely dangerous.

Effects

While wearing Power Armor, you will initially only get 20% of the Experience Points you would normally earn when killing enemies. This is a balancing measure to make Power Armor more of a tactical choice; it's very powerful in combat, but that combat would contribute less to your overall skill progress than otherwise. It makes a lot of sense, because when there is less effort involved, you also learn less. Notice that Experience Points earned from any other sources than combat (such as speech checks or discovering new locations) is not affected by wearing Power Armor, and should remain unaffected by PADI.

If you invest points into the Pain Train perk, you will progressively get back to the normal amount of Experience Points earned in combat while wearing Power Armor. At rank 1, you gain 40%, at rank 2, you gain 70%, and at rank 3, you gain 100%. This perk was chosen for this purpose because it's the only one that exclusively involve Power Armor, and a logical choice for those looking to get comfortable wearing it.

While wearing Power Armor, falling damage is reduced by 98%. In the vanilla game, wearing Power Armor made you immune to it, which was both unrealistic and against the lore. In the game, it is discussed how members of the Brotherhood of Steel have competitions where they jump down from the Prydwen in Power Armor, and although they survive, it's clear that the more extreme jumps would hurt quite a bit. With the mod, you should be able to survive a jump from the Prydwen while wearing Power Armor, but it would be painful.

Both sneaking and lockpicking are significantly more difficult while wearing Power Armor. This makes sense both from a balance and immersion standpoint, given how a large and bulky metal suit like that would be a poor choice for stealthy missions.

Crafting

The cost for repairing and maintaining Power Armor has been increased compared to the vanilla game. Rather than making it more tedious, you could view this as a way of putting things into proportion of the improved durability.

In addition, the following paints and coatings have been changed to increase their usefulness when applied to Power Armor:

• Titanium Plating now increases the Armor Health by 30% per piece, instead of 10% like in the vanilla game.
• Explosive Shielding should now be about twice as efficient at reducing damage from explosions compared to the vanilla game.
• Photovoltaic Coating now boosts both Action Point refresh speed and regeneration of Health, and works in the sunlight using the same system as RTT.
  

Armor

PADI makes some improvements to the "Wastelander" collection. That includes the following:

• Radstag Hide Outfit
• Explorer Outfit
• Scavenger Outfit
• Drifter Outfit
• Spike Armor
• Helmeted Spike Armor
• Cage Armor
• Helmeted Cage Armor
  

They may look menacing, but these armors and outfits all lack the ability to be upgraded by any means, are quite heavy, and take up most or all body slots on the wearer. With PADI installed, the armors and outfits in this collection all have increased Damage Resistance and Energy Resistance, along with a boost to the wearer's Endurance. The helmeted variants will also provide a small amount of Radiation Resistance. All in all, they are still going to be inferior to a set of fully upgraded normal armor, but they will at least be much more viable than they were in the vanilla game.

Since these armors often are worn by important raiders and raider bosses, these characters are also going to be a bit tougher in combat than they previously were.


Gas Masks

The following items are included in this category:

• Gas Mask
• Gas Mask with Goggles
• Assault Gas Mask
  

Gas Masks now feature an additional 70% protection from radiation. Notice that this is a different type of protection than the normal Radiation Resistance, which has not been changed. The Gas Masks also feature the same protection from gas in the HalluciGen building as the Hazmat Suit does.

While wearing a Gas Mask, the Action Point drain for sprinting increases by 50%, because breathing becomes heavy and much more difficult.

The Assault Gas Mask is now slightly heavier, but also provides slightly more Damage Resistance than the others.


Balancing

This mod is very much open to feedback and ideas for additional modifications and improvements to be made.

PADI should technically work at any difficulty level and by itself without issues. However, it is primarily designed to be used in Survival Mode alongside WDI and/or FallExD, which both are mods that will increase the damage received in combat. If PADI is used without having such mods installed, it might become a bit overpowered.

As of version 1.1, Power Armor now offers almost full protection from venomous bites and stings if used alongside Falltoxin.

As of version 1.2, Power Armor now offers almost full protection from attacks that otherwise would inflict bleeding. Now Power Armor also comes with a progression feature related to the Pain Train perk. This version also includes some tweaking to variants of Spike Armors and Cage Armors, to further balance weight and Damage Resistance, making them more consistent. Finally, this version includes new features related to Gas Masks.

As of version 1.3, Photovoltaic Coating now affects both Action Point refresh speed and Health regeneration, and works in sunlight according to the same system as RTT.

As of version 1.4, falling damage while wearing Power Armor is reduced by 98%, rather than completely removed like in the vanilla game and previous versions of PADI.

As of version 1.5, repairing and maintaining Power Armor is more expensive. In addition to that, wearing Power Armor will make sneaking and lockpicking much more difficullt.


Installation

Using Vortex is the recommended method.

Due to user requests, any new update for any mod in this series, uploaded to the Nexus from August 14, 2021 and onward, should no longer follow the system where the same ESP file would be given a new name for each new version. Instead, new version names should be given to the ZIP file in which the other files are contained. For mods in the collection where one or more ESP files have a name that ends with a version number, they will be renamed back to their original names in their next update, and the plan is to not rename published ESP files after that point.


Requirements

For the main part of the mod, all you need is Fallout 4.

For the optional DLC files, you need their respective DLCs.


Compatibility

PADI should be compatible with most mods, unless they make edits to any of the same assets.


Mod Collection

This mod is part of a larger collection of mods aiming to make Survival Mode more difficult and immersive. They come packaged as separate mods in order to allow the player to choose which they want or not, but using them all together should hopefully bring out the best and the most immersive survival experience possible. The mods come in three main categories:

Survival

The mods in this category are aiming to make the game significantly more difficult and immersive in every way they can.

• HSC
  The primary mod of the entire series, HSC is the foundation for an extremely challenging survival experience. This mod focuses on making food, water and sleep management much more essential, as well as making sure things such as carry weight, healing, medical services and damage scaling are far more realistic and challenging than ever before. All the other mods in this series are designed or updated according to the standards set by HSC. For anyone looking to make their survival experience harder and only were to download a single mod in this collection, this should be it.

• HSC-SB
  Where the main HSC mod made sure to make food, water and sleep more important, HSC-SB makes these things more difficult to obtain. Introducing massive challenges in what you are able to build, along with a system for using tools in the construction of more or less everything, settlement building should be far less of a convenient safe zone than it was before.

• Falltoxin
  This mod significantly increases the danger and potency of most types of poison in the game, both from wild creatures as well as the syringes you are able to use. Falltoxin also comes with an optional secondary set of mods known as the Food Add-on, which increases radiation in food, and introduces simple mechanics related to food poisoning and nutrition. These mechanics add a third layer to the food aspect, and are of course designed with HSC and HSC-SB in mind.

• FallMisc
  Enabling the player to craft a bunch of tools and other useful items, this mod adds a lot of convenience. Aside from essential items, many other mods in the series will be referencing FallMisc, rather than having each mod introducing its own set of craftable tools. Both HSC-SB and Falltoxin rely a lot on FallMisc for this purpose.

• WDI
  This mod increases the damage for a variety of weapons from the vanilla game. It also introduces a few new special mechanics for a few weapons, making them more unique than before. Additionally, WDI increases the durability of most turrets. All in all, most of the changes made by this mod will be useful both to you, your allies, and your enemies.

• PADI
  This mod increases the defensive capabilities of Power Armor, a few other types of armor, and gas masks. It also introduces a variety of new features related to Power Armor, making it more detailed and functional. All in all, most of the changes made by this mod will be useful both to you, your allies, and your enemies.

Environmental

The mods in this category are focusing on making various obstacles in the world more difficult to overcome.

• Fallfall
  This mod increases falling damage to a much more realistic level. This should encourage the player to navigate the world in a more careful manner. Not only does it make the world feel bigger, but it also adds a lot to the immersion when you actually have a reason to properly navigate the environments, rather than carelessly performing super dangerous jumps and stunts without as much as a scratch.

• Swimout
  This mod significantly increases the amount of radiation in the various bodies of water across the game. This should encourage the player to actually stay on land, use bridges to cross rivers, and avoid falling into the water.

• FallExD
  This mod increases incoming and outgoing damage for the player in Survival Mode. This makes the game's combat far more dangerous.

• Fallock
  This mod makes lockpicking significantly more difficult, and gives lockpicks some weight. All in all, this should encourage the player to be more careful when picking locks.

Perks

The mods in this category are focusing on improving the variety of features some perks can have, but they also exist as a way to prevent certain perks from completely undermining gameplay mechanics intended to make the game more challenging.

• SPI
  A mod that improves a bunch of perks that had too little or too weak usage throughout the game. This mod comes in three editions, where the two others could be considered for everyone, but the HSC Edition is particularly designed for being used alongside HSC.

• Night Stalker
  A mod that adds new functionality to the Night Person and Cannibal perks. Aside from being fun and allowing for a new playstyle, this mod introduces a small new penalty to cannibalism.

• TWG
  A mod that adds new functionality to the Ghoulish perk. Aside from being fun and allowing for a new playstyle, this mod introduces small penalties depending on where you are.

• RTT
  A mod that adds a few small mechanics to the Solar Powered and Rooted perks. Aside from adding a few new fun and convenient mechanics, the main point of this mod is to reduce the ability to heal radiation damage when in the sun. Being able to get rid of radiation that easily undermined a huge part of the mods with features related to radiation, such as HSC and Falltoxin.