I'd disagree, it's extremely retarded that it's present at all in the mod.
In the classic games power armor is a powerful endgame reward, not something that you get on a plate one hour in like in Fagout 4. I agree it's stupid that they give the power armor to enemies though.
I disagree. Vast majority of games made Power Armor a late game item that balanced out it's high stats and gave you a way to find the suit in a way that makes sense. Only Bethesda recently fumbled the ball on this one. Let's go over each example one by one:
It's a fangame, but I like how Fallout Nevada does this the best: You are tasked with finding several different pieces scattered thruout the game's toughest dungeons(some of which require very high niche skills like repair, if you don't have these skills that high you are not getting the armor, period). Then, even when you have all the pieces, you either have to repair it yourself or pay someone else for it, and the mechanic is offering you a nice bit of change for it as well if you just want to sell it to him. This makes you not only appreciate the armor after you repair it, but it shows you just how much of a big deal it is, there is only a handful of NPCs that wear it in the game and they are all part of high tech, selfish factions that will never give you one. An "exclusive power armor haver club" as Warlockracy put it, and you can become part of this exclusive minority yourself if you play your cards right.
Fallout 1 has you doing favors for the only faction that has power armor, and that includes going to the most radioactive place on the map. Even then, they don't just hand one out to you, just like in Nevada you either have to repair one yourself or get it as a reward for having 16 karma(a large amount in this game, especially if you're on the clock from the mutant invasion) and killing some tough dudes in the Hub. I think this is the most balanced way of getting the armor, as it allows each build to get their hands on one, including stupid characters.
Fallout Tactics deserves a quick mention as it only gives you these suits at the end of the game, from a quartermaster for sale at an astronomical price per suit AFTER a mission that hypes how much of a big deal it is by fighting raiders that stole them. The only freebie you get is a suit of Advanced Power Armor in Newton that is hidden in a secret spot you pretty much need a guide to find.
Fallout 2 has two ways of getting the armor(not counting the Advanced variant): Buy it for a high price from San Francisco shopkeeps like in Tactics, or go thru a tough dungeon to get your hands on a freebie(Mariposa). Both of these are optional, as the game just gives you a better suit for free at a certain point in the story, but they're useful for humanoid companion.
Fallout 3 gives you access to various suits much earlier, but it's balanced out by you needing a perk to wear them. The perk is either gated behind main story(around the halfway point) or by going thru a tough combat DLC, that also rewards you with a unique unbreakable suit at the end. I have mixed feelings about the latter, but at least the suit is cool.
New Vegas combines the new ways of getting the suit with the old, and requires you not only get in touch with high-tech factions to even get access to one but also for the power armor training perk. This makes the armor a very end game optional set of equipment, much like in Nevada or the first game, where you could easily complete either game with only a suit of combat armor.
Then we get to Fallout 4, which did fuck things up as you said. I'm not going to defend what they did, but I do like how the armor set you get is balanced out by you constantly needing to repair the pieces and fusion core drain. I have the latter dummied out since it's a retcon, but let me tell you, having to constantly waste steel(and later aluminium and circuitry) does put a dent in your scrap collection or outright forces you to scavenge or buy the components you need. Sometimes, it's better to go on foot and save yourself the trouble at the cost of less protection.
Anyways, this is a good track record we have for power armor and it's acquisition, with only Fallout 4 and arguably Operation Anchorage in 3 giving you a suit way too easily. That said, if I knew the game well enough, I would be very careful about where to put it. I would only put it in an area that makes sense, one you cannot access early, and you would still be tasked with repairing the pieces after every few battles or lose cutting your protection in half. Moreover, the only power armor repair stations would be in the place you found the suit or at settlements locked behind armorer and local leader perks, making you most likely backtrack to that one location every time you wanted to customize or repair the suit, much like you would with a car in a garage. This is a big investment for the player to take, not to mention a major resource drain in a game where there is far less scrap than in Fallout 4. I don't think my idea is that far fetched, problem is that I don't know the game well enough to know where to put a set of armor. I wanted to go ahead and put one in the only place that makes sense so far, the US Embassy that would obviously have a few spares sitting around(you're crazy if you think US will not defend their embassy in an unstable war torn region like resource war era Europe), but for now that cell crashes the geck every time. I will have to look for a work around, a different location or wait for proper power armor integration mods.
Same, it's set in the fucking UK. They're already stretching it by including muskets in the game, if it were in any way believable the only pieces of armor in the game would be football (or soccer for my burger munching friends) jerseys, Adidas tracksuits and hijabs for the women. The only weapons would be plastic cutlery, actual knives, machetes, empty glass beer bottles, firebombs and a suicide bomb strap.
The game actually explains why power armor, and pip boys, are feasible in London in like the first 15 minutes of the game. It's not even hard to find, the terminal is right there next to your pip boy you have to pick up.
Anyways, I updated my little mod to version 1.01.
Here is what was changed:
*More items I missed give more of their resources, like duct tape, wonderglue, dishrag, comfy pillow
*Repair kit gives more of every resource other than steel
*I found an unused junk item that apparently was borrowed from the upcoming Capital Wasteland project, likely the Point Lookout mod. The Doll's Head has been added to various leveled lists so you should be able to find them in the wastes from now on. It gives you 2 ceramic and 2 plastic at the cost of 1 weight.
*Brand new resource: Paper. Did it bother you that you can somehow use 200 year old paper to make a bed or modify your armor? Well, look no more, as every single item that would naturally make sense, including useless items like napkins and folders, now give paper instead of cloth. Naturally, they also do not give out cloth anymore either, but that shouldn't be a problem with the actual cloth items now giving more of the resource. Paper only has one purpose, to make it into glue using a new recipe at the cooking station to make a reskinned Vegetable Starch now called "Homemade Starch". There is an identical recipe for bone instead of paper, letting you turn these two otherwise useless resources into adhesive.
*While editing paper, I gave unburned books and textbooks some value so you can sell them.
