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I absolutely hate power armour, hate, hate, hate it. Have never used except when forced to in that quest, in which I jumped out immediately.

I'm only maybe 40 hours in and I'm playing on the hard difficulty setting, is it possible to complete the game without the use of power armour?

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  • Did we allow these kind of game questions? Or was it off topic?
    – ave
    Dec 28, 2015 at 9:34
  • Why would this be off-topic? It's just like all other fallout-4 questions... ?
    – insidesin
    Dec 28, 2015 at 9:37
  • I believe you only need to enter a Power Armor for the first Minutemen quest. I don't know if you can skip that quest for the main story, though. If by "complete" you mean finishing every quest, though, the answer is obviously: "no".
    – Nolonar
    Dec 28, 2015 at 9:46
  • @Nolonar why is it obviously no? Are there quests that require you to beat enemies that are only defeatable via suits? ... Kind of sad.
    – insidesin
    Dec 28, 2015 at 9:47
  • @insidesin. Like I said, the first Minutemen quest requires that you enter a suit of Power Armor. If you don't, the quest doesn't proceed. You could enter it, then leave it right away, though.
    – Nolonar
    Dec 28, 2015 at 9:48

2 Answers 2

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Yes, it's perfectly possible to finish the game without using Power Armor, with the one exception of it being a requirement (a quest condition) near the start of the game during the initial quest meeting the Minutemen in the Museum of Freedom, but as you're already 40 hours in and mention this quest I guess you've found and passed this one already. After this you can get out of it and abandon it and nobody will care all that much.

You will miss out on some random passer-by dialogue ("ooh, power armor") but this is flavor rather than substance.

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  • Thank you! There are a few things in Fallout4 that I couldn't care less about... Power armour, building settlements and some of the really, really boring quests. I also dislike that a lot of NPCs are annoying as hell, yet not killable and part of the main quest. Cannot wait to betray them.
    – insidesin
    Dec 29, 2015 at 4:44
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    Fallout 4 is where I fell in love with Power Armor. In previous games, meh. But in this one, I love the tinkering, and I LOVE being a tank. I love the addition of the armor frame which makes the equipped armor pieces weigh nothing. I don't use it all the time, but it's a lot to fun to hop in my flame red T60 and mash everything.
    – Longspeak
    Jan 2, 2016 at 22:22
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    You can finish the game without doing the Minutemen quest. I've done a couple speed runs already, and the first thing you have to do is rescue Valentine. I haven't tried skipping talking to Ellie yet.
    – DCShannon
    Jan 5, 2016 at 0:01
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    Warning: There is one particular scenario where Power Armor is a near-necessity. A Hazmat Suit will address the main reason for this, but then leaves you more vulnerable to other threats than you would be even in normal armor.
    – Iszi
    Jan 5, 2016 at 21:24
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    @Iszi: You can easily circumvent these other threats. I did it that way once, because I was little scared about the whole situation ^^
    – Bounce
    Mar 9, 2016 at 8:35
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Yes, you can play Fallout 4 without using Power Armor, although you will find some tasks become much easier by using it.

Fallout 4 is designed to be a fairly open game, where you can make choices as to how you play. Features like settlements and faction quests are completely optional (with one exception), and how you spend your time in The Commonwealth is completely up to you.

The only time that using Power Armor is absolutely required is during the first Minuteman quest in Concord, called "When Freedom Calls". It sounds like you're already past that, but if on a future playthrough you want to circumvent the armor altogether, AND you're on the PC version, you can use the console to skip that step by entering:

setstage 001a001c 65

This will tell the game that you've already gotten into the armor and picked up the minigun (even if you haven't), and gives you the next task in the quest (clear Concord of hostiles).

Now, that said, the game expects you use Power Armor occasionally, and certain enemies such as Deathclaws & Behemoths are designed with that in mind. At lower levels, such enemies are more difficult to defeat without using the armor.

There is also a step during the main questline that requires you to

travel into the Glowing Sea, a heavily irradiated area.

You can use a hazmat suit instead, or can stock up on anti-Rad chems, but will be much more vulnerable to the high-powered enemies found there. Also, regardless of which faction you join with, you must later

enter the reactor room at the Mass Fusion building.

Again, you can use a hazmat suit or chems to protect yourself, but will immediately face enemies afterwards and may find yourself vulnerable during the encounter.

Other than those two things, Power Armor is really just a convenience item. Putting points into the right perks & stats can eliminate most of the disadvantages you'd get by NOT using the armor, and no other quests or encounters require it.

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    The more familiar I've become with the game, the less I've worn power armor. It reduces my agility too much, and prevents me from benefiting from my equipment. I've done a few speed runs (one under six hours on original survival mode) in which I've worn no power armor at all. The only time I've felt like I really needed power armor recently is while playing the Immersive Gameplay mod.
    – DCShannon
    Apr 7, 2017 at 19:33
  • Also, some rad-x and radaway will handle the glowing sea, even without a hazmat suit. As few as one or two of each if you just hurry through to Virgil.
    – DCShannon
    Apr 7, 2017 at 19:34
  • @DCShannon - Not disagreeing, but I assume the OP is actually playing & exploring rather than just running through everything at speed. Personally, I love to soup up my armor to max and run around being a destructive tank. Not that it really matters, though, because my answer's point is that YES, you can play without armor - you just have to know where it's designed to help so that you can use other means.
    – Omegacron
    Apr 7, 2017 at 21:10
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    I'm sure they are, but my point is that if you can just run through without power armor, then you can certainly make it going slower and with more preparation. Specifically, they aren't "making things much harder on" themself. That statement is mainly why I haven't upvoted, because it's not true, and it's in bold at the top of the answer. Less important issues include "such enemies are nearly impossible to defeat", and the suggestion that a hazmat suit is necessary in the glowing sea. If you stand by those statements, then okay, just clarifying my objections to the answer as it stands.
    – DCShannon
    Apr 7, 2017 at 22:18
  • @DCShannon - I see what you're saying. Not sure I completely agree, but you make fair points. I tweaked the wording of the answer a little to make it sound less like enemies need the power armor, or that you HAVE to use a hazmat suit in the Glowing Sea. If I have a Legendary Deathclaw up in my face, I'll want power armor. But I generally kill them with a single headshot before I ever get that close. So it's really all about how you play the game.
    – Omegacron
    Apr 10, 2017 at 14:04

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