The Enclave are one of the most iconic factions in Fallout's Wasteland. And much like their mortal enemies within the Brotherhood, they are mostly recognized by their distinct, menacing power armor. This episode of Exposition Cannon focuses on the history of the various models of power armor Enclave personnel have sported over the years. Some content that is mentioned here is outside of the main continuity. All non-canon information will be marked with an X and italicized.
The Beginnings
Before the Great War, the United States military began production on a new line of power armor. This prototype design was labeled the "X-01". One X-01 suit was enhanced as part of Nuka Cola Corporation's Project Cobalt, a military experiment that sought to weaponize the strontium-90 isotope. A copy of the X-01's schematics were sent to Control Station Enclave, the shadow government's base onboard a Poseidon Energy oil rig. But the prototype was never finished before the bombs dropped. In the years afterwards, suits of X-01 were used by the Enclave's Whitesprings cell in Appalachia and military remnants. XSome X-01 suits were also used by members of the Secret Service.X
A Resident of Vault 76 wearing X-01.
In Development
After the destruction of America, the Enclave onboard their oil rig headquarters continued development of power armor using the X-01 designs. XMany prototypes were ultimately failures, lacking any improvement over existing models and causing several deaths during testing.X Eventually the Enclave engineers finalized their work into a successful suit: they dubbed their new model the "Advanced Power Armor Mark I". This new power armor was a luxury to its wearers: being built with lightweight alloys, ceramic plates, and high quality servo-motors, and coming equipped with an onboard radio and air conditioner. But they did not cease development there. A second, even more protected suit of Advanced Power Armor was soon produced. The Mark II ditched the ceramic plating of its predecessor for full alloy armor. Enclave personnel train since childhood to use these new power armor suits. Frank Horrigan, a unique super mutant and member of the Enclave's Secret Service, was given an equally unique suit of power armor that only covered portions of his body and was arm-mounted with both a prototype plasma cannon model Horrigan himself was field-testing and a hardened composite blade. XHorrigan could not survive without his power armor, which pumped him full of chemicals he needed to live.X The terror envoked by APA-clad Enclave soldiers earned the suits and their wearers a nickname: Black Devils.
A suit of APA Mk1
Continued Refinement and An Old Project Renewed
Destruction of Control Station Enclave did not stop the government from developing even more powerful armor. Some APA suits were modified with tesla coil devices attached to the shoulder pauldrons. These "Tesla" variants could overcharge plasma and laser weaponry to yield more devastating firepower in battle. A group of survivors of the oil rig's destruction who reached the Raven Rock facility near Washington D.C. resumed work on a pre-war project for "Hellfire power armor". Hellfire suits incorporated respiration masks and were designed for both flexibility and heat resistance so that wearers could operate efficiently with flame-based weapons. Under orders of Colonel Autumn, the eyebot project to enhance their robots with duraframe assets was cancelled to divert resources into Hellfire production. By 2287, a single suit of Hellfire somehow ended up in the Commonwealth and was used by a member of the Forged raider gang named Pyro.
A pre-war prototype of the Hellfire power armor, sent to Vault 51.
One Last Suit
In 2277, the Enclave at Raven Rock were devastated when the facility was destroyed and their hold over the Jefferson Memorial was lost. In the chaos, many forces became scattered and some began to doubt if there was even a command structure left. One individual who chose to desert from the Enclave at this time was a member of the special operations unit "Devil's Hand". He took with him a suit of experimental armor, the X-02, which shared the "Black Devil" nickname of the older APA models as well as their lightweight composition. Loyal members of the Enclave pursued the deserter all the way to the Commonwealth, where they sought to recover the prototype.
The set of X-02 brought to the Commonwealth.
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And that catches us up to date on what suits of power armor the Enclave have been stomping on people in. Their models, especially the X-series and Hellfire, have inspired quite a lot of discussion: sometimes on the Enclave's surprisingly good taste in fashion and other times on how Bethesda is going to shake lore up next time. What do you think about them?
References
•APA description, Fallout 2
•APA Mk2 description, Fallout 2
•Bradberton's project terminal, Fallout 4
•Enclave: Core Box description, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare
•Enclave: Hellfire Set description, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare
•Enclave Soldier dialogue, Fallout 2
•Enclave: Tesla Set description, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare
•Joshua Sawyer
•Notes on the X-02, Fallout 4
•Events of quest "Pyromaniac", Fallout 4
•Events of quest "Speak of the Devil", Fallout 4
•Frank Horrigan announcement, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare
•Whitespring Bunker archive terminal, Fallout 76
•Whitley's dialogue, Fallout: New Vegas
•X-01 loading screen, Fallout 4
•X-02 power armor description, Fallout 4
XFallout Bible 0X
XFallout Bible 6X
XX-01 description, Fallout ShelterX
Figured it was about time I did another installment of any of the old series. As it was done before, if you have any topics in Fallout lore you want to see a dive into, feel free to recommend them to get shot out of the Exposition Cannon next.