VATS is your friend. 
What I do with them is just keep running backwards and firing straight ahead…I’ve found that as long as there aren’t more than 2 it’s not a big deal. I can take one out, generally, in a single VATS combat round, and then by backing up take out the second one. The only time they have been a serious problem for me is when I ran into a pack of like 5 of the things.
I don’t think they are anywhere close to as dangerous as Deathclaws.
-XT
I don’t use flamethrowers, but I had one on hand and did for them. I only did it because I couldn’t mini-nuke them from orbit.
ETA: The main problem with them is not that they kill you, but that they kill Boone and ED-E.
Siding with her seems more profitable, you get to loot the entire store plus all the guards (who are wearing combat armor).
Do they have some sort of delayed activation effect? I killed a couple last night. And when I was fairly sure there were none left I kept hearing a ‘tschh’ sound and my health dropping. Each time I turned around frantically looking for the source - there was nothing!
Sure, if you could survive. I managed to kill the brother (took two rounds), but she and Ed were both dead by then and I went before I even started working on the next guy. Plus, even if you kill them all, you still couldn’t loot the store unless you wanted to take a huge Karma hit, since everything is read.
Still, if I COULD kill them all I certainly would have. I tried 3 times before giving it up as a bad job and just tossed her under the bus. 
-XT
Yeah, the fight was rather difficult, I was badly prepared but I managed to get them down by using all of the store’s plasma grenades followed by a 10 minute shootout (I had no AP ammo but I did have a lot of stim paks).
Probably. Radscorpion venom does.
Venom. There’s no icon for it though or even a combat message, so it’s hard to realize what’s happening. Scorpions do that too and there’s bottles of Anti-Venom to deal with it but it’s still annoying … so used to MMOs with their debuff icons telling you exactly what is wrong with you.
Thanks.
Another thing: I’m having a look at my earned acheivements list in steam. Apparently I haven’t earned ‘New Kid’ (Reached 10th level), but I’m on about level 14. What’s up with that??
You might not have been connected to Steam when you achieved it. I’ve had that happen in other games.
-XT
My favorite item of choice, the chinese stealth armor, got fixed.
I say “fixed” because it really was a game breaker. Permanent stealth boy lets you rack up heavy sneak attack criticals. Now it just gives you sneak+5 which is the same as the recon armor.
Those were the days though. Stealth field and a silenced weapon let me make one hell of a mess.
And I’m level 14. Not in New Vegas proper yet. Fiddling with some of the quests in the area before I find the man who shot me.
Where did you find Chinese Stealth Armor by level 14? Wow…I haven’t even seen anything like that. I’m still tooling around in Merc armor (I have a set of metal armor but it’s beat to hell).
-XT
Wow. I just started the New Vegas quests but I’m only level 9. There were just barely any quests people offered me, even though some of the locations I starting opening skulls up in seemed clearly designed for one.
I guess I neglected my speech a bit too much.
At least in the New vegas/Mcarran/crimson caravan area I have tons and tons of quests to buff myself up a bit.
I have always played a sniper type first in Fallout games, and between me and Boone, everybody’s head pops open before they are in range to hit shit, so maybe I am getting a bit out of my league for when the real baddies show. I also took the +crits but -weapon condition starting perk, which was… unwise. I did it because in 3 finding ammo was the biggest issue for me, and extra crits means less lead used. And FIxing weapons was simple. I could easily find enough of any type I need to keep them near full. But in FONV ammo is plentiful, but matching weapons to fix is the hard part.
Hell, I’m running around in a space suit!
What difficulty level are oyu guys playing on, and are you in Hardcore mode?
Me <-- Very Hard, hard core mode.
Just killed me my toughest set of enemies so far: the Nightkin. They are extremely difficult if they get close to you. Figured out that they become pondering slow pokes with a blasted kneecap.
Hoover Dam, in the same loading section where you talk to Moore. Look for a small room with radioactive barrels in it.
Ah, and the Fallout wiki tells me that veteran NCR rangers often hav the 0.50 sniper. It also tells me that you can kill people without infamy or hostility by leaving dynamite on the ground and shooting it. You know what to do.
I found this mod on Nexus to restore the Chinese Stealth Armor back to the way it used to be, if anyone is interested.
-XT
I had a bit of a revelation with the “limited ammunition supply” thing ; the idea appears to be that you have to break down ammo in calibres you’re not using at reloading benches and then turn it into something you are- thus, I had virtually no .223 ammo but heaps and heaps of 5mm ammo, and no interest in either of the guns chambered for it. So, I broke the 5mm ammo down, rechambered it to 5.56 (using all the empty brass I’d picked up in my travels) and hey presto, I had lots of ammo in a useful calibre.
I’m still having trouble getting Cass to follow me, though- she’s accepted the buyout offer, I’ve cleared the roads, but the base commander still won’t let anyone leave and Cass won’t move from the bar.
I just swapped Boone for Lily (for the Guess Who I Saw Today mission).
I’ve got to admit: It felt weirdly sad watching him slowly walk away. I think I’d got attached to him.
What’s more - As a test I tried to re-acquire him. He asks “Is it time”. Not sure why, but that choice of words, and having to reply ‘No’ makes it slightly sadder.
ETA: Am I imagining things, or is the radio a LOT more repetitive than it was in FO3?
I’ve completed all the parts of the ‘Heartache by the Number’ quest, but the quest name isn’t greyed out like the other completed quests on the list. Anyone know why?
Instead of just one station playing popular music, there are now three and the playlist is split between them with some overlap.