So, let's say that you just ignored the constant warnings not to go directly north that you've probably gotten from all of the NPC's in the tutorial area. You've ignored the multiple, fuck off "STAY OUT" signs along the path. Let's say you saw a deathclaw, and instead of running away in abject terror, you charged it head on.
This is what happens.
Note that we have the Lightweight Metal Armor and the Merc's Grenade Launcher from the Courier's Stash DLC. Without the Mercenary Grenade Launcher, good luck making any sort of progress against these enemies. Their DT makes them just shrug off small arms fire, even with the grenade launcher, some of them can take quite a few hits from them as well.
So first things first. Let's say you decided to go directly north out of Goodsprings. This is the most sane approach (Well aside from going the way the game intended) because your way isn't blocked by Deathclaws. What is there, however, is no picnic either.
So, there is a rather noticeable "KEEP OUT" sign along the road. I don't blame people for ignoring it, as videogame logic says that behind the "KEEP OUT" sign is usually where you need to go.
The game really funnels you along these roads. Lots of invisible walls and such, but I get why the game does that.
Cazadores. People fucking hate Cazadores, and it's no surprise why. They're fast. They do a lot of damage. They poison you. They are hard to shoot. They take a surprising amount of damage.
And they can come out of nowhere.
They don't do well against the grenade launcher though, which is good.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention another thing: They come in swarms.
Of course, when they close the range, using the grenade launcher is a tricky proposition.
We kill them, but it's too late. They poisoned us and...
Admittedly, if I played it a bit more strategically there, I certainly could have kill these Cazadores. It's just that there is even more Cazadores, and you'll end up probably using all of your grenades on them. After that, you got no good weapons against them, and you're pretty much screwed.
Okay, now we're back where we started. Let's try another direction.
Back to the graveyard area. Another sign telling us to stay out.
So instead of Cazadores, todays flavor is Radscorpion.
And as with the Cazadores, our only really effective weapon is this grenade launcher. And using it at close range is obviously a bad idea.
They do a lot of damage.
I get a bit too enthusiastic with the grenade launcher...
So now, we're going another direction. When leaving Goodsprings the normal way, take a left at the crossroads takes you this way.
There are some Powder Gangers along the road. They are hostile to us by default, as we are villified with them already.
Takes one shot with the Sturdy Caravan Shotgun.
Even more of them.
We kill a couple of cute Coyotes puppies for no reason other to being a dick.
Let's try the machete.
It's pretty strong.
The Quarry is over there. We can't actually enter it from this direction.
Just follow the train tracks.
We eventually come along a town with this guy in him. Just ignore him, he has no idea what he is talking about.
So far, so good.
That's a deathclaw all the way over there in the distance. It can't see us yet, right?
Wrong.
Oh shit.
Crap, crap.
Somehow, I manage to kill it.
But if you keep going forward...
Adult Deathclaws. And they just shrug off grenades and such.
Yeah, that outcome was expected.
Let's keep to the right and try to avoid all of the deathclaws.
There is a super mutant here who warns you of hostile mutants ahead. Fuck his advice.
For some reason, the game loses saturation for a second, and then the color goes back to normal.
First time fighting Super Mutants in this game. They're a lot more threatening than they were in Fallout 3, but that's simply because there are way less of them in this game. And not all of them are hostile.
The grenade launcher is so satisfying to use.
But, it still didn't help much.
We make it a bit further this time...
So now we're in the clear, right?
FUCK
Okay, fine. We'll take the long way.