When I first started playing Fallout 3, I hadn't ever played any Bethesda game prior, nor was a huge RPG player- instead blazing through it like some odd kind of shooter. That said, I wasn't leveling my character, I wasn't scrounging, I wasn't hoarding items, I didn't know how to repair equipment, etc.
About Level 5, I had found myself in the Museum of History, hiding in a storage closet next to the planetarium. Outside two Super Mutants were searching for me. I only had my Tunnel Snake outfit and motorcycle helmet for protection, a hunting rifle with 12 rounds, half a clip in my 10mm submachine gun, 2-3 landmines and my BB Gun. I had one stimpak and a few pieces of Molerat meat for health and I was already halfway dead. Shit just got real.... and from that point on... I learned how to survive the wasteland.