So after getting to the strip on hard mode with hardcoe on my first playthrough, I decided it was getting too easy.

I just started what I like to call Very hardcoe mode. I must say it is extremely, like very extremely, more difficult. I haven't made it past Primm in over 4 hours LOL.

That being said I am really enjoying it. Yes, the "bullet sponge" aspect is unrealistic, but it makes you plan ahead for every move you make.

Also one of my main skills is survival, which is already at 45 on level 5. I haven't seen many advantages from it yet, but it looks like when it gets to 75 it will be very useful.

Anyways, just wanted to know if anyone out there is doing what I am. And no matter how you play the game, HAVE FUN!

I was playing normal mode on medium and got bored, so now I'm on hardcoe mode which i guess is on medium, but Ive made it harder by going for being Evil so people wont help me as much and being mostly unarmed which is hilarious trying to sprint through the deathclaw hot spot with out touching one of them. (I always get stopped by a deathclaw in the middle of the route, but its seiously something fun to try or you could step it up and run through deathclaw zone with no armour or guns and 1 stimpack. XD

Energy Weapons svcked so hard I had to turn it down to Normal.
Playing an Unarmed character right now, might bump it up to Hard.

I started playing on very hard with hardcoe on from the beginning. Found out about the implants when I had reached Primm about 3-4 hours into the game. Made a new save with same settings and did a run to the strip. Was so lucky to get past the cazadors and scorpions alive.

I think it's pretty fun with those settings. Not sure how normal without hardcoe would be though. The only thing that annoy me about hardcoe is that I have difficulties finding food sometimes. Water and sleep can be found at almost every place you can fast-travel to, so they're easy to keep down. Very hard with hardcoe is very hard in the beginning, but when you reach higher levels it's pretty fun. I'm level 15 now, my main skills is guns and sneak.

I did play on hardcoe very hard, but I turned it down to hardcoe normal cause I did not have enough ammo.

If your scarce for food then kill geckos get the meat and cook them bad boys seriously good stuff that takes down alot of hunger, water is easily solved by sinks, I dont care how thirsty my guy gets hes not drinking from a toilet.

This is my first Fallout game, never played the others but have heard of them from ppl over the years since the first one. (ex Boss was a Fallout junkie 10 years ago..)

Anyways I started FNV on Very hard + hardcoe mode and without even trying the other difficulty settings I can honestly say that this is the only way to play. If anything I wish it was a little more difficult, after putting in a lot of time into the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series with all the super realism mods where 1-2 shots and you're done, this is a walk in the park.

I'm about 43 hours into it and level 16, I just reached NV. I've been exploring and running side quests here and there, mainly just surviving in the wasteland. I have more than enough ammo, food, water and supplies.

Gun spec (100), just picked up the sniper rifle, cost me about 6k from the gun runners but worth every cap! Nothing like taking a hit of psycho, reaching out and touching a deathclaw's head from 400-500 yards!
Anything that gets close gets a 10mm SMG to the face

In survival , atmospheric or post apo games I always crank up the difficulty . It adds just so much immersion. Lower difficulty let you play carelessly , basically just a dumb god mode fps and you soon get bored.

My first game as sneaky sniper was very tough until mid levels with maxed sneak and high survival . Had like 250 stimpacks at the end .

Currently playing falmethrower dude with some explosives , no survival and max medicine , got Veronica this time , but she seems pretty OP so I might ditch her and just get Rex .
It isn't that bad , but ofc 2nd playthrough is always much easier . Don't know what I am gonna do against Legion at the end . Maybe finally I will find some use for that Fat Man . Things are going to be much more interesting than VATS headshotting with Gobi and soft point 0.308 I think.

Ditto, except I just switched down to to Hard.

Standing safely out of reach on a rock and pumping round after round after round after round into gecko's heads before they would go down, well, it just seemed silly (and tedious.)

Energy weapons have a serious problem with DT piercing. BUT you can make up for it in ridiculously high critical chance to hit with the laser commander, better criticals and always using overcharge ammo.

OP here
Level 1-6 (I am at 6 now) is very tedious. After that it really becomes strategic as you must load stimpacks/sasaparillas before battles.
I really wish I would have focused more on explosives as dynamite has gotten me through far too many battles at this point.

After 5 days with this game I can easily say it is the best game I have played since Oblivion (only like it 'cause of all the mods)

I play on very hard + hardcoe mode....very difficult :hubbahubba:

7 luck. +7%
Finesse. +5%
Beret. +5%.
Laser Commander. +3%
Set Lasers For Fun. +2% +2% (rank 2)
I did have high critical chance.
The weapons were still bad.
Only weapon worth bothering with is RCW and Gauss Rifle.
RCW for enemies without high DT and Gauss for enemies with.
Got boring.
All those weapons at my disposal and none except two did any decent damage.

[edit]
Anyway, so the guns svcked, did no damage, had to turn the difficulty down because dying that many times and not even having a chance simply wasn't fun.
I like a challenge, I like being able to die, I dislike dying because of failed balance.

Yeah, if someone did survival + energy weapons I would be thoroughly impressed.

RCW svcks.. i mean its like using a varmint rifle... for comparisons sake need to up the ante on the level of weapons you're using for fair comparison. key is overcoming enemy DT ... heres how i did it.

i have energy build and the games on easy mode... vh/hc... i use fully modded laser rifle for distance and most enemies, plasma caster for when things get personal. YCS gauss for high DT targets Deathclaws and such.. i mean with MC ammo the danm thing does over 250 dmg... that equals dead everything -just gotta use the right stuff man...

the key is the MC ammo... with my high crit even spamming the fully modded laser rifle and landing head shots melts pretty much everything... cazadores are cake too.. i get like 7-8 hits in vats with laserrifle 1 shot to the wings cripples knocking them to the ground then i just blast on'em... 1 round of vats 4-5 cazadores grounded then i just smash all over'em... need to get creative and try different strats.. like i said i think the MC ammo is the trick for most instances to make EW effective.. i do agree you have to kinda specialize for them but once you do you're a minister of death.. praying for war.

Started on very hard, hardcoe with a sniper build. With Boone around, the game is mostly a joke. Given, I'm only at level 12 now and haven't encountered any Death Claws, or the other flying beasts people have mentioned, so I may be coming back and singing a different tune in a few days.

As far as hardcoe mode goes, I'm pretty pleased with how it's balanced. I think it could be a little harder, but I'm not with the group who think it's way too easy. No, I don't ever run out of ammo, but I work really hard to make sure that doesn't happen. Same with food and water. I buy all relevant ammo wherever I see it. I store extra ammo in my house in Novac or Lucky 38 apartment. My fridges are full of purified waters and foodstuffs I've found or bought. I make sure I have about 400 food and water restoring potential. Sunset Sasparrillas and Stimpacks are always bought. Extras are again stored in my fridge.

With my "anol" inventory management, hardcoe mode has never felt very hard core to me. But it added realism to the game that was completely lacking without mods from FO3. The ammo could probably stand to weigh a more realistic amount, and they might even add "space" maximums in your inventory, since it doesn't make much sense to be carrying 10 guns, only three of which are pistols, and five sets of armor, but other than that, I think they did a great job on hardcoe. If a mod comes out that increases ammo weight, but doesn't make ammo more scarce, I'd probably use it.

I really like hardcoe / hard difficulty. makes alternatives to fighting more important.

please clarify RCW and YCS and MC ammo. This really confused me.

Gauss Rifle has a tremendous damage and coupled with Max Charge Microfusion Cells it apparently do an even higher damage.

http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34759

I started using this after destroying everything in my path and ending with more stims and caps than is reasonable on Hard/hardcoe.

Not being able to backup as fast as moving forward is a great tweak here. I've only gone for about an hour so far, but it is much more interesting. Bullet sponge has kicked in, but I'm going to have to spec towards melee to offest, which is even more challenging. Anyway, superhard and hardcoe is the only way to go.

What are the best skills/perks/special stats to work on in hardcoe mode? The official game guide says that Survival should be considered? Other suggestions?

Thanks!