About an hour ago I stumbled into a Nightkin for the first time. Surprisingly tough creature, but a fair fight.

Then I saw from above some "regular" super mutants and centaurs on the road below and start shooting from the hill where I was. They almost killed me with a few shots; on the other hand I was spending tons of ammo and just making a scratch here and there.

Reloaded the game. Left the hill, reached the road and confronted them face to face: same thing happened again: VATS or no VATS, wasting all my ammo, switching guns and nothing, like all of them were "final bosses", almost impossible to kill.

What's wrong here? I'm playing on hardcoe mode but this is ridiculous, completely unbalanced. By the way: telling from what I've heard on the radio (some Nightkin leader called Tabitha), the Nightkins are supposed to be tougher than the super mutants; how come my weapons stood a fair fight against them and are almost ineffective against the usual, green super mutants?

I'm still level 8, and the ammo I got was hard to find (only scavenging; so far I found zero traders selling it) -- I know there are some pretty common ammunition types, but not for the weapons I chose; at least so far. For instance, I spent more than sixty 44 magnum rounds on a single super mutant (almost all of them headshots), and barely scratched him. This can't be right.

Can someone please explain me what's going on?

Thanks.

Did a little red shield pop up next to their health bars?

Yes, several times. What's that?

Damage Threshold. [edit]
If a red shield pop up then:
A: Run away.
B: Lose a crap load of ammo and stimpacks trying to take down one enemy.
C: Switch weapon.
D: Switch ammo type.

'Damage Threshold,' but yes, gabriel is correct. Most of your damage is being negated by the armor level of the mob; in other words, you need a bigger gun.

-HD

Riiiight!!...

I guess the answer will be "D: switch ammo type".


Anyway, If I don't have any armor-piercing rounds I'll just hit the road and get the hell out of there while I still can, hehe.

Thanks a bunch for clarifying, at least it's not a bug! :thumbsup:

Back to vegas...

Damnit I always screw up and call it Tolerance. >_<


Well it still might be, try going there with another weapon, if it still ain't working then it might be a bug.
I used the Incinerator. But to be fair it seems to me like the Incinerator is the new Metal Blaster.
Meaning: Too damn powerful. :shifty:

Umm.... Get a follower?

Not gonna spoil anything, but try to find a follower that fits your play style. Each one is made to be good with a certain partner. You will also be doubling the amount of damage done.

Or you know you can always run away. Or get a really big gun. A REALLY REALLY Big Gun. Your call.

Followers are crap against cazadores and giant radscorpions though.
Dies way too quick.

time to gamble! :celebration:

Nah. My followers are usually equipped as well as me, and shouldn't take a lot with all the damage being dished out to take those things out.

If all else fails.... Companion wheel... Stimpack O.D.

Well I've had pretty bad luck with everything and barely have enough money to get my own equipment going so Eddy and Raul will have to wait until I finally hit big in Vegas.

gamble gets me about 10000 caps before they kick me out

Yeah damage threshold... I use melee weapons. I found out with a lot of the new melee weapon perks that were added that they actually stand a chance in the wasteland. I use Boon as a companion and I think he works out really well. It's nice to be in a melee fight with a super mutant then have his head blow off when he is about to kill me. This has happened a bit too often.

Me to buddy. Personally, Im horrible at all the casino games. Wish they would have included Texas Hold em or some form of poker. Something im good at.... :sadvaultboy:

Personally, im at Really Good karma level right now but have 6k caps from just doing what I do best... Quests and guns. A whole lotta guns. :flamethrower:

On topic: You could also try leveling up and doing some quests before re attempting... Black mountain is pretty hard, I had 2 followers and around twenty stimpacks and still had a hard time.