What is the most realistic difficulty to play on with hardcoe mode on?

I'm going to go with Normal. It is the most balanced. Very Hard is good if you want it to be like a one shot kill kinda thing but you do no damage to them which isn't realistic. Very Easy is the exact opposite. So normal is the way to go, imo. Unless you are using mods, such as a bullet damage amplifier, then I would recommend Very Hard.

Meh, even on Very Hard, after lvl 5-8 you'll find that you can kill most things with no more than a few crit shots. Player does 50% less damage, but since so many creatures don't have that many hit points (they don't increase w/difficulty), it's still not much of a (combat) challenge after those early moments, especially if you're good at getting crit. hits. Does depend on gear and perks and combat playstyle & all of that, but seriously....most things do not become horrendous bullet sponges even in VH.

That said...for a lot of people, I'd guess Easy or Normal would fit in more with the 'realistic' concept of at least 1-shotting most humans in the face.

I shot a powder ganger with a 9mm pistol to the back without critical hitting him.
He died.
Then I shot a beam of light against a coyote, and it barely scratched him.

You want realistic damage?
Mod the game.
Only way you're going to get any kind of balance.

Very Hard. And the game is still too easy, if you have companions with you.

This over 9000 times.

This, well without the hidden disappointment about EW's.

Normal + heavily modded is the closest you're going to get.

Normal, I suppose.

I play hardcoe Mode on Easy though, because despite the tens of thousands of hours I've played, I svck at video-games.

Yeah, what's up with being able to shoot some characters in the face multiple times and them still surviving? I never understood how somebody could take a gatling gun to the face

Because Fallout: New Vegas is an RPG, and combat is based on hit points. Headshots do more damage than say, torso shots, but the enemy won't die until their health points are completely depleted. I suppose it is a bit unrealistic, but the game would be a bit boring and easy if you could go around popping heads like it's Call Of Duty.

I don't want completely realistic damage either, but the day a 9mm bullet wins over a beam of light is the day I go rage.
And trust me... I raged... I raged, hard.

So while I don't want realistic damage I at least want the combat skills to be what they are suppose to be.
Guns are the great balanced starting skill.
EW is the overpowered, rare and really expensive skill.
And Explosives is the reload game from killing both your enemies and yourself and your companion skill. (Extremely powerful)
Yet, Guns is overpowered (IMO), EW is still crap and feel really weird when considering I just shot a plasma bolt of a couple of thousand degrees at someone's head and they just lost 15% health and Explosives feel incredibly nerfed when considering that one dynamite stick blew Arzt up in Lost Season 1 Episode 22/23 while a dynamite in Vegas barely takes away 40% health from a damn dog.

RAGE!
A?SKLDFSMKLF?s SDgMK? Ngn SDEWgklnSDgl
...
..
.

I've not cooled down!
...
BJKASFl'
..
Okay I've cooled down now... But I'm still pissed off!

(Showing your mad by slamming your hands at the keyboard and typing random letters is cruise control for being cool at raging. :disguise: )

I like the RPG elements of Fallout games more than your typical FPS gameplay. Screw realism. It would just detract from the science-fiction feel of the game for me. In the Fallout universe, superhumans can exist.

I agree with gab here. Can't really get realism. And personally i fought the reason the enclave and BoS had EW weapons was because they were suppose to be rare

Most people, even in Science Fiction, have a tendency to die horribly after getting shot in the head with a ball of plasma.

No, I dont want realistic damage,

We have Call Of Duty and Counter Strike for that

RPG with realistic damage doesnt mix well IMO

Yes, but you could say people in the Fallout universe have more durable bone structures, regenerate damaged tissue faster, etc. than those in real life. And with perks like Adamantium Skeleton, the PC could easily withstand multiple bullets or plasma shots to the skull.

however getting nailed in the thigh/head with a couple thousand degree goop of plasma, your 99.99% of the time, going to die. if the head, shock or instant explosion of the brains. if the thigh, then more than likely your still going into shock since that plasmas still as hot as ever and now all over your leg, plus your probably going to bleed out.

The most realistic will be when u die after being shot twice in the head and left to die.

In a real life scenario, you are correct. But in Fallout, people are able to live through those sort of injuries as the games have shown us.