I am on the Wildcard: Side Bets quest and can't get past the Boomers at Nellis AFB. I tried paying the $300 to a guy for the artillery timings. Do I really need to pay to get past the boomers? All it says is stick close to the buildings to the NW. Do I need to zigzag my way to the gate. I can't take the tunnel. Stealth boy didn't work.
Also, how do you use armor piercing rounds to my advantage? Should I look at the little red broken shield icon next to the enemys life bar?

As soon as you go past the man who makes a bet with you, run and hug the left cliff until you hit the fence, follow the fence to the main gates.

or, if you are crippled and cannot run at full blast, rush to the nearest semi-intact house, and jump into the far corner and crouch, wait until they stop firing and run to the next partly intact house while they reload their guns, wait through the second barrage and get to the gate while they reload again, they wont fire once you get to the gate.

Two hits of turbo will get you to the gate if you pop it just before the first shell hits, one with Chemist.

The Col. is right, hugging the left wall thingy is probably the simplest, easiest way to enter Nellis.

I guess I should take off my armor to run a little faster. I have a turbo to use. Ok here I go. TY guys.

Do you guys use armor piercing rounds? Is it really important to use the right type of bullet for different enemys? What type of enemys have low resistence (Dam. Thres.} to energy weapons?

Generally humans and weaker animals have low DT. AP ammo does help a lot especially against Deathclaws and radscorpions. Even better than AP ammo is JSP which gives you nice DT penetration and more damage than AP ammo.

I'm confused here, you don't need to shoot anyone to get through the artillery barrage. It's all about taking the right route and waiting at specific points. If you are REALLY stuck, you'd probably be better off watching a youtube video of how its done.