So how do u make the game hard for yourself? What do u play as? What weapons do u use? etc.

Mods?

Ok ill start it off. I play as a "cowboy" spec. I play on pC so im using FOOK, Project Nevada, Electro-City, No NPC Compass, Project Reality, warzones. i also NEVER fast travel or use vats.

Mods--
FOOK--well because it makes certain NPCs harder by raising thier Health and giving them perks such as Toughness. Also adds alot of weapons that NPCs can use against u.
Project Nevada--Use the core/equipment/cyberware/rebalance. I use them mainly to make sneaking harder, to NOT gain health each lvl but to raise the health of npcs, also my favorite to set it up where i do not get ANY health from food, to adjust dmg myself/enemy npcs wise. also cyberware limits the amount of implants u can have
No NPC Compass---to remove the red arrows on compass so i dotn kno where the enemy is. I have to rely on myself to find out where they are, makes it easier to enemys to sneak up on me.
Project Reality--To make very dark nights and also with thunderstorms makes combat challenging bc of the loss of some visiblity.
Electro-City--t have some soem light on those very dark nights, plus looks ver fantastic at nigth with them.
Underground hideout--i do not use the medical thign to heal limbs/health/free meds etc. i use it bc it sorts my ammo/items and lets me see my displays of weapons. awesome mod.
warzones--adds huge battles across the mojave between many different factions and very lore friendly. makes the gangs and npcs actually seem to be at war or an actual problem in some areas. ALSO woe to u if ur vilified with either NCR/Legion or both because ullroam into battles between like 20 or 30 on 30 the ones not in combat will come after u but also very entertaining to watch if ur nuetral with both. makes it really feel like theres a war goign on.

Stats-- 6 str, 6 per, 7 End <8 with implant>, 3 chr, 5 int, 7 agi, and 6 luck <7with implant>

traits--logain's loophole, Skilled

Skills-- barter--36, Energy--50, Explosives--75, Guns--100, Lockpick--75, Medicine--75, Melee--50, Repair--100, Science--75, Sneak--80, Speech--30, Survival--65, Unarmed--40

Perks--Hunter, Entomotogist, Shotgun Surgeon, Rapid reload, Finesse, Hand Loader, Heave Ho, Better criticals, And stay back, Jury rigging, Fight the Power, Lady Killer, Cowboy, Robotics expert, Quick draw

I try to grab perks that are realistic to my build like for example rapid reload and quick draw, ive been using guns for very long time makes sence that i get quicker at that stuff. I also NEVER use skill magazines or clothing that have stats on them to pass speech checks or get better deal when selling/buying.

My equipment
weapons--5.56mm Pistol, Chance's Knife, Trail/Brush Gun , Hunting Shotgun , and whatever explosives i pick up off enemys at the time im roaming around, never go out with it, just grab it off people i kill. All-American.
Armor--joshua graham's armor, ranger Grey hat, leather backback

thats my setup, i make it hard on myself by makign the enemys more equal on my lvl by not using the Most awesoem weapons or taking all the godlike perks. i try to keep it realistic because i want a danger when im roaming around at lvl 30, i dont like being a demigod so thats why i make it hard on myself but at the same time give myself enuf to survive where its on my reaction, on me.

Just read Redneckdevil's post and am now downloading Warzones! Thanks a lot for pointing out this brilliant looking mod!

Dead is Dead for this playthrough.

it is seriously a very great mod, hands down the best LORE friendly as far as roaming the mojave, and actually seeing huge legion partys battling it out with NCR. u hear of the battles but never see it, well he fixed it with this mod lol.

also as far as D.I.D., love it if playin ONLY the vanilla game, i could never beat the game if i was playing the DLCs though .

The combination of the mods I run make the game pretty hard and are just cool to have:

New Vegas Bounties 1 & 2
Badlands
Project Nevada
Electro City
Realistic Gunshot Sounds
Increased Wasteland Spawn
A World of Pain

Why mods of course.

Project Nevada to cut down health, amplify enemies level and endurance and some other gameplay tweaks including chaning perk ratio to 1:3.
Full SPECIAL Stats Overhaul Mod to give SPECIAL a little more importance and to cut down my skill points and hit points even more.
Gabriels Perk Tweaks to beef up all perks so that they are worth a 1:3 perk ratio.
Never use Medium Armor. (Selfinfused nerfing.)
NoDialogueHints to remove the handholding of speech checks.

I met a Jackal the other day, she had a 10mm'ish pistol and killed me in 4 shots.
That... Was awesome!

The game is so ridiculously hard now that I have to use tactics and carefully manage my use of supplies, especially stimpaks and Psycho.

Rebalance mods bordering "oh shi-" kind of experience and roleplaying constraints. What's a cowboy doing with power armor anyway?

@ Redneckdevil, Project Reality looks really cool cause it will force me to use night vision more often. I'm gonna give it a try.

ya its pretty good, when it rains it kinda distorts the vision like if u was running the rain in real life, the sirens when a radstroms coming... lol

I think this mod is a keeper for me. I really like it.

It goes great with electro city and project nevada. Like a companion mod.