I've been playing New Vegas off and on for almost 3 years now and have made many characters, but never beat the game. The furthest I got was beating the first 3 DLC's, and the main quest up to killing a certain someone for a faction of your choosing. All my characters run into the same problem: At higher levels they become too powerful because I designed them too well (power gaming).

One thing I have noticed is that I particularly like a character that is a survivalist sort of character that makes use of what is around him and keeps his equipment relatively simple.

I am debating between going strictly guns, strictly melee, or a mix of both. When it comes to guns I really like guns that are one shot per trigger pull (semi-auto, lever action, bolt action, pump action, etc.), and I also like guns that are fairly sturdy (not sniper rifles).

For melee I would want to avoid weapons that are powered in some way like chainsaws, thermic lances, shishkebabs, super sledges, etc. I am ok with using throwing weapons (I have a mod that makes thrown weapons retrievable if and only if it hits an enemy).

I also need to address my issue with my characters being over powered, preferably without changing the difficulty setting. I am thinking either doing this through not picking top of the line weapons, not going for max crit damage and chance, avoiding certain perks, or a combination of 2 or more of the above.

I think making a character where I don't spend hours meta-gaming to make them as optimal as possible would be a relief.

In general, I want a character that can spend a long time away from home and sort of drift from place to place. Maybe set up camp for the night somewhere and lay some mines to guard me. A character with a light loadout that doesn't need to weigh himself down with excessive amounts of loot to keep up a massive flow of caps to fund his adventures. I'm thinking of possibly making this guy a no fast-travel character as well.

So, can anyone suggest some good weapons? Should I go melee, guns, or both? Should I lay off making crit focused characters? Are there any perks I should avoid? Are there any perks I should definitely take?

Well, survivalists rely on stealth and long range for hunting, you can make him/her into someone who distrusts all chems and instead makes their own healing items.

If you're on PC I recommend using this mod http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/55849/? as it adds downsides to using survival healing potions and there are a bunch of good tent, backpack and camp mods that I can recommend if you're interested.

My honest recommendation is using brush and hunting rifles only, not anti-material or sniper rifles and mix it with melee and unarmed but keep them simple.

Since I posted this thread I did some thinking and wiki surfing and I think I found a good set of weapons. I think I'll start off with a machete and cowboy repeater, and later upgrade to a fire axe, trail carbine, and some small light weapon like a combat knife or war club for swatting little crap. The idea for the fire axe came from me thinking about what melee weapons available are also good tools for survival in the wild. A good axe fits the bill. Carrying a knife of some sort would be good for small stuff and for RP since a good knife is one of the most important things for survival IMHO. The idea for just a lever action rifle as my only firearm came from having watched some episodes of the old TV show "The Rifleman" and also the lever action rifles in this game are pretty durable, have good ammo types, good handload ammo, and are more feasible for closer range combat than a hunting rifle.

I think I will avoid making a crit focused character. I'll keep my luck at about 6, and pass up the perks: finesse, better criticals, light touch, and just luck I'm alive. I'll avoid crit boosting apparel which will actually allow me to be more free with my wardrobe selection which will be a refreshing change.

For traits I am thinking about taking heavy handed and fast shot.

For special I am a little iffy. I'm thinking:

S:6

P:6

E:?

C:?

I:5

A:?

L:6

I know I want high endurance, and high agility for faster reloads given my rifle choices, but I'm not sure just how high of endurance and agility and whether or not I should put Charisma down to 1 like I usually do, or keep it higher just for RP. One issue with it being higher is it buffing followers and them stealing my kills and making things dull again.

Yea, I was going to suggest just using light melee, nothing bulky like super sledge or the bumper sword. I say endurance and agility are two of the most important skills a survivalist would have. Sure strength is important but a true survivalist knows how to be light on their feet and should be prepared to walk long miles.

Well, I decided this guy isn't much of a people person and is used to being alone in the wild, so 1 charisma it is. I put endurance at 7 and agility at 9. That agility really improves cowboy weapon reloading by quite a bit. the difference between 7 and 10 agility for a full trail carbine magazine when combined with the rapid reload perk is a little over a second difference.