So I'm doing a very hard (difficulty) hardcoe (mode) play through. I'm level 7 and I pissed off the legion very early by ambushing Vulpes in Nipton, freeing the powder gangers, and harassing their patrols. I even attacked Cotton Wood cove with moderate success, though I was forced to retreat. Now they are sending legion assassins at me, but the attacks are becoming more and more intense. I'm in the Novac area and they just keep coming! Centurions, vexillauriuses, anything short of a praetorian. My light arms don't do jack against their armor and I'm level 7! Novac has been wiped out and so has Helios 1. The viper ambushes are getting interrupted by legionaries, which is incredibly amusing but not good for me! I'm down to 7 shots for my cowboy repeater, 32 shots for the service rifles looted off of the dead NCR troops, and about a dozen 10 mm rounds. With the odd grenade here and there, I may have to start using the super sledges the assassins are bringing.

Do you have any idea how to kill these guys at an early level? I haven't even been to Vegas, so heavy weapons are a rarity.

Or better yet, do you know how to make them slow down on the spawning? The wiki only mentions that they sometimes fail to spawn, but I'm facing several parties at once sometimes!

Please help!

I only ever come up against the four man teams and only once a day at designated spawn points.

Do you have any mods that affect the legion? Or spawn rates/sizes?

Are you looting and selling all of the fallen gear from the squads? This should have you swimming in caps. If you are already in Novac it is a short walk up to 188 Trading Post or even Gun Runners. There you can buy a .308 Battle Rifle (GRA) which can punch through their armor better than any 5.56mm. A .308 sniper rifle or .45-70 brush rifle are also good choices for a hard hitting rifle. If you must use 5.56mm get AP ammo. Grenade launchers can also do a good job on the hit squads.

Another thing is avoid fast travel as that usually will spawn a hit squad. Travel by stealth and spot the hit squad before they spot you and snipe them or set up a minefield.