I meet him at about level 10 or 12 while I'm working the main quest. I really like this part of the game: I like the quest, the dialog, and so on. But I cannot just kill him.
Oh yeah, I can KILL him, if I use a certain small nuclear device that I find on-site. Yeah, hit him with that he goes right down. But where's the challenge in that? I feel, honestly, a little bad about it since, in the end, he wasn't an awful person.
The second time (at level 10) I met him, I thought I was up on my game. I had a plan and everything (and how many people throughout history have died thinking THAT), but wow he was a no go. No matter what I did, I couldn't stay alive long enough to kill him. I had 19 stimpacks and I used them all. And I still died.
In frustration, I returned to raw nuclear energy to take him out. But I didn't like it. It still didn't seem right.
What am I doing wrong? I can't avoid the ambush he sets up for me. And he's capable of slipping around (through) the building to flank me. Of all the people/mobs I've fought in this game, this guy is the one that's killing me ... again and again.