I am finding this playthrough fun and rewarding, both in the planning (timing of my skills/perks is critical) and in seeing my combat effectiveness explode over time. My biggest achievement so far has been to take down Vault 34 at level 8. Some notes:

• Companions - I will not be using companions in a combat capacity. Boone is recruited for his beret and then dismissed, ED-E gets parked as a workbench, Veronica for Scribe Counter, and of course anytime there is XP to be had from a Companion quest, I'm game. But they stay home while I play.
• Exploiting glitches - No exploits...”Fight fair!"
• All DLC loaded - Required for perks, traits, craftables, and preferred to go through Honest Hearts. Dead Money is probably not playable without shooting radios, and OWB is incomplete without using the Oscillator on some doors.
• Hardcore/Normal - Playing on Hard is possible, but combat literally takes twice as long, you'll be going out of your way to repair your armor much more frequently, you'll be using more food after every battle...it's possible but this to me is a fun proof-of-concept playthrough. I do enjoy Survival though, particularly because of my crafting focus. YMMV; feel free to tweak either of these.

I'd love your feedback. Sorry, no TL;DR however the link does give you the straight build without all of my notes, if you prefer.

The Build and Playthrough

Doc Mitchell's office: SPECIAL 5591668 (or if you like, s5p5e9c1i6a6l8) Tag: Unarmed (39), Repair (33), Melee (32) Traits: Built to Destroy, Logan's Loophole Gender: Female Notes: * If you didn't already guess by the way this is starting, increasing crit % will be a large focus of this build. It's critical (sorry) to increase DPS as there are so few ways to buff the damage of a naked fist, and things that increase Critical Chance are arguably better than the alternatives (perks, headgear, etc) since they will affect DPS. * A word about the crit path vs another obvious trait-driven path: The breakeven for the Heavy Handed trait is at 20% crit chance. An alternate build would just take Heavy Handed for its straightline 20% damage bonus and forget all of the crit perks, but we exceed this by level 4 with early game perks and gear (Level 2 in VATS!). The random downside of ruining Sneak Attack Criticals makes a Heavy Handed build extremely one-dimensional, and I don’t believe, an optimal one. * Tagging Repair up-front is only to get the Lv2 perk. Melee is for crafting at Level 1 (see below). Unarmed, because this will be only skill hitting 100.

* The SPECIAL is tight, with each stat set just right to achieve key perks (with implants). Intelligence 6 gets us just enough points to hit skill plateaus in time for their perks. Only leeway is 1-2 points from Endurance, since I only use 7 implants. I left E at 9 because of the HP boost (very few ways to increase your HP), the skill points in relevant skills early, and the fact that I reach L9 with implants later. L9 grants +1 skill point to all skills in addition to other Luck benefits; L10 does not, and so it not high priority.

Level 2: Goodsprings locale Perk: Light Touch Skill: Repair +12 (45), Unarmed +1 (40) Books: Sneak +3 (21; Goodsprings), Survival +3 (27; Lone Wolf Radio) Notes: * I will only be listing relevant skill books; the ones close to my location as I play through naturally. * My crit chance at this point is already 16% with my fists (BTD +3, LT +5, Luck +8), and 21% in VATS. * My tag on Repair + an additional 12 points gets me to Light Touch at level 2. I pick up Leather Armor before the showdown with the Powder Gangers (although not necessary, any DT in this close-up build is crucial). My Barter is only 9 so it takes Beer, stolen Moonshine, and a skill magazine to convince Chet.

* Tag on Melee we can craft a staple of this build - Weapon Binding Ritual. Healing Powder (from Broc Flower and Xander Root), Leather Belt (from Gecko hides), a Knife and Wonderglue (both container loot or vendors) are all available in Goodsprings...I can make at least to melt through the Powder Gangers with +10 unarmed damage. Each punch hits almost as hard as a Combat Knife, and exceeds any early armor DT.

Level 3: Primm to Nipton Skill: Unarmed +13 (53) Books: Unarmed +3 (56; Gas Station), Science +3 (21; Nipton) Notes: * I want to arrive at Freeside by Level 4. We move quickly but still loot for vendor trash and get some quick quest XP. The Intelligence implant is certainly available as early as level 2, but this build doesn't need to press that hard for the one extra skill point that having +1 Int two levels earlier would grant. The dangerous shortcuts don’t offer things we need while bypassing crucial stops. * Craftables are a large focus of this playthrough. I pick up specific ingredients for use now and later - full list at end. Science and Survival are pushed as I have spare points.

* Shopping list: Skill magazines for Survival, Science, and Crit Chance. Also, Barter, Unarmed and Repair are helpful to give a slight math edge during trades/fights/looting but are not essential.

Level 4: Novac to Freeside Perk: Black Widow Skill: Unarmed +13 (69) Books: Medicine +3 (21, Novac), Medicine +3 (24, HELIOS One) Implants: Intelligence, Luck, Endurance Notes: * Taking the "standard" long route is fine for this playthrough, and grants an owned bed for the Well Rested bonus. Important Skill Books are on this route, Boone's beret, and a tremendous cache of weapons from the Repconn Test cleanout close to 2 static vendors are all key reasons to bypass the Sloan shortcut. The Space Suit in Repconn is the best light armor at this stage of the game, and will carry you through until Level 8. * I wound up with about 5,000 caps by this time (easy to accumulate when you don't need to worry about keeping any weapons) so I bought the Intelligence implant first, then went to Atomic Wrangler to use my high luck and convert about 500 caps into 11,000-12,000 (Blackjack to just under 5000 caps so you don't get kicked out, then, Roulette on a single number 4-5 times, repeat until you strike on Roulette for +7000 and get ejected). Then, double back to the clinic to pick up the Luck Implant to hit 9 (+1 to all skills and +1 crit chance), and Endurance HP and skill points. * From Nipton to Novac takes you past a Legion camp (where the quest Booted resolves). The quest is good for XP later, but more important right now are the Footlockers full of Healing Powder, ready-made to grind more Weapon Binding Rituals.

* Black Widow is chosen over Intense Training: Luck because we get the Luck Implant instead for Luck 9. The straightline 10% damage bonus against males is tremendous, and a number of unlocked dialogue options are helpful with this low-Charisma build. If we ever want Luck 10 we can just get the Lucky Shades at some point, wearable with the beret, without wasting a perk.

Level 5: They Went That-a-Way Skill: Unarmed +13 (85) Books: Sneak +3 (25, NCR Sharecroppers), Melee +3 (35, Cannibal Johnson)

Notes: * The Main Quest delivers enough XP that you will level up instantly. Keep Well Rested up, and you'll have enough caps left over to just pay your way through the situation. Because your Speech and Barter are so low, and caps are really only needed to buy chems, armor repairs, and crafting components, this run will use a lot of the excess for bribery to get through quests like this. * Shopping List: 25 Beer or Whiskey at the bar in Boulder to get Day Tripper (if you haven't stolen enough of them yet). Also, anywhere you can grab them, the following Chems: Mentats, Psycho, Med-X, Radaway, Jet for both immediate use, and crafting later.

* Feel free to complete the unmarked quests to earn the Ranger Takedown...I found that most of the time the AI backsteps to avoid it, and it almost requires you to be in third person to be effective. But it's a 100% knockdown when it hits and then you can use VATS Stomp (which I explain later). I feel like if you could land this 100% of the time it would ostensibly break the game and devolve it into "Fallout: Sweep/Stomp" so it's probably for the best to leave this on the shelf.

Level 6: Crafting, and northeast map wandering Perk: Toughness (DT 3) Skill: Unarmed +9 (94), Survival +5 (35) Books: Unarmed +3 (97, Fisherman's Pride), Survival +3 (38, Salvage Platform)

Notes: * This portion will just be grabbing some important skill books, unlocking fast travel locations, and getting XP through Challenges and random mobs. * A brief discussion about DT: This up-close style requires some sponginess. Large Wasteland Tequilas are craftable with a skill magazine for DT+3 (at our current walking Survival of 33), and Nuka Cola Quartz, while rare, also grants the same in a pinch. Unfortunately Whiskey Rose is not available for our low-Charisma build. However, with a well-maintained Space Suit, Toughness and these drinks we can sustainably get 16-19 DT, which is very good for level 6. *Notable that there’s a strong argument to take Bloody Mess over Toughness here, however I find on Survival that the 3 DT is much more valuable since healing is so slow. Also, 5% isn’t much compared to the other significantly larger damage bonuses we achieve by other means. * Sit down to make some Crafting items at a random campfire: Black Coffee, Fiery Purgative (Save your Radaways), Snakebite Tourniquet and food items. Pop a skill magazine and make Large Wasteland Tequila (DT as above) and Brahmin Steaks (buffs carry weight with +1 STR to Fast Travel in a pinch). Avoid making Grilled Mantis Legs and the home-brewed soft drinks; their components are better used in other craftables.