It's even more fun when you mod the shit out of it. Use an organizer, obviously.
It's almost like 80 years of stable governance can do a lot when you have the industrial bones of (in Fallout at least) the single most industrialized nation on Earth to build on and with. Clean water, a lack of banditry, and a stable food supply from organized agriculture will do a ton to get pop numbers up and ensure accumulated generational knowledge like how to make and fix stuff gets passed down intact. Shit, just look at how Africa's growing despite lacking all of that.
FUCK. I wish I knew that. Nothing in the game tells you about it so I assumed you couldn't.
Nah, T is transportation in that one (or maybe it is Wait, I dunno I switch the keys around). What screwed with me was that in Fallouts 1 and 2, you could rest/wait anywhere but you did it from the Pipboy menu, so because I didn't see it in the Pipboy in NV I assumed it wasn't an option at all.
Glad to hear you're enjoying it a bit more! Get ready for Vegas though, it can get a bit glitchy there.
Go into control mapping and look at the controls. It might show you a thing or two you've missed here or there. Also, remember that the 2 hotkey is reserved for hot-swapping ammo. Most useful with shotguns and the 5mm/5.56 rifles to switch over to something with more penetration when encountering someone in metal armor or similar, then switching back for normal enemies.
Gonna agree on the atmosphere of the game being one of the best. I still remember wandering the wastes listening to Enclave Radio. It hit me right in the feels when I finally got into DC and stood there looking at the dead capitol of our bygone nation while America the Beautiful played over my Pipboy. If it had been real life instead of a game I might have legit started crying.
Ballistic fist can carry you through the game against just about everything but the really big deathclaw variants
Better than 3, especially unarmed. Different melee weapons have unique moves that can be done with a requisite skill level in VATS or with the correct power attack outside of it, no skill requirement. The knife spear from Dead Money in particular has a really satisfying "mauler" attack that basically auto-cripples limbs. Unarmed has the greatest weapon variety its had in any fallout game, and you can learn special unarmed moves from various sources.
Based on gameplay I've seen with the proper perks and build it almost seems to break the game in half albeit some of it involves pore engagement with the crafting system then I'd like for chems and stuff. Honestly that's another question is the general crafting system worth engaging with I don't think I've ever bothered with ammo crafting or survival crafting ever
Decent survival skill, jet, and purified water. One of the only crafting recipes you'll ever need. Rushing water is fucking broken.
And ammo particularly with hand loader?