You were on the right track.

I've been in those tunnels a number of times... They were loaded with booby traps, which made me think the Family was there, but there's no one to be found.

Man, this game is too huge!

I was doing a (side) mission the other day, which led to another side mission. I am just trying to walk to the locator on my map, and end up wandering around the capitol for over an hour.

I can't pass up exploring every corner on the chance of finding a bobble head or book.

So, my wife got tired of watching me play, and I really did not accomplish anything!

You said it. I'm on the Riley's Rangers mission, just got done saving their asses on the roof. Apparently, once you get back to ground level, they warp back to their base, but you're stuck having to walk. Now I'm stuck between wanting to just head there to complete the quest, or spend hours exploring the new area I'm in!

That is the mission I am on as well, but I was on my way to the Ranger HQ to gear up, but blew away so many Mutis, that I have more .32 ammo and hunting rifles to start my own army!

Getting around DC the first time is a major pain in the ass between all the metro stops and entrances and things - once you start clearing them up on your map though, speed travel makes things 100x easier. The problem is partly that there's no real measure of distance once you get off the capital wasteland into the metro tunnels - I keep finding myself overshooting my surface "stop" by a couple blocks every time I walk down a single corridor in the tunnels.

And about Meresti - follow the trail of booby traps and you should find them. A good way to check progress is also to check your local map - it'll show doors to new areas that you've passed - even if you couldn't see them in the dark.

jonw9: After getting the scrounger perk, I'm not hurting for ammo... I have more grenades and mines than I know what to do with... I use them just to get rid of the weight. Only weapon I'm hurting for ammo on is the sniper rifle. Still havent gone to the location that supposedly has a .44 hunting rifle! Not hurting for caps either, I must have near 7000 right now and I'm sure that'll go up.

Been through there already and no Family. At this point, I'm starting to consider just killing Evan and Lucy, and letting this mythical gang do whatever they want with the West's kid.

A raider that was following me killed Evan at the gate to his town...and I got bad karma from the town! So I just decided to be evil and I murdered the entire town.

Since then, I've been as evil as possible...stealing from and killing those who I was done with.

= J

The .44 rifle is the bomb! I am tearing stuff up with that. Hidden, with command and finesse, I took the head off a 3 story tall Super Human Behemoth.
Just crouched in a hall (hidden) and went into VATS.

I have scrounger too. I take all the ammo I can, since it weight nothing. I have a problem by grabbing a mini-gun and carrying it around until I get overencumbered, then dropping it. Oh, and the 50 packs of Mentats!

I started playing this over the weekend. I'm hoping it's like Mass Effect in that after all this talky-talky BS, the game gets going proper.

Wandering around Megaton I've been incredibly tempted just to set off that bomb and be done with these people...

anyone do the "Head of State" quest?
It seems bugged.

Spoiler:

I think by "help us do this," they mean "you do this and we'll hang out here and wait for you to tell us that it's done."

Yeah, this game is long. I've spent 26 hours, Level 8 and just i've just completed 7 missions!
I'm just starting to explore DC and just killed my first behemoth, that was a pain in the ass.
Well, at least I already completed the Wasteland Survival Guide mission.

This is correct. I had the same issue. If you enter from the train yard there will be a left turn that will take you down another tunnel not far from the entrance. Just look at your map when you get into the subway.

That Behemoth (main story mission?) is what makes me think that some of the enemies do level with you. I took him out at lvl 16 and he was pretty tough at the time given my vastly increased weapons damage ratings. - btw - at lvl 7 were the guys with him (or in the yard before he showed up) Super Mutant Masters or different enemies?

i just started this game over the past day or two and its almost overwhelming...I'm still hanging around Megaton and doing random quests before I blow up the town (trying to resist the urge to do it earlier)....

Can you get the 'Collect all Bobblehead" achievements by collecting them all through multiple saves/playthroughs? Apparently I missed a couple that I can no longer get.

yes, there were like 3 or 4 super mutants there in the yard before he showed up. I had to clean another building full of super mutants first too.

So, I'm at The Mall now, and it's a pain in the ass with all the super mutants. I almost died I had to use a sneak boy pack until I was far away from everyone and then just fast traveled back to my home in Megaton. I'll need to cure myself, get a good arsenal and then clean the place from mutants.

so you are supposed to kill all of them by yourself without any help?
According to this walkthru, they are supposed to help you.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Head_of_State

Same here. I picked it up yesterday and I'm already overwhelmed by the many side quests that keep popping up. I'm actually a little hesitant to leave the safe confines of Megaton and start exploring what I'm reading is a HUGE world.

The trick I find with this is to cont to pick up side quests, but focus on one quest at a time and set out to finish it. Explore while doing it but stick to each quest at a time. After a while you will build up your fast travel points, and the game becomes second nature.

I dunno. When you take the quest, they clearly don't follow you out the door.

Hold on a second: