I knew ammo didn't weigh anything...just didn't realize that darts were ammo (kind of dumb in retrospect, I guess).

I do have all of the vault locations from Vault-Tec, so I should be able to hit that vault at any time right?

I like wandering alone too, but I also like the idea of a shotgun weilding ghoul sidekick! Assuming that enemies upgrade as you do, I'm not sure how much value XP has anyway (although the perks are cool). So I don't really mind losing some.

I thought I read that the enemies don't upgrade as you do, though I could be mistaken

From the FO3 wiki:

The "raiders in Power Armor" thing reminded me that I just had something odd happen in one of the quests. A bunch of Brotherhood guys were fighting some Enclave soldiers but almost all of them had spawned without armor, so they were about a dozen of them running around in their underwear carrying heavy weaponry like miniguns and missle launchers.

I'm loving Point Lookout. I've only got to spend a few hours with it, but I think it's great thus far. I was originally planning to hold off for the next DLC and get them all together, but I was convinced to check it out sooner and I'm glad I did. The fact that I've already done a few hours worth and haven't even touched a regular quest there is very promising. Already got my moneys worth.

No actually, you can't get into that vault without playing through the main quest. It's the only one you can't. The design of the vault itself is sort of key to the progression of the main story, in fact. You can try getting to the entrance of the vault if you want, as long as you're ready to handle about 250+ rads per second. There's an alternate way into the vault that comes with the story progression.

What value does XP have? You mean other than letting you level up, which gives you more health, more perks, and more skill points to put into things like Lockpick, Science, and Repair? Grab every bit you can.

I made it to that door by popping massive amounts of Radaway every few seconds, but it's actually not accessible. You'd think the game would reward your bravery (or stupidity). There was a corpse at the entrance wearing a rad-suit, but that's about it.

I got Charon last night and found him some nice power armor, so I'm good in the sidekick department. I was amused when I went into the Muddy Rudder and tried to provoke Sister (by punching him) and Charon just killed everyone in the bar inside of about four seconds. I wasn't expecting that!

Thankfully, I didn't take a karma hit.

I also got tired of trying to convince the Tenpenny tower residents and needed a key from Tenpenny himself, so I gave up and shot him in the face...and my karma actually went up. I was suddenly feeling better about the idea of just letting the ghouls in...until I actually did it...then I felt kind of bad because it wasn't pretty.

I'm actually kind of looking forward to playing through this game as a bad guy.

I took the route of blowing up Megaton and living in Tenpenny Tower. I didn't want to live in a trash heap.

The visual of megaton blowing up is one of the more cool things in video games I have seen.

140+ hours of being a goody good, and I still want to start a new game being a really bad guy.

I started Point Lookout yesterday and of course there's a mom looking for her daughter. I choose all the good answers, I wish I had the balls to answer bad with this character.

Also, about Point Lookout, is it recommended to explore the whole map, discover everything, before starting the main mission? I haven't even gone to the mansion, the first thing they ask you to do there, so I just want to be sure if it's safe to explore and discover everything first.

That's what I did. Didn't explore everything, but a large portion. The main missions will take you across the map, so I think it's cool to get a glimpse of the stuff first before you can do things there. (And there are some side quests outside of the main thread to find and do as well.)

I finished the main quests last night, but still need to explore the entire place. I really like the environment a lot.

Yeah, I'm liking the environment too. It's so different that I thought I wouldn't like it, but so far so good.

In the main game is it better to do side quests or main missions? Or maybe do them side by side?

I ask because I haven't done a main mission yet and I finished the side quest Those! By the time I was done I felt like I should have done it when I was a little better and had more ammo and better weapons.

Or is it just personal preference?

This would be my answer. The game is really just whatever you want to do with it. When I played through, I found myself doing a mix. Started on the main mission path, then would wander off and do other stuff for like 10 hours, come back do some more main stuff, then wander off for another 10-15 hours.

I figured as much. It just seemed that when I was done with Those! I burned through a shit ton of ammo because my current stats/weapons weren't good enough yet.

Exploring and building up some experience/stats and scrounging some supplies may be a better recommendation for awhile. Maybe just forego quests altogether for a bit and kick around exploring.

I kind of just go back and forth...main mission for awhile..then do some side quests/exploring.

Me too..I'd follow the main quest, then just start wandering and if I found something cool I'd work on that side quest(s). I enjoyed doing that through the whole game, in most games I reach a point where I just want to finish the story and be done with it. The side quests were almost all interesting and different and had personality.

Nothng like exploring and blowing some Raiders heads off in the process. I have played over ten hours on this new game and have done non of the main missions once getting out of the vault. I like finding big buildings and going in and wiping their asses out. I also enjoy a good shootout with small groups of Raiders leaving some heads flying in the process. It is funny when you get the upperhand and they try to get the fuck out of there while you slice and dice.

That's my approach as well, generally. It seems like I always stumble across a few side quests, and I always try to do them first.

Last night was Warhawk night, so I didn't get to play much. I'm enjoying having Charon, but he's drawing me out of the game a bit. He has me waiting for him to shoot guys a couple times before I fire, just to ensure that I get the XP. It's making the game feel a bit artificial, where before, I was very immersed in the world.

I'm also reaching a point where I have to make decisions that are not moral absolutes, which is pretty exciting for me, because it's possibly the first time I've seen it done this well in a game. Bioshock and Infamous hinted at it, but this game nails it.

Really it's worrying about experience points which is drawing you out of the game. You'll hit the level cap before you finish the game, so it doesn't matter if your followers are "stealing" any of it. They're just saving you some ammo.

For me, when I played Fallout 3 I followed the main quest, but talked and looked at everything in my path. I took EVERY side quest, and always worked those out before finishing the current main quest I was on. If I saw an interesting building or a white hollow triangle on my compass, I would explore it. I would find myself playing 5-10 hours sometimes and never get around to the main quest. When that dried up, I would continue the main quest. Doing this took me all over the map, and right by most of the side quests in the game.

I have a feeling that the game is sort of designed to be played this way. I've wandered off aimlessly across the wasteland and found cool stuff, but invariably I find that another quest or side quest would have taken me by the same locations.

The depth of thought that had to have gone into the design of this game is staggering, as everything you do seems to have an effect on the entire world in terms of dialogue options and gameplay. For example, I wandered into an area the other night and cleaned it out...then later found out that it was part of a quest. My expectation was that enemies would respawn or something, but I was impressed that not only was the place still cleaned out, but all of the bodies were exactly where I'd left them. That is remarkable.