Tips for Fallout 3 ?

Scavenge ALL the places you discover. (Including corpses.)

Stick with Megaton.

Take the story slowly, find some side missions. (Wasteland Survival Guide is a good start, given in Megaton.)

Read all the perks available, make sure it suits you best.

HERE AND NOW PERK AT LEVEL 10.

DLC-wise, get Brotherhood of Steel, best damn thing ever released in the universe of gaming.

Pick up all Guns for repairing, the mechanics of repairing are simple and effective.

V.A.T.S your way through tricky situations, it pauses the game, giving you time to think.

Clear out tenpenny tower for mass amounts of guns and Bottlecaps (do missions first however, there are a couple) - Store things you can't carry in a nearby container and come back when you're running low on supplies.

And be aware that you are entering one of the most impeccable game worlds this generation has ever seen, treat it with respect.

The v.a.t.s system I love however it never seems to work too well, the attacker/animal seems to survive every time and then kill me. Just feel very underpowered and too low health wise. At the moment I'm meant to be finding sky (?) radio but just get killed by anything I come across. I think I'll start from scratch tomorrow and take more time with everythingangryassdrummer

Here are some tips:

Before you leave the vault, save your game.  Don't delete this save, because with it, you can avoid playing the growing up section if you want to play a new game.

Put the game skill level down to the lowest setting.  It makes the game a lot, lot easier.  You can increase the skill level whenever you like later.

You'll need some money at the start of the game.  You can gain over 500 caps within the first 30 minutes of the game.  To do this easily, make sure you leave the Vault with lots of equipment.  Loot everything of value, as much as you can carry before you become over-encumbered. See, when you finally leave the vault, you can sell off this excess gear to the towns vendors, giving your player lots of caps.

When you leave the vault, go straight to Megaton, sell you excess equipment. Now either go to Moira Brown, the owner of the Craterside Supply and start the Wasteland Survival Guide which will lead you to clearing out the Super Duper Mart, or go to Springfield School, just outside Megaton and clear that out first.  Making sure you loot everything you can from both these locations.

Repair equipment when you can, even if you intend to sell it.  Repaired weapons and amour sell for more caps.
Sleep and drink.  Sleeping on mats or beds clears your wounds and fixes in damage to your body.  Drinking is a good way of restoring your health, even when your in a battle.  Many buildings have working sinks or drinking fountains where you can drink to restore health.  Drinking increases your radiation, but you can clear that later with Rad-away packs.

You should find that the Super Duper Mart and the Springfield school, should set you up well for the rest of the game.

Don't feed the Yao Guai!!

Don't give up.

That game is tough during the early areas, and make sure to focus on only one weapon type (guns are what I would recommend) early on or you'll spread your character too thin. And scavenge, scavenge, scavenge...pick up everything you find, and the things you don't need, sell. Caps are tough to come by until you really get going. And if you seem to be taking damage too easily, make sure your armor is in at least decent condition. 

As for vats, if you plan to use it a lot there are plenty of perks that make it more effective.

Stay away from Deathclaws and Yao Gui until you have grown your character to at least 12 for YG and 15 for deathclaws, at least that is what I remember.

Don't drink the water

I need some tips on fallout 3 I bought the game years ago but only really started playing it recently, but I suck at it. I get killed very easily & a lot which is frustrating Usually I get pi$$ed off and trade a game in at this point ( I don't have time with 2 kids for games I'm not progressing fairly easily) but the thing is I know I'll love this game if I can get better. I love the atmosphere, anything post apocalyptic I love... So any advice would be appreciatedangryassdrummer

also get the:

sniper perk

action boy perk

grim reapers sprint perk

finesse perk

gunslinger perk

commando perk

cyborg perk

concentrated fire perk

better criticals perk

get the a3-21 plasma rifle from the quest you get in rivet city - total annihilation.

get the ghoul mask from the tenpenny tower quest - you won't have to fight the nearly unstoppable feral ghoul reavers when it's equipped

get the hockey mask from the nuka cola challenge quest - get extra action points when its equipped

go to the auto lot to the north of megaton and get the follower dogmeat, he'll help you stay alive and will make the game 1000x easier. later in the game get fawkes follower, he'll destroy everything in his path.

get your repair skill up to at least 90 and your weapons become much more powerful upon repair.

gl and have fun! fallout 3 is my favorite game!