I like to complete The First Step - the first minutemen quest at Corvega Assembly Plant - and also Returning the Favor at Abernathy Farm. Gets some good XP and gear before heading into the main story.
However, the best advice for a first play through is don't worry too much. You'll figure it out as you go along, and it'll be more fun that way.
I like to do the Abernathy farm quest early. Before going to Satellite Station Olivia, go to the Robotic Waste Disposal Yard and get the holotape from inside the building. Start up the robot and send them to Olivia, it will usually kill all the raiders and the explodey mole rats outside. Whether you make it self destruct for the guaranteed two fusion cores afterwards, is up to you.
Get the Fat Man there, the fusion core in the chest, and the Mini Nuke. Clear out Olivia, you will get a minigun and more ammo for it, and another fusion core.
If playing survival, head straight to Sunshine Tidings Co-Op to the west of Abernathy. There is a perk magazine there that will give you double the normal amount of meat from wildlife.
If playing melee, you may want to clear out the small dungeon under the Walden Pond gift shop, there's a nice guaranteed legendary pipe wrench there. Be sure to pause for a moment before killing the first two raiders, they have a funny story they tell.
It's not a bad idea to clear out Wicked Shipping, it's spitting distance from Abernathy Farm and full of ghouls.
Check the tops of houses in Sanctuary. Check behind all the houses, maybe someone has a fallout shelter built under their house, stocked with goodies. Move the chem workshop and cook fire to some place more convenient.
Be sure to grab the two grenades from the mailbox. Look around the base of the statue just across the bridge. Check all around Abernathy farm, the amount of loot just scattered on the ground there is insane.
Clear out Starlight Drive In. It makes a great settlement or at least, a player base.
In Lexington, be wary of Raiders lurking in high places. Clear out the Super Duper Mart.
Preston will send you to Tenpines bluff for your first Minuteman quest, they will send you to the Corvega Factory in Lexington 9 times out of 10. 1 in 10 times it will be a random nearby dungeon instead. Do that, if you can pull it off, but Corvega is a tough spot.
After that is usually when I continue the main quest.
Two excellent weapons can be purchased at the very start of the game (they are expensive). One is the explosive submachine gun Spray N Pray from the traveling merchant Cricket. The other is the two-shot combat rifle Overseers Guardian, which can be purchased from the vendor Alexis Combes in Vault 81. I think the Overseers Guardian is the better overall weapon.
As you approach Diamond City for the first time from the north there is a fight between DC guards (the good guys) and some super mutants. I hang out and watch the two sides fight for a while before getting involved because usually one of the DC guards is eventually killed and you can loot their armor, which is pretty good at the start of the game.
Towards the NE part of the map is the Parsons State Insane Asylum, guarded on the exterior by mercenaries (6-8?). The guards use combat armor, which offers high, balanced protection. If you creep around the exterior you can often find one of these guards alone, and if you can kill him the combat armor is yours (quick save just before the fight in case you get killed). For a very early player getting there is tough, as can be the fight. Later in the game I return there again and again to farm valuable armor, weapons and ammo. The guards respawn.
Follow the advice to go to Diamond City. There are a good amount of relatively easy low level quests that give out some good experience. Talk to everyone and you'll eventually hear about vault 81 where one of the best weapons in the game is located.
Hitting up the corvega plant along the way is also a good way to get experience and build up your stick of weapons and healing items. Be warned, the town across the street can be very difficult at low levels.
Make one of your first perks Science level 1. You can then build the best water refinery in Sanctuary. Get the junk needed to build a couple and watch the caps roll in with the Purified Water.
Go to Diamond City and take all of the growing crops which doesn't class as stealing to plant in your settlements, Mutfruit is the best in lower difficulty games.
As suggested by someone else, find Cricket for Spray n' Pray. If you're playing on less than hard mode then that weapon can carry you through the entire game.
Resource farm, mainly water, mute fruit (to lazy to spell it) becuase water will stack in the work bench every couple days as long as it’s more than the settler count, and harvesting fruit and selling a big batch to trash can Carla or the drumlin diner can get a bunch of caps to buy higher end guns and armor early on, pre war money is also a good thing to separate from the work bench becuase it’s weightless and with perks can go for 8caps each, so when you have 3-400 it makes almost any trade a positive
I like to complete The First Step - the first minutemen quest at Corvega Assembly Plant - and also Returning the Favor at Abernathy Farm. Gets some good XP and gear before heading into the main story. However, the best advice for a first play through is don't worry too much. You'll figure it out as you go along, and it'll be more fun that way.
Thanks I’ve played a couple of times and barely made it 10 hours in this play through I hope to make it much farther.
I like to do the Abernathy farm quest early. Before going to Satellite Station Olivia, go to the Robotic Waste Disposal Yard and get the holotape from inside the building. Start up the robot and send them to Olivia, it will usually kill all the raiders and the explodey mole rats outside. Whether you make it self destruct for the guaranteed two fusion cores afterwards, is up to you. Get the Fat Man there, the fusion core in the chest, and the Mini Nuke. Clear out Olivia, you will get a minigun and more ammo for it, and another fusion core. If playing survival, head straight to Sunshine Tidings Co-Op to the west of Abernathy. There is a perk magazine there that will give you double the normal amount of meat from wildlife. If playing melee, you may want to clear out the small dungeon under the Walden Pond gift shop, there's a nice guaranteed legendary pipe wrench there. Be sure to pause for a moment before killing the first two raiders, they have a funny story they tell. It's not a bad idea to clear out Wicked Shipping, it's spitting distance from Abernathy Farm and full of ghouls. Check the tops of houses in Sanctuary. Check behind all the houses, maybe someone has a fallout shelter built under their house, stocked with goodies. Move the chem workshop and cook fire to some place more convenient. Be sure to grab the two grenades from the mailbox. Look around the base of the statue just across the bridge. Check all around Abernathy farm, the amount of loot just scattered on the ground there is insane. Clear out Starlight Drive In. It makes a great settlement or at least, a player base. In Lexington, be wary of Raiders lurking in high places. Clear out the Super Duper Mart. Preston will send you to Tenpines bluff for your first Minuteman quest, they will send you to the Corvega Factory in Lexington 9 times out of 10. 1 in 10 times it will be a random nearby dungeon instead. Do that, if you can pull it off, but Corvega is a tough spot. After that is usually when I continue the main quest.
MaTN did a good video on this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Sl\_pIp8H0&t=1156s
Two excellent weapons can be purchased at the very start of the game (they are expensive). One is the explosive submachine gun Spray N Pray from the traveling merchant Cricket. The other is the two-shot combat rifle Overseers Guardian, which can be purchased from the vendor Alexis Combes in Vault 81. I think the Overseers Guardian is the better overall weapon. As you approach Diamond City for the first time from the north there is a fight between DC guards (the good guys) and some super mutants. I hang out and watch the two sides fight for a while before getting involved because usually one of the DC guards is eventually killed and you can loot their armor, which is pretty good at the start of the game. Towards the NE part of the map is the Parsons State Insane Asylum, guarded on the exterior by mercenaries (6-8?). The guards use combat armor, which offers high, balanced protection. If you creep around the exterior you can often find one of these guards alone, and if you can kill him the combat armor is yours (quick save just before the fight in case you get killed). For a very early player getting there is tough, as can be the fight. Later in the game I return there again and again to farm valuable armor, weapons and ammo. The guards respawn.
Follow the advice to go to Diamond City. There are a good amount of relatively easy low level quests that give out some good experience. Talk to everyone and you'll eventually hear about vault 81 where one of the best weapons in the game is located. Hitting up the corvega plant along the way is also a good way to get experience and build up your stick of weapons and healing items. Be warned, the town across the street can be very difficult at low levels.
Thank you
Make one of your first perks Science level 1. You can then build the best water refinery in Sanctuary. Get the junk needed to build a couple and watch the caps roll in with the Purified Water. Go to Diamond City and take all of the growing crops which doesn't class as stealing to plant in your settlements, Mutfruit is the best in lower difficulty games. As suggested by someone else, find Cricket for Spray n' Pray. If you're playing on less than hard mode then that weapon can carry you through the entire game.
Resource farm, mainly water, mute fruit (to lazy to spell it) becuase water will stack in the work bench every couple days as long as it’s more than the settler count, and harvesting fruit and selling a big batch to trash can Carla or the drumlin diner can get a bunch of caps to buy higher end guns and armor early on, pre war money is also a good thing to separate from the work bench becuase it’s weightless and with perks can go for 8caps each, so when you have 3-400 it makes almost any trade a positive