OldFatGuy: Level 76 now. I'd like to think if I get to 80 again (would be the third time) that I could say "Ok, I got this" but... a part of me also knows that in this game it's so easy to die on survival (explosives put the fear of God in you lol) that it doesn't mean that. Heck, I remember the time I got to 88 and was thinking I was an invincible tank... and then died in a matter of seconds in the final fight of the automatron DLC (in the headquarters area).
One problem with that, and I see no way to "fix" it, is that I play ALWAYS alone. No companions, except when forced by the game. So, I've got my Lone Wanderer trait maxed, which when maxed adds 25% to all damage you do, and 30% less damage received. But in that final area of the automatron quest, you MUST take Ada with you.
And, like many followers in this game that I've witnessed when I had to have them and from others posts in the Steam forums, they tend to "get lost" which is exactly what happened in that game. I was all alone (Ada was somewhere off to who knows where in the factory) so I was still technically with a companion and thus lost the Lone Wanderer advantages, but without her help in combat. I really believe this was a major contributor to my failure. But I don't know how to fix it, because you literally can't progress past certain locks without Ada, only she can unlock them. (Or perhaps, you could build another robot with a particular mod that would do the trick, but then... that robot would be a companion and you would lose the Lone Wanderer buffs.
So, I'm just avoiding that DLC for now, sticking to other areas. If I can get to level 100, then I'm thinking I'll see about progressing that quest line further.
But level 76 without dying yet. Man it would be something if this were the game after all the games, and it's the one that I would finish on GOG instead of Steam. Funny old world sometimes.
Hope it doesn't de-incentivise, but I'm on Level 112 in it, and still a LOT left to do.