Tips for a new player? I started it on hard and every combat means death

Hello.

Focused on persuasion as is usually a good idea in obsidian games but I've found some quests that are basically shooting everyone.

* Killing some robots. * Killing some dudes for a book. * Killing 3 random dudes that apparently are criminals.

Random monkeys are around and they also hit like trucks and my pistol is truly bad. I upgraded my HP but if there's more than one enemy I'm going to die no matter what.

I wonder if I should focus on an specific build or if they aren't that important, maybe I should focus on the main story?

What are some tips you would recommend for someone who just started the game?