Survival is a whole new experience. So apparently my weakness is energy. I get totally canned by those robotrons that shoot energy projectiles, and when they use that energy ray fromm their eyes, i'm totally obliterated. I still have to dodge and hide behind cars in a massive gunfight, but I can still hold out. Healing is still an issue and goes really slow, but if you have a high endurance, it will definitely help out. There is no chance in surviving by the super mutant with the mini nuke if he gets too close to you.
By the way, Macready is definitely quieter and more subtle than Cait. He doesn't care if you use drugs, he doesn't care if you take on missions. He just looks at an enemy, and goes "oh..." and then BANG, another dead NPC from his sniper rifle.
Definitely have to use tactics when taking on his side mission.