How the hell do I advance from here?

[Spude]

I'm on a starting mission to catch to Cave Hoppers and find Newton, problem is I literally can not advance at all to find Newton.
My crammy 5mm Pistol wont do ♥♥♥♥ to Psi Beetles, I cant open the doort that's on the side during combat, I dont have enough ammo to kill those Psi Beetles, I'm not focusing on melee so that is not an option, I cant use stealth since they see me anyway and somehow stalagmites/stalactites don't count as cover to break line of sight and I don't have enough medical supplies to just cheese through it.
What the hell do I do?

[Tamiore]

Honestly?
Restart a game and this time use a character build you can actually sustain without running out of ammo.

[Spude]

As in what? My current I already made based on some google search and suggestions that others had.

Lvl3

Strength 5
Dexterity 9
Agility 5
Constitution 4
Perception 9
Will 3
Intelligence 5

I got Guns 25 (35 with Dex bonuses)
Dodge and Evasion both 25 (29 with Agility bonuses)

Problem is I dont have enough ammo, no one buys early game I junk I've found and nor do I have enough med supplies to just cheese through this.
So what am I supposed to do then?

[Sashenka]

You have to wait for them to expose their brain while trying to separate them. Shouldn't take you more than 2-3 bullets per beetle. Separate them with traps/caltrops toi avoid their bonus to psi.

I had a similar build to your but with Stealth, it made things somewhat easier, I would advise to spend some points in traps too, at least 10 so you can reveal them. You could also avoid this part of the mission and continue on to GMS compound but you risk having problem there too.

GMS Compound and Depot A after are pretty much build checks.

[Spude]

Originally posted by Sashenka:

You have to wait for them to expose their brain while trying to separate them.

?

Shouldn't take you more than 2-3 bullets per beetle. Separate them with traps/caltrops toi avoid their bonus to psi.

And where do I get those nor I do have enough money for those.

[Sashenka]

When the beetle attack or try to attack they expose their brain and become far less resistant to mechanical damage. Shooting them before this is near useless. As for traps and caltrops I remember getting some from the outposts quest, depending on your craft level you can make some too. You also have those given to you to capture the cave hoppers.

Turning in the Cave Hoppers quest will give you some money you can then spend on traps and ammo and come back for Newton. The GMS compound (the next quest) can also be a source of ammo and money without too much danger if you can lockpick the vent shaft but you might have to kill a few rathounds without stealth.

Honestly I don't remember having money problems at that moment but you are still limited in your options since the game hasn't 'opened up' yet. There are the tunnels north of the rail station (after the boulders people are trying to clear) with relatively weak human enemies who might be carrying ammo and other useful items.

[Qiox]

Originally posted by Spud-Mann:

Originally posted by Sashenka:

You have to wait for them to expose their brain while trying to separate them.

?

Shouldn't take you more than 2-3 bullets per beetle. Separate them with traps/caltrops toi avoid their bonus to psi.

And where do I get those nor I do have enough money for those.

Have you talked with absolutely everyone in the compound on every floor to find all the vendors?

There's 8 of them.

[EnStorEn]

When the beetles attack they expose their brains. They take wayyy more dmg then.

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by Spud-Mann:

As in what? My current I already made based on some google search and suggestions that others had.

Lvl3

Strength 5
Dexterity 9
Agility 5
Constitution 4
Perception 9
Will 3
Intelligence 5

I got Guns 25 (35 with Dex bonuses)
Dodge and Evasion both 25 (29 with Agility bonuses)

Problem is I dont have enough ammo, no one buys early game I junk I've found and nor do I have enough med supplies to just cheese through this.
So what am I supposed to do then?

Dodge and Evasion are both rather weak skills, honestly — you are much better off having stealth and, thus, an ability to scout ahead and attack first and from a position of your liking.

Next, your build is rather obviously "spread too thin" — non of your stats is at 10, for one.

Anyway, try this:
agility 6
Const 8
Will 10
int 7

Sprint and doctor as starting feats, 15 points in stealth, hacking, lock picking, persuasion, biology, metatermics, psychokinesis and tailoring.

And go for psionics.

Sure, it's not a firearms build, but it's very viable and you will never be having problems straight up running out of ammo.

[Desu Vult]

I managed to clear them with crafted grenades and my 5mm pistol at level 3, I had:
STR - 8
Dex - 3
Agi - 3
Con - 9
Per - 10
Wil - 3
Int - 4
And only one full clip in my pistol. The trick is to get them to open heir heads, turn a corner, get them to try to attack you then grenade them, and finish one off if it's low enough, or retreat behind cover, and unload three rounds (should finish one of them). Grenade crafting materials available at the armoury, MK2 grenades could probably one shot them with their brains exposed. It's riskier to use the grenade tactic because they get access to stronger psi powers, but smart use of corners generally mitigates a lot of the damage, and a well placed nade can help you finish one off quickly.

If facing one alone, run up to it, then use all your attacks, it'll only get to attack once per round this way (Doctor makes Bandages incredible, so it didn't become a problem to heal between encounters, managed to save my money for my assault rifle parts and blueprints).