I have honestly hard time to beleave that there are people farming tougher patrols alone in face to face confrontations (6 vs 1). Okay if you got BA, minigun and some buffs you could just quickly burst even 6 sf dudes but even then there's the lucky crit chance.
Who said about 6?
I can confront 3 muties, if I will have atleast any good crit burst (usually it is), 1st mutie will die instantly, second with laser rifle will start to walk away (actually it was long time ago, or it's random, because last time I tried, he shot me instantly), 3rd with flamer is useless, if with RL, then he'll even help you with splash damage to his friends.
Well everything is dependant on luck, some raider with mauser can knock me out 10 times in a row, but I can kill 3 muties alone in bluesuit and smg. Laser mutie can kill me instantly with 1 shot. I can burst them all on 450+ damage with few bursts. It's all random. I don't fear anything, because losing deteriorated SMG + ~60 10mm bullets is nothing.
Against Hub patrol, it's easy just stand and shoot thier eyes, 1-2 shot and he is dead, repeat. They can kill you with 1 K.O. or they won't hurt you much at all, if all shots will be non critical.