Fallout 2 Fallout 2 Help

I've only recently discovered the joys of Fallout 2 and am currently in the middle of my first playthrough. I installed the official 1.02 patch but didn't want to get into any custom patches until future times. Although I'm enjoying the game immensely, I've hit kind of a bump in the road towards the middle of the game, ie visiting the mining towns Redding and Broken Hills. Broken Hills especially seems well… broken. My status screen tells me I've already destroyed the mutant mine even though I hadn't even been there yet. I'm supposed to have the choice to repair it or destroy it, but apparently I've already destroyed it? Is this a known bug? Anyway, I've been journaling all my experiences at http://www.sprayahen.wordpress.com, so feel free to go there for the back story. In the meantime, I'd appreciate any general tips/suggestions, because things were going pretty smoothly through Modoc and now I find myself overmatched. Please, don't make me to turn to the walkthroughs on my first time through.

I'd strongly recommend the unofficial patch since it fixes many issues. And widescreen patch also, so you can run the game whatever resolution you like!