He made short work of the BOS power armors at the last episode by expoiting their weak points but struggle against Max earlier in broad daylight earlier in the series. It doesnt make any sense , Max should have been killed or at the very least badly wounded since the target is right there so why would he waste time toying with Max?
shareGood point.
shareHow the writers might explain it is, Max caught him off guard on their first encounter. While the last episode was a planned mission, where he prepared and had the right ammo.
shareI don't think so, Max posed quite a bit, that was definitely not a surprise attack.
And the ghoul's ammunition belt at the time does look like having the pointy armour piercing rounds, which looked like what he used later.
The raid of brotherhood however should have been a surprise, I don't think anyone anticipated that.
I doubt the script was written by one person, that could be the problem.