haha I did that my second playthrough. I didn't meet preston until I beat the storyline. My 3rd play-through, I met up with him, but I haven't been to Sanctuary yet.
I'm up to level 24. I try and sneak as much as I can with my power fist (in which I named Fisto) but I find after killing one enemy sneaking, they spot me after that. Sneaking with melee is much much harder. I end up in full out brawls. which is ok because this time around im actually sinking perks into defense this time. My 1st 2 characters were full on sneakers that died pretty fast. I aim only investing in unarmed perks for offense, and focus on damage resistance, but that is proving hard especially for turrets that are out of reach. I planed to not get the gun nut or explosive expert perks as well but I am realizing how vital those are. Mines and grenades save my ass a lot my last playthroughs but I am getting to the point where those don't do much damage to enemies without the bonus damage from the perks.
Even if I am not using guns yet, I feel like I might have to invest in the commando perks. I am dying a lot more on this character than my last 2 as I am more out in the open, punching people to death.
Faction wise, since I tried making myself, the character doesn't fit the institute at all but that would be my only option story wise that I haven't done yet. My first plan was to do the brotherhood but then IKILLYOU informed my you can't use unarmed weapons while in power armour. My choices so far only reflect what my followers will like/dislike to get their perks faster. I guess I am having a real identity crisis lol.