Liz works fine for me. Tried all the dialogue options which followed asking about the weapons. When telling 'It's all over the town' line dialogue ends and combat doesn't start until I enter her line of sight.
edit: Okay. When first entering Modoc, talk to Torr, agree to go guard the Brahmin.
Beat up the lone scorpion, go talk to Duntons, agree to rustle cattle, go tell Torr there are bugmen coming and he'll run away.
Back to Duntons, collect reward. Head back to downtown Klamath.
Talk to Sulik, ask what he's doing here, ask about damages, offer to pay with insufficient funds (I guess the last one doesn't really matter, but I did it to be safe), end conversation.
Talk to Maida, ask about Sulik, follow conversation thread and mention someone else paying for Sulik. Say he should be free, offer to pay with insufficient funds (again to be safe), end conversation.
Talk to Ardin, basically pick all top options.
Go to canyon, destroy robot, talk to Torr, lead him back.
Downtown, talk to Ardin. Now for me there's only two options:
-No thanks is necessary.
-Money is a nice way of saying thanks.