This. I haven't used VATS since i watch my character miss several body shots a 93%.

I only use it to shoot flying bugs, which can be difficult to hit and end up costing me much more ammo to kill than they should.

I also hate the fact that so many of the perks are associated with VATS without having a non-VATS application. It makes a good chunk of the perk chart useless to me.

there is the "+25% damage" bobble head that you can pick up during the reunions mission

im not using it caz its very inaccurate, missing some point blank shots with 75 to 85% chance of hit, sometimes 2 or 3 times in a row. In fallout 3 it was way more effective. My perception is at 8 by the way.

For medium to long range targets I trust my aim more than V.A.T.S. For point blank to close range targets that move around alot, I use V.A.T.S. so I'm not wasting ammo.

Im using free aim 95% of the time in FO4.

The mechanics are as good as any shooter now, so im basically only using VATS if I get suprised at close range while using a rifle with really low fire rate.(And even in those situations I really don't use VATS to often)

I hardly used it at all on my first character. I was generally much more accurate outside of VATS than I was using it (then again my perception was only 3).

On my new melee-only character, I'm using it all the time. I'm building the character around scoring criticals though, so it's pretty much mandatory. Also, it's much less annoying when you have a near 100 percent chance to hit every time.

It's a tool, and it has its uses.

For those who wish to renew their membership in the "Never killed Follows-Chalk" club, VATS is a way to identify and selectively target bad guys out of a distant group.

It's a fine thing to help people, but if you wound a security guard or a settler, suddenly you are 'persona non grata'.

Although true, the percentages of pulling off a headshot seem to always remain rather low, I am seemingly able to pull them off a majority of the time when they're at 40%, 50%, and even 30%. Must be lucky. This coming from someone playing with 5 Perception.

But I use VATS a lot because I've always enjoyed it since its introduction in Fallout 3. The closest one can get to what the originals were, and while it's not all that close to be honest, its something. Not to mention it just makes things seem far more epic and can even be a life saver for those quick and dire situations.

Even still though, I good amount of my time in combat is also spent in real time aiming on my own. Me being pretty good at shooters in the first place, this is also an enjoyable option as well.

I'd say its half and half for both in Fallout 4.

It's really bad if you don't use it at point blank. Mostly because it's some sort of cutscene where you dramatically miss all of your shots.

I remember fighting this powerful guy (no spoilers) and he has about 15% HP left. I aimed at him in VATS and since it takes literally 20 seconds to fire three shots he managed to throw a granade at me during the sequence. Dead.

I play heavy / melee build (broadsider and sledgehammer) and I never used VATS.. Really hate it... And what's bothering me most is that most high end combat perks and critical are made ONLY for vats... Really was that hard to make that perks would give additional bonus out of VATS? ATM only viable "non vats combat perk tree" is strength.

Funny. I stop using vats already. Used to use alot back on fo3

Depends what weapon im using. With pistols live in VATS. I didn't at the start of the game but now when i got some of those juicy luck perks it's amazing. Popping into a room and dropping 3 raiders with head shots in an instant is just hella fun.

But when i use automatic weapons i find it's usually only worth it in a clinch since they cost so much AP.

I don't like to be at the mercy of RNG so I don't use VATS much.

It's supposed to give you a 20% greater chance to hit with VATS, but it's broken and makes it so that no matter the distance or the weapon, headshots always get a 95% chance. It pretty much turns you into the perfect sniper, even with a minigun or a rocket launcher, no matter the distance.

Ah thanks.... well i better stay clear of that perk for a while, then. :S

I use it more now than either FO3 or FNV for the crit feature. The other Fallouts I mostly used sniper rifle but in this one the AI for npc always moves them once you have headshot lined up.

i have always hated the vats system. Seems more like a cheat code to me than anything. I would so much rather aim. That was the only thing i didnt like about fallout 3. There where no "down the sight" view. Just a dot. I really disliked that aspect and that you pretty much HAD to use vats. They fixed it pretty good in new vegas.

Heavily relied on it in Fallout 3 as I played it on Xbox 360 and had problems with manual aiming. Now with Fallout 4 on PC, I tend to use manual aiming far more often, but I still use VATS against small and/or fast enemies, enemies with much protection and smaller vulnerable body parts (such as Mirelurks) as well as close combat.

Never used V.A.T.S in FO3 or NV, never liked it, too glitch and clunky, IMO, as often-times I would find my bullets flying off screen crazily even when I had 95% hit chance. In FO4, I do not use the system much either, but at the times I've used it I've found it is much improved over the previous games, mostly I think because it does not freeze the game, but enters 'Bullet Time' which I always loved in the mods made for the previous games. Still, I don't tend to use it often as I love the feel of real-time and ducking behind walls to jump out fast for a head shot, or fire a mini-nuke from around a corner. Occasionally I do use it, however, as those annoying little blood bugs(always hated mosquitos) somehow avoid every single one of my gun shots, automatic or otherwise.

VATS is for emergency.

I use it to watch things die from a different perspective. That is still massively fun for me. People talk like like its only use was to help aim and hit. Like in one of tha first trailer for FO3...it is still fun to watch rockets or something fly to a target and destroy it.

I played 3 and NV mostly with VATS, but the improvements in free-aiming in 4 I'm not using VATS so much. It's very handy for the enemies that move quickly though - Bloatflies and Ghoul hordes, especially.

I still use it a lot. Especially when detected already by the enemy. If I have a high percentage chance of hitting them, i take it. I usually snipe first with sniper rifle or semi auto scoped assault rifle. Then once I take a enemy or two out, and the rest get inside scope range, i switch to VATS.

I just about have the 3rd rank of the Sniper perk, so my scoped assault rifle should benefit from the 25% accuracy boost to the head. Fingers crossed as I would love this very much.

I also tend to use VATS more if the ammo is a bit rare, like 5.56mm. I have a tough time getting a lot of this ammo, so I don't want to spray it everywhere. VATS is very helpful for ammo consumption. And I'm getting the hang of criticials in VATS and critical banker, so I love me some VATS again now that I have it sorted out for Fallout 4.

Almost never. Only time is when they run around a corner and get in my face. Run with pipe revolver med scope and silencer. Hard to aim clsoe up.