I'm searching for a definitive answer on this but judging by the comments, I think what many people miss is the distinction between hip fire and aiming down the sights. I highly suspect that VATS only uses hip fire, so it's terrible with a gun that's moded for long range aiming, such as sniper rifles.

Guns moded for hip fire seem to perform much better in VATS. You CAN screw this up even with a pistol if you mod the pistol for longer range combat (scopes etc).

There's very little material on the subject from my Google searches, so I'm speculating. It makes sense though.

Nope, every scope increases ur accuracy by far. What do u think that value stands for, thats being displayed for every weapon? How good the player can aim? Its only relevant for vats.

But i'm still not using it... ur own aiming is just so much more efficient.

I think it applies to bullet spread. A more accurate weapon is more likely to hit precisely where you're aiming when NOT using VATS.

In VATS, my scoped, long range accuracy modded sniper rifle isn't any more accurate at 20 feet than my double barrel shotgun with no sights at all. 200 accuracy rifle has less accuracy (displayed as hit chance percentage in VATS) than my 40 accuracy shotgun.

Also, the animation is almost always hip fire when switching to VATS, even when aiming as the VATS button is pressed, character drops from aiming animation to hip fire... Ergo, hip-fire gun mods may increase VATS hit chances even though the accuracy stat climbs when you put a long scope on a weapon.

the only time i've ever entered VATS is by mistake, because it was reserve mapped to my usual Jump key.

thankfully the recent beta fixed that little problem and VATS is now mapped to an unused key over the other side of the kb.

Yay for the beta! i can now stop using AutoHotkey.

Real helpful Cliv. WTH is wrong with half you [censored] strokers? Nobody is impressed if you don't use VATS. I used to be a world class Counter-Strike player that lead a clan to the top of the North American Ladders. Big f***ing deal! Not relevant and nobody cares!

VATS is fun sometimes, so anyone that wants to add to the conversation please do. If your comment isn't relevant and you just want a pat on the back because you don't use VATS then stop waisting everyone's time.

I use it a lot less that I did in FO3 and FONV.

I mostly use it on ghouls and dogs that have closed the gap. Specially ghouls that have have such fast and unpredictable movement up close.

Thought about this the other day. I'm level 40 and I will rarely use VATS. In Fallout 3 / NV I used it all the time.

The main reason is because most of my rifles are scoped and when using a gun + scope your action points are severely reduced. And accuracy too, for some reason. I'm not sure if this is intentional; I just figured it was and it was a nerf to VATS sniping.

Thankfully, non-VATS gunplay in Fallout 4 feels a lot better than previous games. It's clear they've improved real-time gunplay.

Fallout3, New Vegas, Fallout4. Never used vats more than one time, that's was the time I tried it and found it stupid..

Yes you can play Fallout 4 just as well without VATS it seems. VATS was God-mode when properly set up in 3, too easy really.

I'm just a little annoyed with the lack of documentation for Fallout 4. I want to mod my .308 pistol so it has maximum accuracy in VATS for close range swarm situations like Ghouls, but I don't know what the best mods for VATS are. We have a "general idea" that scopes kill VATS accuracy for example, bit little real data on how mods apply.

VATS hit chance calculation seems completely irrational and makes VATS rather inferior when compared to real-time aiming. I can easily headshot any target at sniper rifle's maximum range while VATS gives me like <20% hit chance. VATS is viable for headshotting with shotguns at close range when the enemy is too close to aim precisely or for crippling limbs at close or medium range, though.

IMHO it should be fixed/balanced so both options can be alternatives for each other, and so one of them (VATS) isn't that situational or simply inferior in other situations.

I started using VATS in Fallout 3 but it seemed to take away from the gameplay so I stopped using it. Haven't used it since.

I enjoy the fact that VATS is no longer a time stopping crutch (but still a useful tool) and the overall FPS system is vastly improved. I think they did a good job of balancing the systems tho I do miss tossing grenades in VATS....(you can't do that anymore...right?).

Same here, my build is mostly sniper, riffle, and then pistol. I never use VATS for sniping, but will use it for tough times/emergencies and for cool kills when using pistols at close range or sometimes with the combat riffle (non-auto).

EDIT: In fact, I think when using VATS with a sniper rifle your character is actually not even using the scope but shooting from the hip. Terrible. Can't confirm as I don't even try it anymore.

Never used it in FO3 or NV so there's no reason to start now.

I got gun fu perk so yeah I use it. Usually as I enter the room and use the deliverer because it has like 24 vats shots and just sneak into the middle of the room and shoot 6 people in the matter of 3 seconds in the face in pure silence. I snipe without it but that moment of seeing those 6 bodies slowly drop at the same time from my pistol is too good to not do all the time, John wick style

ive never used vats in any fallout game

hey, thanks for singling me out. what were you expecting to find in a thread titled 'anyone else not using VATS?' other than a whole bunch of people who don't use VATS and said so?

Don't use it much at all, similarly to FO3. (Seems less useful than in 3, really).

I have been using it to find landmines, though, since those things are much less visible than they were in the last game.

Ya... we should give em credit for those traps.... they're amazing at times.

Something new for a change, u don't see every trap coming and just walk around what so ever.

You're right cliv, I apologize.