Can't do it. Uses up core power. Better to melee.

Don't get me wrong. I love VATS, but, this build, no can do. I could boost my VATS with perks, but I have other perks that I need to get first involving armor and weapons improvement and certain "skills".

Well, unless you're one of those people who has a hard time doing quick/accurate aiming with a controller (the OP is on console). In which case, VATS might be the only way some people can actually hit a close & fast-moving enemy.

(Me, I don't use VATS because until you pile plenty of PER & perks onto it, my mouse aiming is better odds than what I get in VATS. Still don't consider it a "cheat", since it's a basic function of the game that the devs put in..... no more than I consider fast travel, or the ability to save as "cheats". Which, yes, I've seen "uber l33t hardcoe" people claim in the past. /eyeroll)

edit: OP, it may just be that you're not good at FPS'ing with a controller. I certainly can't do it, which has locked me out of some (apparently) good games over the years. If I couldn't play these games with a mouse, I wouldn't be playing them.

Yes. Had to. On my combat rifle. From what I'm seeing, I should depend on it more until I can come up with something better. Don't have all the gun-nut stuff yet and no science to use energy weapons, but I'll get there. 77 with a bayonetted combat rifle isn't too bad, after all.

It's a strategy , but one that some might want to avoid, to keep it interesting. Trust me, Im running a melee build and I know i can VATS blitz everythign in sight, and I have for countless hours, but it gets old really quick. You know how feral ghouls can lunge at you from halfway across the room? Thats what VATS looks like to a third party, and it's really cheap. The best way to deal with several enemies in your face is to avoid that situation in the first place through preparation and proper scouting, but if that does happen, then it becomes a fight to the death. Real time melee is kind of clunky but after you win the battle through skill and timed blocking, the sense of achievement is amazing.

VATS is cheating, for some of us. I do very well without it.

The game almost killed me last night, closest it's come in a few days. A crazy lady with a Fatman, an Assultron and a pack of Legendary Raiders jumped me when I just ported in. I quit sneaking up on targets a while ago. I killed the Assultron, face to face is the best way for these things, several Raiders and ran like a fool when the nukes started to hit. The fast legs on my T60e Ti saved me again and I ended up under water, at about 3 Health. Stayed there for a while recovering Then came out and finished the mission. Survival of course.

I use a shotgun for panic situations. Usually takes care of everything in front of me.

While you are correct, I have always been extremely VATS dependent and F4 is the first in the series where I have actually been quite successful at non-VATS combat, particularly sniping.

I am, in general a sneaky type of character, but, this time I am doing what another poster called my "Dalek Build". Basically I am never without the armor and no VATS.

My FPS is pretty weak, but it will improve. I'm only at level 12 at the moment, but I have a Fat Man with 5 mini-nukes, a Missile Launcher with 34 missiles and a Mini-Gun with over 5K in ammo. I have also been carrying a shotgun and a combat rifle as well as my 10mm tricked out pistol, so I think it's time to par back. I'm off to Lexington tonight (the Police Station) to meet Danse and I'll take it from there.

I'm thinking that, maybe I should go for more energy weapons. I have so much ammo built up at this point, I could probably go on forever.

I'm picking up a T60 on my way to Lexington though so I'll take it from there and see what the BoS has to offer. First time I haven't just ignored them and then destroyed them. We'll see.

Every ability that the Pip-Boy gives you is NOT cheating. Using VATS falls under "playing the game it is meant to be played".

Plenty of action games have offered "bullet time" or similar slo-mo combat since way back in the first Max Payne game in 2001. Slo-mo combat has become a STAPLE in action games. So VATS should not be frowned upon, but welcomed as something that enhances gameplay.

I agree, but, VATS is a significant drain on my core resources so I am thus avoiding it as much as possible. I am not yet at the point where I have more than enough nor the money to buy more.

The game is unable to kill me on Survival as it is. Using VATS would be cheating in my case. I have never, in several thousands of hours playing 3D Fallout games used VATS.

I come from Stalker and it's far harder.

No it does not. It cheapens it.

I think it's your calling it a "cheat" that is sticking in folks craws. I know you mean that only you consider it a cheat. We went over this yesterday.

Let's just say that it is not a "cheat", it's a "game mechanic that you chose not to use as you believe it gives you an unfair advantage".

Me - I'm trying a playthrough without it. But it's tough once you're used to VATS.

"A 'game mechanic' that I chose not to use as I believe it gives me an unfair advantage".

You are right I'm pulling chains. I'll use your definition from now on.

Ill make a few points. My FPS skills are coming back. They are not great but good enough for F4. I hit what I'm shooting at a lot now.

That's not why I romp around having fun in this world. It's because Stalker taught me tactics. Mine are good, better than my shooting skills. I never stay for an out of control fight, I run. If I'm not controlling both the pace and direction of the battle, I run. I run a lot and my PA is tricked out to run fast. Running away is the most important thing to learn to do well.

Running away makes them chase you and strings them out into a line you can shoot into. Even if you miss the first guy, you will hit stuff behind him. Any open fight for me is a series of these moves. I do not hang around to take damage untill the end and it's just the last couple. I'll usually be mostly unhurt, from all my 'screaming little girl who runs', how one feels in Stalker, tactic. Then I'll get close and personal, usually after a softening with a few nades.

No. No CoD. I am morally opposed to the BoS so why on earth would I have anything to do with that slaughterfest. I don't like FPS and won't play them. Fallout is my first and only. I'll stick with swords and sorcery.

lol, i like how your reason for not using vats is practical, and not just for the challenge. It's like, if you had unlimited power, you would probably use and abuse it, ha.

Why don't you play stealth in PA ? I find it easy to sneak in PA, but I have level 5 sneak. In fact, I found it easy from level 3.

I haven't read any of the other responses so apologies if this has been mentioned. Short on time, only have a sec'.

I used to play Quake II online. I was known around the world and feared by all. No bots, no cheats, I wasn't playing on the server, just me and a mouse with a 120 ping. It was a mechanical mouse which I had to disassemble and clean every 30 minutes so that tells you how long ago this was and how much I played.

I played FPS games on hard on PC because I found them almost too easy. I was, and still am, deadly with a mouse. On the PS4, I have to set them to Easy or lower. Fallout is the only game I can play on Normal because of VATS. If you're used to a mouse the transition can be very hard, or impossible in my case. I've had a console since the PS3 first came out and I still can barely play FPS games. As a matter of fact, the very first thing I did when I got my PS3 was try to find a way to hack it to use a mouse and keyboard. Never worked out though.

I'm also finding that Fallout 4 is not very forgiving. The aiming seems to be pinpoint.

I uploaded a video to test how fast my PS4 would upload to Youtube. It's a clip of me getting attacked by a ghoul. I keep shooting and the darn thing keeps coming and I'm thinking, "Why can't I hit this stupid thing!?". It pretty much took a dead center hit to put that thing down and I am perked out on pistol and rifle perks.

So I don't know. I think it's a combination of Fallout having pinpoint targeting and if you are used to a mouse but I too would not survive Fallout 4 without VATS. If memory serves me, I think I rarely used VATS in 3 and NV.

Here's a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXWWWrddwTE to the vid so you can see how close I was and missed, and also the cool way the ghoul landed.