I find vats is good for dealing with bigger groups and with some of the faster mobs, mobs of feral ghouls, bloatflies and bloodbugs, etc.

Can't you cancel it, though? Maybe the [Abort] option disappears, but I've always been able to hit tab and cancel VATS mode no matter what was currently happening.

A lot of character builds are V.A.T.S. dependant, half of the luck tree becomes pointless if you never use V.A.T.S. Since I want to explore the perks and special system I use V.A.T.S. where my character build warrants it.

It never works when I try to cancel after I have started shooting. :S

I use VATS mostly as a scouting tool, especially with those pesky ferals. I just got my hand on the Deliverer though and let me tell you, throw some points into Perception and Agility, upgrade that thing, and my god. What a BEAST in VATS.

The point of VATS is to watch slow motion death as you bring down a deathclaw with your favorite rocket launcher.

Nope, it enhances combat and allows actual role playing rather than relying on player "twitch" reflexes (which undermines the entire point of role playing and is the antithesis to it). Don't need lots of perk points ... don't need any perk points at all, actually.

You are not supposed to be able to instakill most stuff using VATS or using "twitch" reflexes for that matter. VATS is there to allow actual role playing (i.e., relying on character abilities and playing according to those).

It sounds like you don't care for turn-based combat games which are even more "paused" than VATS and targeted towards players who prefer relying on intellectual, tactical and strategic combat. Of course, VATS is optional, so it really doesn't matter. The point, though, is that Fallout is an RPG, not an action-shooter.

o.O Umm, Using VATS giving you better aiming and hit rate ??

Scoped aiming = 1 shot head shot.

Hip-Fire = 1 hit out of 3.

VATS = 1 hit out of 10.

^^^ This is from an FPS players stand point.

The dev's did state they changed the non-VATS aiming to match that of an FPS but left VATS locked into Stats and Traits. So good in FPS = Best not even thinking about VATS.

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Yes in Fallout 3 and Fallout NV, Unless sniping outside of VATS range it was best to always use VATS as it had the best hit chance even with the poorest of stats and traits.

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Why did the Dev's make things a complete opposite so bad to the point that VATS is best left untouched unless you max out every single point into using it to even make it worth touching some times.

No more or less effective than previous games.

Agility needs to be high to get a good number of AP

Luck affects critical charge - criticals are excellent 'fight changers' as even with a 1% chance it will hit

Better Criticals, Grim Reapers Sprint and 4 Leaf Clover can turn a 6 on 1 battle into something manageable (of course it may also go wrong and you get no extra AP and get torn apart lol)

Look for 'quick' and 'lucky' versions of the guns, those reduce the AP cost and increase critical chance. Also many clothing standard mods will affect VATS AP.

There's also perks like Rooted, Awareness and Attack Dog that enhance VATS.

To be honest though if someone is finding cover before you can select and fire upon them, you're simply not being quick enough.

quite handy for spotting mines as well I've noticed

It's' there for your "slowmo cinematic kills" needs and to use some of your perks.

This.

Other then that I usually only use VATS when I'm being swamped close quarters. I sort of use it as a panic button.

This. I started using vats as a recon/scouting tool after being blown up a few times by mines. I mostly avoid it with rifles but with pistols at close range in buildings with mobs it's pretty useful and powerful.

Somtimes it's just fun to lean back and to look at these cool slow motion kills...

It was in 1 and 2 as well, possibly not under that name if the wiki is to be believed, but it was certainly there.

You could just shoot at a target, or you could enter vats and target body parts with various %chances to hit.

It also let you target the eyes and groin. "Go for the eyes, Boo!" was actually an option.

Invest points into it via Perception and you'll see major benefits. Especially when backed up with Luck

In previous games time stood still while you chose what enemy to attack, what body part to target and how many shots to fire. In Fallout 4 time merely slows a little during this process.

I can, on PC, using a pad.

Personally if VATS wasn't here I would not play the game because shooter games are lame and boring as hell for my kind.

VATS is the gimmick that allows Fallout 4 to still be (at least partially) considered an RPG and not an FPS. But we all know it's really an FPS.

2 things I never use. Fast Travel and V.A.T.S.

Fast Travel because I think it takes away the immersion of the game.

V.A.T.S. because I don't see the need for it. Maybe it's just because I'm normally playing MP FPS and it's just my instincts from playing those that I really never think of using it.

I'm not an FPS player. I don't use Vats for sniping at all. I often don't use it for mid-range or short range when I'm feeling froggy, but I do use it when I just can't be bothered. My wife wouldn't play the game at all if she couldn't use VATS.

Flying insects and mole rats get dealt with in VATS. They're annoying, their hit boxes are a bit wonky, and the camera doesn't always like to show them to you even if you're spinning in circles. Also good for crippling death claws, legendary enemies, and super mutant melee guys.

I also save my crits for when something nasty gets in too close. Target the head and unleash that crit in VATS.

Back then the usefulness of VATS wasn't questioned as much because in previous games the gun play wasn't the best. Because of how clunky it was, folks were more reliant on VATS to get the job done. Now with the improved gun play of Fallout 4, its use is being questioned. Which is reasonable enough as you can play perfectly fine without it, however, there are many uses to VATS and it can still prove quite useful in a number of situations.

For one thing, VATS can be a last minute life saver when it looks like you're about to kick the bucket. Surrounded by five withered ferals, an alpha deathclaw is about to strike, and super mutant suicider is directly behind you. All moments that can easily lead to your death because you're not going to be able to react fast enough. One can easily go into VATS to catch a breather and observe the situation, giving them a bit more time to think (while you can, VATS no longer freezes time now, but slows it) and decide every single one of your shots precisely. VATS would be able to pop every single one of those feral ghouls heads off if you had the action points. VATS would have stopped that deathclaw immediately by shooting its legs at the very last minute. VATS was able to give you some few seconds to shoot that suicider before he exploded. All of that done, without taking a hit (if you decide your shots fast enough). Again, a life saver. I don't doubt your abilities to save your own skin without it, but you may be surprised by VATS once you use it a bit more. Some good perks to make VATS even far more helpful are ones such as Grim Reaper's Sprint, which allows you the chance to instantly gain back all your action points with a kill. This perk is just...awesome. Just endless VATS everywhere.

Another use for VATS is the ability to take out multiple targets within a matter of seconds. Besides this saving your life when you're surrounded, its also quite useful for taking out enemies in a stealthily manner. So many times I would go into VATS and take out a group of five enemies or more instantly without alerting anyone. This becomes even greater with a perk like Gun Fu, which allows you to deal more damage when targeting more enemies in VATS.

And of course, critical hits are now directly aligned to VATS and can only be used in VATS now. As silly as it sounds, the way critical hits work can be quite deadly. With a number of perks such as Critical Banker, Four Leaf Clover, and of course Better Criticals, you can throw so many crits at enemies like they were hot cakes. On top of that, critical hits guarantee the shot to hit. Quite convenient, but also very useful for the stealth play I mentioned above.

And in the end, VATS is there as simply a call back to what Fallout once was in the original games, being entirely turn-based. With VATS some of that turn-based game play is reflected here when you can stop time for a bit, think, decide your attacks, and see how those attacks go based off of your stats, which VATS is entirely based on. It's an element of being an RPG that still remains, despite its slow-mo super cinematic form.

So yeah, plenty of reason for VATS being there. The game allows you the play entirely without it, but also the option to play with it. And you're rewarded for playing with it as your character progresses because VATS gets better as well and can become a great tool.

VATS 1 out of 10? It's 10 out of 10 if you have decent perception. Not to mention the perks that work with it. That said if you're a ranged build you can get by fine without it. My current str/agl melee build on survival would be useless without it though simply because I rely on Blitz to clear groups fast.

When you're building the shooting string, [Tab] back out. During a shooting sequence, I believe it's [Tab] that interrupts it - like if you see they've ducked behind cover and realise all your following shots aren't going to hit.

With the right perks and fast weapons (like Deliverer for instance) VATS can be insanely devastating. At this point (lvl 50) I can sneak into LOS of 5 or 6 raiders and have them all dead before the first one even hits the ground.

And if you're on PS4 it's O to interrupt VATS once you initiate the attacks. And to remove planned shots while in VATS as well.