I only use it on small, fast enemies like bloat flys and sting wings.

Fricking mirelurk hatchlings!

I use VATS almost exclusively, except long-rane headshots/sniping. I play stealth/energy weapons/pistols/sniper rifles, on survival. I usually eat and take stimpaks before opening battle, headshot any heavies, then use VATS and cover to recharge AP between VATS queues. It is not great at long range, so-so at mid and good at close range, with Perception 8 and related perks. Some weapons are really suited to this, like Deliverer, which I use quite a lot at mid- to close- range. You get a TON of shots with it and its accuracy is significantly higher than most other pistols.

OMG No! You just pistol whip those little buggers. Why waste the ammo?

You can say that again. I've never actually counted, but I bet I could get two full magazines (32 shots) in a single queue with Deliverer. In fact, it has so many shots available that it's caused me to modify my tactics. I'll do things like shooting a bunch at the torso of a heavily armored opponent even though the damage is small just to build up the Crit meter. Then once it's full, break the shot sequence manually, and re-aim for a now-available Critical shot to the head. Doing stuff like that let's you kill Supermutant Overlords with the little pistol.

Yes indeed! Deliverer is quickly becoming my favorite gun!

VAT however win in an close up against moving enemies.

Huge fights with lots of friends and enemies together at close range is also an nice place to use VAT.

Same if if an dangerous boss get into melee distance an series of headshots helps a lot.

its also very nice if you get jumped at close range with an weapon with scope.

Hit chance in VAT depend on weapon range and accuracy stats so an sniper rifle work very well at medium ranges in VAT even if your combat rifle does not.

For me it depend on weapon, enemy getting very close with the gaus I uses VAT, lots of enemies running around with the laser rifle I use VAT, with the automatic its just for the boss is in melee distance.

Hate the whole VATS idea, no idea why people like it or use it, but I ignore it completely.

I hardly ever use it. When I do, it's mostly when I'm goofing around, not seriously trying to accomplish anything. They've really dialed in the fps combat this time around, so I'm almost exclusively playing traditional fps style.

I use VATS for those close quarter combat moments when you are being swarmed by multiple enemies. Whether it is a pistol or shotgun in hand, they are both very devastating in CQB.

Vats is pretty broken.

-just by being in vats you get 90% damage reduction. You can eat several nukes without wearing any armor on lvl 1.

-A lot of the good perks benefit vats exclusively and there are bunch of crit related bonuses and crits only happen in vats (unless you do overdrive).

-all vats focused character builds are strictly better than non vats builds.

-you have 100% hit rate on shots that would be impossible outside of vats

Depends on what weapon I am using really. Overseer's Guardian gives me like 3 shots in VATS, it regens pretty quickly though, but if I am sneaking and at range, I typically mash Q to find enemies then cancel VATS and take my shot. If I am using my Deliverer though, I can get a good 10-15 shots in VATS with the same AP. It's great for groups of Ghouls and insects. I can shoot one Ghoul, get 10 running at me, open VATS and shoot each one in the leg once and they are all dead. It's also great for insects, since they move so quickly, it can be difficult to hit them sometimes, so VATS with a weapon like deliverer can take them all out with ease.

The fair thing to say is not that VATS is broken or pointless, but that it's a matter of choice. You can play without or with, and character progression/equipment can be suited to either purpose.

Still, even on my melee char that has zero perk points in guns or gun-related VATS stuff, she can plink heads off really well with guns when free-aiming and not using VATS. The game is more about +damage perks and weapon modding now, than it is about overall stat points on your character as you level up. Buffing up the FPS aspect at the cost of RPG'ing. It's funny, she can kill stuff pretty well free aiming, but if I try to shoot something in VATS, she'll miss all over the place, even in close. Real paradox there.

They are build that best with or without VATS.

Pistol are best with VATS

Rifle are in the middle

Automatic and Heavy don't need VATS at all

no I punch those things with my fists, they go right up to me, have 1 health, and are a waste of ammunition.

All that would be more valid if this were a multi-player game. Since it's not, it boils down to only a different way to play.

Exactly. I'm not an FPS guy. At all. I'm in my mid-40's and the last real FPS I played extensively was Quake III - 15 years ago - and I truthfully wasn't very good at it then. My 14 year old daughter can kick my butt in CoD, and she's nothing close to a top player. If all combat in Fallout was like CoD, I wouldn't be able to play the game, or at least not very well. VATS gives those of us who don't want a full-on FPS options.

Good on you TS for not using VATS. No you are not doing anything wrong, it's a matter of preference really. I've actually been spending the last few days trying not to use VATS, and melee in real time. Survival level 65. Pretty challenging at times, and if you can't kill them in one or two hits, you have to use cover and even run away at times to recharge your AP. If I use VATS, I can stomp an entire group of enemies in one go, and come out with a fully recharged AP bar and criticals because of luck perks. As menionted before, if your build is designed to use VATS, it can be incredibly OP.

It's not a paradox because time is slowed down 90% during VATS, so it's a completely different situation. When shooting in real time, you are using your real life perception and coordination, whereas in VATS, they calculate using your character's perception and perks.

Wow, I amost always use VATS. I'm a hardcoe FPS player but in FO3 I used vats so I do the same in FO4.

I like it. I can't get enough of the slow motion kills. And with the Deliverer it's even better.

I have read through quite a bit of this. For me VATS is cheating and I never use it.

I have noticed you VATS users don't use tactics. I can't overwhelm anything much and am forced to use a tactical approach to any combat situation. My T60e runs because it's such a useful thing to be able to run away. That allows me to reposition myself to deal with whatever I just ran away from. This forces stuff chasing you into a line and makes targeting easier. This is the simplest of a whole host of tactics I have developed to deal with the 3D Fallout games. F4 is better enough that my actual gun skills matter and although they are still a bit rusty are coming back fast.

The paradox is that a melee character who totally svcks at guns (going off the 'RPG' aspect of this game) can still rock at using guns if the player has any modicum of personal FPS shooting skill. VATS was actually doing it's job in this case, making her miss her shots most of the time since her build svcks at guns.

Ill usually start off by sniping a few of the heavy hitters, and once everyone is after me, use VATS alone.
Perception and VATS related perks work great with VATS, believe it or not. You need to build the type of character you want to play.

No you are no hardcoe. No one who is will use that cheat.

In the previous games, FPS mechanics were so bad that VATS was a godsend in most cases. I agree that it's not really that necessary here, although it has it's uses. I use it when the enemy is too close to actually aim well or I waste bullets and you can't get the same kill-shot graphics without using VATS.

It's also kind of neat once you have the perk to be able to see the enemy stats. I only use it when disabling long distance in most cases since, even with scopes, it's tough to shoot somebody in the knee from 200 meters, especially with the sway.

Yup, I'm in the same boat pretty much- born in '79. I'm also mostly an RPG guy so shooting is not my forte.