Yes I'm new to the franchise, was V.A.T.S very effective in the previous games?

It doesn't work for me generally, I'm level 52 in hard mode and I think I've only had one kill with it.

I get some hits but not enough for a kill, then time returns to normal speed and before I can find my aim the guy has moved or gone behind cover. V.A.T.S only seems to break the flow of combat for me and appears to require a massive investment of perk points to be worthwhile.

What am I doing wrong?

What's your perception? And how far are you from the target? In my experience it's usually not worth using at range unless you've invested in it, but I do use it a lot if I need to specifically target a limb, get a boatload of bullets into an enemy ASAP, or just finish some guy off.

It was far more useful in previous games cuz the free aim combat svcked...free aim is considerably better now, so vats (to me) is kinda useless...except you need it to do critical shots now...lame..

Point is...I rarely use vats..maybe to locate enemies in darker areas...I free aim kill almost everything..

I'm finding my V.A.T.S. accuracy to be a bit rubbish as well this time around but there are a number of perks that improve it and I'm pretty sure Perception is used for V.A.T.S. accuracy and all my characters' PER has never been above 5.

It saves me bullets, I miss a lot without VATS, specially those flying bugs. So I use VATS when the enemies get too close, when I want to cripple their legs, when I want to make sure I can kill them before they touch me, and so on. It's difficult for me to snipe an enemy in the head when they are moving around, but with VATS I can do it. Not to mention VATS give you an available crit at any time, and crits never miss so you can be in the distance with a very low percentage but still kill the enemy with a crit aimed to their weak spot.

V.A.T.S. is great for precision strikes to one body part.

Say, headshots, or detonating the Nuke on a Supermutant Suicider.

It's really just another playstyle, some folks like it and others hate it.

With me it all depends on the weapon I'm using.

For instance, I've got a Combat Rifle that I use for close up work. It gives me some serious V.A.T.S. bonuses, lots of attacks, and dose plenty of damage with the Talents I've picked (rifleman especially). Works wonders for small, annoying things like Molerats and Insects and those Feral Ghouls who appear to have been living on radioactive Mexican Jumping Beans for the last 200 years. Bigger stuff, I'll usually just unload on.

Lol...it helps a old slow guy like me...but to each his own...like I prefer to play without Power Armor, I have about 15 sets that I just collect and only use it when I go shopping.

VATS is handy if you are like me and terrible at aiming. My older stepson refuses to use it, playing survival mode.

It helps me find targets. The urban setting is very busy, I don't see the raiders on the fire escapes a lot.

I mainly use it to weaken arms and legs. (Especially legs)

Is it just me though or are headshots a little weaker compared to 3? In 3 I was all headshots but have been targeting more tactically in this game.

i think the new VATS being slow-mo was a great move, eventho i never use VATS xD

however the new crit mechanic is probably one of my biggest complaints...really wondering why they did that and where in the world they came up with that mechanic...i've never used it, i prefer the old implementation of 'crits'

I only use it to identify distant targets. Don't want to shoot and settlers, traders or scribes.

The gunplay is so good compared to FONV and FO3 that I hardly feel the need to use VATS. I still like to use it occasionally for killing flying insects just for fun.

Vats Builds incredibly increases the effectiveness of certain weapon types such as unarmed, melee, and pistols.

It is also amazing for some sniper builds.

A recon scope or the recon helmet mod for power armour is good for that too. If it's an enemy it will put a red diamond above it's head.

yeah i'm aware. the effect works on the rifle the same as the PA so the diamonds are visible outside of the scope which they shouldn't be.

I use vats a lot as a stealth character and because I'm lazy. I still try to play fallout as a semi-turn based game and vats allows for that. The shooter aspect of the game is ok. The shooting mechanics aren't great but better than previous installments... not that they had to do much to make it better. But really I'm not playing Fallout for the shooter aspect of the game.

Just consider it a free JET just with limitation that is AP.

Oh and the critical to weak point is devastating.

Actually it should be visible once target tagged even after pitting scope down. If you notice the component list to build a recon scope, it includes circuitry and there was some game lore i read somehwere that said the recon scopes communicate their intel with your pipboy.

So once tagged, the enemies stay tagged via recon to pipboy download. Now the logical question is how you 'see' that tag without an implant or some other hud built into your eyes. I just go with same answer as how do i see a hud at all, compass, etc when i am naked. It is FO magic tech. Apparently we all have cyber implants built in.

I have killed several opponents, without being able to see them, by sniping just below the diamond. I like it.

No VATS of course.

I have both Recon Scopes and the Sensing Helmet. I play a high tech survivor.

I use it at medium to close range, where the enemies' unnatural, herky-jerky movement makes freeaim almost impossible, but VATS rarely fails.

If you're sniping, VATS is as useful as farting in a typhoon. Use your freeaim skillz.

The original FO 1 and FO 2 were turn based games. VATS was added to FO 3 to give the same sort of feel to the combat, even down to the sounds. I've ignored it since about the first hour of FO 3 and never used it since.

VATS saved my life when I was being chased all over town by a couple of Mirelurks. Still use it occasionally for fun, but yes, I don't really miss it that much when I'm fighting. I use it to identify that chap walking up the road a couple hundred metres ahead, though.

I have never used VATS much in Fallout games. Not at all in FO4. Never saw the point myself. I'm good shot in real life and I seem to be able to carry that over to the Fallout world.

When you are surrounded by Feral Ghouls and you are near death and you notice that a Legendary Glowing One is running towards you, that's when V.A.T.S is gonna save yo'ass. I'll admit that I don't use V.A.T.S as much as I did last gen om Fo3 and NV. That is only because the shooting mechanics are improved 10 fold. It can still be incredibly satisfying though.

Only problem with V.A.T.S is I wish you could cancel it once you have started. Sometimes an enemy will run u close and it will say you have a 95% chance of a headshot, but when you do it they are too close and you are shooting the air next to their head, being able to cancel would be very useful.