So I've gotten 3 deep into the sneaking perks, and yet every time I snipe a group from afar while sneaking, they instantly turn in my direction and fire back. It also shows [Caution] not [Danger] while I'm taking damage from a distance. What's the point of sneaking if Bethesda makes no attempt to hide the fact that the AI knows where we are?

I have been able to sneek just fine. But had a cameleon armor peice. Was in PA shot a guy and killed him the other guy runs into the room I am in, looks around walks past me and never found me.

Okay I'll have to keep an eye out for chameleon gear. But why am I spotted instantly from a mile away, even when I just maxed out sneaking?

Is your gun suppressed? The AI will fire in the direction they hear gun fire from.....

Because all sneaking in the world doesn't make you, nor the bullets you fire invisible, like a real life sniper you need to relocate after a shot, or they figure out ya spot based on the direction the bullets comes from.

Do you have it on normal difficulty? Should use a suppressor too if you can.

This happened to me too. Turns out 4 points into sneak raises caution but they won't start firing at you whereas 5 points pretty much allows you to pick off guys while staying hidden. You'll need a top tier scope and suppressor, mind you. One piece of chameleon gear will definitely help as well.

You should notice that they are firing in your direction while you still have 'caution' not 'detected'. They haven't actually seen you yet, though they know roughly where you are and will be trying to close in on you.

It says Caution when they know someone is there but not know exactly where you are. They just spray and pray from the direction the bullet came from. I have got kills when that happens and when it says [Caution] the kill still counts as a stealth kill. It's only when it shows [Danger] that they know where you are.

My character is so sneaky I'm tripping over sleeping ghouls that I didn't know were there. You'll find magazines that help you sneak plus other perks to be taken in the stealth department.

You really need to start using a weapon that will one-shot them. Personally I use a hunting or sniper rifle. They can hear the gunshots and, while they may not be aiming directly at you, they can certainly hit you as they know the general direction it came from.

This is my experience (with Sneaking 3/5). If I fire my nice shiny sniper rifle then foes are all looking in my direction. If I sneak around to the side, they are all still looking where I was. I don't have a suppressed rifle, so I don't know if that will make a difference.

do u have a silencer??? then it make senses they fire at u but they dont know where u are.

After i mod my Sniper to use a Silencer they stop shoot they just get in alert mode.

I use a fully upgraded 50 cal proper sniper rifle and I can one shot most Super Mutants. The stealth multiplier kill helps a lot. Even without that multiplier you get a 2x damage from a stealth kill.

I have a couple questions. First off, are you using a silenced weapon? If not after a single shot, two or three at those most, they're going to know where you are. Sound does travel after all...

Second question, this kinda relates to the first. If your in power armor it does make a lot of noise, as it should. Sneaking around in several tons of armor that makes you about 8 feet tall shouldn't be possible, realism and all that.

Same basically goes for wearing heavier metal armor. That should make TONS of racket that should be easily noticeable by NPCs in this game. At least if the AI is decent.

Those things are hard to code though, so there may be some issues.

Also, third and final question. When your sneaking, are you sneaking slowly or quickly? There is a toggle for that just like for running and walking. I dont know if the perks for FO:4 cover that the same as they did for FO:3 and FO:NV.

I actually thought this was a feature, I noticed when you were in [Caution] enemies would start shooting, but it was very inaccurate like they were doing blanket covering fire while they moved in on you, I thought it was a neat take on sneak.

You have to remember when a shot comes in you can tell the rough direction even in the weapon is silenced by the direction of blood splatter. All the enemies are doing is laying down suppression fire (ie making you keep your head down) and you are probably getting hit by random shots due to them being fired everywhere down that cone of probability. You are still in stealth mode even when it says caution... it's just warning you that enemies are nearby. Danger is when you have been spotted and they are actively hunting you.

add points to agility the base stat seems to be the more important of the 2 ( stat vs perk ) when it comes to stealth. Also as many have said the use of a suppressor is a must. I have also found that engaging from very long range & using a shoot & scoot method works incredibly well

I've also stuck to Shadowed armour. For the vast majority of the game I've also not worn power armour. Although I was able to get 3 of the Stealth magazines fairly early too which helped. I've now found 5 magazines and am in Shadowed Heavy Combat Armour with Muffled legs. I need 1 more rank in stealth to max it out. If I get thrown into Danger with guys in the distance I can usually duck behind a wall and it goes back to Cautious pretty quickly. For enemies that are closer I do the same but use a Stealth Boy and I go back to Hidden very quickly.

You must be terrible. After getting sneak rank 2 I could clear out entire raider bases without ever getting spotted. Use light clothing, I recommend the vault suit and leather layered armor, until you can get combat armor, then also use the baseball uniform, +1 AGI and PER is amazing to any stealth build. Don't use your pip boy light, if you have an un suppressed weapon, fire, then duck away immediately, if you fire a rifle then stand in the same spot you will guaranteed get spotted. When sneaking up on an enemy walk very slowly, it's not like previous fallouts where you could simply crouch walk around or roll everywhere like in skyrim and never get caught. Put a reflex sight on your 10mm pistol and pop heads from a distance, that'll one shot everything you face and it will subside until you get gun nut rank 2.

I hope you're using high perception too.

There's a good point. I'm using the Overseer's Guardian modified to a .308 (high damage combat rifle converted to a sniper rifle), 4 ranks in Rifleman (+80% Dmg & 25% Armour pierce), 2 Ranks in Bloody Mess (+10% Dmg), 3 Ranks in Lone Wanderer (+25% Dmg), found the Small Arms Bobblehead (+25% ballistic crit. dmg) and 4 Guns & Ammo magazines (+20% crit.dmg). Sneaking head shots generally kill with one shot.

I want to work on getting Sandman (+ dmg with suppressed weapons) and Ninja (up to x3 dmg with ranged sneak attacks) perks. I was going to give the Sniper perk a miss for the time being because I use Stabilised arm pieces.