I always go with deep pockets and likely with the new survival mode it might be more important if you want to carry extra gear and and still be able to take some loot.

I prefer ultra-light for the AP and because the heavier your armor the more easily you're detected while sneaking. Past a certain point though, after you've maxed out sneak perk and gotten all the magazines, you can start playing with other mods to your armor. I currently have ultra light on my shoulders, pocketed on my chest piece, and sleek on my legs.

does stabilization actually work? i tried it and it didn't cut down on the sway.

strength allows for more carrying weight and agility increases action points. if i am close to doing more vats shots, than i want to use a mod that increases AP. but if a few more AP doesn't make a difference, i go with deep pockets. some legendary mods will reduce AP cost. if you like the gear, think... you can have both on one piece of armor.

It works great as long as you don't get the weapon sway bug.. With my characters maxed agility, the sniper perk and my weapon stabilization gauntlet, the weapon sway reduced to 0.. for awhile. Around level 74 it went back to like I was a level 1 character with terrible weapon sway. I tracked down the bug by going back through old saves. For me, all it took was fast traveling to or from Sanctuary. I never fast traveled in the beginning of the game because It's more fun to run around in the beginnings.. but by end game I was zooming about all over the place which could be why I wasn't affected by the bug for so long. Sanctuary was the only place that did this.. fast traveling anywhere else on the map and I was fine. I have no idea what is in Sanctuary could possibly cause this bug other than me sending all my companions there.

I believe Muffled is for sneak. Ultra light is for AP and less weight.

I believe armor weight is a factor is sneak detection.

I prefer Ultra-light. Deep Pocketed is fine, but taking into account the weight of the armor, you generally only get a couple extra pounds worth of actual extra inventory after the weight of the armor is negated. I also am selective on what I pick up and realize that there are other ways to get around my own weight limitations, so 30 bonus AP on a full suit is worth the trade-off for me. Plus, it's kinda annoying when you're 40 pounds overloaded with your deep-pocketed gear off because you put on Charisma boosting clothes and are slow-walking around to different market vendors.

Carry a Hazmat suit for Children of Atom fights. Their rad guns can't hurt you in it. I found it amazingly fun for my melee character.