So, one of the things we learned from the latest Bethnet article on perks was the function of the I1 perk, VANS: "Let Vault-Tec guide you! The path to your closest quest target is displayed in VATS." So, how does that exactly work? Can we just enter VATS and look around outside of combat? Would other perks add other non-combat effects to VATS? Might be a nifty way to incorporate a "see-enemies-through-walls" effect...

It may use the same interface as VATS, but I doubt it would "be" VATS, in that it would not drain action points and would not slow time.

The look of the see-through-walls perk (if that is a thing) may look like VATS, and the VANS may have some VATS-like overlay leading you to your quest / waypoint marker, instead of a "magical glowing wisp trail" like the corresponding Clairvoyance spell from Skyrim. Assuming VANS acts like Clairvoyance, which many have speculated.

Maybe it'll be close to eagle vision/wraith mode/witcher sense.

In the previous games, you could enter VATS whenever you wanted, it just didn't really "do" anything if there weren't any enemies around (it would still pause time, basically.) I'm probably not the only one who would occasionally bring up VATS while out wandering, just to see if there was an ambush I was walking into or something.

So I'm curious how that's going to work in the new game. From the sound of it, if you have the VANS perk, then that is activated when you bring up VATS as well. My guess would be that you would still enter bullet time whenever VATS comes up, just that you'd get a highlighted route to your active quest if you had the correct perk.

My assumption is that slow-down is just an innate property of VATS, and that any relevant perks are also activated when you use that. Action Points are only used for actual actions (basically attacks, as far as we know,) so there shouldn't be much of an action point cost in using VATS if you're out of combat.

Though another possibility could be that tapping the VATS button brings you into bullet time and the standard VATS interface, while holding down the button would bring up the VANS interface, sans bullet time.

While traveling in F3 and Vegas I was constantly spamming the VATS button to "scan" for targets. Molerats, vicious dogs, raiders, whatever. Even scavengers and wastelanders!

I was under the impression you could NOT use VATS unless you had a combat target? Of course that would still work for locating foes --- if one was in range, VATS would activate and try to lock on ---- but I was usually able to visually spot foes long before they would show up in VATS. Aside from the Bullet-Time mod I used, I don't recall being able to enter VATS without a target. VANS, obviously, will have to be able to be activated without a target, however.

Yeah, that's wrong. Unless it was a mod being used. I usually tap the VATS button around when I'm looking at stuff just to see if anyone is around. It doesn't put me into VATS until it sees someone. And even then, you can't "look around". It snaps between targets. If there is only one, your camera doesn't move. At elast that's how it was in vanilla

No, you're right. I just loaded up Fallout 3 and unless there was an enemy in range, nothing happened when I pressed the button.

So maybe VANS activates if you press the button when there are no enemies around, and if there are enemies then VATS activates instead...

I've always taken VATS to also include the heads up display, so probably features used through that.

I would do the same thing, especially at night.