That about sums it up for me too. I'm playing a melee character who happens to have 100 in guns at lvl 30, but I didn't take any of the gun perks along the way so my VATS accuracy is pretty low even with high skill. I tend to pick things off in the distance with a silenced .308 and use vats when they get into melee/unarmed range. Sometimes I'll run in and give a Cazador a punch and then dip into vats. It's definitely a bit more of a balancing act this time around. Before I felt like you would use 5ap a shot, didn't matter anyway because of the Grimm Sprint, wash, rinse, and repeat. If I ever get into dire straights I find that I don't rely on Jet like I used to in FO3, but more on regenerative health and by swinging for the fences in real time.

Still I'm no FPS player and I'm glad it has the functionality that remains, it serves as a great feature to the RPG side of FNV.

I use it as an occasional panic button when something fast is up in my face, and nothing more.

I'm trying to adapt to the obvious reality that the game is moving slowly and inexorably towards its future as "Fallout: a Post-Nuclear FPS."

Like several others, I tend to use VATS if I want to get an enemy to drop their weapon or maybe slow them down. I really love the iron sights in NV so I use them a lot.
Still, there is an awesome amount of sick satisfaction in hitting a stick of dynamite in a Powder Ganger's hand and watching him go ka-plooie, or shooting a Fiend in the arm and watching them run around looking for their Laser RCW or whatever. :rofl:

Similar to what Deadsanta mentioned, I use VATS almost exclusively when dealing with Cazasores. I'd never be able to hit one of those flying wankers without VATS and I love clipping their wings and then blasting them pieces. Man, I hate Cazadores!

I only use it when i'm overwhelmed by enemies close up and i'm probably going to die.

I don't use VATS, unless there is a mod that gets rid of the boring gratuitous slow motion gory deaths that I was sick of after using VATS a couple times in Fallout 3.

I use it never. I did do it once on my new build to make the 'press v to enter VATS' go away. That did not go well and a save allowed me to kill the 4 powder gangers quite easily outside of VATS.

I am level 7 hardcoe hard and that was one of the 5 times I've been killed. Keeping track this time.

With the Sniper Rifle, at a distance, you have a pretty good chance of making a head shot. But in FONV I usually just squat and aim with my Sniper Rifle. I find the VATS in FONV slow and there were times where it wouldn't work at all.

If someone is running away I use it to shoot them in the leg. I also use it on the Cazadors because they are so fast and flittery. Even poor Boone gets stung by them.

The slow motion affects are really cool though. Especially when you can watch the bullet fly through the air all the way to your target.

I've actually noticed that I have worse luck hitting even 80% targets in VATS than I do when I free aim. Plus early on, I could barely get a shot or two out of it before running out of AP.

I don't use vats.

V.A.T.S. feels cheap and contrived. For the most part good awareness of the surroundings and a cautious approach to an enemy position will result in well placed kill shots. With a melee character, there is no need for vats since the weapons are very powerful, which results in a pile of deaders in less time than it takes to target and attack using the pip boy.

I guess it all depends on your style of play.

I use VATS about as often as I use a gun's iron sights. I love playing fps games but I also like to remind myself that I'm playing an rpg, and so VATS to the rescue! It also helps with landing more precise shots close to mid-range, not to mention the nice bonus of seeing your character in action.

It would be awesome if the developers found a way to improve the aiming mechanics when playing in third-person. I love to see my character's movements and clothing when in action but the aiming is not nearly as precise as in the first person view.

I only use vats when I'm tossing dynamite or a grenade at someone or something. If I don't I'll end up bouncing them off a wall or something and it ends up landing at my feet. :nuke:

Actually, I have been killing companions quite often in VATS with melee (thank God I am not attach to HC mode).

Just like others, I use it for target scan; and occasional stealth kill in case the projectile decide to scatter.

I use it on enemies when the crippling of a limb can be the difference between life and death (i.e. Cazadors, Deathclaws, Legate Lanius)

This /\ very good summary

It depends on my character, really. My sniper rarely if ever uses it. Only if I'm being overrun. I didn't even bother getting the sniper perk for my sniper, or any VATS related perk for that matter. Almost all my time with that character is spent looking through a scope. My EW character uses it more often, she has a kind of doctor/scientist/gunslinger thing going, high intelligence, high agility, so VATS lets me aim at particular body parts and make her surgical, precise, calculating. And hopefully after the patch comes out, I'll be able to add 'deadly' to that list.

I guess I'm in the minority. I use it almost exclusively unless I'm using a sniper or gauss rifle, or if I'm shooting things like rats and such. I know it makes the game too easy probably, but I have fun, and that is what matters to me.

I don't ever use vats. When I get the 'oh sh**' moments like a surprise caz flock, I don't usually remember I have it ... been playing shooters forever. i find it more clunky to go in/out of vats than just sidestrafe/backpedal keep firing like any other shooter when it gets a little hairy. hell, it's pretty rare to need consumables as it is. so yeah, vats is more like a fun novelty/gimmick like bullet-time for me rather than necessary or even particularly useful.

Valid stuff on the melee chars though - I don't play much melee/unarmed but I've noticed those annoyances.

Only used it the first time I played Fallout 3, which was on the 360. After I bought the pc version I never used it again.

Felt kinda like pressing an "i win" button.

I use it in 3 ways:

Finding enemies I can't see.

Sniping.

When an enemy sneaks up on me around a corner.


Everything else, I use iron sights or just let my companions deal with it.

+1 more for VATS for close-up crowd control. Near the end of the MQ

... so I had to switch to it just to hit the right people. Otherwise, I seem to be more accurate free aiming.

I do really enjoy the animations, though. Like Yahtzee said, "I thought I'd get tired of watching my bullets take enemies' heads off in slow motion, but you know, I never did."

Some of the slo-mo VATS animations do make for good screenshot opportunities.

It depends on the weapon. For explosives that are thrown I use it all the time at medium range about at the point im 60% chance to hit. For nade rifle and such I use it longer range when chance to hit is 5 or even 2% and aim for middle target in pack.

For energy weapons I use it on sinmgle targets from medium long range IF im using an accurate vats weapon like the laser rifle.. otherwise I either dont use it or only use it short range.

For guns I almost never use it as my rifles are very accurate and long range and my smgs are for filling the sky with lead.

for melee and unarnmed I often use vats simply to do special attacks like fore and grandslam or to pound the buggersnot out of 1-2 targets. I also use it alot for thrown melee weapons as it makes nailing people in the head with a spear rather easy.

In CQC, when somebody is about to own me or sometimes to just be sneaky.

I use it mostly at close range ... and I like using VATS, so I sometimes rush headlong into fights, getting pelted with bullets in my 0 DT clothing, just so I can get close enough to feel worth using. I usually don't bother to fire if it's less than a 50% chance unless I'm using a gun that can fire off 7 shots or something.