Hi there. I have 80 in Guns, Agility of 8, I use guns which I have the skill and strength requirement for and I crouch when I shoot. But even at ranges of just a few meters my chance to hit in VATS is usually 20 to 35%. I have to be point blank to get a 95%. Am I doing something wrong? What could be the cause of this?

Many thanks.

Do you have Commando, Gunslinger, or Sniper? How high is your perception? any other info will help...but alas its all in vain since bugs sometimes render the aforementioned perks useless and there seems to be a problem with mid to long range VATS shots. VATS itself is sketchy at times, not registering hits and what not. It seems in the best scenario and a build optimized for VATS is only efficient at close to mid range. All log shots are more effective in real time. Sometimes you'll get a bug that actually makes head shots 95% and mid section shots will be below 40%...weird I know...

a pistol is only good for a few dozen metres, if you want ot pull off a long shot then you'll need someothing bigger with a scope.

I think VATS got nerfed a bit so that it doesnt overpower free aiming as much.

Even with a 100 skill in small guns and a sniper rifle you can't reliably hit anything in VATS from more than about ten yards away, even if you do have commando, sniper etc. It was overpowered in 3, but that was because of the massive DR you gained when using it. They nerfed VATS unescessarily in Vegas.

Yeah and built my character on the FO3 unstopable VATS sniper build too.

In this game snip in free aim, when you use VATS wait for them to get up close and invest a lot in critical boosts and AP.

Lemme guess...Fast Shot trait picked?

Totally, Finesse, Better Crits, Action Boy etc. are the way to go. Built to Destroy and Kamikaze too.

The trouble is, free-aim sniping is incredibly powerful (Quarry Juction holds no fear for a sniper whatsoever), but it makes the combat too much like a straight-up FPS. That's why I loved VATS, it was a wonderful compromise between real-time and turn-based combat. Plus it looked incredibly stylish. It needed re-balancing, like I say primarily because of the insanse DR, but NV has reduced it to the 'panic button' for creatures that get into melee range.

This.

Also your arms may be crippled, also you will need to get accuracy boosting perks for vats becuase it definatley has been nerfed, probably becuase it was so easy to kill things in f3...

No.

No I don't have any of those perks. My perception is six, but I thought that was for energy weapons, and agility was for guns.

Whelp, no idea then. I have Trigger Discipline as the only thing altering my VATS percentages and it seems fine for me in medium-short range. Not exactly the perk stacked silliness of FO3 but more than effective when I need VATS.

Perception also governs over all accuracy. Even with those perks though your still going to be disappointed with ranged shooting in VATS.

I'll try putting my perception up and see if that makes a bit of difference. But I will also not expect too much since everyone seems to agree it's nerfed.

Thank you kindly everyone.

VATs does seem off in this game, I have max AGI and PER, my small guns is at 65, overall I do better out of VATs, with the ratslayer I get crits beyond VATs and perception range, head shots are particurly bad in VATs, yet out of VATs I can get headshots nearly every time, most of my game is now played without the use of VATs.

EDIT: nevermind didnt read well enough

You have to put more points into perception.

Do you meet the strength requirement of the weapons?

Nvm.
Are you addicted to something that gives -1 STR?

Just so you know there is nothing in the GECK to support this claim. Its best to assume that Perception actually doesnt improve accuracy.