VATS



The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., is a queuing system for Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4, inspired partly by the ability to shoot specific parts in the turn-based combat system of Fallout and Fallout 2. It is also used for a cinematic combat experience.

Fallout 3
While using V.A.T.S., the otherwise real-time combat is paused. Various actions cost Action Points, and the user can target specific body areas for attacks, inflicting specific injuries.

When using V.A.T.S. against a humanoid enemy, seven different areas can be targeted: the head, torso, left arm, right arm, currently held weapon, left leg, and right leg. However, there may be other points available when facing off non-humanoid creatures (e.g. robot combat inhibitors, ant antennae).

When targeting a part, the screen displays a percentage of how likely the attack will hit the targeted area based on distance from the target, visibility of the targeted body part, and combat skill. The percentage of a hit cannot be any higher than 95%, so there is a small 5% chance to actually miss. A higher percentage does not equate to more damage done; for example, an 95% hit to the head will not do more damage than a 80% hit to the head. The readout also displays the overall condition of the body parts on the target. The bar will be empty when the limb has been crippled.

V.A.T.S. also displays a health meter indicating the target's overall health, as well as an indicator showing the amount of damage a V.A.T.S. attack round using the character's current weapon will inflict. Note that the indicator shows the weapon's maximum non-critical potential damage that the weapon would do if the character's relevant combat skill (e.g. Small Guns) were at 100. If the character's combat skill is less than 100, they will do less real damage with each attack than what the V.A.T.S. indicator shows. On the other hand, achieving a critical hit (such as a Sneak Attack Critical) can potentially produce more real damage than the indicator shows.

There is a 15% boost in the chance for a critical hit in V.A.T.S. mode, but weapons degrade at 4 times the regular rate.

Unlike previous Fallout games, it is not possible to target the eyes or groin, nor target any individual body parts in melee and unarmed combat. However, one can still strike specific limbs without aiming for them, and still cripple and dismember enemies. Also, unlike in the previous games, children cannot be targeted.

Fallout 4
While largely similar in Fallout 4, V.A.T.S. went through some changes. Instead of freezing time as in previous games, V.A.T.S. instead significantly slows time.

Actions queued in V.A.T.S. can now be cancelled (on the PC, the default key is [Tab]) before they are taken.

As opposed to its predecessors, thrown explosives like the Fragmentation grenade cannot be directly used in V.A.T.S. since grenades are not being equipped as primary weapons anymore. A trick to use grenades in V.A.T.S. is to throw them outside of V.A.T.S (you can use the Demolition Expert perk at rank 3 to get the throwing arc for precision attacks), then enter V.A.T.S. and shoot the grenade by targeting it in its flightpath. Shooting a grenade during flight in V.A.T.S. with the perk Demolition Expert at rank 4 will double the grenade damage on detonation.

Critical hits are no longer randomized; instead, attacks in V.A.T.S. charge up a critical hit bar, the rate of which is in part influenced by Luck. Once full, a player can choose which of their shots will be upgraded to a critical; a shot upgraded to critical is also guaranteed to hit, regardless of the actual V.A.T.S. percentage hit chance. Once used, the critical hit drains the bar and it must be recharged before another critical hit can be made.

Behind the scenes
Artist Grant Struthers prototyped the V.A.T.S. camera system by filming his Incredibles action figures fighting.

Fallout 3

 * In rare occasions, the black-and-white effect of V.A.T.S. will carry over to the normal game, rendering everything except the HUD to a permanent grayscale filter.
 * If the player falls from a great height, he/she can pull out a melee weapon and target someone below. The effect of being teleported into range loses all velocity from the fall, and negates the damage. This is most easily seen at Tenpenny Tower, from one of the balconies onto citizens below.
 * Firing weapons that require two shells, such as the Double-barrel shotgun, can lead to a bug in which the character does not actually fire a shot in V.A.T.S. It will just result in a drawn out cinematic view of the player just aiming at his/her target. This is due to only having an odd number of shotgun shells in the players inventory resulting in the the last shot in V.A.T.S. not firing because the gun requires two shells to fire and only one is left in the players inventory.
 * Occasionally, the game will freeze during a V.A.T.S. attack. On consoles, this will cause the screen to become stuck and the console will need to be reset, on PC the game will automatically close (sometimes after a short period of time). There is no fix, so it is emphasized that players save often to avoid this becoming a problem.

Fallout: New Vegas

 * On occasion, a target in V.A.T.S. will show 0% to hit or not show any percentages to hit at all, despite being perfectly valid (which can be verified by selecting attacks, which ordinarily should not be possible). Leaving and re-entering VATS or switching targets can help fix this.
 * Upon tapping the V.A.T.S. button, the player may only hear a click and no change in gameplay, as VATS does not activate. This problem can last for up to several minutes (easily enough to hinder any player reliant on the V.A.T.S. system), at which point VATS once again becomes available. This issue appears to be a problem with the L2 & R2 button mapping. Remapping V.A.T.S. to a different button can resolve the issue. If this doesn't work, you can turn off the controller and turn it on again or even quit the game and get back in.
 * V.A.T.S. targeting is bugged for certain guns - most lever action rifles and a few pistols: it consistently shoots high, making headshots improbable or impossible. Consistently replicable by starting a new game, adding a brush gun (id: 00121148) and .45-70 ammo (id: 0013e43e), forcing Guns to 100, and shooting at Easy Pete's head from the nearby road. Bullet impacts will appear on the windowpane behind him - and, shot after shot, will consistently be high. Modifying the gun to have perfect accuracy and/or setting fVATSSpreadMult to 0.01 will reveal that the V.A.T.S. point of aim is roughly a foot high. No known fix yet. This bug also seems to occur with the Hunting Revolver.
 * A reloading glitch can rarely occur where the player is granted a 100% boost in reload speed after a target is killed in V.A.T.S. and the cinematic death animation plays simultaneously as the player is reloading (namely the single shotgun) the effect lasts until the player enters another cell, switches weapons, dies, or reloads a previous save.
 * When using Melee/Unarmed, it is possible to get stuck in a wall, You will have to reload a previous save, use fast travel, or use a console command.
 * By tapping the V.A.T.S. button (regardless of whether an enemy is around), the game freezes to the point in which a manual restart is necessary. Restarting (from the same save point) has not fixed the glitch, but loading an earlier save might. Try deleting system cache.
 * After choosing where you want to attack at your enemy and pressing the button to attack them, your character may do nothing and stay still during the slow-motion for an unconfirmed amount of time. On most occasions you will either die or lose a large portion of your health. It is largely related to attacking in V.A.T.S. while you were reloading, so make sure ALL reloading animations and sounds are totally complete before you attempt a V.A.T.S. attack. This can also occur with the mysterious stranger if his target is killed prematurely by you, or another NPC. He will not fire his 6 rounds and V.A.T.S. will not end until 15 seconds or more.
 * On very rare occasions, your character may not fire after queuing up the attacks, forcing you to reload a previous save.
 * At close to medium range, V.A.T.S. may simply refuse to register attacks but will go into cinematic view. The Player Character will simply stand still while being attacked. Note: The enemies will go back to normal speed which means if you are in a difficult fight, you just might die. After several seconds however, the screen may revert to normal view. This may happen repeatedly on PS3 while using the Brush gun.
 * After entering V.A.T.S., and skipping the kill camera, your game may be in slow motion for about ten seconds. This won't prove any difficulties, everything will be in slow motion. This may also occur if you have the cinematic kills on, and usually occurs around areas with cliffs, apparently.
 * While attacking in V.A.T.S., only the target and player will be in slow motion. Any other enemies in the area will move and attack at normal speed, making you a prime target for the duration of your attack.
 * Sometimes the camera may zoom on the enemy and all your shots may fire in quick succession as if you're using an automatic weapon, but no shots will register on the target, and will cause zero damage.
 * When attacking an enemy in/under water with a melee weapon, if you're in close range, the game will most likely freeze and you will have to load an earlier save.
 * Rarely, after exiting V.A.T.S., if "true iron sights" is turned on, the player's default weapon position may be locked in iron sights. This can easily be fixed by zooming in.
 * When using the recharger pistol, recharger rifle or MF Hyperbreeder Alpha in VATS, if the number of attacks exceeds the amount of ammunition in the rifle's magazine, it will fully recharge the rifle minus every attack selected after the recharge.

Fallout 4

 * MacCready's companion perk Killshot increases V.A.T.S. headshot accuracy by 2000% instead of the listed 20%. Fixed in patch 1.03
 * When targeting an enemy in VATS, if they are attacking the player in close quarters while the player is sneaking, their body will block VATS shots on their head, despite it being closer
 * When on a moving platform, if the player uses VATS the camera will remain in the same location despite the character moving. Camera will return to the player at the end.

Videos


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