r/Fallout • u/Ordo_Liberal • 2h ago

Question How does VATS actually work?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

3 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

6

u/Kurotaisa 2h ago

Very well, thanks for asking.

2

u/FunFrog_by 2h ago

Well this video does a good job explaining this from the user perspective. But from the technical perspective it... just works.

1

u/blazingTommy 2h ago

What if the pipboy has an infrared/microwave sensor so when you aim, it detects where the heartbeats of the one in front of you are, or where are the brainwaves, so the padded interior signals you to pull the trigger?

1

u/Hopalongtom 1h ago

I always assumed proprietary combat drugs injected into the user's wrist to heighten their reactions!

1

u/Thornescape Gary? 1h ago

Fallout Science! isn't the same as real world science. It isn't realistic. It isn't pretending to be realistic.

1

u/Ordo_Liberal 1h ago

Yes, but Id like to hear the in-universe explanation for how the system works!

2

u/Thornescape Gary? 1h ago

The 3D games did an amazing job of translating the original isometric game mechanic, but at no point in time has there been a serious attempt to explain it because it never really made sense.

Sometimes Game Mechanics are just Game Mechanics.

1

u/Ordo_Liberal 1h ago

It would be cool for it to be an actual in-universe thing like Sandevistan.

I think it would be interesting if some "elite" enemies could use VATS against the player just like some enemies in CyberPunk use Sandevistan against you.

1

u/Thornescape Gary? 1h ago

VATS wouldn't look like anything from the outside. It just looks like normal shooting. It doesn't slow down time for anyone else. It is only highly accurate if you are highly skilled, which is fairly normal as well.

The only startling thing about VATS would to be able to switch between a number of different targets quickly, but that's not all that unrealistic either.

1

u/darkmoon_logan 1h ago

I would assume it's just scanning targets and calculating your chance to hit based on all of the current conditions, which you can then act on. It helps with the question of how much to lead, if you need to account for wind, if the target is too far away given your weapon, etc. it doesn't just automatically make all of your shots hit, it tells you how likely you are to hit them in different places.