Weapon AP Use

[ArmSlave_Arbalest]

How can you tell how much AP a weapon is going to use and what effects it? I made a pipe pistol into a scoped rifle by adding a stock, heavy frame and scope. This way I can do plenty of semi-decent ranged damage without wasting my rarer ammo.

Heres the thing though, that gun uses 60% of my AP now in VATS making it unusable in that case. It also hits rather low and takes some 3-5 shots minimum for even weaker raiders. It fires plenty fast and can get off maybe 5 shots per second or so manually, so why in the world does it take up so much AP?

I assume AP would be based on fire-rate, but perhaps it depends on weapon type. The scope and heavy frame make it "stronger" and "ranged" so it uses way more AP?

[-={OBI-WAN-SHINOBI}=-]

I wish someone had answered this post. 2021, and still relevant. it should have been in the stats of each weapon, like "accuracy", "damage", etc.. I'll keep looking. I'd like to get 4 or 5 shots/ volleys for my semi auto guns, and my character with full agility and all the perks. still can't figure out why each gun has a high AP drain, or small amount. ....6 years later. wish someone had answered this post back then lol.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by -={OBI-WAN-SHINOBI}=-:

I wish someone had answered this post. 2021, and still relevant. it should have been in the stats of each weapon, like "accuracy", "damage", etc.. I'll keep looking. I'd like to get 4 or 5 shots/ volleys for my semi auto guns, and my character with full agility and all the perks. still can't figure out why each gun has a high AP drain, or small amount. ....6 years later. wish someone had answered this post back then lol.

From the wiki:

Weapon mods can affect AP cost. V.A.T.S. will only allow 16 shots to be queued, regardless of any remaining AP afterward.

Lower cost: anything with the prefix "Light, Quick, Hair Trigger, Advanced, Reflex, or Sharpshooter" reduces AP cost in V.A.T.S.
Higher cost: anything with the prefix "Heavy, Long, Rapid, Piercing, Automatic, Large, Drum, Full, Scope and Sniper" increases AP cost in V.A.T.S.

Basically, pistol grip weapons are lower cost, weapons with stocks are higher. Automatic and scoped weapons are higher, single shot weapons are lower. Larger magazines also means higher AP cost. Shorter barrel options have lower AP costs, longer ones have higher. Light barrels reduce AP cost, so a short light barrel is better than a short barrel, and a long light barrel cancels out the AP cost increase of the long barrel.

[Thomastronaut]

I think it's the weight. the heavier it is, the more AP it uses. I could be wrong.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by Thomastronaut:

I think it's the weight. the heavier it is, the more AP it uses. I could be wrong.

Weight actually has nothing to do with it. Its all based on the mods the weapon has.

[Alucard †]

Certain weapons and weapon mods have specific ap cost stats applied to them.

Same story with recoil.

The ingame text about weight, size or whatever affecting these stats is just a blatant lie.

[Thomastronaut]

Originally posted by steventirey:

Originally posted by Thomastronaut:

I think it's the weight. the heavier it is, the more AP it uses. I could be wrong.

Weight actually has nothing to do with it. Its all based on the mods the weapon has.

then I was wrong

[-={OBI-WAN-SHINOBI}=-]

wow thanks guys. fast responses. I'll have to check my mods on my guns. still wish there was an actual STAT that we could see, right there with accuracy, damage, and rate.
like "AP Cost". is there a mod for that in the workshop? would be sweet.

[-={OBI-WAN-SHINOBI}=-]

I've came back to this a couple times already when modifying my weapons. trying to figure out the AP cost a little better. it's still pretty confusing. really just wish it showed somewhere how many shots / AP cost like it does the other stats. it leaves no clue.

[-={OBI-WAN-SHINOBI}=-]

What you copied from the WIKI is helping try out new mod configs., just need more adhesive lol. always...

[Pherdnut]

Originally posted by -={OBI-WAN-SHINOBI}=-:

wow thanks guys. fast responses. I'll have to check my mods on my guns. still wish there was an actual STAT that we could see, right there with accuracy, damage, and rate.
like "AP Cost". is there a mod for that in the workshop? would be sweet.

I mean, good replies but the the OG question was 2015 so maybe not super-fast...

But yeah, lack of game mechanic transparency is probably one of the bigger warts on this otherwise very good game. Especially settlement stuff. Yeesh.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by Pherdnut:

I mean, good replies but the the OG question was 2015 so maybe not super-fast...

I think that was more about him resurrecting the thread, then getting a response only 5 minutes later.

[matt]

There are user mods that will give you more information. For example: Even Better Mod Descriptions[www.nexusmods.com]

Pistols are a good choice for VATS fans. Pistols are cost-efficient in VATS, and you can't really screw up a pistol like you can a rifle. Pistols mostly follow a linear progression of "the latest unlocked reciever is the best choice". Max out your agility and luck, take all the VATS-related perks, and dip into perception when you have perk points to spare. If the game becomes too hard, put more points in either endurance or stealth.

[kharille]

My main weapon is an overcharged plasma pistol with improved short barrel and nothing else. Just want to fire stuff off as fast as I can.

[DouglasGrave]

About the only way you can really compare the changes in a vanilla game with no mods is by using VATS to aim at a random target and eyeballing how much of a difference it seems to make to the number of shots you can get.

I've also got notes I've taken on mod details that I can use to tell which mods are better than others, but it's not a simple conversion into exact numbers, since it's all MUL+ADD conversions applied to the base Action Post cost of whatever weapon. No real substitute for a proper in-game statistical display of the results.

[The Inept European]

Originally posted by Thomastronaut:

I think it's the weight. the heavier it is, the more AP it uses. I could be wrong.

This is *approximately* true and what the in game help says. But it is not always the case and sometimes the opposite is true. Weight is not the determining factor, but heavier mods usually increase AP costs.

The game is very unhelpful in telling you about AP cost impacts of mods. What I do is test each mod configuration under controlled conditions - make sure my AP total is the same - see how many shots I can get off and then rename the weapon with that value. Even then that value changes over time as my AP goes up. But without a HUD mod it's difficult to determine the exact AP costs.