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Action points
Action Points
Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics
ModifiesActions a player can do during one combat turn
Governed ByAgility
Initial Value5 + Agility / 2
Related PerksFallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics:
Action Boy/Action Girl, Bonus HtH Attacks, Bonus Move, Bonus Rate of Fire, Quick Pockets
Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics:
HtH Evade, Quick Recovery
Fallout Tactics only:
Flexible
Related TraitsBruiser, Fast Shot
Fallout Tactics only:
Rabid, Targeting Computer
Fallout 3
ModifiesActions a player can do during V.A.T.S. mode
Governed ByAgility
Initial Value65 + 2 * Agility
Related PerksAction Boy/Action Girl, Grim Reaper's Sprint, Nerves of Steel
Fallout: New Vegas
ModifiesActions a player can do during V.A.T.S. mode
Governed ByAgility
Initial Value65 + 3 * Agility
Related PerksAction Boy/Action Girl, Beautiful Beatdown, Grim Reaper's Sprint, Math Wrath, Nerves of Steel, Plasma Spaz
Related TraitsFast Shot, Kamikaze, Trigger Discipline
Fallout 4
ModifiesActions a player can do during V.A.T.S. mode
Distance spriting
Governed ByAgility
Initial Value60 + 10 * Agility
Fallout 76
ModifiesActions a player can do during V.A.T.S. mode
Distance spriting
Jumping
Governed ByAgility
Thirst
Hunger
Initial Value60 + 10 * Agility
Van Buren
ModifiesNumber of action a player can perform during one V.A.T.S. sequence
Governed ByAgility
Initial Value?
Related Perks?
Related Traits?
 ... 
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The number of actions that the character can take during one combat turn.

— Fallout In-game description

Action points (or AP) is a game mechanic governing the number of things a player can do during one combat turn in Fallout and Fallout 2. In Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 4, Action Points are used to fire weapons in the V.A.T.S. mode.

Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics[]

Action Points are spent firing a weapon, reloading a weapon, fetching equipment from the characters backpack or moving to a new battlefield hex.

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

Notes[]

  • The Action Boy perk adds 1 AP per rank.
  • The Bonus Move perk adds 2 special AP per rank that can only be used for movement. In Fallout they are completely invisible, not appearing on the counter at all. In Fallout 2, they are colored yellow to distinguish them from normal AP.
  • The Quick Recovery perk reduces the cost of getting back up after being knocked down in mid battle from the enormous 4 AP to 1 AP.
  • Similarly, Quick Pockets reduces the AP cost for accessing your Inventory in mid battle.
  • Both Bonus HtH Attacks & Bonus Rate of Fire perks reduce AP cost for specific combat type. The first affects Unarmed, while the latter affects ranged (including thrown).
  • The Fast Shot Trait has the same effect as the above Bonus Rate of Fire perk, but at the cost of not being able to target specific body parts/use VATS.
  • The Bruiser trait reduces your initial AP by 2.
  • In Fallout and Fallout 2, the counter only shows up to 10 APs but internally it keeps track of any extras. In Fallout Tactics all APs show properly.
  • In Fallout Tactics in continuous turn based mode, the AP regeneration rate is directly proportional to the amount of AP a character has.

Fallout 3[]

Action points are consumed in V.A.T.S. system to fire at opponents, each weapon has it own cost per use and can be found in the weapons page. Unlike in the turn-based games, action points in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are not accumulated at the end of a turn. Instead, action points are regenerated over time.

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

Notes[]

  • Initial base AP is 65-85 AP depending on Agility.
  • This limit can be increased with the addition of bonuses (see table below).
  • Though somewhat difficult, and by utilizing all possible bonuses, the maximum AP possible is 280 AP for a brief time.

Fallout 3 AP Bonuses[]

Name AP bonus Duration Value Base ID Notes
Agility 2-20 Permanent N/A N/A 2 AP per Agility point
Action Boy/
Action Girl
25 Permanent N/A 00031dba
0007b202
Level 16 Perk.
Grim Reaper's Sprint Restoration (see notes) Permanent N/A 00099834 Level 20 Perk. Killing a target in V.A.T.S. restores 100% of your Action Points upon exiting V.A.T.S.
Nerves of Steel Regeneration (see notes) Permanent N/A xx0011c2 Level 26 Perk. Increased regeneration rate of AP. Only obtainable through Broken Steel.
Ledoux's hockey mask 25 While equipped 100 0007401c Worn by Goalie Ledoux (quest: "The Nuka-Cola Challenge", optional objective "Just for the taste of it").
Ranger battle armor 5 While equipped 430 00023030 From the quest: Reilly's Rangers
Lag-Bolt's combat armor 10 While equipped 400 xx00b95f Obtained through the unmarked quest The Sorrowful Suitor in Broken Steel
Tribal power armor 15¹ While equipped 739 xx00b50f Granted for finding all 100 Steel Ingots in The Pitt
NukaLurk meat 10 1 hour (4 minutes actual) 7 00095f48 Duration doubled with Chemist
Nuka-Cola Quantum 20 1 hour (4 minutes actual) 30 000284f9 Duration doubled with Chemist
Mississippi Quantum pie 20 1 hour (4 minutes actual) 20 00049076 Duration doubled with Chemist
Jet 30 1 hour (4 minutes actual) 20 00015164 Duration doubled with Chemist
Ultrajet 40 1 hour (4 minutes actual) 50 000c9cf4 Duration doubled with Chemist
Alien biogel 0 or 10 30 seconds actual 25 xx007a6b 5% chance of +10 AP(25% chance of random negative penalty). Obtained in various locations throughout Mothership Zeta. Does not stack with Adapted biogel.
Adapted biogel 0 or 10 30 seconds actual 25 xx007a6c 5% chance of +10 AP(25% chance of random negative penalty). Obtained through Elliot Tercorien in Mothership Zeta. Does not stack with Alien biogel.
¹ Due to a coupled penalty of -1 Agility point, the overall effect of the armor is only an increase of 13 AP. This can be offset by wearing Poplar's hood(+1 Agility), or consuming Fire ant nectar(+4 Agility), Alien biogel or Adapted biogel(both biogels have a 5% chance of +2 Agility and a 25% chance of random negative penalty).

Regeneration Rate[]

Action points are regenerated at a flat rate of 1 per .25 seconds, or 4 per second. A character with average (5) Agility will need 18.75 seconds to fill their AP bar after depleting it.

Fallout: New Vegas[]

Action Points in New Vegas function mechanically identical to those in Fallout 3, however the agility bonus is now multiplied by 3 instead of 2.

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

Notes:

  • Maximum initial base is capped at 95 AP.
  • This limit can be increased with the addition of bonuses (see table below).

Fallout New Vegas AP Bonuses[]

Name AP bonus Duration Value Base ID Notes
Agility 3-30 Permanent N/A N/A 3 AP per Agility point
Kamikaze 10 Permanent N/A Trait
Action Boy/
Action Girl
15(per rank) Permanent N/A Level 16 Perk bonus
Nerves of Steel None (see notes) Permanent N/A Perk increasing AP Regen rate by +20%.
General Oliver's uniform 20 While equipped 100
Nuka-Cola Victory 14 1 hour 75
Rocket 30
Dixon's Jet 10 1 hour 5
Jet 15 1 hour 20
Ultrajet 40 1 hour 50
Trail mix 7
Mushroom Cloud 4
Sugar Bombs 13 5


Regeneration Rate[]

A character will take 16.66 seconds to recover their AP bar to full regardless of their AP total unless their AP is modified by perks. It should be noted that AP gained through perks do NOT count towards regeneration rate. Therefore a player with 115 AP, 30 of which were gained through Action Boy perks, would actually take over 23 seconds to fully recover their AP bar. Furthermore, the perk Nerves of Steel decreases this regeneration period by 20%, to a potential minimum recovery period of 13.33 seconds.

The exact recovery time can be derived from the GECK variable fActionPointsRestoreRate, which in Fallout New Vegas is the inverse of the number of seconds required to fully restore the AP bar. The default value is 0.06 (1/0.06 =16.66 seconds).

Fallout 4[]

In Fallout 4, action Points function similarly to Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas; however, Agility is multiplied by 10 instead of 2 or 3 to calculate total AP.

Example: Starting base Agility of 5.

Base action points regeneration rate is 6.0% per second or 16.66 seconds (100/6.0) from 0% to 100%.

Action Points are also used when sprinting. The rate at which action points deplete in sprint relies on Endurance.

Fallout 76[]

Action Points in Fallout 76 function near exactly the same as in Fallout 4; starting at 60 AP and increasing by 10 for every level in Agility.

Base action point regeneration rate is 6.0 per second or 16.66 seconds (100/6.0) from 0 to 100%.

Action points are also be used to jump and sprint. The rate at which they deplete while jumping or in sprint relies on Endurance, the Agility perk card Marathoner and being overencumbered. Action points are also spent when attempting to enter VATS while no VATS targets are visible. The cost of this is 5 action points per attempt. No action points are spent when successfully targeting.

Hunger and Thirst also directly affect the number of action points a player has, as well as the regeneration rate. So staying full and hydrated is recommended to be in top shape.

Gallery[]

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