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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 gameplay mechanic that has appeared throughout the Fallout series, with varying degrees of interaction with other mechanics per installment.

Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics[]

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

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

Notes[]

  • The Action Boy/Action Girl 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 and Fallout 2, the counter only shows up to 10 AP but internally it keeps track of any extras. In Fallout Tactics all AP 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 primarily used in V.A.T.S. to attack opponents, where each weapon has its own cost per use, shown on the weapons page. Unlike in the turn-based games, AP is not accumulated at the end of a turn. Instead, a meter counting the amount of AP is regenerated over time, with perks influencing the rate of regeneration.

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

Notes[]

  • The maximum base amount of AP in the game is capped at 85 AP.
    • This limit can be temporarily increased with the addition of bonuses (see table below).
  • The Level 20 perk Grim Reaper's Sprint restores all Action Points by successfully killing an enemy during one round of V.A.T.S.

AP bonuses[]

Name AP bonus Duration Value Form 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 bonus
Nerves of Steel None (see notes) Permanent N/A xx0011C2 Perk that regenerates AP extremely slowly. 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 from Broken Steel.
Tribal power armor 15 (13 since it decreases Agility by 1) While equipped 739 xx00B50F Granted for finding all 100 steel ingots in The Pitt.
Nukalurk meat 10 4 minutes 7 00095F48 Duration doubled with Chemist
Nuka-Cola Quantum 20 4 minutes 30 000284F9 Duration doubled with Chemist
Mississippi Quantum pie 20 4 minutes 20 00049076 Duration doubled with Chemist
Jet 30 4 minutes 20 00015164 Duration doubled with Chemist
Ultrajet 40 4 minutes 50 000C9CF4 Duration doubled with Chemist

Maximum AP[]

The maximum figure achievable without chems is 148. Starting AP = 65 + 10 Agility (85) + the Action Boy/Action Girl perk at level 16 (110) + Ledoux's hockey mask (135) + the tribal power armor (148). The +15AP bonus is negated by the -1 Agility penalty which the armor carries. An alternative to negate the -1 Agility is to use the Chinese stealth armor multiple hat glitch/exploit to wear Poplar's hood which has a +1 Agility bonus and stack it with Ledoux's mask for the +30 AP, making the maximum total 150 AP.

The maximum figure achievable with items and chems is a massive 280. (148) + Jet (178) + Ultrajet (218) + Nukalurk meat (228) + Nuka-Cola Quantum (248) + Mississippi Quantum pie (268) + alien biogel (278). The -1 Agility/ -2AP penalty carried by the tribal power armor can be negated using either more alien biogel or fire ant nectar (280). An alternative to negate the -1 Agility is to use the Chinese stealth armor multiple hat glitch/exploit to wear Poplar's hood which has a +1 Agility bonus and stack it with Ledoux's mask for the +30 AP.

Fallout: New Vegas[]

Action Points in Fallout: New Vegas are mechanically identical to Fallout 3, with the difference of the Agility bonus being multiplied by 3 instead of 2.

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

Notes:

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

AP bonuses[]

Name Type AP bonus Duration Value Form ID Notes
Agility SPECIAL 3-30 Permanent N/A N/A 3 AP per Agility point
Kamikaze Trait 10 Permanent N/A 00135F05 Trait
Action Boy/Action Girl Perk 15 (per rank) Permanent N/A 00031DBA (Action Boy)
0007B202 (Action Girl)
Perk may take up to two times
Ain't Like That Now Perk None (see notes) Permanent N/A xx00A749 Perk increase AP Regen rate by +25% Lonesome Road (add-on)
Beautiful Beatdown Perk None (see notes) When unarmed N/A 0015EADF Perk reduces AP cost 10% with Unarmed challenge
Math Wrath Perk None (see notes) Permanent N/A 00135EC3 Perk reduces AP cost 10%
Plasma Spaz Perk None (see notes) Permanent N/A 00165AEF Perk reduces AP cost 20% with plasma weapons
Nerves of Steel Perk None (see notes) Permanent N/A 000E2C49 Perk increase AP Regen rate by +20%.
Atomic! Perk None (see notes) While irradiated N/A xx008011 Perk increase AP Regen rate with radiation level Old World Blues (add-on)
Grim Reaper's Sprint Perk None (see notes) When triggered N/A 00099834 Perk restores 20 AP on a kill in V.A.T.S.
Implant Y-7 Implant 2 When eating 20000 xx00961A +2 AP replenished for each food item consumed Old World Blues (add-on)
General Oliver's uniform Clothing 20 While equipped 100 0015E35D
Courier duster Clothing 15 While equipped 1700 xx009254 (Legion) "Fighting Chance" (Legion variant) in Lonesome Road
Armor of the 87th Tribe Clothing 10 While equipped 6500 xx00C716 Found in Lonesome Road Lonesome Road (add-on)
Rebound Aid-chem 5 per sec 1 minute 20 000CEA5F +5 AP Regen per second for 1 minute
Rocket Aid-chem 30 1 minute 20 00146CCD
Dixon's Jet Aid-chem 10 4 minutes 5 00122B49
Jet Aid-chem 15 4 minutes 20 00015164
Ultrajet Aid-chem 40 4 minutes 50 000C9CF4
Battle Brew Aid-drink 40 20 seconds 150 xx01495E Found in Old World Blues - the "Red Mist" effect Old World Blues (add-on)
Nuka-Cola Quantum Aid-drink 20 4 minutes 30 000284F9 Found in Lonesome Road Lonesome Road (add-on)
Nuka-Cola Victory Aid-drink 10 2 minutes 75 000E2F6C
Mushroom Cloud Aid-food 3 20 seconds 50 0015E3A4
Sugar Bombs /
Irr. Sugar Bombs
Aid-food 5 30 seconds 5
2
0008C551
00143FF0
Trail mix Aid-food 5 30 seconds 5 0013D572

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. AP gained through perks do not count towards the regeneration rate. Therefore, a player character with 115 AP, 30 of which were gained through Action Boy/Girl 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 Action Points Restore Rate, which in Fallout: New Vegas is the inverse of the number of seconds required to fully restore the AP bar. The default value is 0.060 (1/0.06 = 16.66 seconds).

Reloading Cost[]

For all firearms, a reloading cost of 10 AP will automatically be applied once the last round in a clip is selected to be fired in V.A.T.S. If the combined AP cost to fire the last round in a clip and the additional reload cost's total is too high, the last round cannot be fired. Reloading cost is affected by the Math Wrath perk and Fast Shot trait, and when used together can reduce reloading cost to 7 AP per reload. The Trigger Discipline trait has the opposite effect, raising the cost per reload to 12 AP when used alone.

Calculating AP With Rounding[]

While having the Math Wrath perk, and/or the Fast Shot and Trigger Discipline traits, decimal AP costs per shot will usually be created. The three aforementioned perk/trait's effects are multiplicative and work together rather than be applied individually, the result rounded, then the next applied.

Rounding when firing in V.A.T.S. will be applied to the final round queued. For example, Christine's CoS silencer rifle had a 38 AP per shot, whilst with Math Wrath and Fast Shot, the cost is reduced to 26.6 AP per shot. If two shots were queued, resulting in a total of 53.2 AP, the rounded cost would be 53 AP. If three shots were queued, the resulting total would be 79.8, becoming 80 when rounded. Every shot queued uses the actual decimal cost, it is only after the last shot is queued that rounding is applied.

Fallout 4[]

Action Points in Fallout 4 are mechanically identical to Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, with the difference of the Agility bonus being multiplied by 10 instead of 2 or 3 to calculate the amount available.

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

The base action points regeneration rate is 6.0% per second or 16.67 seconds ( 100/6.0 ) from 0 to 100%.

Action Points can now be used to sprint, with the rate of depletion while sprinting being calculated depending on the player character's Endurance (though taking certain perks can significantly reduce this).

Action Point cost per shot[]

Certain weapon mods can affect the AP cost of a weapon while in V.A.T.S.

  • 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.

With the highest possible combination of AP reduction modifiers, a maximum of 16 shots can be queued, regardless of any remaining AP afterward.

Fallout 76[]

Action Points in Fallout 76 function similarly to those in Fallout 4 ; starting at 60 AP and increasing by 10 for every level in Agility.

The base Action Point regeneration rate is 6.0 per second or 16.66 seconds ( 100/6.0 ) from 0 to 100%.

Action Points are used to jump, sprint, power attack, and use VATS.

Action Point reductions[]

Notes[]

  • 5 Action Points are spent every attempt to enter VATS while no VATS targets are visible. No Action Points are spent when successfully targeting.
  • VATS slowly expends Action Points while active, independent of attack costs.
  • Filling the Thirst meter increases the player's Action Point regeneration rate.