Complete Action Point Revamp for VATS users

[GimmeBackMyMoney]

I've been dealing with a well-known time sink known as Fallout 2 and I wanted to see if I could make the VATS system in New Vegas come close to Fallout 1/2's system.

For those who haven't played the games, you have a minimum of 5 Action Points (AP) and most single shot weapons cost 5 AP by default. You gain one additional AP for every two points of Agility (rounded down). If I translated that into the new system:

Each old AP point is equal to 10 AP points in the new combat system.

The player has a minimum of 50 AP.

For each point in Agility, you gain 5 AP.

The AP formula becomes "50 + (5 x AG)"

Therefore, for every two points in Agility in the new system, you gain 10 AP = 1 AP in the old system.

To balance this, the AP cost for each weapon would be close to the minimum i.e. 50 AP (or maybe less if players wanted their high AG characters to get two shots in a "turn" without having to fiddle with chems). Following from the AP costs from the older games, the Missile Launcher, Sniper Rifles and heavy automatic weapons would cost 60 AP (the latter kind to fire long bursts in VATS). This would be the same for the Hunting Rifle and Anti-Material Rifle (though I might raise it slightly for the latter). Likewise, the AP cost for particularly fast-firing weapons would cost 40 AP ballpark.

There would be an additional perk called "Bonus Rate of Fire" to reduce the AP cost by a further 20% for all firearms, but its necessity is questioned with the existence of Math Wrath, even if I were to make the requirements steep and lower the bonus. However, this would force players to choose a certain path if they wanted to fire the All-American six times in a "turn". Lowering the bonuses of both perks and letting their effects stack is an option.

This brings me to another consideration: whether or not to reduce the AP cost by a percentage i.e 20%, or reduce an absolute value i.e. 10 AP (again, these would work in a similar manner to the perks and traits in the older games). This gives more of an edge to weapons with a low AP cost. I'll explain the importance of this next.

The reason I propose this system besides its aim is because:

* VATS is no longer easy and players will have to put some more consideration into their character build if they want to use it often.

* Using multiples of ten makes it easier to quantify how many shots you can take using basic math. This is what makes the idea of absolute values an attractive option and why this revamp might be a better alternative to reducing the base AP and AP per Agility.

* There doesn't appear to be any other mods that specifically does this.

To achieve this, I would have to edit every weapon. This I'm okay with. Following the latter point, I'd have to edit every perk, trait and chem that grants bonus AP (but I'm happy to leave food and drink alone). I would have to create compatibility patches with More Perks and popular mods that add weapons e.g. FOOK, PN and CFW. Then I'd have to create compatibility patches with WME and WMX. Getting permission will be difficult.

A small list of changes:

* Kamikaze, Jet and Dixon's Jet offer a 10 AP bonus.

* Rocket offers a 20 AP bonus and Ultrajet a 30 AP bonus.

* All Jet effect last for a dramatically shorter amount of time.

* Fast Shot lowers the AP cost by 10 rather than 20%.

* Trigger Discipline raises the AP cost by 10 rather than 20%.

* Math Wrath and Bonus Rate of Fire lower the AP cost by 5 each (the latter for firearms only) for a total of 10 AP.

* Add another perk, Bonus HtH Attacks, that lowers the AP cost by 5 (since Slayer doesn't address AP cost, only attack speed) and for a total of 10 AP when used alongside Math Wrath for unarmed builds.

* Action Boy/Girl raise the total AP by 10 per rank.

* Plasma Spaz lowers the AP cost of all plasma weapons by 5. Add that bonus to Laser Commander and let it stack with Math Wrath.

There may be more to add to the above list.

All thoughts and criticisms are welcome. Anything I missed, please let me know!

Thanks for reading.