Vault 11

Vault 11 is one of the Vault-Tec Vaults, located in the Mojave Wasteland.

Background
As with the majority of other Vaults, Vault 11 is part of a social experiment. In this social experiment, the inhabitants of Vault 11 are ordered to sacrifice one of their own fellow Vault dwellers each year and are told that should they refuse, all inhabitants will die. An "Automated solution response" is played when they refuse. It states that by not sending a sacrifice, they are "a shining beacon to humanity" and they will not be killed. They are also informed that the Vault door is then unlocked so they can come and go as they please but are urged to consult with their Overseer before they do so. By the time Vault 11 refused, only five survivors remained.

Construction
Like most other vaults, Vault 11 was probably constructed in the mid 2060s to the early 2070s. It has a very similar layout compared to other vaults in the Mojave Wasteland. In 2281 the reactor of Vault 11 is mainly destroyed along with the water purification system due to aging of the vault and there being a minor civil war between two sides of the vault.

'Elections' and the Overseer's role
The entire Vault has been plastered with propaganda for an election for a new Overseer, but each candidate is expressing outrage at having been nominated and trying to point out not only their innocence but why the other candidates deserve to be Overseer for their sins. Deeper in the vault it becomes clear there has been fighting, with barricades and some traps. At the conclusion of the term of an Overseer, the Overseer is required to enter a chamber below the Overseer's Office to be killed. Otherwise, the computer controlling the Vault will execute the entire population. The computer does not require that the sacrifice should be the Overseer. However, of the original residents, only the original Overseer entered the Vault with the knowledge of the required regular sacrifices to protect the remainder of the Vault's residents. The residents of the Vault, in their shock and anger at the discovery after having already been sealed inside the Vault, demanded that the sacrifice be chosen democratically, and elected the original Overseer (whom they viewed as having betrayed them) as the first sacrifice. This decision would marry the positions of Overseer and Sacrifice until the end.

In this Vault, several voting blocs appeared to exercise power by means of their population and voting potential to exert influence over other Vault residents. Prior to the final election, Roy Gottlieb, leader of the most powerful of the voting blocs (the Justice Bloc) confronted Katherine Stone, threatening that, if she did not perform sexual favors for the members of their bloc, they would nominate her husband, Nathan Stone, for Overseer (it is hinted that he may have been chosen due to an unusual winning streak among the poker games he attended). Katherine, fearing for her husband, complied. Much to the shock of the Stone family, the Justice Bloc nominated Nathan for Overseer regardless. Because candidates were typically people who had outraged the community, they were typically nominated by several blocs; in Nathan's case, his nomination was backed only by the Justice Bloc.

Fearing for the fate of her husband, Katherine decided that she had to save him using the only method she felt left available to her: she began to stalk and kill the members of the Justice Bloc, which held a very narrow majority. Upon her capture, she confessed to her crimes immediately, explaining not only her plan but also her reasoning; being an undesirable among the population, she was sure the voters would elect her because they had to make a choice "they could live with". Later on, she found out that her brother had been killed.

Katherine Stone's first act as Overseer, Overseer Order 745, dissolved the election process and decreed that the position of Overseer would be chosen using the Vault's computer systems and a random number generator. The Justice Bloc, aghast that they were going to lose the ability to control Vault life by means of election threats, not only feared that one of their own members would be elected, but also worried that the damage to the Vault's social structure would be so severe that they would have permanently lost power by the time one of their own members was elected and could reverse the Order. They decided to stage an armed coup to force Katherine to reverse Overseer Order 745. The fighting that ensued was detrimental to the vault population, and in the end only five people survived. In an act of suicide they defied the vault computer refusing to send any more sacrifices, only to find out that their defiance was exactly what the vault computer wanted. They were given the freedom to leave the vault and congratulated for their selflessness. Too ashamed of their behavior to live with themselves, they opted to commit suicide rather than have the outside world learn of the events that transpired in Vault 11.

The Sacrifice
As is presented by the first audiolog upon entry to the Vault, the fate of the final survivors is to commit suicide as a means of punishing themselves for the events that happened in the Vault. This is not apparent the first time the player listens to the tape as "I'll go first" is interpreted as referring to exiting the Vault. In the audiolog, there is an argument between five people: a man referred to as "Voice 1" tries to convince the other four (three males and a female) to leave the Vault. As conversation moves on, it becomes clear that they are the last Vault survivors and refused to sacrifice someone, thereby learning the truth.

Voices 2 (female), 3 (referred to as Harry), 4 and 5 wanted to commit suicide when they found out about the Vault's experiment, while "Voice 1" is having second thoughts and tries to convince them to leave the Vault and spread the word about what happened there. With a single gun, the plan was for a shooter to shoot the other four and then turn the gun on himself; this is not how it played out. Five people survived the Vault 11 experiment, but in the entrance chamber, there were only four corpses. Listening to the audio log only four gunshots can be heard.

Layout
When you enter the rock cave you can see the Vault Blast door. This is the main entrance to Vault 11, and as with every other Vault.

Below the Overseer's Office is a long tunnel leading to a room with a projector and a chair. Pleasant scenes are shown while a voice reassures the sacrifice that they lived a good life and their next one will be better yet. The door locks as soon as the projection starts, and when it's done, the walls open up to reveal two side rooms containing eight turrets (four on each side, various versions), and four random robots (depending on the player's level). If the turrets and robots are defeated, the player can then access a small room with the Vault mainframe computer inside. This computer unlocks the door and reveals the true purpose of the Vault: the idea was to see how long it would take for the population to refuse further sacrifices, essentially a test of self-preservation vs. morality.

Notable loot

 * Mini nuke behind the hard locked door in the living quarters (Security section).
 * Differential Pressure Controller in a locker under water in the flooded section of the Lower Level. Failing to take it with you when you leave Vault 11 can result in failing the quest Still in the Dark.
 * Prepared Speech of Gus Olson, Ombudsman, for the Annual Overseer Election on a podium in the Atruim in the Lower Level. This acts as password for the Overseer's terminal.
 * Pugilism Illustrated inside the living quarters, in female dorm second door on the right, by the fallen dresser.
 * Tales of Chivalrie In the common area between the male and female dorms in a locker (random loot; could not be there).
 * 2 x Milsurp Review In the second room to the left in a locker to the left of the entrance of the room (random loot; may not be there).
 * Around 16 to 24 Vault 11 Jumpsuits in dressers in the dorms, take all of these vault suits as you can sell them to Sarah Weintraub as a part of the unmarked quest, Suits You, Sarah in Vault 21.
 * Inside the kitchen area behind the cafeteria there is a storage chest containing many food items.
 * In the lower levels, where you first encounter the knee-deep water (past the locked Reactor door), on top of one of the machines are six boxes of the more uncommon shotgun ammo, 12ga, each box containing twelve shells.
 * In the male dorms, there is a green janitor's mop bucket in one room against the wall. Hidden behind/under this is 24 Flamer fuel and 72 5.56 ammo.

Related quests

 * Still in the Dark
 * Democracy Inaction - at the entrance lies a holotape, a 10mm pistol and four skeletons. Discovering the fate of these bodies is the objective of the quest.

Appearances
Vault 11 appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Vault 11 was designed by Eric Fenstermaker.
 * The Vault appears to be running a variation on the Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures. The experiment involved assessing to what extent participants would violate their own morals when given an order from an authority figure.
 * The actions that took place in Vault 11 are likely a reference to the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. In the story, a lottery is held annually, and the person who "wins" is stoned to death. The stoning is also to ensure the prosperity of the community.
 * The sacrifice sequence in the vault is very similar to the euthanasia scene in the film Soylent Green.
 * The poster with the slogan "I Hate Nate" is a direct reference to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "I Like Ike" campaign.

Bugs

 * In the cigar lounge, after finding the body of the dead NCR trooper, a live NCR trooper may appear and tell you to leave the area. This may be a locating error, as this is similar to the dialogue from an NCR trooper patrolling the nearby El Dorado Substation, who will also tell you to leave the area, unless while donning an NCR outfit.
 * If you pause the game during the Sacrificial Chamber presentation, the audio will not stop. If you resume the game after the presentation, the side walls will open up immediately.
 * You can obtain infinite XP by interacting with the computer in the sacrificial chamber and choosing the last option repeatedly. This will not work after logging off of the terminal.
 * The giant mantis appear to be extremely large here, to the point where they get stuck on the terrain and furniture.
 * The sacrifice chamber causes the game to crash.
 * There is a dresser in the center north area of the male dorm which does not show as empty, but which contains nothing.
 * Once completing the suicide chamber it is possible to fail the mission "The House Always Wins VI" quest leaving your aid to Mr. House at a dead end. This bug occurs when you have companions with you, so it's best to have them wait in the tunnel before entering the suicide chamber.
 * Killing your last opponent with the "cinematic camera" may cause the game to crash (Rex as companion)
 * It's possible that the game overwrites a save file after opening sacrificial chamber (happened to this editor in 2 playthroughs)(Confirmed)
 * It is possible for ED-E to be knocked unconscious and disappear, but still appear on the world map as if in the vault.
 * There are lockers that appear as though they have something in them. However when they are opened, they turn out to be empty. This is similar to the Xbox glitch mentioned above with the dresser.
 * The infinite XP glitch will work by transferring mantis forelegs back and forth from a giant mantis corpse, or between a companion.
 * When saving inside the vault, reloading that save may make companions disappear.
 * Saving after beginning the decent down the stairs to the sacrifice chamber causes the quest to stop responding when you reload that saved game. The first time the quest will trigger and finish, upon loading the saved game, you can walk all the way to the end of the hallway, but the movie will not start and there will not be a blinding light as you enter the final room. (Have not checked by exiting and reentering the Vault. That may reset it entirely)

Gallery
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