Vault-Tec University

Vault-Tec University, often abbreviated as VTU, is a location in the Forest region of Appalachia in 2103.

Background
In 2031, Vault-Tec rebranded Morgantown's local college as Vault-Tec University, and some of their top executives and scientists either taught or graduated from there. With Vault-Tec's support and the increase in public interest in the company with the advent of the vault program, the university helped to revitalize Morgantown's economy. Over the next 46 years, the company gradually stripped classes and subjects related to classic education and moved towards turning it into a vocational school for Vault-Tec employees. The majority of professors were fired, with only those teaching subjects relevant to the company's profile retained on the payroll.

Otherwise, the company spared no expense in turning the VTU into the definitive vault training facility. On top of detailed classes including sophisticated medical training (cut down from ten years to three months using Vault-Tec's SpeedTeach methodology), psychology and leadership, the university (according to its mission statement) also featured a unique environment in which the diverse student population could immerse themselves in all facets of education related to survival in the vault, including a simulation shelter built into the university's foundations, filled with normally-restricted technologies (advanced mainframes, military-grade robotics, and compact fusion power systems) provided by the private and government sectors.

The simulation vault closely replicated the feel of a real vault and the experience of living in one, including the tests planned for each vault. In fact, overseer candidates were expected to provide theses and experiment proposals, and then implement them during trial runs when the simulation vault was put on lockdown and students within were expected to carry out their duties as if they were genuinely sealed within. Of course, the students themselves were monitored and provided useful data for Vault-Tec. The final test run focused on Drew Collingsworth's proposal for replacing regular food supplies with a food paste of his own design. Dean Elliot pushed him towards a more interesting experiment that would test the general willpower of individuals and how they react to deaths caused by food supply. The horrible pastes were mass-produced with the addition of an arterial plaquing agent that would cause rapid circulatory system decline, all in secret from Collingsworth. To the dean, it was simply an experiment to observe the rapid decline of order in a vault.

The test run started on October 15, 2077. The vault was sealed for the next four weeks and the paste released to their use. Unbeknown to the overseer, a black market developed almost overnight to compensate for the horribly tasting paste. On October 23, the Great War occurred, but the simulation vault remained intact and the experiment continued as normal until October 26, when one of the maintenance staff died of a heart attack brought on by the plaquing agent. After an autopsy confirmed the overseer's fears, he tried switching back to regular rations, but the black market and extra strain put on them resulted in the stockpile depleting on October 31. When the dwellers realized the danger, they openly rebelled against Drew, who made desperate calls to the outside.

Naturally, by this point, Morgantown had bigger problems to deal with and his pleas went without an answer. His dwellers took it rather poorly and lay siege to his office on November 2, eventually breaking through the outer seal and cornering the overseer in his office. Unable to offer them a solution, the overseer locked himself in his bedroom. The desperate dwellers tried to break through reinforced interior doors using whatever office supplies they could scrounge up, overall failing. Everyone in the vault eventually perished, starving to death or killing themselves.

Sometime after their relocation to Fort Defiance, the Brotherhood of Steel made use of the facility's automated research terminal to analyze Scorched DNA samples. Knowing that there was a possibility they could be wiped out, they left behind instructions that allow the player character to continue the research.

By 2103, Gilbert Hopson had taken temporary residence in the exterior of the facility, on his journey to visit every great learning institution in America. Fallout 76 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide pp. 312–313: "39. VAULT-TEC UNIVERSITY Exterior: The university is comprised of three campus structures made of old imposing brick edifices, all with red doors that are easily entered. The interiors of the structure link underground to each other, while a skybridge links one of the campus buildings to the Monorail station. Check the area under the monorail station for a small tent city, which has a few additional items to scavenge." p.314: "EAST CAMPUS BUILDING The largest of the three campus buildings is east of the Vault Boy garden statue and links the gardens (west) with the monorail (east). Inside is a central foyer with a "cog" display and access to four main corridors and stairs, including an entrance to the Simulation Vault via a terminal. Three classrooms are on the ground floor. Up the stairs is the Overseer’s Holotape, access to the monorail bridge, a large lecture hall, and the "B" wing of rooms." p.314: "NORTH CAMPUS BUILDING Evidence of violence is present in the north campus structure. A barricade prevents access from the north red entrance door (use the hole in the wall of Room 102 to access this instead). There's gloomy corridors and academic chambers to pick through, including the "official" entrance to the vault, which allows access into the Overseer's room. Some of the rooms (such as 103) are in particularly bad condition, with fallen ceilings allowing access to an upper floor of rooms, including a large (and ruined) archival office." p.314: "SOUTH CAMPUS BUILDING Enter via the only accessible exterior doors into a large office room, picked clean of most junk. Stairs lead down to a waiting room with benches and a terminal that allows access to the locker room and showers within the Simulation Vault." p.314: "SIMULATION VAULT Aside from the entrance chambers, this simulation of a vault is in spectacular condition! It is centered around a main mezzanine level, which has all the usual and recognizable elements of a vault. There is also a hidden Records Chamber on the lowest level." (Fallout 76 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Atlas of Appalachia)

Layout
The interior of the main (east) building of Vault-Tec University has become significantly dilapidated. Ceilings and walls have collapsed or been knocked open, and the first floor rooms are infested by some feral ghouls.

Deeper inside lies the entrance to the VTU simulation vault, which links the interiors of all three buildings together. The entrance room is the office used by the simulation vault's mock-overseer, which contains several skeletons, a desk terminal holding records of the vault's last, failed experiment, and a wall terminal that unlocks the door into the vault proper. Docile Mister Handies, used to clean and maintain the facility, can be found in the rooms and passages.

The southern building contains only a small office occupied by feral ghouls and an entrance to the simulation vault. The northern building contains two floors with multiple rooms and an entrance to the simulation vault that leads to the "overseer's" room before heading down further to the facility.

The university is a sprawling campus with three surface buildings and a large underground simulation vault that connects them all together. The main building (eastern) opens into a large foyer with a replica vault door placed as a reminder of who the facility belongs to (mirroring the practice at Vault-Tec headquarters). The first floor includes the facilities management office (A1) with an armor workbench, the sleep and housing lab (A2) and physical activity lab (A3) in the southern wing, with the generator room powering the simulation vault in the northern wing. From the lower level of the generator room, access can be gained to the vault through the maintenance wing. The second floor contains the Eugene Davidson lecture hall with the steamer trunk, storage (B2), and the food preparation lab (B3).

The northern and southern buildings flanking the main structure double as primary access points to the simulation room. The southern building has been gutted entirely and the red brick facade conceals the primary entrance for dwellers and students. The northern one has been largely preserved by Vault-Tec and turned into an administration building. Both floors have a cruciform corridor layout, with offices and rooms nestled between the arms. A large reception room at the eastern side contains a stairwell connecting the levels.

The first floor contains, clockwise, the simulation vault entrance (connecting to the overseer's office, Room 101), medical emergency care (102), facilities training (103), and young dweller development (104). The second floor contains the office of the computer lab (201), Dean of Admissions office (202), Office of the Overseer Training dean (203), and lounge (204). There are also the private offices of the professors retained by the VTU: G. Espino and J. Hollar (207) and M. Blake (208).

The simulation vault stretches beneath the surface of the VTU and has a cruciform plan. The central atrium serves as a hub and has two levels. The lower level contains the gym, showers, and mess hall in the main area, and connects to the maintenance and records chamber. The upper floor contains the main access corridor and lockers in the southern wing, the residential wing with bunk beds in the west, the classroom and infirmary in the east, and the overseer's office in the north, filled with the dead dwellers who perished trapped beneath the ground. There is an armor workbench located on the first floor near the vault door display.

Exterior

 * The Battle of Morgantown - Holotape, in the green portable toilets next to a skeleton to the northeast of the university.
 * Postcard from Elizabeth - Note, found in an apartment building just north of the Vault-Tec University.

Interior

 * Overseer's journal, entry 4 - Holotape, located on the second floor of the lobby in front of the door to the monorail station.
 * First day of school - Holotape, on a table in room A2.
 * Last day of school - Holotape, on a table in room 204.
 * Estella's holotape - Holotape, on the destroyed robot Estella, obtainable during Overseer, Overseen.
 * Loris's medical diagnosis - Note, obtainable during Overseer, Overseen.
 * Vault reactor incident - Holotape, in the vault security terminal, obtainable during Overseer, Overseen.
 * Reactor key - Key, obtainable during Overseer, Overseen.
 * Pip-Boy 2000 Mark VI kit - Quest item, found at the far end of the secret wing of the simulation vault during Trade Secrets.
 * Three potential Vault-Tec bobbleheads:
 * In room 202: Office of the Dean of Admissions, on a filing cabinet behind a cardboard box.
 * In the simulated vault cafeteria, above the refrigerator.
 * In the simulated vault, in the shower room to the northwest of the gym on the black mirror and sink.
 * Three potential magazines:
 * In room 204, the lounge, on a table.
 * In the simulated vault classroom, on the teacher's desk.
 * In the simulated vault cafeteria, on the square table by the counter.
 * Potential armor plan - On the first floor, inside the same room as the automated research terminal, to the right of an armor workbench, on a metal shelf next to an orange Vault-Tec crate.
 * Plan: Chemistry workbench - Located in room 102, medical emergency care on a shelf at the foot of the bed.
 * Five potential recipes:
 * One in room B2 storage, in a chem chest on a file cabinet in the middle of the room.
 * Two in room B3, food preparation lab.
 * Two next to the refrigerator in the kitchen of the simulated vault.

Staff/faculty

 * Michael Blake, language professor
 * Erik DeMarcos, senior professor of computer science; former dean
 * Harland Elliot, dean of overseer training
 * G. Espino, professor
 * J. Hollar, professor
 * N. Volkmer, dean of physics
 * Angela White, business administration department

Students

 * Carmen, student, cousin of the Sunday brothers
 * Dassa Ben-Ami, student for a Ph.D. in anthropology
 * Judith Blackwell, daughter of Senator Sam Blackwell
 * Drew Collingsworth, developer of the food replacement experiment
 * Eric, student, attempted to uncover a university secret
 * Liam Hornwright, a relative of the Hornwrights of Hornwright Industrial
 * Amy Kerry, researcher
 * Shelby O'Rourke, researcher
 * Hayley Porter, student, attempted to uncover a university secret
 * Sybil, student
 * James Durham Jr., student
 * Badger, a Pi Kappa Mu student
 * Anne Litzinger, student
 * Pledge, pledged himself to the Pi Kappa Mu fraternity
 * Max Posey, student
 * Mills Welch, student
 * Scott Warner, student from Welch
 * Aaliyah, doctoral candidate, developing an experimental Pip-Boy schematic
 * Angie, engineering major

Alumni

 * Ella Ames, graduated with a Ph.D. in medical science
 * Tyrone Hayes, graduated with a degree in engineering
 * Victor Hibbe, former student
 * Penelope Hornwright, graduated class of 2070
 * Trisha Miller, graduate
 * Alisha Parker, former student and author of the History of Morgantown series of holotapes
 * Vault 76 overseer, graduated with a degree in nuclear fusion
 * Bill Thomas, graduated with a degree in chemistry
 * Calvin van Lowe, former student, graduated in 2072

Appearances
Vault-Tec University appears only in Fallout 76.

Behind the scenes

 * Vault-Tec University's is based on the real world location of West Virginia University in Morgantown which bears a resemblance in both appearance and geographical location. The main building of the university shares many similarities with the real world Woodburn Hall. However, the "VT" logo of the university more closely resembles that of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.


 * Project Lembas could be a reference to the lembas bread from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, food that would provide proper sustenance over long periods of time, much like what the food paste was supposed to do in the simulation vault.
 * Harland Elliot, Dean of Overseer Training could be a reference to Harlan Ellison, the writer of A Boy and His Dog, an inspiration to Fallout.