Vault 79

Vault 79 is a Vault-Tec vault located in the Savage Divide region of Appalachia in 2103.

Background
Constructed in secret by the Vault-Tec Corporation from 2072 onwards, Vault 79 was built with no expenses spared for concealment; a different contractor to the other Appalachian vaults was used to supply concrete, and land was acquired from local farmers by government agents claiming the land was radioactive, offering large sums of money as compensation.

The number in Vault 79's designation was chosen in reference to the atomic number of gold, the precious resource that the vault was designed to store and protect. All the gold from the bullion depository at Fort Knox was secretly transferred to Vault 79, to act as safe storage and to be used as the basis to rebuild the United States of America and its economy.

Orders given to the soldiers watching over it included treating all intruders as hostile agents and to be dealt with as such, all shift logs were to be packaged and delivered to the officer of the watch, activate the contingency plan when ordered, not to smoke away from the designated smoking area and to stay out of sight.

The secrecy of the vault was put in jeopardy in July of 2072 when a group of soldiers who were guarding the installation stole millions of dollars and went to gamble in Las Vegas. Determined to silence them, the soldiers were engaged in a shootout at the Ultra-Luxe casino, and despite their attempts to surrender were all killed, with the sole survivor being Sergeant Kathryn Montgomery, who had been staying in the Lucky 38. Branded as a Chinese spy and dubbed "Shanghai Sally" she escaped the city, but was killed trying to flee Galveston, Texas, her boat being destroyed by the USS Wade.

She wasn't the final witness to be silenced however, as her partner C. Rutkowski and others who remembered the group from bars around Berkeley Springs disappeared soon after. The dramatic shootout and cover up attracted the attention of Flavia Stabo, who began investigating Montgomery and the other soldiers, and found the vault shortly before the Great War. Stabo was buried in a shallow grave near its entrance for her troubles, one of the last pre-War casualties of the vault’s need for secrecy.

As with the other vaults, Vault 79 was sealed shut during the Great War in 2077 by the soldiers on shift, who had received word from the Air Force.

Layout
The entrance to Vault 79 is inside of a shack north of the Bailey family cabin. A call button can be found on a wall inside the shack, which reveals an elevator. One can enter their randomized code from the Grafton Pawn Shop. The elevator leads to the large cavern in front of the signature cogwheel door.

Once inside the cavern, one will see a small trailer, a small warehouse section, a truck trailer with goods and a platform including the Vault 79 entrance terminal. Prior to Wastelanders, there was no way to open the vault door, though the add-on gave the vault its interior cells.

Notable loot

 * First days in Vault 79 - Holotape, on the desk in the overseer's office.
 * Shooting range password - Holotape, in a cupboard in the overseer's office.
 * Reginald Stone's journal, entry 712 - Holotape, in a side room slightly north of where the Resident first encounters Slick.
 * 1000 gold bullion - In the gold processing room, west of the reactor.

Appearances
Vault 79 appears only in Fallout 76 and the interior is accessible as of the add-on Wastelanders.