Vault 108

Vault 108 is one of the Vault-Tec Vaults, located south-southeast of Canterbury Commons and northeast of Corvega Factory.

Experiment
As part of the Vault Experiment, the vault houses a cloning lab. It is full of hostile clones, all named Gary. In the Citadel Vault-Tec computer, the premise of the experiment was explained to study conflict for leadership and power in a vault. The Vault Overseer was known to have a genetic predisposition for a rare form of cancer that was expected to kill him within 40 months of the experiment's inception, and positions of authority in the Vault went undesignated and discretion given to the Overseer. The main power supply was also scheduled to malfunction after 240 months (20 years while the vault was planned to be sealed for 30), and the back-up power supply was intentionally insufficient to meet the Vault's needs. On top of all this, the Vault was given three times the normal armory stock and no entertainment recordings.

Though the clones' role in the Vault experiment is unclear, they may have been created by one of the Vault scientists as a sort of personal army in his bid for power. This would explain their hostility to any "non-Gary".

With the exception of Gary 1 and three other random Garys, all other clones initially use melee weapons. Their AI, however, may direct them to pick up stronger weapons.

History
There is a Holodisk found in the Cloning Lab (A on map) (located near a body near one of the examination tables, this room also has a Very Easy Safe in it as well as Gary 12) that slightly explains the fate of Vault 108. Every time Gary was cloned, it immediately became hostile to non-clones, with each one becoming more violent. After the 53rd was no different, they began to wonder what to do with all of the clones, as the Vault's observation rooms were becoming full. The other entry in the holodisk says that Gary 54 was the same way, having injured a Doctor Peterson during an examination.

The entry also states that they will be destroying some of the clones, to make room for "many more tests." What happened next is not clear; possibly the Gary clones overpowered those tasked with destroying them and slaughtered the rest of the Vault's citizens. Given the possible division of the vault citizens into factions after the death of the overseer, it is also possible the vault citizens were unable to provide a united response to counter an armed mob of insane clones.

It is highly possible that a few of the Gary clones have escaped Vault 108, seeing as how the door is opened when discovered, and how a dead yet preserved Wastelander is found on an examining table in the cloning lab and Gary 23, who is found in a Outcast outpost in Arlington. The Gary clones might not be as unintelligent as some had though of them to be.

Through entering the Vault, a player may stumble upon a pile of skeletons (former Dwellers) and a preserved Gary. Their bodies do not seem to rot as time goes by, perhaps as a result of genetic modification during the cloning cycle. However, it is also likely that he died recently, maybe only days before the player enters Vault 108. Perhaps this passage is where the other clones stack their dead.

Notable Loot

 * Bobblehead - Charisma - Located in the Vault Cloning Lab on a table in the observation room (located in the center of the map), which looks into the main operating room. If you get lost, go to the black operating tables (one should have a skeleton on it) and look through the glass into the observation room (or the room with four beds).  There you will see the bobblehead on a table beside a microscope.
 * A Stealth Boy can be found in the entrance, between two terminals that are just to the right of the door to the Living Quarters (to the right, if you are facing the door).
 * A Silenced 10mm Pistol can found in the entrance, on the floor in front of the door to the living quarters
 * There is a Pugilism Illustrated in the Living Quarters, on the counter in the cafeteria.
 * In the Cloning Lab, on a different table in the same room as the Bobblehead - Charisma is a Lying, Congressional Style.
 * There is a set of Combat Armor and a Combat Helmet in one of the lockers in the top right room of the Cloning Labs and a set of Metal Armor in another locker in the same room
 * The Holodisc in the cloning lab ("Cloning Log") that slightly explains the events of Vault 108 is in the room where there's a black cube safe that can be lockpicked. Look for a skeleton on the floor next to an examination table; the holodisc is close by.
 * A Nuka-Cola Quantum can be found behind some crates in a narrow room in the Entrance area, to the east of the door to the cloning labs.
 * An apparently inaccessible Tumblers Today can be seen on the floor below a step ladder behind some crates near the SE corner of the entrance level. This is the same room/location of the Nuka-Cola Quantum. The Tumblers Today CAN be accessed if clipping is turned off. (enter console, type tcl to activate/deactivate clipping). It can also be accessed by jumping onto the crates. The book is unable to be retrieved via any method on the console versions of the game. Blasting it with a grenade or similar explosion may work. However a very difficult way to do it on the console is to throw a frag grenade down and hope that the book flies out, be prepared to stay there awhile though.
 * A more reliable (a little bit more expensive) way to obtain the book on a console is to simply pile Pulse Mines or Plasma Mines on the other side of the wall in the southeast corner of the room (to the left of the Cloning Lab door). Now, save your game and throw a pulse or plasma grenade at the mines you placed next to the door and take cover.  The enormous explosion should knock the Tumblers Today between the box and the side of the ladder where you can crouch and pick it up.  If it doesn't, load and retry. This could take several attempts.

Note

 * Due to the ease of the combat in this Vault, this is quite a good area to visit early on to get your hands on the Combat Armor or Metal Armor as soon as possible, only the Ranger Battle Armor offers more protection out of the non-power armors.


 * There seems to be a lowercase lambda symbol painted across the number 108 on the Vault's main door, but in fact it's a graphical bug due to the bump and specular maps of the door's texture being misaligned. ( see discussion)


 * The Garys may occasionally say things other than "Gary." Gary 27 has been known to say "Damn" or "I'm hit!" when hit with a melee weapon and others may yell "Nooo!" when you land the killing blow (or shot).Some also say "hahaha Gary" just before they attack you. If you approach a group of Garys while using the Chinese stealth suit, or a stealthboy, they also greet each other. While stealthed and running into things, if the Garys don't realize you're there, they will say "Hey knock that off" (only confirmed with Gary 33)


 * There are seven Vacuum Cleaners in the Living Quarters. This is exceeded only by the 14 found in L.O.B. Enterprises.


 * One can see what is typically the Overseer's office, in the main Vault atrium in the Living Quarters (second story, west end). It has a square window (not round, as is usual), and a door can be seen in the room. This room is not accessible. Turning clipping off shows that there is nothing in the room, and the door is marked as Inaccessible.


 * Strangely enough, the vault door of Vault 108 may be opened by activating any part of the door. You don't need to use the control panel (which is only on the outside) to open it.


 * The Gary clones must have been designed to live forever or longer than humans as the vault residents have decayed to skeletons. Either that, or the Garys ripped the flesh off of them. The appearance of the vault also explains how long ago the experiment failed.


 * Another Gary clone, Gary 23, can be found in the Outcast Outpost in the Operation: Anchorage DLC, behind a locked door (Very Easy). He is dead and his left arm has been partially cut off, possibly to remove a Pip-Boy.  There is also evidence (a set of Brass Knuckles in the room and blood stains around a chair) that the clone may have been beaten in an attempt to gain his cooperation.  Specialist Olin tells the player that she was not responsible for "what happened to the first guy."  Unused dialog recordings indicate that this indeed was the case, and are added back into the game via this user mod for the PC.


 * Gary clones you will meet in the Living Quarters: 29, 33, 32 & 27. Not in any order.


 * Gary clones you will meet in the Cloning Labs: 17, 12, 43, 36, 47, 25, 1 & 41. Not in any order.


 * It's ironic that you find the Charisma Bobblehead in this vault, as the clones have a single word vocabulary.


 * If you aren't detected and you reverse pickpocket a live mine into them, you lose karma. (Confirmed on my xbox 360). Same thing happens when you reverse pickpockets live mines or frags to the Chinese Remnant ghouls at Mama Dolce's.

(It becomes much clearer when you click the video.)

Bug

 * On PC version, the vault door may be found open. When closing the door it is then not possible to open it again
 * Occasionally it can't be shut if already found open. (Confirmed PC, XBox 360)

Appearances in games
This Vault appears in Fallout 3.