Vault 19

Vault 19 is one of the Vault-Tec Vaults.

This is where Samuel Cooke has taken the escaped convicts from NCR Correctional Facility. Philip Lem and Samuel Cooke are sick of each other, and both issue the quest Why Can't We Be Friends.

This Vault is located between Bonnie Springs and Whittaker Farmstead. It is surprisingly intact for a post-War Vault, being nearly untouched by anything apart from normal degradation from age and water/air contact.

Vault Experiment
The purpose of Vault 19 in the Vault Experiment was a "social experiment". This involved the segregation of the vault dwellers into two different colored sections, with limited contact. They were segregated into two groups, marked as Red and Blue. Sulfur from the cave system below the vault began to leak in through the ventilation system, which led the inhabitants to become paranoid and abandon the vault.

The main purpose of the experiment was probably to simulate a form of racism, vault dwellers would feel socially connected to their predetermined color (red or blue). Proving that humans have an inherited nature to compete with one another and testing whether humans can be made to feel socially connected to arbitrary factors, like colors. The fact that most of the vault dwellers were either paranoid from the start or that they got paranoid from the sulfur poisoning helped speed up the process.

Subliminal messaging may also have been a factor as the journal of a child points out that they (and other children) could hear a really high pitched noise (and possibly voices) that the adults could not hear.

Vault 19 is also unique in having two Overseer's Offices and Overseers, which were oddly placed directly adjacent to each other. One for the red group, and one for the blue.

Vault 19
This contains the small Vault entry tunnel and Vault door, as well as the two Overseer's offices. On the left from the entrance is the cafeteria, with a first aid box under the counter and two vending machines in a corner. Continuing in a clockwise path around the first area of the local map, one will find two restrooms, both with first aid boxes on the wall near the sinks, and the clinic. This is a two room affair with a large supply of chems and doctor's bags, along with a few patient logs and a copy of Today's Physician.

Vault 19: Blue Sector
This can only be accessed with a blue sector keycard, which Philip Lem will give to the player if he/she offers to help him. Alternatively, one may wait for one of the convicts to open the door, and take the keycard from a desk in one of the rooms. It is a horseshoe shaped hallway with many rooms on the sides filled with convicts, with a great deal of bottle caps and Vault 19 Jumpsuits in the dressers. At the end of the hallway is the elevator to the fire gecko infested living quarters.

Vault 19: Red Sector
This section can only be accessed with a red sector keycard, which will be given to the player when he/she offers to help Cooke(Note that this will not effect Philip Lem or vise versa, it only opens up a new objective.). This is a small "L" shaped hallway, and is much smaller than the Blue Sector, with similar loot in the dressers and lockers.

Blue Sector
This area can be accessed through elevators on either the red or blue sectors, or the sulfur caves. Assuming that the Courier comes down from blue sector, the room on the left in the collapsed hallway opens onto an apartment and one or more fire geckos and a large hole in the ceiling. Further down the elevator hall is a small room with double beds, a floor safe, two dressers and a single Vault 19 jumpsuit on one of the dressers. Strangely, this jumpsuit will not disappear when picked up. This room also has the star bottle cap on the desk near the terminal. Finally here is a large room with many beds and lockers at the end of the hallway. The atrium must be opened with a blue sector keycard. The atrium itself contains more fire geckos and the entrance to the sulfur caves on the floor. The upper level can be reached by crouching under the doorway, but there is little of value there. There is one first aid box behind the bar.

Red Sector
This is one again smaller than the blue sector, with only one collapsed room and the elevator. This is guarded by one fire gecko.

Sulfur Caves
This level of the Vault is the most damaged by far, and is comprised mainly of yellow caves made entirely of sulfur, and the Vault's reactor level.

The cave itself is a maze. To get to the objective for Lem, if coming from the Vault, take the first right, and it's the green rock formation on the left - You will need an explosives skill of at least 50 to destroy the Vault, or 60 if you want to destroy the caves but not the Vault. You will also need 5 packs of C4!

The hole in the wall ahead opens onto the Vault's reactor room, and from there is a hallway with access to the systems room, which has no loot, and the upper area including a hard locked elevator to the left Overseer's tunnel. The password to this computer may be gained from the terminal in the office itself. Otherwise there is a small break room with two vending machines and stairs down into the night stalker portion of the caves. This area also has a ladder to the Mojave Wasteland.

Notable Loot

 * There are a few medical supplies in the clinic including 2 doctor's bags, and some Stimpaks.
 * Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap in the abandoned living quarters of the blue sector, next to a terminal inside the second dorm on a desk.
 * There are 3 C-4 plastic explosives in this vault. One underneath a couch on the blue side in the living quarters nearest the entrance to the sulfur caves, and one in between filing cabinets in the clinic. The other one is located between the two vending machines in the cafeteria.

Appearances
Vault 19 appears in Fallout: New Vegas.