Vault

The Vaults are a series of massive underground fallout shelters developed by Vault-Tec in the mid-21st century. One of these is Vault 13, the starting point of Fallout. Most of the following text comes from Chris Avellone's Fallout Bible #0.

Initially it appeared that the Vaults were designed to save the population of the US; however, there were not nearly ebough Vaults for this purpose. The true, sinister reason is that these 'shelters' were in fact a series of sociological experiments conducted by the Enclave. Each Vault was set up with different conditions, and then observed to see how the dwellers within coped with the pressure of isolation.

It was initially intended that while the player was reading the Vault 8 records in Fallout 2, he could discover a classified file (opened with a successful Science skill roll) which explained that Vault 8 was a "control Vault," designed to hold 1000 people and to open on time. This file was intended to foreshadow the discovery of the true and sinister purpose of the Vaults.

The player was also intended to apply his Science skill to the central computer in Vault 13 to obtain a history of Vault 13, the Overseer's involvement in the Vault Dweller's expulsion, and even worse, the true purposes of the Vaults. The Overseer was conscious of the true purpose of the Vaults as social experiments on a grand scale, and he drove out the Vault Dweller because he was afraid that he would ruin the experiment... or uncover it. Of course, the Overseer himself caused problems not long after this, according to Martin Frobisher, the leader of Vault 13 in Fallout 2:


 * There used to be an overseer, many years ago, but he did a bad thing and many of our people left the Vault. Only to die in the Wastes, I'm sure. He was tried and sentenced to death for his crime. We haven't used the title since.

Martin did not see the Overseer executed, however... his information comes from the Vault 13 records passed down by his ancestors.

Basically, the Vaults were never intended to save the population of the United States. With a population of almost 400 million by 2077, the U.S. would need nearly 400,000 Vaults the size of Vault 13, and Vault-Tec was commissioned to build only 122 such Vaults. The real reason for these Vaults was to study pre-selected segments of the population to see how they react to the stresses of isolationism and how successfully they re-colonize after the Vault opens.

Known Vaults

 * LA Vault - The Vault-Tec demontration Vault. It was not part of the experiment, and was the Master's Vault under the Cathedral in Fallout.
 * Vault 8 - A control Vault, intended to open and re-colonize the surface after 10 years. Vault City is the result. Unfortunately.
 * Vault 12 - In order the study the effects of radiation on the selected population, the Vault Door was designed not to close. This is the Necropolis Vault... and the ghouls were the result.
 * Vault 13 - Intended to stay closed for 200 years as a study of prolonged isolation, the broken water chip forced the Overseer to improvise and use the Vault Dweller as a pawn. Later study of the Vault 13 records by the Enclave led them to their current plan to end the war.
 * Vault 15 - Intended to stay closed for 50 years and include people of radically diverse ideologies. Gathered from what you hear from Aradesh in Fallout 1, he has quite a bit of multicultural flavoring to his speech.
 * Vault 27 - This Vault would be overcrowded deliberately. 2000 people would be assigned to enter, double the total sustainable amount. The location of this Vault is unknown.
 * Vault 29 - No one in this Vault was over the age of 15 when they entered. Parents were redirected to other Vaults on purpose. Harold is believed to have come from this Vault.
 * Vault 34 - The armory was overstocked with weapons and ammo and not provided with a lock.
 * Vault 36 - The food extruders were designed to produce only a thin, watery gruel.
 * Vault 42 - No light bulbs of more than 40 watts were provided.
 * Vault 53 - Most of the equipment was designed to break down every few months. While repairable, the breakdowns were intended to stress the inhabitants unduly.
 * Vault 55 - All entertainment tapes were removed.
 * Vault 56 - All entertainment tapes were removed except those of one particularly bad comic actor. Sociologists predicted failure before Vault 55.
 * Vault 68 - Of the one thousand people who entered, there was only one woman.
 * Vault 69 - Of the one thousand people who entered, there was only one man.
 * Vault 70 - All jumpsuit extruders fail after 6
 * Vault 106 - Psychoactive drugs were released into the air filtration system 10 days after the Door was sealed.

Appearances in games
Vaults appear in all Fallout games and were to appear again in Van Buren. Vault 12, Vault 13, Vault 15 and the LA Vault appeared in Fallout 1. Vault 8, Vault 13 and Vault 15 appeared in Fallout 2. A Vault called Vault 0 appeared in Fallout Tactics, but the idea did not really fit the Vault experiment. The other Vaults mentioned in this article are mentioned only in Chris Avellone's Fallout Bible, although a Vault 69 advertisement appears in the Van Buren concept art, which means that it could have made an appearance there.

Behind the scenes
The vault experiment was an idea created by Tim Cain during the initial stages of Fallout 2 development.