Vault 87

Vault 87 is one of the Vault-Tec Vaults, located at the western edge of the Capital Wasteland. As part of the Vault Experiment, experimentation on a Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) strain different from the one in Mariposa was conducted on its inhabitants. The vault is full of super mutants and centaurs. By reading information on the computers, it becomes clear that eventually some mutants escaped and killed their creators. Various rooms have been sealed from the inside using tables as barricades.

spoiler warning

The Vault Entrance
Above ground, the radiation near the entrance to Vault 87 peaks at about 3360 rads/second. According to information obtained from the Garden of Eden Creation Kit, The Overseer's terminal states, "I'm quite sad to report that due to a direct hit from what I presume to be a nuclear weapon on the entry area of Vault 87, we will be unable to provide the Scouting Reports as outlined in Vault-Tec's Operations Manual. The main door to Vault 87 is damaged beyond repair and we are detecting extremely high levels of lethal radiation outside and in the entry tunnel."

You can possibly reach the door by traveling from the north, and jumping down rocks. From the top you will be at around from 0 to 340 Rads in 4 seconds and jumping down hitting around 600-900 rads a second. If you are able to jump down there in an advanced radiation suit, however you more likely to reach the door from jumping down from the north than traveling through the Missile explosion area from the south (the super mutant base/path). The door is collapsed and inaccessible to use if you make it.

One of the Engineering Logs on a terminal inside the vault mentions problems venting large amounts of radiation from the GECK chamber.

It is not possible to enter from above ground (The only known way to properly get into the Vault is by Lamplight Caverns). Even if you survive the radiation or use the "tgm" console cheat, the exterior door is marked "[INACCESSIBLE]". A few dead scientists are outside the entrance, with, ironically, anti-radiation drugs. It is possible to make it to the entrance alive and back without using glitches on the PC version. Just hotkey Radaway, put on an advanced radiation suit, take rad-X and the most you'll be irradiated is 500-600 per second. You will need to keep moving and using Radaway to stay alive though, but don't fast travel while being hit by radiation because as soon as you go to wherever you fast traveled, you'll fall down dead. So if you're brave enough to search the front door, which has nothing (valuable) by it, turn around and get out of the radiation before you fast travel. Watch the video below for demonstration↓

Accessing Vault 87
Vault 87 can only be accessed through Little Lamplight. At the appropriate time in the game, the player will have the option of questioning mayor MacCready about how to access Vault 87. The mayor will suggest taking Murder Pass. However, he will also inform the player that there is a broken computer terminal in Little Lamplight that will allow direct access to the vault via a different, safer route.

To access the terminal, the player must speak to Joseph, (as directed by the mayor). Joseph can fix the broken terminal, allowing it to be hacked, but he will only do so if the player has rescued Penny from Paradise Falls, or if the player has a high enough science or persuasion skill. Joseph can be found in the Little Lamplight schoolhouse in the morning. The player must have 50 (average) Science skill to actually hack the computer to get into the vault.

If Penny is not rescued, or if Joseph becomes upset through dialogue, entrance through Murder Pass will be the only option to get to Vault 87. Murder Pass houses several super mutants armed with heavy weaponry like missile launchers and miniguns. Murder Pass is a good choice for earning experience, which is north of the souvenir building. Mayor MacCready will open the gate for you if asked.

Traveling Through the Vault
Once inside the vault, the player will encounter super mutants, super mutant masters and several super mutant brutes.

Eventually, the player will encounter a friendly super mutant named Fawkes, who was sealed in a test chamber and left there decades before. Fawkes, via the intercom, will offer his services in acquiring the G.E.C.K in return for freedom. The player need not free Fawkes, but the super mutant will indeed honor this bargain, and will help the player acquire the G.E.C.K., serving as a guide, pulverizing any enemies in the meantime, and finally, retrieving the device itself from its highly irradiated resting place.

If you are stealthy, you can overhear a scripted conversation between the first two super mutants encountered in the facility.

Characters

 * Fawkes
 * Sid

Related Quests

 * Finding the Garden of Eden

Notable Loot

 * A copy of Nikola Tesla and You can be found in a wooden box at the feet of a mannequin in the southwestern-most dead end tunnel of the Reactor Chamber. (From the Murder Pass entrance, turn left and go downstairs, turn left again, then through the door at the end of the corridor.)
 * A copy of Pugilism Illustrated is on a shelf in the storage room behind an average locked door on the catwalk level of the living quarters. To find the storage room, travel south from the catwalk strewn with Gore Bags and look on the south wall between the two doorways.
 * A Nuka-Cola Quantum can also be found in the aforementioned storage room on top of the southwest shelf.
 * A safe in the west wall of the storage room with an "average" lock contains random items.
 * The Advanced Radiation Suit can be found in a room with only entrance from the room with the stairs leading to the room next to the reactor.
 * A Laser Rifle along with micro-fusion cells, a Nuka-Cola, and stimpaks can be found in an average locked storage room door directly west of the catwalk with the five gore bags hanging from the ceiling.

Appearances in games
This Vault was first mentioned in Fallout 3.

Bugs

 * It is possible that companions following you through the vault (other than Fawkes) will be killed or misplaced when you are arrested by the Enclave.
 * Sometimes when a companion is lost while you're arrested, when you go back inside the vault with another companion they will disappear, and they will be found dead in the position that your lost companion was in, just to the north of the T-junction where you were captured. This companion will be lost and after a few days you will receive a message that they have died. If you leave your follower outside, you will find him teleported to the same room but alive. This may be related to having more than one follower at a time. (More input on this bug would be appreciated.)
 * You can open vault main door from the inside. After leaving Raven Rock, return to vault 87 via Little Lamplight. From the room where you were taken by Col. Autumn (in the southwest corner of the test chambers area), a door that previously required a key will now be open. Heading through the main door teleports the player to a spot next to Fawkes's cell.
 * Occasionally, the dead Raider in Chamber 01 will be partially sunken into the floor. This makes only the legs visible.
 * It is possible that when searching a Super mutant he/she will be carrying nothing, although it states that the mutant is carrying something.
 * Sometimes, when having a companion wait somewhere outside the vault, they will spawn around you after you fall on the ground from the flash bang.
 * When passing the cells containing Centaurs, it is possible for the first Centaur, in the cell on the left, to appear outside the cell as the player passes and being able to attack the player. Once it is killed, however, (in my experience) its top half appeared back in the cell but its bottom half was streched across the ceiling of the corridor. The Centaur may also pass through the wall between its cell and Fawkes cell, resulting in Fawkes killing it.
 * Rarely, the game may crash when transitioning from passing out from the flashbang, to the Enclave base, leaving an error.
 * If the only way to get to the vault is through Little Lamplight, as the main door is inaccesible, how do the super mutants take captives?

YouTube Videos
The Entrance of Vault 87 on surface: KRKBXcLY1bI