Vault-Tec Corporation, also referred to as Vault-Tec Industries and Vault-Tec, was a pre-War defense corporation that designed and implemented a network of bunkers known as vaults.[6] These bunkers were designed to protect the population of the United States in case of a nuclear event.[7]
Background
The company operated as early as 2031, when it acquired and re-branded Morgantown's local college as Vault-Tec University. Top executives and scientists either taught or graduated from there.[8] The government referred to the effort to engage with Vault-Tec on post-War preparations as "Project Safehouse."[9] The project was classified and protected under the New Amended Espionage Act.[Pub 1]
Quick Guide
Vaults
Before the war, the company constructed vaults, sold spaces to citizens, and prepared for their use in research test environments.[10][11][12] Equipment in the vaults, such as water chips, were faulty and prone to failure.[13] Shipping errors switched water chips and GECK deliveries.[14] Vault-Tec advertised vaults in newly annexed Canada.[15] The company also developed alternatives, such as the Series 1000 Shelter, allowing access for those too far from a full vault.[Pub 2] Employees received the Vault-Tec employee handbook, a publication that outlined everything about the company and its procedures, down to 2.25 minutes (135 seconds) time limit on bathroom breaks.[16][17] Their mascots were Vault Boy and Vault Girl.
A small contingent of vaults were designed to work properly as controls.[18] The other vaults featured a variety of scenarios, focused on researching how inhabitants would react and behave.[19][20] The Enclave were involved in the planning stages of vaults, describing it as "a social experiment on a grand scale" using "a unique set of circumstances designed to test the occupants."[21]
Construction
Vaults featured super reactors, the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, medical devices such as the organ extractor, motion sensors, and SimTek 5000 virtual reality pods.[22][23][24][Pub 3][25] New features were implemented, designed to improve the quality of life of a vault dweller, including SimuSun Lighting, Floorsuck Autocleaner Systems, Culinator 3000 Kitchen Systems, Entertainotron Rooms and Eye-On-You cameras.[26] Locations such as Vault 13 far exceeded its original budget.[Pub 4][27]
Preparation
A large exposition at the Museum of Technology in the capital was designed to promote their shelters and explain their functionality, while prizes like the Pressed Vault Suit Award were also used to promote a positive image of the company.[19][28] The Vault-Tec: Among the Stars attraction at Nuka-World was funded and Vault-Tec bobbleheads were given as gifts to executives.[29]
Vault-Tec was authorized to carry out drills for citizens selected for inclusion in the vaults and operated its alert system. Alert drills were carried out at regular intervals to test admission protocols and members of the experimentation staff were expected to participate in the drills.[30] Compliance and secrecy were accomplished by way of threats and payments.[31][32][33] Vault-Tec authorized its private security to use lethal force during admission protocols.[34]
Products
Structures
Items
- Food synthesizers
- Garden of Eden Creation Kit (GECK)
- Vault-Tec water pump
- Vault-Tec reactor
- Uranium Nuclear Reactor[22]
- Super-Reactor
- Power Cycle 1000
- Soda fountain
- Phoropter
- C.A.M.P.
- My Stash Box
- Scrapbox
- SimTek 5000[Pub 5][Pub 6]
- Vault-Tec Supply Packages
- Vault playing cards[Pub 7]
- Baseball cap[35]
- Drink cozy[36]
- Promotional lunchbox
- Leather bomber jacket[37][38]
- T-shirts[39]
- Golf tees[40]
- Vault-Tec bobbleheads
- Bobblehead collector's stand
- Snow Globes
Initiatives
- Shop-Tec vending machine
- Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (VATS)
- ZAX AI units
- ARIC-4 AI
- Tranquility Lane Simulation
- Nutritional Alternative Paste Program food paste[Pub 8]
- Vault-Tec Population Management System
- Vault-Tec Agricultural Research Center
Publications
- Vault Dweller's Survival Guide
- Vault-Tec Employee Handbook[17]
- Vault Boy's Big Book of Laughs for Kids
- Pipfall
- Red Menace
Divisions
Locations
- Vaults
- Vault-Tec headquarters, located in Vernon Square, Washington, D.C.
- Vault-Tec Regional HQ, located in Beacon Hill, Boston
- Vault-Tec: Among the Stars, an attraction at Nuka-World
- Vault-Tec University, located in Morgantown, West Virginia
Notes
- Vault-Tec's phone number was listed as 1-888-4-82858832 (1-888-4-VAULTTEC) on a Vault-Tec calendar in Sanctuary Hills.[41]
- The company is sometimes referred to as Vault-Tek,[42][43][44] VaulTek,[45] and Vault-Tech.[46]
- Vault experiments are mentioned in One Man, and a Crate of Puppets.[Pub 9]
- The "Vault-Tec Documentation Department" is mentioned in the Fallout manual and Fallout 4 Manual.[Pub 10][Pub 11]
Appearances
Vault-Tec appears in all Fallout games.
Behind the scenes
- The vault experiment was an idea created by Tim Cain during the initial stages of Fallout 2 development.[Doc 1][Doc 2][Doc 3]
- The Vault-Tec building seen in the Fallout 2 intro is a still from the film Dick Tracy.
- Outside of the Fallout series, the Vault-Tec logo also appeared in the 2016 reboot of Doom (published by Bethesda Softworks) on certain doors in the UAC facility on Mars. Vault-Tec is also mentioned in RAGE.[47]
- A location referred to as Vault-Tec headquarters is mentioned in the Fallout Bible 3 and rulebook to Fallout: The Roleplaying Game.[Pub 2][Dev 1]
- Vault-Tec Labs were mentioned in an unused terminal entry in Fallout 3.[48]
Gallery
References
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- ↑ Vault Dweller's Survival Guide inner cover: "NOTICE.––This document contains information affecting the national defense of the United States within the meaning of the New Amended Espionage Act, 50 U.S.C., 31 and 32. Its transmission or the revelation of its contents in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by the law."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Fallout: The Roleplaying Game Rulebook p.250: "After a demo vault was opened to the public in Los Angeles, near the Vault-Tec headquarters, public enthusiasm helped fund the junk bond drive that funded the rest of construction. It was a ray of hope in a profoundly dark time. Those too far from a full vault could buy a Series 1000 shelter, a one-level subterranean mini-vault priced more reasonably for a small corporation or medium-sized community."
- ↑ Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p.2—1: "SIMTEK OPERATIONS: The Vault-Tec Research Group has determined that after a long period of security, many Vault-Dwellers will feel “uncomfortable” with the idea of returning to the outside world. The SimTek 5000 will provide a safe and reassuring return to life on the outside world. This chapter will give you a brief walk-through of the operation of the SimTek 5000."
- ↑ Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p.1—1-1—2: "Important Vault statistics
- ↑ Vault Dweller's Survival Guide pp. 2-1 to 2-6: "The Vault-Tec Research Group has determined that after a long period of security, many Vault-Dwellers will feel "uncomfortable"? with the idea of returning to the outside world. The SimTek 5000 will provide a safe and reassuring return to life on the outside world. This chapter will give you a brief walk-through of the operation of the SimTek 5000."
- ↑ Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p. 2: "Vault-Tec Limited Liability Information: These scenarios were developed through scientific projections obtained from roughly 15,000,000 documented tests using the SimTek 5000, Vault-Tec' Science Service's most advanced post-nuclear simulation. The Vault-Tec Documentation Department has used the most likely projections as the basis for this guide. As this information was gleamed through simulation, we can not guarantee 1 00% accuracy. It is possible that things aboveground will be worse. For this reason, we must remind and implore you that your only real safety lies in a comfortable and sensible life underground."
- ↑ Playing cards
- ↑ Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide/Map p. 384: "Suffolk County Charter School: These children were lucky enough to be chosen for trials of a new food substitute paste developed by Vault-Tec in conjunction with the U.S. government. The paste was intended to provide all necessary nutrition and have a shelf life of over 100 years."
- ↑ One Man, and a Crate of Puppets, panel 1: "The Vault Experiments were never designed to rescue the people that lived inside them. They were a vast social experiment designed to study pre-selected segments of the population."
- ↑ Fallout 4 Manual: "ISSUED BY VAULT-TEC DOCUMENTATION DEPARTMENT, APPARATUS DIVISION"
- ↑ Fallout manual: "ISSUED BY VAULT-TEC DOCUMENTATION DEPARTMENT, JANUARY, 2077"
- ↑ Fallout Bible 6, Life with the GECK: "The GECK builders had no idea what the post-nuclear world would be like, and they had no real way to anticipate it, despite their "thorough tests" (it's doubtful they gave it much thought, to be honest, considering how badly organized the Safehouse project alone was, not to mention the experimental nature of the Vaults) - still, it seems as if the seeds present in the GECK were viable for Vault 8."
- ↑ Fallout Bible 0: "2077 October 23 Great War: Bombs are launched; who struck first is unknown... and it is not even known if the bombs came from China or America. Air raid sirens sound, but very few people go into Vaults, thinking it is a false alarm. The Vaults are sealed."
- ↑ Fallout Bible 0: "2063 August The construction of most Vaults completed, except for Vault 13, whose construction finally gets off the ground... heralding a development cycle that seems plagued with problems. Drills begin in the other cities with completed Vaults, but the increasing frequency of the drills has a "cry wolf" effect, and the turnouts for drills trickle off as the years go on."
- ↑ Chris Taylor: "The Master was in the Vault-Tec private Vault. This was the demonstration model built for the federal government, it was also very close to the Vault-Tec headquarters."
(Chris Taylor on vault13.net -Archived)