Vault-Tec Corporation

Vault-Tec Corporation (also referred to as Vault-Tec Industries) was a pre-War defense corporation which won the federal government contract to design and implement a network of bunkers designed to protect the population of the United States from nuclear holocaust: Vaults.

History
The origins of the Vault network date back to early 2050s, when the Euro-Middle Eastern War, the New Plague, and the collapse of the United Nations resulted in a nation-wide scare. In response, the government set Project Safehouse in motion in 2054. This massive national defense endeavor was intended to create shelters that would protect the population in the event of a nuclear war or plague. Breakthroughs in construction technology allowed for these gargantuan bunkers to be constructed at a rapid pace. The impoverished government was forced to finance the project with junk bonds and even then, only commissioned 122 of these shelters nationwide, allowing less than 0.1% of the population to save their life in the event of the holocaust. The sheer cost of a single Vault was staggering: The intended budget for Vault 13 was $400 billion dollars, and by the end of its construction the total costs reached $645 billion, well over 150% of the initial figure. As crucial elements of national defense, much of the project was classified and protected under the New Amended Espionage Act, which encouraged embezzlement and corruption.

Following the success of Vault-Tec Industries' demonstration Vault built near their headquarters in Los Angeles at the time, the company won the bid for the construction of the shelters. The building of the shelters proceeded rapidly and most were completed by 2063, although the construction of several Vaults was delayed, particularly Vault 13 (which only started construction in August 2063) and the network surrounding Washington, D.C. Some Vault construction was delayed due to work stoppage. Ongoing drills in completed Vaults slowly create a Cry Wolf effect: Turnouts for the drills fell as the years went on, further limiting the Vaults' role in ensuring the survival of humanity.

Additional problems were caused by the consistent mismanagement, corruption, and embezzlement that seemed to define Project Safehouse before the War. Yet for all these problems, Vault-Tec was able to create a number of miraculous technologies and develop shelters that legitimately protected the inhabitants, as long as they worked properly, of course. Vault-Tec even advertised Vaults in newly annexed Canada, though these were in the early stages of completion. Of course, it was also a tremendous success for the company, allowing it to relocate its headquarters to Washington, D.C..

Naturally, this smokescreen obscured the fact that the shadow government never intended for Vaults to be shelters for preserving humanity. After it established control over Project Safehouse, it subverted it to its own ends. Rather than act to save humanity, Vaults were built to test their population as part of the Societal Preservation Program. Only 17 of the Vaults were designed to work properly as control Vaults. The 105 other Vaults featured a variety of scenarios, ranging from annoying to downright lethal, to gauge how humans acted in these scenarios for their own, nefarious purposes.Fallout Bible 0, #More questions, questions: "'I read the start thing of the bible thats on the net. One thing I don't agree with in the fallout universe is that the vaults were just a bunch of "social experiments". I mean why. Even though the enclave were a bunch of assholes, why would they want to purposely see their own country men die when the vaults were societys last chance at a good survivial. I like to think that lots of people died because the vaults just didn't work. Like in FOT there is a terminal that says that money had been diverted from much needed common sense things to an underground game hunting facility or whatever it was. experiments was a bit over the top, but corruption is far more believable. thats what i think anyhow. and Fallout 3, is it a possibility or not?" "Michael'" "Answer: The vault experiments were an idea created by Tim Cain, and I don't really know the reason behind them, but I can offer some speculation." ''"First off, thematically, it's pretty creepy, and we all know that developers will pull all sorts of crazy shit to try and mess with players' heads. It's possible that Tim had just finished watching an X-Files episode and had conspiracy theories swimming around in his subconscious. As to your comment about the experiments being a bit over the top, well, yeah. We're guilty as charged." "Secondly, as proven time and again in Fallout 2, the Enclave isn't a particularly rational bunch of fellows. Thematically, they embrace a paranoid view of the world and a heightened sense of superiority over everyone else in Fallout." "Third, the federal government (or whatever branch of federal government was responsible - it was not necessarily the Enclave) may not have ever considered the Vaults as society's best chance for survival - the government may have considered themselves the best candidates for rebuilding the world and already had their asses covered in the event of a nuclear or biological war by relocating to other remote installations across the nation (and elsewhere) that weren't necessarily vaults. The Enclave certainly didn't seem to be devoting much effort to digging up any other vaults and trying to use the human stock there to rebuild civilization." "Fourth, a lot of people did die because the vaults didn't work. Some suffered worse fates." "Nonetheless, even members of the Enclave probably could not answer the question of who created the Vault experiments and their reasons, as many of the people responsible for the creation of the Vaults died long ago, and many records were lost in the great static of 2077. President Richardson was familiar with the purpose of the Vaults, but he never saw them as more than little test tubes of preserved humans he could mess with." Some were not provided with enough food synthesizers for their population, others had only men in them, or were designed to open prematurely. The purpose of this experiment was to gather data for the Enclave's own projects, the exact purpose of which is unclear. Dick Richardson: "{218}{prs33}{Well, no it didn't. But at least it knocked the damn Red menace back into the stone age.}" The Chosen One: "{219}{}{And us with it.}" Dick Richardson: "{220}{prs34}{Well, no. No... not quite. You see, we had planned ahead. We were ready. }" The Chosen One: "{221}{}{What do you mean?}" Dick Richardson: "{222}{prs35}{We had a number of sanctuaries that would enable the glorious American civilization to endure. These facilities - the vaults - were part of the great plan.}" The Chosen One: "{223}{}{Those damn vaults didn't work the way they were supposed to. A lot of people in them died.}" Dick Richardson: "{224}{prs36}{Actually, they worked almost exactly the way they were supposed to. You might call it a social experiment on a grand scale. }" The Chosen One: "{225}{}{An experiment?}" Dick Richardson: "{226}{prs36a}{The vaults were set up to test humanity. Some had not enough food synthesizers, others had only men in them, yet others were designed to open after only 6 months. They each had a unique set of circumstances designed to test the occupants.}" The Chosen One: "{227}{}{What about Vault 13? What was it's purpose?}" Dick Richardson: "{228}{prs37}{Ahh. Vault 13 was a special case. It was supposed to remain closed until the subjects were needed. Vault 13 was, in scientific parlance, a control group.}" The Chosen One: "{229}{}{But they would all have died if my ancestor didn't get them a replacement water chip. That doesn't seem to fit in with your plan.}" Dick Richardson: "{230}{prs38}{An unfortunate, and unforeseen, accident. However, as it turns out, a rather fortuitous one.}" The Chosen One: "{231}{}{What do you mean?}" Dick Richardson: "{232}{prs39}{As it turns out we needed test subjects from untainted, pre-war, human stock - your ancestors in Vault 13 - and some freshly mutated stock - the villagers from Arroyo.}" The Chosen One: "{233}{}{Why?}" Dick Richardson: "{234}{prs39a}{For the Project. It's almost ready. Humanity's salvation is almost at hand and the United States of America will be the progenitor of that rebirth.}" The Chosen One: "{235}{}{Rebirth? What do you mean?}"'' (Qhprzrch.msg)

Additionally, Vault-Tec had its own plans for Vaults, using them as test environments to create technologies that could be used to redefine society. For this purpose, an entire Vault was set aside to act as proving grounds intended to test a variety of prototype devices with the aim of rolling them out through the rest of the Vaults. Once Vault 88 was fully operational, the company expected to roll out new devices every fiscal quarter. Unlike other Vaults, Vault-Tec would send test subjects before any disaster scenario, starting in early 2078. Human lives were considered irrelevant, with quick iteration time given a priority. The prototypes were meant to convert "useless" exercise into a socially-useful activity, manipulate the moods of the dwellers, or even develop crude forms of mind control. Ethical concerns were dismissed as counter-productive and close-minded.

When October 23, 2077, came and the Great War took place, the Vault-Tec air raid sirens blared, but the Cry Wolf effect resulted in just a fraction of people going into the Vaults. They were sealed and the experiments entered their decisive phase. The control Vaults functioned as intended and protected their populations. Others, however, were not so lucky. Within the next few decades, many Vaults would fail as a result of their experiments. The few that did survive would often prosper. In 2091, after receiving the all-clear signal, Vault 8 opened and Vault City was founded. A year later, the demonstration Vault in the ruins of LA opened. The inhabitants founded Adytum in what became known as the Boneyard.

Businesses
The primary focus of Vault-Tec was the development of a line of nuclear war defense installations and the technology necessary for their construction. Although their most recognizable product remains the venerable Vault, the company has also developed cheaper alternatives, like the Series 1000 shelter, and contracted its technologies out to other entities requiring a reliable, proven pipeline for constructing subterranean bunkers. Vault-Tec's technology is generally reliable and of very high quality, and a testament to the corporation's capabilities at its best. Its proprietary inventions, designed to improve the quality of life of a Vault dweller, include SimuSun Lighting, Floorsuck Autocleaner Systems, Culinator 3000 Kitchen Systems, Entertainotron Rooms, Eye-On-You Cameras.

Apart from heavy construction and technologies necessary for sustaining a population underground, Vault-Tec has also developed nuclear reactors, medical devices, such as the organ extractor, motion sensors based on Wattz Electronics' designs, and even the SimTek 5000 virtual reality simulation suite for accustoming Vault dwellers with the outside and the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System for facing any threats.

Future-Tec
A division of Vault-Tec, tasked with developing cutting edge technologies to allow Vault dwellers to brave the horrors of a post-nuclear world. Their crown achievement is, of course, the Garden of Eden Creation Kit.

Corporate affairs
Vault-Tec was a coin with two sides. To the casual observer, it was the very example of corporate America at its very best: A large exposition at the Museum of Technology in the capital was designed to promote their shelters and explain their functionality, while promotional tours and awarding of prizes like the Pressed Vault Suit Award were also used to promote a positive image of the company. An attraction at Nuka-World also highlighted an idealistic public image of what Vaults could do for mankind off-world. A massive merchandise line developed to promote Vaults and the company was also a part of their efforts and included baseball caps, lunchboxes, T-shirts, leather bomber jackets, golf tees, drink cozys, Vault Boy Bobbleheads (and the matching Bobblehead Collector's Stand), as well as Limited Edition snow globes showcasing landmarks around the nation.

However, the reality for Vault-Tec employees was completely different. Employees received the Vault-Tec employee handbook, a monumental publication which outlined their everything about the company and its procedures, down to bathroom breaks. The regulations were nothing less than draconian and oppressive: Vault-Tec's Human Resources and Administration division considered 2.25 minutes (135 seconds) to be a reasonable length of a bathroom break. Exploitative and abusive labour practices seemed to be the norm. Worse yet, as a strategic defense contractor for the government, Vault-Tec's affairs and all related publications (including, for example, the Vault Dweller's Survival Guide) were protected by the New Amended Espionage Act and any whistle blowing attempts would likely hurt the whistle blower more than the corporation.

Vault-Tec was authorized to carry out drills for citizens selected for inclusion in the Vaults and operated its own alert system. Beta alert drills were carried out at regular intervals (sometimes as many as five a week) to test admission protocols and prepare the future Vault dwellers for an orderly admission into the Vault, in case of an Alpha Alert. Members of the experimentation staff were expected to participate in the drills each time. Compliance and secrecy were accomplished simply by providing the scientists (frequently graduates or even students) with a hefty paycheck, supplanted by the implied threat of force should they decide to blow the whistle.

Behind the scenes

 * The company's name is incorrectly written as Vault-Tek, VaulTek, or a variation thereof.
 * The Vault experiment was an idea created by Tim Cain during the initial stages of Fallout 2 development.
 * The player was intended to discover Vault-Tec's complicity in the grand social experiment by unearthing files hidden in the computers at Vault 8 and Vault 13, describing the purposes of the respective Vaults and their history.
 * The Vault-Tec building seen in the Fallout 2 intro is actually a still from the 1990 classic noir film, Dick Tracy, resized and slightly modified.

Concept art
The following is Fallout 3 Concept Art by Adam Adamowicz:

Appearances
Vault-Tec vaults and their other technology appear in all of the Fallout games.