The primary resources
Resources are a core gameplay component of Fallout Shelter. Managing them properly is essential to maintaining the well-being of a Vault.
Primary resources[]
There are three basic resources in the game:
- Power: Used to operate rooms. Not enough of it and they will start shutting down.
- Water: Used by Vault dwellers. Causes a reduction in maximum health and happiness when below required levels.
- Food: Used by Vault dwellers. Causes a reduction in health and happiness when below required levels.
All three basic resources are depleted at a constant rate and replenished by completing a production cycle in the appropriate rooms.
They continue to be depleted for a short time after turning the game off. To prevent problems with your dwellers, keep a surplus of all three when turning Shelter off.
Production[]
The speed at which these resources are produced is determined by the sum of the SPECIAL attributes of all the dwellers assigned to the room.
| Production efficiency (based on Reddit research) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total SPECIAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 |
| Time reduction (base time divisor) | 0 | 0.5 | 0.667 | 0.75 | 0.8 | 0.833 | 0.857 | 0.875 | 0.889 | 0.9 | 0.95 | 0.967 | 0.975 | 0.98 | 0.983 |
As can be seen, the biggest reduction is achieved when the total sum of SPECIAL in a given room is 20, with increasingly diminishing returns as the score increases. As such, aim for having 20 SPECIAL at minimum in any given room.
Secondary resources[]
- Caps: The currency of the wasteland, used to build rooms within the Vault.
- Vault dwellers: A slowly renewable resource used to keep the Vault operational and generate primary resources.
- Stimpaks: Healing medicine to keep your Vault dwellers in healthy and tiptop shape.
- RadAway: Radiation treatment medicine to keep your Vault Dwellers radiation free.