Fallout Creator Reveals The Reason Behind The Sinister Vault … – TheGamer

Fallout vaults have always felt needlessly cruel. One exposed its inhabitants to FEV, creating an entirely new species - the Super Mutants. Another fed its people subliminal messages while dividing them into two factions, red and blue, leading to a violent civil war. And one had a faulty door that wouldn't close properly. But as it turns out, this wasn't just some sick corporate joke before the end of the world, but a carefully constructed plan.

Co-creator Tim Cain says each experiment was to prepare for a self-sufficient starship that could leave Earth (thanks, PCGamesN).

RELATED: Fallout 3 Is The Best Because Its Wasteland Feels Desolate

Vault-Tec didn't believe that a post-nuclear Earth was worth rebuilding or repopulating. Seeing what we've seen, it's hard to blame them. Shantytowns with dwindling resources have been erected in horribly radioactive zones plagued by mutated monsters while factions have arisen to try and take back the world under militarised police states and old-styled empires that thrive on fear and brutality. Maybe going to the stars is a better idea.

"There is no Earth to come back to," Cain said. "And so, the head of the Enclave and the highest levels of government were like 'let's build a starship, and take it to nearby stars.' But that would take forever, so it has to be a multi-generational starship, and the only technology we know how to build is atomic power. So we can make an atomic power plant that would help us build a starship for hundreds of years, but we don't know how to do anything else. So the Vault-Tec director, not being a great person, says 'Why don't we use the vaults to figure out the technology we'll need on the ship?'"

Maybe Starfield is a far-flung future where all the inhumane vaults culminated in a top-of-the-line starship that can grow its own crops, keep the colonisers in cryostasis, and ensure that the populous doesn't turn on one another. It isn't, but that's my headcanon anyway.

Now that we know their original purpose, we can try to connect the dots between vault experiments and space travel, which Cain gave us a headstart with; "Tell me if these experiments sound familiar. They're going to have to have food, so we're going to have to figure out how to grow plants really well in an enclosed environment. We're also going to have to figure out how to store the crew - we're going to have cryo chambers and see what happens when we pull them out every few years... I always thought the vault that made Vault City in Fallout 2 was a control vault."

That doesn't explain the vault that drugged its inhabitants or the one that detoxed drug users only to hide a massive stash inside. Another had to make human sacrifices every year or the power would be shut off, killing everyone. If they didn't, they'd get a happy little message congratulating them on their humanity. In the end, the last few standing killed themselves. I'm sure that'll help with space travel, yeah? Probably not, but apparently that was the end goal. Maybe the Vault-Tec CEO just got a bit overzealous.

Next: Starfield Cant Just Be Another Fallout Or Skyrim