Living in the vault

M

Martinez

First time out of the vault
A couple of days ago I was helping my grandmother with the fall clean-up and as I was taking out the books from a big bookcase so that I could move it I found a book, "Level Seven". I can's say why but the title made me curious. I took a short brake and read the preface. It sounded interesting so I set it aside and got back to reading it later that evening. It was 4 A.M. when I finished it and I went to sleep thinking of it. The next morning as I crawled to the kitchen to make coffee I was thinking of what life in a vault could be like. Especially the prospect of never leaving it ... alive. Then I thought of F3 and the part of the game dedicated to life in the vault. There are so many things that eluded the first two games, the new social system that would be born in this strange environment. In the book there is a part where the main character talks to a future educator (there aren't any kids in there yet) and helps her come up with a couple of stories for the future generations. Tales about the radiated hell above (due to the impending nuclear war heaven can't possibly remain located somewhere 'above' so it switches places with hell) and the horrible death that any foolish person would suffer by attempting to go to the surface. The stories are quite interesting, I'll post them if anyone is interested in them.
Cutting to the point: what would you say if the time spent inside the vault in F3 would be a bit longer? If the player could explore an actual society formed and refined by life below. If as a child he could hear stories about the new boogyman, Alpha and Gamma particles who come and take away naughty children. And if the time spent in the vault would be more than fancy character creation?
Maybe during the time spent in the vault the player could also be introduced to the finer points of role playing via a couple of quests inside the vault. Quests that can be solved in multiple ways (yeah, the good old stuff) with different outcomes and consequences... Who knows, maybe even show the player there are better things to do in the game than blowing up nuclear cars and throwing mini nukes around...
So, what parts of living in a vault would you be interested in?
 
It's a fine idea, but I think Bethsoft pretty much plan on doing what you describe. Apparently the first hour or so of the game will take place in the Vault as you progress from childhood to adulthood. In the NMA preview, it was noted that the Vault is one of the more faithful carry-overs from the original games and, despite the fun that exploring the Vault and it's society seems to promise, I think an hour is just about enough time (in game terms) to stay locked up before the player starts getting restless and wants to see the outside world. Having said that, the pleasure gained from exploring the Vault will depend on how well it's done, how fleshed out the characters are and how expansive the dialogue is.
 
Yeah, well don't get me wrong but the vaults depicted in Fallout are kind of small... just think how much room you would need to house a reasonable population, say 500 people. Go along with me on this one: in order to house that number of people you need sleeping quarters, mess hall, some bathrooms, and the list goes on...
Sleeping quarters: a bed (single) is roughly 2m/1m which adds up to 2 square meters of used space/person. Of course you could stack 2 or 3 beds to save space but even them you would need 333.(3) m2. And that is just the surface the beds would take up, you also need to have some space between them... getting to the point: I'd like to see a more complex vault, bigger and stuff.
If by "the same way they are in Fallout'' you mean design and stuff then I agree with you. Frankly I liked the way some of the underground bases from Tactics looked (mostly the one underneath Peoria). And the screen shots from Van Beuren looked real good, vault-wise :D. But from the screen shots Beth has released I can't say how much of the old look they are going to use.
 
The portions of the Vault you had access to in the Fallouts were not meant to be representative of the entire facilities, obviously. It was more like a cross-section of the important areas that had any consequence for you. Making all the residential quarters and storage areas would've been a waste of time, unless you had some reason to go there. If you take a look at the Vault advertisements where you see a cut-away of a mountain with a Vault inside, they had many more levels and areas than you had access to in the game.
 
Hopefully the AI dialogs would add some depth to the vault. The vault in FO wasn’t very lively. I think an hour is longer then I ever spent in the vault in FO. But it would be cool to see what life in such a close knitted community would feel like. Imagine the gossip that must go on behind those walls?
 
Kyuu said:
The portions of the Vault you had access to in the Fallouts were not meant to be representative of the entire facilities, obviously. It was more like a cross-section of the important areas that had any consequence for you. Making all the residential quarters and storage areas would've been a waste of time, unless you had some reason to go there. If you take a look at the Vault advertisements where you see a cut-away of a mountain with a Vault inside, they had many more levels and areas than you had access to in the game.
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That's true. Also, hydroponic farms and nurseries filled with (immortal) Vault babies would be a nice touch.
 
If they are making it FPP 3d for better immersion and simulating reality (instead of presenting 2d-isometric maps), IMO they should make a 1:1 scale Vault with all the people and equipment it has.
 
If they are making it FPP 3d for better immersion and simulating reality (instead of presenting 2d-isometric maps), IMO they should make a 1:1 scale Vault with all the people and equipment it has.
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If they would do that I think the vault would have to be bigger than San Francisco, NCR and New Reno put together. The amount of machineries necessary to maintain a vault and make it self sufficient are mind boggling.
Slightly disturbing fact: in "Level 7" the food storage and garbage bin were in the same space, separated by a sliding wall; as the food got eaten the wall moved closer to make room for the garbage on the other side. Now that's space saving! :roll:
 
Martinez said:
Slightly disturbing fact: in "Level 7" the food storage and garbage bin were in the same space, separated by a sliding wall; as the food got eaten the wall moved closer to make room for the garbage on the other side. Now that's space saving! :roll:
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Level 7 of what? o_0

Not disturbing to me, some people are too sensitive I guess. It's really quite ingenious; the more food gets eaten, the less room you need for food, and the more room you need for the waste.
 
Martinez said:
If they are making it FPP 3d for better immersion and simulating reality (instead of presenting 2d-isometric maps), IMO they should make a 1:1 scale Vault with all the people and equipment it has.
Click to expand...

If they would do that I think the vault would have to be bigger than San Francisco, NCR and New Reno put together. The amount of machineries necessary to maintain a vault and make it self sufficient are mind boggling.
Click to expand...
Well, it's no longer 1997 - the technology have progressed. The game should be immersive.
 
It's really quite ingenious; the more food gets eaten, the less room you need for food, and the more room you need for the waste.
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Well, some people are more sensitive to that kind of stuff, the main character in the book ends up thinking that the food smells although it's all dehydrated and odorless. That is one of the problems with being confined in a small place with almost nothing to do, your mind starts to make things up and the beauty of it is that you can't just make them go away, covering your ears, closing your eyes or holding your nose doesn't help.
The book is quite an interesting read and not too long, it took me under six hours to finish it. If any of you can get a hold of it I recommend you read it. Also found another jewel, "Malevil", I'm almost half way through it and it has me hooked, hell it's 2:25 AM and I can't bring myself to put it aside. It's about a group of people who survive a nuclear war in the cellar of a castle and are striving to survive in the brave new world set before them. Kind of like Robinson Crusoe in a post nuclear setting. Looks like Amazon has some used ones on sale
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...d=&me=&qid=&sr=&seller=&colid=&condition=used
Wonder if I could find it free on the web... I'll get to that after I finish reading it.
 
Martinez said:
Malevil
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Hah. Yes. Read that book a long time ago, it was an entertaining read.

I recommend you K Dick's Dr.Bloodmoney.
 
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