The Vault Experiment Program
- Thread starter Lumpy
- Start date
Lazarus Plus
The smoovest
I thought it was interesting, although I'm not sure how "canon" it was, since I don't know how much of that info made it into the game proper.
I don't think all of the Vaults should have been experiments, but having some of them exist for that sole purpose... it could be a good plot device.
I don't think all of the Vaults should have been experiments, but having some of them exist for that sole purpose... it could be a good plot device.
But why? Why on earth would the Enclave be interested in what happened if people had faulty equipment, or if they were exposed to radiation, or if they were all children, or if they belonged to different cultures? It's exaggerated grittiness makes it outright silly.
It's not the enclave that did that, since the Enclave didn't really exist before the war. For as far as I know, it was Vault-Tek and the US government that did this as a form of experimentation on humans to gain more insight into human sociological processes. That, in turn, could help them to gain more control over the unknowing masses
The Enclave, however, was rather poorly fleshed out and had a completely wrong feel for the Fallout universe in the way it was graphically presented.
Now, the idea of Vaults as sociological experiments actually fits quite well with the setting, another conspiracy and an Orwellian feel.
The Enclave, however, was rather poorly fleshed out and had a completely wrong feel for the Fallout universe in the way it was graphically presented.
Now, the idea of Vaults as sociological experiments actually fits quite well with the setting, another conspiracy and an Orwellian feel.
It would seem rather obvious that these experiments were set up ahead of time, since the Vault population had purchased tickets far ahead of time. Hence, post-war and post-nuke situations aren't really an issue, after all, those weren't known at the time.Lumpy said:
Also, in case you hadn't noticed Arquebus, we really, really don't like 'I agree posts' since they add absolutely nothing to a topic, and basically constitute spam.
Agrees with Sander. 
But people were supposed to enter the vaults only in the case of a nuclear attack. So the experiments were supposed to be carried out after a nuclear devastation. Which isn't something anyone would be interested in doing, not for any reason.
But people were supposed to enter the vaults only in the case of a nuclear attack. So the experiments were supposed to be carried out after a nuclear devastation. Which isn't something anyone would be interested in doing, not for any reason.
Now that's where you go wrong. If the Vault-Tek officials and the government assume they'll live, then it's quite imaginable that they created those experiments.Lumpy said:
Now, the idea of assuming that they'd survive is, again, not that unlikely. It was the fifties, MAD was popular, but so was the idea that the USA was a superior nation, to a limit. Now, they had their own vaults, obviously. One way to ensure their own survival. Also they were thinking of the idea that perhaps some parts of the USA would survive, and sending those people in the Vaults and when to let them out could easily be controlled.
I really don't see how this is hard to understand. Orriginally, the vaults were designed not only as shelter (in some cases), but to experiment upon humans, and how they react in a variety of situations. For example, Chris Avellone mentions in the Fallout bible one vault full of women, and a single man. A more visual example is Vault 12, under necropolis. This was set to open early, inflicting its denziens with radiation, to view the result. The result of course, being ghouls. It may not be an interest in the fallout world, but who could comprehend what would happen at the time of the program being established? While we have a good idea, our world has no solid view of what a global apocyalipse situation would be like.
Also, take into consideration that there may be more remaining then that of which is viewed in the games. We only see a very limited amount of california. Who knows what establishment could be elsewhere? Perhaps even a presidential vault still remains, housing the best and brightest. This idea was touched upon in Tactics, but maybie a sucessful one remains. Anyway, who considers Tactic's story part of the actual fallout lore...
Also, take into consideration that there may be more remaining then that of which is viewed in the games. We only see a very limited amount of california. Who knows what establishment could be elsewhere? Perhaps even a presidential vault still remains, housing the best and brightest. This idea was touched upon in Tactics, but maybie a sucessful one remains. Anyway, who considers Tactic's story part of the actual fallout lore...
zioburosky13
Vault Senior Citizen
Without the concept of Vault, Fallout won't be a 'post-nuclear apocalyptic' game..
You must have missed my point. Why would anyone want to know what would happen if a vault had only one man? Why would anyone want to study the effects of radiation upon people, when they could see them somewhere else anyway?Forgotten said:
People were only supposed to enter the vaults in the case of a nuclear war, so the experiments would only be carried out in a time when the world is in ashes - i. e. in a time noone would give a damn.
I haven't played Tactics, but what was wrong with it?
Lumpy said:
Actually, I think it is the other way round. These experiments can be applied to any setting, really. Of course people have interest in situations such as only one man. That is not a normal occurence, and so our natural curiousity tells us to research this, as vault tek did. Who would care in a nuclear war? As I said, the scale of distruction would be hard to measure. There may still be people interested. The war can't of whiped out all order globally. My speculation could even incorporate a space station brother of the Vault 0 concept (sounds far-fetched i realise, but i do not believe Fallout touches upon space travel at all... Well except the Huboligists, but the less said about that, the better). What you see in the games is most deffinitely not whats left, just a fragment of a single country among many.
Oh, and about Fallout Tactics... It had super humanoid robots controlled by a huge vat of brains... The BOS recruited ghouls and super mutants, aswell as talking death claws (that pre date the Enclave). Need I really say more?
Sorry for the "I agree" post, were too tired to write much more and wanted to say that the vault experiments was very far out there as it needed a total nukewar to work. Similiar experiments could have been done without the war. Big Brother (brothel) being sort of an example to this. Who would monitor the experiment? Everybody would be busy surviving.
But its there, its in the game and cant be undone.
I hope the devboys at Beth.... ignores it.
But its there, its in the game and cant be undone.
I hope the devboys at Beth.... ignores it.
Eh? What? Why would they need a total destruction to work? Hoiw, exactly, could similar experiments have been done without the war? Do you think people would just go in a vault-like system and live there as an experiment? Hah! As for who would monitor the experiment, I believe the Vault Overseers were responsible for this, and the entire point of these experiments was that they didn't require monitoring other than data recording.Arquebus said:
As for surviving, you do know that they'd be living in a safe, secluded vault where everything is provided for? Surviving really isn't all that much of a problem.
Ever seen the movie "The Village"? They, the villagers, live in a vault (the village in the forrest is ofcource not a vault, but its a place they cant leave) but out of free will. By controlling the flow of information to the subjects, they, the subjects, would belive there was a crisis, like a nukewar brewing and quite willingly be transported to the vaults.
Various drugs would cause the same effect but on smaller bodies of subjects. The Delta Green campaign for CoC has intersting scenarios were the test subjects belive they live under a alien invasion. The scientist feed them drugs that enhance this notion along with various other stimuli.
Various drugs would cause the same effect but on smaller bodies of subjects. The Delta Green campaign for CoC has intersting scenarios were the test subjects belive they live under a alien invasion. The scientist feed them drugs that enhance this notion along with various other stimuli.
Ugh. You want to find whole drones of people (several hundreds, if not thousands) and lock them up in all different secluded villages, then feed them false information about a nuclear apocalypse, and then monitor them? Assuming that they aren't going to go out of their way to contact possible surviving family members, or that they'd somehow be willing to go into total seclusion in the first place.Arquebus said:
How is this even remotely more plausible than using the Vaults, which were built for survival as well, for two purposes?
What? Now it's gotten to drug experiments as well. Again, how is this more plausible?Arquebus said:
First of all, according to Arquebus it apparently is a problem of 'how'.Lumpy said:
Secondly, I'd thought that Forgotten had adressed that properly, so instead of telling me that this isn't the issue, I'd like to see you answer Forgotten's point, which was mine as well, that the people who organised this obviously thought of themselves as surviving afterwards and really, it's using Vaults that were already built for a dual purpose. Hence, it wouldn't cost them much money anyway.
Hell, you might want to read my previous points where I also explained why the government would want to do this, since you didn't answer that to any extent either.