What does a vault properly look like?

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So a Vault - one of the biggest assets in the series - has never actually been done yet in the games proper. This may be due to the fact that a vault hosts 1,000 people on the normal side, enough for around two barely genetically viable populations. Entire games have had less speaking roles, much less fleshed out characters.

But what would a vault look like? Especially with the advancement of gaming technology, maybe one day we might see a properly laden vault.

In Fallout 1, we're treated to this:

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A 10 story vault, in the middle of a mountain, with a nuclear reactor (I'm guessing) on the lowest levels and habitation levels above.

Using the game itself as a abbreviation of the vault, the entrance level has a prep room/airlock, the medbay, and the blast door itself. The habitation floors are relatively uniform and sparse, while the lower level is a mix of recreation, energy, and administration. This layout is also the same in 2.

Now, 3 sort of flips the layout. There's no concise map for Vault 101, but the reactor is again on the lower levels, the recreation is splattered throughout, and the entrance is a long way off. NV follows this layout.

4 does something interesting. For 4, I'm going to pin the standard as vault 81. It actually seems to be roughly the same size as the vaults in 3, but with a lot more details, along with, well, a population to convey size. It works, though the reactor is right behind the kid's bedroom.

So, what do you all think - would a proper vault look like?
 
I think all the vaults had their own layouts for their own purposes, I dont think there really is a proper looking vault. I picture most vaults to look like Vault 22 minus the grass and spore guys and caves and explosions and all that sheet.
 
We also have to take into account that any vault we've seen has always been scaled down or sections have been locked off by inaccessible/broken/caved in doors.

Because of that we haven't really seen any proper vault. Weren't the proper safe vaults meant to house thousands of people? Cause I've 'never' seen thousands of bedrooms.
 
I typically think depending on the terrain the Vault is built in (not to mention the experiment assigned to it) affects the layout.
 
It don't think any vault shown ingame should be considered as face value, but rather as a general outline. There is no way what is shown would contain 1000 individuals.

(Vault 15 is supposed to be the genesis of NCR, the khans, the jackals and the vipers, while Necropolis vault gathered the first and last generation of ghouls. All the ghouls seen in Fo1-Fo2-FoT supposedly come from there)
 
I'm now imagining a relatively 'flat' vault, especially due to terrain and climate considerations, for my project at the least.
 
On a more general term, a Vault looks like a subway terminal and underground hotel. Probably also some really big greenhouses.
 
On a more general term, a Vault looks like a subway terminal and underground hotel. Probably also some really big greenhouses.

Bigger than you might imagine. Vaults are supposed to be closed cycle, producing almost everything necessary and supplementing it with stored resources. Even with with supposedly more advanced agricultural techniques, it means at least couple acres devoted to food and industrial crops production per inhabitant.

Roughly 90% of vault would actually be automated underground plantations, processing and production facilities, unmanned barring a few maintenance workers.
 
Yeah, lots of farms (probably vertical, too, to optimize space) and recycling technology. Maybe even food production from vats of algae and/or yeast.
Would probably be quite cramped, although I don't think it would be possible to have hot-bunking among civilians for any considerable amount of time.
 
An interesting concept. Personally I think that if a vault was built to protect its inhabitants that it would indeed be very large. I think the largest vaults in the Fallout Franchise are either the ones from tactics or the console BOS game.

Imagine if you will a massive underground arcology, where all basic needs are met in a constant state of recycling.
 
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