Just a thought, but given the details of the trailer (and previously leaked info) regarding a possible pre-war tutorial, would it not be feasible that we begin our journey at MIT as some kind of advisor? - edit: I am referring to the tutorial only, and not the main game - This would tie in with our suggested military background, and could even incorporate the character creation process - maybe the protagonist is silent until we have had an opportunity to select gender and other characteristics. It would also give us a relatively large indoor area to initially explore - as per vault 101 in Fallout 3 - and would be an excellent way to build up tension as news begins to spread about the outbreak of war.

Lets say, for example, that right in the middle of whatever meeting or discussion we are involved in, the air sirens start going crazy and we are quickly ushered out of the facility and into a nearby vertibird. Due to our important role, we are then transported across to the area of vault 111 (which is also near to the player's home as shown in the trailer), but instead of going straight into the vault we rush home to collect our family. We make our way towards the vault and arrive just as the bomb detonates (again, as per trailer).

Maybe we would be the only one allowed into the vault due to space limitations, and we would be forced (by military) to leave our family outside to perish. Or perhaps one or both of them are also saved, but die once inside the vault as a result of the nuclear explosion.

This would obviously require a number of locations that would need to be created as pre-war assets, some of which we saw in the trailer - Namely MIT itself (aka the Institute), Watertown, and the area in between the two. This would also prove interesting when we later revisit the Institute some 200 years later during the main quest after we awake from cryostasis inside the vault.

That's an interesting idea. It'd get all the basic tutorials including how to use our weapons out of the way nice and easy without having to do what Fallout 3 did in its tutorial.

My other thought was that maybe we start off as either a mother/father depending on our gender, in our own home. The tutorial is straight-forward and when the sirens go off, we hop into the car and haul ass to Vault 111 along with our spouse and kid. As for the weapon tutorial? Hmm...maybe we demonstrate to our kid how to use a BB gun and we shoot off a can pile stacked in the backyard?

Speculation seems to favour https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Whitney+Hill+Park/@42.3731036,-71.1844398,12z/data=http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1520226-could-we-perhaps-be-starting-the-game-in-mit/!4m2!3m1!1s0x89e378026e4fe23f:0x9948c7e1dbe4ed7 as the location of Vault 111.

The family in the trailer is alsohttp://0519f170a2731643c0a9-ec45ee3cb118921cf5758d3a3db775b7.r83.cf1.rackcdn.com/51a1f087278476efb185e63f423f0689d7c39be7.jpg__846x0_q80.jpg where the bombs went off outside of the vault, so they are dead or ghouls

I agree. I honestly don't understand why anyone's thinking we're gonna play as them. We may play as a pre-War citizen, but we're not going to be the father/mother shown in the trailer.

Not necessarily. Estimated distance from vault to ground zero - according to locations on the trailer - would be about 4 miles. There are many survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki who were no further away than this, and who didn't have fast access to a custom built vault.

Intresting theory, tho it kinda falls flat because again it麓s quite clear the family in the pre war era and the guy we see as the PC are not connected, because it麓s quite clear that family is dead, a nuke at that range means if the trailer lingered on that moment a second longer we see very dead people ragdoll through the air, including the man people mistake as being the same as the PC.

I still think that the pre war area will be relegated to a in engine intro (maybe as part of the traditional opening narration with Pearlman), maaaybe a tutorial area but I麓m more inclined to think the character we play then is a temporay tutorial character who either enters the vault and then that麓s it or is one of those caught outdoors and dies with the rest.

They would not open the vault after the bombs went off, it kind of defeats it's purpose. Also Little Boy and Fat Man were relatively small nuclear devices compared to the bombs developed in the cold war era. And if they survived they would probably be getting radiation poisoning in no time. I would say their survival chances are pretty slim.

Just checked the trailer again and you can clearly see the fireball in the distance which would have set fire to them instantaneously if they were close enough, which clearly they are not. The wave we can see is the blast wave which would then be shortly followed by deadly fallout. There would still be a very brief window of opportunity for them to get into the vault. Note that my previous understanding was that the fireball comes after the blast wave - this is actually incorrect due to speed of light vs speed of sound but still holds up in this instance due to distance from the explosion. Also, we do not have any confirmation that the vault doors were closed at this time. The couple with the baby are actually standing on top of a lift which goes down to allow access into the vault. The vault doors are clearly shown in the trailer as being vertical and not horizontal and are below ground as per vault 101.

You're right that it's not 100% certain that they are dead but in the trailer you see them getting hit by the blast wave, I do not think they would open the vault door during the explosion even if it is located underground. Remember that in front of the entrance to vault 101 are a couple of skeletons who clearly did not get access to the vault. As I said you may be right and it can be an exception that vault 111 let them in after the explosion but I think it's highly unlikely, especially cause of the narrative in the trailer.

still, it麓s quite clear vault systems are very automated, so even if you wanted to open the door so shortly after all is closed down the systems in the vault would prevent that, including locking that elivator

At the end of the tutorial in Fallout 3 it is actual you who opens the vault door, it is not automated.

Clones!!! We get to be Tom Cruise from Oblivion!!!

opening yes, but we are talking about closing here, which would most likely be under force lock no one can open for a good while (maybe even years), to avoid the human factor of some idiot dooming the vault by opening it to soon due to some moral action.

You cannot re-open Vault 101 from the outside without the permission of those inside and the enclave has to send a message to Vault 8 (?) giving them the all clear to open so I'd assume that the Vaults cannot be opened from the outside without permission if they are operational.

So yes, IF Vault 111 opened after the nukes started falling, then it would have to be I assume the overseer's decision to irradiate the vault.

Vault 111 is probably the starting location, Beth likes having us start in a prison.

indeed and most likely for the longest time no one inside the vault could not open them either, so yeah once that huge door closed, ya where screwed.

I'd assume that there was some fail safe to stop people re-opening the vaults to save friends and family once the nukes had started to go off.

I'd also assume there would be some story by now of some Vaults who did open their doors to save people if it was possible.

And yet we don't even know if the vault door had been closed at the time of detonation, all we know from the trailer is that the lift leading down into the vault was at surface level. I'm not saying that this proves anything, but it certainly leaves it open as a possibility.

it麓s kinda obviusly implicated that the reason the people are where they are is because they can麓t use it, which is most likely because it麓s already locked for the same reason the door is. No offence but this whole theory has very little ground to stand on and feels more like a desperate attempt to give meaning to something that most likely has none.

Is it just me or is the Ghost there in that screenshot as well

Not at all, I'm simply putting forward my view on what could happen during the early stages of gameplay - nothing desperate about it. I like to look at what could be possible, even if it seems a little unlikely, or things that are perhaps not immediately obvious.

For example, how do we know that anyone was inside the vault at the time of the explosion? Our protagonist could end up being the first and only vault inhabitant.

It looks like you're just going to be playing a Vault 111 dweller. The part of the trailer where the protagonist shields his eyes as the elevator takes him out of Vault 111 mirrors the Lone Wanderer leaving Vault 101 and the Courier leaving Doc Mitchell's house. Personally, I think that's the most likely origin. Some fans pinpointed the location of Vault 111 to be Whitney Hill Park, so that's probably where the game is going to start.

Well, we know that there are military guards and officals processing people outside the Vault and we know that Vaults need staffing so I'd assume that if Vault 111 was operational there wouldn't be a solitary guy in it, not least for security reasons, one janitor going a bit nutty could lock everybody else out of a very costly installation.....of course the vault could be totally automated.

The problem with the idea of people being let in after the nukes started, is that Fallout's lore (rather than actual science) is pretty clear if you survive getting nuked, its as a ghoul.

While they have an excellent undergraduate program, it can be quite expensive.

I would suggest starting Fallout 4 at a state university and then do the graduate programs at MIT.