I mean, it IS just up the hill...

that was years ago in washington DC. Vault 111 is just up the hill

Haha, true dat

Vault might not be the best place to get food growing and we have no idea if its actually got safe water or if the walls will collapse for that matter.

I dunno these vaults were built to last and they aren't going to collapse anytime soon. The power wouldn't be going out either for some time still either, not to mention a water and probably food purifier as well.

Clear out the junk and cryopods and you could set up a very safe settlement to at least expand outwards from. You could start a hydroponics garden inside of one of the larger rooms and then start building gates, defenses and establishing gardens and supply lines up top. Worst case scenario they just lower the elevator and set up a latter to prevent that from collapsing or getting trapped inside.

I'm actually pretty disappointed there aren't any good settlements like that or the ability to build structures without holes in the walls (at least that I have seen yet).

We've no idea if the Air Cycling works or if there are O2 Scrubbers that work. How much stuff down there needs to be maintained or fixed. Top that off with which settler is qualified to keep those critical systems in working order? What about parts didn't see a machine shop down there so basically if stuff is broken you gotta find parts.

Add to that people might be adverse to being sealed up in a Vault. There is only one way in and out of a Vault and we know that at least one group already has the capacity to come and go as they please but the assumption is its through the front door. Vaults attract unwanted factions to your doorstep and there is that to deal with, would the settlers want to deal with factions showing up to loot there house?

There's an easy way to deal with raiders, shut the door. Crops could be outside the vault, with the usual defenses. The living quarters could in the vault, when everything else outside. Plenty of space.

Frankly, I don't know why you can't set up shop in the vault.

I played the vault game on ipad until it kept crashing because it wasn't compatible with ipad mini but it was pretty sweet. When i learned we could have settlements i thought it would be like that and was hoping there'd be a vault option at least. You can dig down and add water, power and food rooms. A lot more skills for the settlers to level up and was pretty much a farmville fallout style underground but no direct control of a character.

As Piper said too vault dwellers are looked down upon as pansies. not her exact words but there is clear disdain for those unable or unwilling to brave the wastes and stay in some vault their whole lives.

Vault 101 is miles away in the Capital Wasteland, it would take a long time for them to get there and even if they did, I doubt the dwellers there will allow them access. Last time they allowed outsiders into Vault 101, the events of Fallout 3 happened.

Your talking about a vault that originally only had life Suport for roughly 200 days for a handful of people. After that it was supposed to go into unmaned automatic mode, is basicaly loooong past the warranty expiration date, and was aparently failing when you got out due to a lack if even basic maintenance for over 200 years.

There is A. no space

B. no way to run traders back and forth

c. your trying to rebuild NOT maintain

I've not really tried the settlement option fully as yet, that's a side quest type of thing in my head not something I feel I need to do But when I do I would have thought a Vault for settlers protection would be a perfect spot. They are built to last for centuries, Vault 111 looked to be in pretty good shape building wise, obviously there is power down there and if you want to take it to the extremes of 'Real Life' originally it would have had water purifiers, same for oxygen and growing hydroponic foods. The issue I assume is the crafting/building stations need to be down there, if the game does not provide a way to add workstations down there? the mod makers will. If that fails I can pretty well guarantee once the GECK comes out there will be plenty of Vault 111 Settlement Mod's to choose from, I know that it's probably the most likely place (as yet) where players I know will be asking for a House or Settlement Type Mod.

PS: Has anyone proven as yet there are no "Return to Vault 111 Type Quests"

Interesting where does it show that Vault 111 was setup for just the original staff and for only 200 days? That would be rather odd as the Vaults where originally designed to be lived in for as long as needed and no automatic system would have kept Vault 111 going without permanent 'living' staff.

Why even leave Concord? It would be a better place for settlement than Sanctuary. Most of the structures are still intact and certainly better fortifications can be made there than in a dilapidated subdivision.

This is actually a really good question. At the very least you could build your Community/Settlement around the Vault and use the vault for storing Food, Water, Guns, Supplies & what ever else you deem important as a community and needs to be kept secure. The Vault could also be used as a potential "Castle Keep/Panic Room" in the event of a large Raider or Super Mutant attack. The Vault more than likely still has power due to the fact that MOST vaults were designed with 2 power sources (Nuclear,Hydro,Thermal, ECT) so if one power source fails the back-up comes online. the water should still be pure assuming the water purification chip and other components are still working. when drinking water out of the sinks in Vault 111 no radiation is given so, I think we can assume the water system is ok.

I'm surprised it's not a talking point with Preston.

Again we are talking about a vault that went into fail mode because it was on automatic for over 200 years, and even then it only had enough life Suport for a small number of people for 200 days.

Vault 101 was actually one of the few vaults meant for actual survival of humanity instead of a social experiment and after 200 years even their purifier and generators were becoming troublesome
Then, other vaults were designed to have faults in such items

In vault 111's case? It was built to last in the sence people in cryostasis could indefinatley live there. Reading early game terminals makes it clear - nobody was meant to stay alive, unfrozen, down there. After 180 days the staff were allowed to evacuate - leaving everyone in cryostasis for "external monitoring"

I mean, in cannon colonising the vault 111 would be awful - people who know nothibg about science maintaining; water purifier, air filtration, generators. Ontop of that theyd need to retrofit most of the vault due to the crew quarters being tiny and the rest merely being cryostasis pods
Plus.. Yknow. It must be freezing in there.. (Your character gasps and gives a shakey noise when he leaves, i assumed this was like "ahh warmth/sunshine/fresh air")

That would just add an extra boring loading screen every time I wanted to rest/unload...I like settlements part of the "outside" area of the world..

@Ghoztz. actually vault 101 was a social experiment. the Vault was supposed to NEVER open and was to test the effects on a the community if the overseer was an omnipotent dictator in a community in complete and indefinite isolation. and then test the effects on the community should that isolation be broken as it was with the our FO3 character and his/her parents.

Vault zero in NV, Vault 3 in tactics, vault 13 from FO and FO2, and vault 76 mentioned in FO3 are the only vaults mentioned in any of the Fallout lore to date that were just "control" vaults IE no experiment associated with the vault.

the Los Angeles vault from FO1 was also not an experiment, but it was the home of the master.

The door won't open without a pipboy and lacks farmland/provisions on the inside.

It only has one exit / entrance that will always be open. During an assault Leaving a small amount of men at that entrance and sweeping the rooms would eliminate every person in the settlement very easily because they can't scatter and escape from an emergency like they can in the others ones preston had chosen.

Thats a good point.

1.) Nearly all other vaults we have seen in game are still functioning to some extent that would support life aside from Vault 15 off of the top of my head, and even then the air filtration system worked well enough for the Chosen One to enter and for rats to live in. Sure they have some sort of social experiment (aside from a few vaults), but they were still built to last. Vault 111 is obviously not one of those vaults designed to purposely have systems fail.

2.) Precisely, it was built to last, meaning that the systems would still be fine and maintenance wouldn't be too difficult considering the number of Mr. Handys still in the Commonwealth and the fact that Vault 81 only had one Mr. Handy maintaining its reactor.

3.) Water purifier, air filtration system and generators were still fully functional upon exiting the vault and reentering as well, despite limited maintenance. The freezing was from just leaving cryostasis, when I reentered for the cryolator my character wasn't cold anymore. Furthermore the Sole Survivor is able to take apart other settlements including cars, so I doubt removing the cryopods would be an issue.

Despite the vault being small, there was still plenty of room for a sleeping quarters, kitchen and dining room and even a hydroponics farm. The systems are still functional despite lack of maintenance as well. Ain't like the vault is too small for the five people in Preston's group.

Sounds like a good mod.

But yes, the big problem with Vault 111 as a settlement is that it's full of material for maintaining frozen corpses.

Not actually living.

In the end, they probably DO end up using it for storage like the Vault City dwellers did their Vault.

Vault 111 isn't really built for sustainable habitation. It barely had enough supplies to maintain the support staff for a few months. Heaven only knows if the O2 Scrubbers and Water Chip are still intact and functional. We know the life support systems to the Cryo Chambers are shot.

Vault 81 has been fully functional as a vault designed to maintain a population for at least a century. And it has tons of maintenance issues that is constantly being referred to by its inhabitants.

Vault 111 was designed to (and failed to) maintain the health of frozen inhabitants and a small team of scientists and security that would only stay for, what, 6 months?

Issues getting it up and running aside, a vault door is a cut-off point with the rest of the world, as exemplified by Vault 81's issues being self-sustaining despite possessing its own power, food, and water. It'd be easier to just build a ways up to the elevator, scavenge it out, and then use it as storage or emergency sheltering.

As stated, it probably will end up like Vault City.

Secure Warehousing!