I've been reading about vaults and vault history over at Fallout Wiki, and have read about the strictness and dictatorship of the latest Overseer in vault 101. Not to mention his strict "no one enters, no one leaves"-policy. This makes me wonder why he allowed James and his newborn child in in the first place. Coming from the outside, James might have told the other vaultdwellers how it was like on the outside (for instance, that Megaton was close by, a fairly safe town). This might again lead to more people wanting to go out and explore. So I can't see why he would allow such a thing.

I am also wondering how James came in contact with the Overseer in the first place. He never went out, and I imagine you can't hear anyone banging on the vault door from inside the vault.

They needed a doctor. James fit that role perfectly.

As for getting noticed, in the opening and closing cutscenes, you can see security cameras outside the vault. I assume they retract, but regardless, they'd let them know.

As for the risks, I'm pretty sure letting everyone die of the next flu outbreak is a greater one.

Ah, that all makes sense. Thanks!

And to my embarrasemant I see now that it says they needed a doctor on the James-page. Where did he come from, though? Was he and his wife originally from Rivet City? Is that where he met Doctor Li and started this project? And would he wander all the way from Rivet City/Jefferson Memorial to vault 101 to find a safe place for his child to be raised? How could he survive that long trek with an infant? And how did he learn of vault 101? Do we know any of this?

Star Paladin Cross escorted James to Megaton (as you learn when you speak to her for the first time), and he could have learned of Vault 101's location through a number of means, such as from the Brotherhood, or from traders that had met/heard of the scouting parties sent out by Vault 101, heck, maybe one of the scouts managed to get all the way to Rivet City.

Someone farted, and they needed an excuse to open the vault.

It was just good timing

Thanks, sjvan0.

The Overseer back then was actually more open-minded and sent a few scouting parties out, as well as maintained some contact with outsiders. But it changed when Almodovar became Overseer - he locked the vault down again and forbade ever mentioning it being open in the past, especially to the children.

I wonder about the sudden change of attitudes from one Overseer to the next. Is it possible the previous Overseer actually ventured outside and something happened?

Since the Vault 101 Overseer position seems to be heredity (No doubt influenced by each Overseer) the loss of his father to the outside may have convinced Almodovar to seal the Vault again.


Almodovar is his name? Must'a missed that one

Yup, Alphonse Almodovar.

why not?

Why you can't hear someone banging on the door? Because it's too thick, and too far away from where the people inside are.

Project Purity is something they were trying to figure out. It must have been something started by Vault Tec or somesuch before the war. Evidence of this would be the fact that it is basically too high tech to be invented post war and that it required components that noone had ever seen before (i.e. a GECK).

If James knew about Vault Tec's forsaken science he would likely know about Vaults also. And all that got him working with the BOS who helped him along. Vault 101 was on the BOS map thingy along with other Vaults in the area.

Didn't Pinkerton actually start all the science stuff and Project Purity? What if he had met ghouls who actually worked for Vault Tec who told him about science and whatnot? He then went to go 'spread the love' including James and Li and all the others.

The Overseers just do whatever must be done. If you have no doctor you let one in. If the outside is gonna get you all killed you seal the door. When those two things are in conflict you make a decision. In the end James was an essential evil.

Vault 101's existence is pretty much an open fact to the people of the Wasteland, except for the Enclave. Probably because they don't listen to GNR and all the talking Three Dog does about it. Megaton is one of the more successful towns to be built post war, and it was made originally by people who were trying to get into 101 and couldn't. Apparently the bombing wasn't very bad, because the people there survived and used the wreckage of a downed plane nearby to start their city. The plane was carrying the signature Megaton nuke. Seeing as how it's the only known and presumably still occupied Vault, it's fairly clear why James set out to find the place when he wanted to try to get his child into a place of safety.

People have been coming out of the vault for years. If you check the overseer's terminal, he mentions sending out a scouting party not to long ago. However something went bad and the scouting party died. The Overseer tells you this in the Trouble on the Homefront quest, if you try to talk him down. It wasn't his predecessor that sent people out, it was the current Overseer. They were sending people out, but only accepted James and the LW in because they needed a doctor. The timeline is never mentioned, but presumably sometime shortly after James was let in, the scouting party died and the Overseer decided it was still to dangerous. He ordered the vault sealed and all the advlts agreed to keep the existence of the outside world a secret to the children of the vault. So they went back on the old company line of 'it's impossible to survive out there, everyone is born and dies in the vault.'

However, at least two people escape or are ejected from the vault between the time of James' arrival and his leaving, as both Moira and Moriarty mention seeing Vault dwellers leave, at vastly different times. By about 5-6 years, so it's not likely a case of it being the same person. Since the LW and his peers don't know about this, it's likely however they left it was kept quiet. And then James left when the LW turns 19 and you know what happens after that. With such a public exit of two members of the vault (and the attempted leaving of at least two more people and all the rad roaches that were let in) the Overseer couldn't keep the lid on things anymore.

It is my personal thought that one of the members of the scouting party that met a bad end was the Overseer's wife, Amata's mother. It would explain why she was raised alone by the Overseer, and why he was so bitter and reactionary towards the thought of anyone leaving.

That makes alot of sense.

WOW, way to many beans man

thats frikin' awesome! fallout is cool, man! ya know, hes right. the scouting party is documented in the overseers computer.

If I'm not mistaken, when you start the game and transition from the "birthing" scene to the next scene, you can hear a collage of talking in the back ground. I'm sure I can hear at least three voices, one of which Moriarty, the second the Overseer, and the last James. The overseer says something along the lines of, "We need a doctor, not a dead man. If you fail to meet my expectations there will be repercussions."


I also will support the Almodovar wife scout theory. It fits, way too well to ignore as a possibility that the devs planned but never mentioned.

Didn't the Enclave try and get into Vault 101 and the Overseer disallowed them access? This could be a reason he doesn't want to open the vault; he fears the Enclave and, more importantly, their intentions with the Vault's inhabitants.

Maybe as an afterthought. I don't think it was really a concern for the Enclave after a short time - I mean, why go for a few small arms, a small water purifier, maybe a generator, when you can tail the protagonist of Project Purity?

Was that directed at my comment? If so, the Enclave weren't after the Vault itself, no, they were after the inhabitants. They were pure unlike practicaly everybody else in the wasteland. The Enclave built the Vaults for that exact reason, to keep people pure so they could create a new America.

The security report detailing the Enclave's attempts to get in doesn't appear on the Overseer's terminal until after you return for "Trouble on the Homefront", so that doesn't seem likely.



I'm also inclined to buy into the "disaster involving Amata's mother" theory, and that's how I always imagined it. She might even be the one who owned the Armored Vault 101 suit in Moira's shop --- Moira described her as knowing nothing about the wastes, clearly just out of the vault, and that she never returned for her suit, implying that she met some kind of disaster.

That all happened 10-12 years before you leave, which means that Almodovar would've developed his "No Leaving the Vault" mentality a few years before your 10th birthday (where he is first featured in-game, and where he clearly exhibits his opressing nature). By that time, the decision to pretend as if the Vault was never opened is in effect, as evidenced by Palmer's birthday dialogue. There's no mentioned of what the Overseer's stance was on this prior to your 10th birthday, so there's nothing in the game that says that Amata's mother wasn't the reason for the Overseer's stay-in-the-vault decision.

The only other vault dweller mentioned on the outside outside is by Colin Moriarty, who was able to describe the "brainwashing" that went on. This particular Vault Dweller was mentioned as escaping "about 5 years ago", well within that 10-12 year "turning point", so it doesn't disprove the theory.


Oh, and more on topic, to support the "Vault needing a doctor" explanation, here are lines from the transition script, the lines that play during the "one year later" part;

JAMES: Yes, yes. Cardiology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry. Whatever your needs. You'll find I can handle, well… I can handle just about anything.
OVERSEER: All right. Just remember one thing. We need a doctor, not a deadbeat. Fail to meet my expectations, and there will be repercussions.

This is how James got welcomed in the vault when he entered. (assuming Hannon was already security chief 20 years ago)

I based it on the "note from Vault-tec" in Springvale
I've been wanting to put this joke on my signature, but is was "too long". Now I'm stuck with this one.
My Nexus counterpart called 'MythicDawnAssassin', did however manage to put it on his profile.

James was allowed access cause that dude is one smooth talking mofo

you can tell that the scouting party went out there relatively close to your leaving the vault because it documents that they kill some giant ants. and in every one of my playthroughs i have seen 2 dead ants outside megaton

The ants were probably killed by Deputy Weld and Stockholm. I've encountered live ants many times at the Megaton entrance, which are usually killed by Deputy Weld, and sometimes Stockholm..