One simple question: do you guys think that Vault-Tec corporation is still a functioning organization at the time of Fallout 3 or the time around it? According to the wiki the Brotherhood of Steel game had you explore Vault-Tec's Secret Vault, however, Brotherhood of Steel isn't canon and therefore this Vault does not exist (at least the way it's depicted in the game) So, would it still be an existing body in the Fallout games? I personally think it continues to operate and is very aware of what is going on in the world (I think of them as a sort of Fallout Illuminati). Another interesting concept is that they are working alongside the remnants of the US government (the true Enclave), that is assuming that the Enclave we see is as close to the US' successors as the BoS are the successors of the US Army (they may have partly descended from them, but they inherently are not the US Army)

I have to say this is a rather interesting question,personally of course. I mean while I have had spent some time in fallout 3 exploring around I did come across the old Vault tech building and tried to see if I could gather info on other vaults. I did not find much in the way of info on what they remain as corporation. I mean to some degree I think they may have assimilated into the Enclave at one point since the vault's were kind of there work all together if I recall correctly ; being designed for scocial experiments(And other horrid experiments.).

I think vault tec is like the government in fallout they're there but they're not. kinda

Hmm, hard to say for me.  I guess it really depends on the scenario.  Though the Secret Vault may not be canon, I find it hard to believe a corporation as heavily linked to and funded by the pre-war government as Vault-Tec didn't have some sort of war contingency planned. However, unless they did have some dedicated personal vault(s), I don't know if Vault-Tec would continue to operate as it once had.  

In Fallout 3 we saw Dr. Braun, who had been a Vault-Tec scientist before the war.  If Vault-Tec members had participated similarly in the Vault program, as overseers or such, I doubt any of them would have emerged to form a large shadow corporation.  If Vault-Tec instead followed the US government to bases such as Poseidon, I feel it is more likely they would have been absorbed into the Enclave.

If however, there was a personal Vault-Tec vault for the organizations preservation, then I don't see a reason why they couldn't have survived into 2277.  With their level of technological expertise and pre-war funding, they could have easily emerged to form their own post-war order.

I agree with some of what metallic said, they may have been overseers in vaults or escaped into their own vault, or perhaps became part of the enclave. But I personally do not think they exist in any company or have any power. They are a thing of the past and are not a Illuminati type shadow government. Vault tech I believe is dead when the war started. You can probably say that doctors like Braun are a Vault Tech Remnant.

I think the Enclave was more like the shadowy part of the government. While Vault tec was just a contracted corporation working for the Enclave. If vault tech does exist, perhaps they were absorbed into the Enclave like metallic mentioned. I really don't think Vault tech could be a major faction.

I highly doubt the whole company still exists after such long time.
I agree with above from damcall, whatever and whoever survived it was either thanks to a fully functional vault of their own or their top employees were held safe in Enclave government vaults.
But in 2277...Vault-Tec is another Pre-War thing, now there is only the Enclave. *Salutes*

I always assumed Vault-Tec and the Enclave were one and the same, as the company worked closely with the US government before the war.

From the wiki:
"This project (the vaults) was the work of the Enclave, a secret shadow organization of federal officials and corporate executives that used the Vault-Tec company to set up this sinister experiment. The Enclave considered themselves prime candidates for recolonizing the world after a nuclear holocaust and to this end commissioned the construction of their own shelters, isolated from the vault network. The results of the vault experiments were intended to help prepare the Enclave for either re-colonizing Earth or colonizing another planet if Earth turned out to be uninhabitable."

I see, Vault-Tec was the public relations coordinator, while the Enclave was behind the scenes pulling the strings. They used the company to probably sucker in all the humans to experiment on.

I'd say Vault-Tec in itself worked on Vaults but you know, few big enough financial contributions and Enclave was able to do some Behind The Scenes control and change the goal of the vault project.
Vault-Tec did stuff other than just the vaults itself after all. But in a business sense damcall nailed it xP
Vault-Tec being the PR branch of the Enclave EvilMegaCorp.

I don't think Vault Tec as a corporate entity exists anymore, but it's definitely plausible that high-ranking vault tech personnel were members of shadowy organizations that influenced the decision to use the vault project as a way to conduct various experiments. But, now that these experiments have been conducted, there is no reason for Vault Tec to exist, it has served its purpose. The way I see it, is that the Vault Tec was more or less a proxy of the Enclave.

I have never really thought of this question. I think they are probably involved or at least still exist. After all they created and made the Vaults. If anyone is going to survive its going to be them.

as vault-tec worked and still works with the government my guess is that the either hidden underground or way up in space away from all the chaos and destruction and don't forget the cryogenic chambers, their mane purpose is to keep and living organism alive to a set time and that the organism will remain in a sleep stasis until woken, thats my theory on how the vault-tec company is still going.

I've always wondered, why are vault overseers so dedicated to their vaults experiment, if there's no-one to give the experiments data/results to?

And as someone said previously, it's possible that Vault Tec integrated into the enclave.

Tekkers wrote:

I've always wondered, why are vault overseers so dedicated to their vaults experiment, if there's no-one to give the experiments data/results to?

And as someone said previously, it's possible that Vault Tec integrated into the enclave.

It's partly the setting of the Fallout universe in general that pre-war American citizens were expected to comply willingly and fully with authority figures as propaganda of the "model citizen" dictates in cold-war era America. It also likely has something to do with idealogy, that overseers genuinely believe that what they're doing, they're doing for the benefit of mankind's future survival.

@Gyrad

Thank you for that explanation, +1 for that.

Still, I do somewhat believe there would of been overseers who doubted the experiment for whatever reason. Are there any vault experiments that have failed, due to rebellion?

I think that Vault-Tec succumbed to their own experiments and do not exist anymore. The overseers that still follow Vault-Tec's instructions do it out of fear and tradition and blindly follow the instructions. Either that or like Fallout 3's president vault-tec now exists as

Spoiler:

to keep up the facade.

Tekkers wrote:

@Gyrad

Thank you for that explanation, +1 for that.

Still, I do somewhat believe there would of been overseers who doubted the experiment for whatever reason. Are there any vault experiments that have failed, due to rebellion?

I did some research and I did find out about some vaults that "failed" to complete their experiments/tasks, but not necessarily through rebellion.

Vault 3: Vault 3 was a "control vault" that did not have any experiment attached to it, and the overseer was supposed to open it after 20 years. However, the inhabitants of Vault 3 convinced the overseer to keep it sealed for much longer, out of a fear of the dangers outside

Vault 101: Was supposed to remain closed indefinitely, and would also evaluate the performance of a omnipotent, dictatorial overseer. But eventually, the third overseer, Alphonse Almodovar disobeyed the rules of the experiment, and organized a team to venture outside of the vault. Rebellion can also bee seen in the beginning of FO3, when the Lone Wanderer's Father disobey's the current overseer, and escapes into the wasteland.

Vault 0: The inhabitants of Vault 0 were all geniuses from the Pre-War United States. Each of them had their brains surgically removed and attached to a super computer known as the Calculator. In collaboration with the Calculator, the geniuses were supposed to design an ideal human society in the Post-War US. However, due to some government budget cuts, several important back up systems were not included in the neuro-link systems and as a result of this, the Calculator became Corrupted. The Calculator then released the robots of Vault 0 into the wasteland (These robots were originally intended to help build the society that the geniuses and the Calculator were supposed to create) to destroy any signs of life.

Vault 11: The inhabitants of Vault 11 were told that they must sacrifice one of their fellow vault dwellers each year, or else all of them would be kill ed. In actuality, if the members of Vault 11 refused to perform the annual sacrifice, a pre-recorded message would be played, congratulating them and labeling them as shining examples of humanity. Although the inhabitants of Vault 11 initially agreed to perform the sacrifices, they eventually refused to do them. Unfortunately by this time, only 5 dwellers were left.

Vault 34: This vault featured a large, unlocked armory that was stockpiled with various weapons. But, the Overseer was able to install a remote lock on the armory, that could only be accessed through his terminal, something that was unforeseen by the Vault Tec scientists. All attempts to open the armory were unsuccessful.

Vault 34 failed primarily due to a rebellion. As MiGCAP stated, the Overseer had installed a remote lock on the armory, and denied access to residents seeking arms. This caused the group that went on to become the Boomers to leave the vault. Following their departure, rioting broke out among the remaining populace, which caused damage to the reactor and activated failsafes that trapped survivors in another part of the vault. (This was explored in the sidequest Hard Luck Blues)

There was also a civil war of sorts within Vault 11 that killed most of the residents, after which the remaining 5 decided to reject the computer's demand for a sacrifice. Though technically, this experiment was a success, since it was carried out to the end.

metallic0925 wrote:

Vault 34 failed primarily due to a rebellion.  As MiGCAP stated, the Overseer had installed a remote lock on the armory, and denied access to residents seeking arms.  This caused the group that went on to become the Boomers to leave the vault.  Following their departure, rioting broke out among the remaining populace, which caused damage to the reactor and activated failsafes that trapped survivors in another part of the vault. (This was explored in the sidequest Hard Luck Blues)

There was also a civil war of sorts within Vault 11 that killed most of the residents, after which the remaining 5 decided to reject the computer's demand for a sacrifice.  Though technically, this experiment was a success, since it was carried out to the end.

You could also argue that vault 13 was a failure since it was supposed to be sealed for 200 years, but the water purifier issue forced the oversee to send the Vault Dweller out into the wasteland.