All Vaults in Fallout 3 Ranked

Fallout franchise has a lot of shelters and safe houses and Vaults are probably the most known ones in the games. Before the possibility of settlements being built in Fallout 4, in Fallout 3, players could only stumble upon and enter these Vaults with the option of exploring them. Some of them were decently developed and some of them held secrets that would make the bravest person shiver. With great catastrophes, like the one that happened in Fallout games, comes sanctuaries for surviving people who are leaving in close, small communities, and that is only a recipe for a disaster. Bad leaders, crazy doctors, and evil corporations who only look after themselves are all truthful and scary situations that happened in Fallout 3 Vaults. However, some of them were decent, and for that, we ranked all Vaults in Fallout 3 from worst to best.

6. Vault 106

This Vault was built by Vault-Tec Corporation, a pre-war defense corporation that won the federal government contract to build the Vaults all over the United States and protect the Americans against nuclear disasters. The Overseer, a leader of the Vault, was Dr. Albert Leris, who was the head of Vault-Tec’s Psychological Research Department. The Vault 106 had 107 inhabitants of whom 95 were part of the experiment Dr. Leris was leading. It’s safe to say that experiment involving inhabitants being pumped the psychoactive drugs into the circulation system ten days after the Vault was sealed without their knowledge, was not a great idea.

Of course, the plan did not work. Security and medical staff have not prepared for the consequences of the drug – some inhabitants experienced bizarre behavior and acted aggressively toward other people. The security failed to take care of the situation and in the end, everyone perished against aggressive and insane inhabitants. The next two centuries (until the Fallout 3 timeline) saw different mercs, explorers, and wanderers entering the Vault 106 and dying from the effects of the drugs and wandering the galls of the ruined bunker, convinced they were the “originals”. A scary place that no one wants to go to.

In terms of gameplay, a player needs to go through insane inhabitants, and when they stumble upon a “survivor”, who eventually becomes a boss that needs to be fought, encounters hallucinations including Lone Wanderers’ father. After the boss is defeated, a player has an access to the Vault and notes that are scattered all over the place. All in all, a great place that gives a player a perspective of innocent inhabitants who were used even after an enormous disaster that destroyed millions of lives. Really tough to swallow.

5. Vault 87

This Vault was also a place for experimenting on people – Dr. Wayne Merrick and his team wanted to make a virus that helped people in adapting to the post-nuclear environment. The Forced Evolutionary Virus was “born” and again, like with most of these situations, the experiment failed. The virus only created inferior mutants, meaning that yes, they have become bigger, stronger, and immune to environmental hazards, but suffered great mental damage and extreme aggression against other beings.

The Overseer was not a doctor this time, but he let the experiment happen and in the end, it backfired. The security once again has not managed to conceal mutants and they took over the Vault 87. In the present (Fallout 3 timeline), the mutants want to preserve their species, which meant kidnapping humans and mutating them, since the mutants are sterile. Another worn-down Vault that has seen better days – for example, medical rooms are now makeshift prison sells for failed experiments. Like the previous one, another scary Vault is also heavily affected by radiation.

In terms of the gameplay, there are few notable loots to acquire. Lone Wanderer can meet a friendly mutant Fawkes and take his super sledge by killing him or reverse pickpocketing him. The radiation is through the roof, so be careful – you’ll probably die a lot in this Vault if you do not have upgraded Medical skills. There are few copies of skill magazines like Nikola Tesla and You and Pugilism Illustrated that give you skill points, with microfusion cells, AER9 laser rifle, Nuka-Cola Quantum, and a safe full of random loot.

4. Vault 92

3. Vault 108

This Vault is in a bit better shape than previous entries. Another experiment occurred here – it was supposed to study the conflict for leadership and power in a given vault or similar setting. Everything was planned sufficiently, with the Overseer, Brody Jones, being sick with cancer and expectedly dying from the disease after 40 months of experiments inception, and the main supply was supposed to withstand 20 years. The Vault 108 was planned to be opened after 38 years. The armory was full and had triple the stock, in comparison to other Vaults.

Again, a disaster occurred and another experiment destroyed the Vault 108 and everything that was built there. An overly ambitious cloning experiment, which was in the development phase, went wrong. Around 54 clones with imperfections resulted in the copies eventually becoming insane and violent and started attacking other inhabitants. They killed some non-clones, and some fled the Vault but the clones stayed and rotted in the Vault 108 in the years to come.

In a gameplay sense, a player has notable loot like a Stealth Boy hidden between two terminals in the northwest corner of the room with the door to the living quarters. There is also a Nuka-Cola Quantum and magazines like Tumblers Today and other items like holodisk, Bobbleheads, and other skill-enhancing items. Of course, this Vault possesses audio tapes and notes about experiments and life that were lived in Vault 108. Some really hunting information can be acquired there, and the previously mentioned stocked armory is empty.

2. Vault 101

The Vault that we as the Lone Wanderer are in is full of secrets. Vault 101 was originally supposed to be close indefinitely and study how the Overseer and the inhabitants act during isolation. Multiple overseers led the Vault 101 and each one of them had different ways of “leading”. The most controversial one is definitely Alphonse Almodovar, who brainwashed the inhabitants into believing that his words are absolute – only he is a voice of reason. We see the Lone Wanderers’ father, James, use the radroaches infestation to escape, and all hell gets loose. The Overseer wants to take the Lone Wanderer and take him into questioning but he escapes as well.

The Vault 101 continues the work even after the Lone Wanderer escape, even though it took multiple casualties. Amata, the daughter of the Overseer decides to rebel with other Vault 101 inhabitants and demands for the Vault to be opened. She will later send the Lone Wanderers emergency beacon to help them and the quest starts from there.

You can trigger multiple different scenarios:

• you can go the peaceful route and open the Vault, which means, helping the rebels, and Amata to become the Overseer by convincing her dad to step down. However, that means she will later “ask” you to never come back and the player won’t be able to enter Vault 101 ever again. Of course, that depends on how you approach the quest – Amata and the rest of the inhabitants can “tell” you to leave if you kill her father.
• Destroy the Vault means … destroying the Vault. Inhabitants will spread across the Wasteland and you will lose Karma for that, but you’ll be able to loot the Vault 101.
• Keeping the Vault closed means convincing Amata and the rebels that the outside is too dangerous. Another solution is to help the Overseer in containing the rebellion. Of course, that means quest awards but he also asks you to leave.

As mentioned before, the Vault 101 is lootable during the quest Trouble on the Homefront, and if you go the “renegade” way and destroy the Vault and scare of inhabitants. Stealth Boy, 300 caps with Rock-It Launcher schematics, Gragnak the Barbarian, Medicine Bobblehead, Modified utility jumpsuit, and more.

1. Vault 112

After comparing Vault 112 with other Vaults, this one seemed the most decent one, since it is the only one that was not affected by radiation in Fallout 3. There are no insane inhabitants, failed experiments like clones and mutants that will kill you on the spot. The Vault is safe for storing Lone Wanderer’s items and has fairly peaceful inhabitants.

For the sake of the plot, I won’t spoil anything but the main story of this Vault is really interesting. If you get access to the Vault 112, you can get the Overseers room password and go loot there.

There is not much to say about this Vault without spoiling the peak of the Fallout 3 storyline. All in all, this Vault is in the best shape and reveals key information to the Lone Wanderer. What is also important to mention is that the Vault’s location is not displayed on the Lone Wanderers’ map – it is hidden.

How Many Vaults Does Fallout 3 Have?

After ranking the best Vaults, the real question is how many are out there? Well, according to the Fallout 3 community with the six Vaults we listed, there are six more known Vaults all over Fallout 3’s Wasteland. There is Vault 76, which opened successfully and is only mentioned in Fallout 3. Vault 77 was only mentioned in Fallout 3, specifically, in the webcomic called One Man, and a Crate of Puppets. Vault 53 is in an unknown location and was mentioned in Fallout Bible and was part of the Fallout 3 official concept art.

Vault 74 is part of the modding tutorial of Fallout 3 but can be considered canon. Vault 100 was cut from the original Fallout game and only mentioned in Fallout 3 game files, location is unknown. Another cut content included Burkittsville Vault which was mentioned in Hamilton’s hideaway terminals and is located in Burkittsville, Maryland. These are only known Vaults in the Fallout 3 game and knowing these games, there are probably more hidden and waiting to be discovered.

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