Vault 25

[Greymane]

Just to start, I realize the chances of someone actually working on a mod as detailed and complicated as this are basically non-existent. My primary purpose for posting the concept outline is in the hopes the ideas might get scavenged and used elsewhere. At the moment I'll just post what I have now and will probably add more later on. If anyone wants to steal any part of it for their own project or, by some dim chance, actually attempt to make it, they've got my blessing. Just let me know, since I'd be interesting in following what you do.

 

A History of Vault 25

MoleCo was a small independent contractor specializing in the construction of personal fallout shelters and bunkers. In 2073, funded by the Cold Creek Civil Defense Initiative (a civilian organization founded by Cold Creek resident and cereal-mogul Horus Mills intended to address local fears - specifically his own - regarding a potential nuclear war), MoleCo created the Cold Creek Communal Bunker Project. The Cold Creek Project was to be the test bed for MoleCo’s own line of vault-style scale shelters. Intended to allow the company to compete with Vault-Tec, the Communal Bunker was designed to cater to smaller middle-class communities who found many of their numbers left off Vault-Tec’s exclusive acceptance lists. Completed in 2074, the project was a success, finished both on time and under budget, and MoleCo seemed primed to compete openly with their larger rival as orders began pouring in from communities across the United States.

 

MoleCo broke ground on their second communal bunker, this one in Rhode Island, but before any significant work could be completed found themselves subject to a hostile takeover by Vault-Tec. Backed by government dollars, Vault-Tec successfully seized control of MoleCo and immediately canceled the communal bunker project. Though no further small-scale bunkers wold be constructed, as a PR maneuver Vault-Tec chose to honor MoleCo’s promise of maintenance and support for Cold Creek by ‘adopting’ the bunker into the Vault-Tec family of Vaults.

 

Officially designated Vault 25, the Cold Creek Bunker was expanded marginally to accommodate additional monitoring equipment and refitted to fit a more standardized Vault appearance, but no major structural work was done. Unlike the Vaults commissioned by the United States Government, the Cold Creek Bunker was always intended to be a relatively small underground facility, offering long-term shelter and protection for only the roughly twenty families living in Cold Creek at the time and is barely one fifth the size of a standard Vault. At least five more families, tourists in or passing through Cold Creek, were allowed access when it’s doors sealed at the outbreak of the Great War, making it one of the only Vaults to willingly allow unregistered outsiders entry.

 

Vault 25 also included the unusual edition of animal pens intended for the rescue of prize horses and cattle from the ranches in the community. The animals fared very poorly in the underground environment and those that did not die from natural causes during the first year were later put down as a mercy. Nearly 27 years later, these pens would prove vital in the domestication of mole rats who had burrowed into the Vault after their own underground layers were sealed on the surface by Mojave residents trying to eliminate the pests. Vault 25 residence have relied on mole rat ranching to supplement their food stores every since. Thanks to Horus Mills, the Bunker also represented the greatest stockpile of radiation free Sugar Bombs in the world which not a single Vault residence since Horus Mills has eaten, but which became an important fodder for the mole rats.

 

Vault 25 had gone largely undiscovered by the world at large for nearly the entirety of it's existence. Now, more than two hundred years later, Vault 25 at last opens it’s door to the world and sends out it’s first explorers to examine the potential of settling the surface. They find the ruins of Cold Creek around them, they find the distant lights of New Vegas shining, but most of all they find you.

 

The Mod Concept

A story-driven community building game where the Courier becomes a sort of guide to and diplomat from the Wasteland, if not defacto leader, to a group of Vault-dwellers who have literally just opened their doors for the first time when the Courier happens to stumble across them. Vault 25 is occupied by largely well adjusted and good intentioned, but hopelessly naive individuals. It is, in a sense, much like Vault 3 only where as Vault 3 had the gross misfortune to encounter the Fiends upon opening their doors, Vault 25 encounters the Courier (also possibly to their gross misfortune). There would be numerous quests the Courier could partake to help the Vault residents adjust to the outside world. Everything from to bringing them potential spouses to expand their narrowing bloodlines to teaching them to scavenge and build from recycled materials to building diplomatic relations with other factions in the Wasteland. They would slowly build a community around their Vault entrance from the ruins of Cold Creek, shaped greatly by the Courier’s influence.

 

Immoral Couriers could, of course, merely kill them all or sell them to the Legion, but additional options could include corrupting them into one large brothel, transforming the Vault into a drug lab, or even manipulate the residents of Vault 25 into his/her own private raider force.

 

The MoleCo back story is there more or less to explain why, unlike most Vaults, you should be able to actually explore every part of Vault 25. It's merely that there is less of it to explore since it was only intended to hold about 100 people instead of 1000.

 

Also, for the record, like most locations already in Fallout New Vegas, Cold Creek is a real location not far from Las Vegas.

 

Vault Experiment

Through investigation of the computer systems, the Courier would learn that the purpose of the Vault 25 social experiment was to test the capability of the standard upper-middle class American family to endure with it’s democratic loyalties intact in the presence of subtle socialist propaganda. Every book, magazine, holofilm, and musical recording sent to Vault 25 was from the United States Unamerican Activities Force “blacklist” of entertainment deemed too sympathetic to Communist ideals. The Overseer’s guidelines were rewritten to take on a more socialist approach to governing the Vault and even called for a dissolution of the position following the death of the first Overseer and the formation of a Vault Community Counsel in his place, assigning the Overseer's duties to a new resident each week. Unlike most Vaults, the Overseer of Vault 25 knew nothing of the social experiment taking place in his Vault.

 

Additionally, three of the five families who “happened” to be vacationing in Cold Creek at the time the Vault sealed were known Communist Fifth Columnists secretly forced into the town by UAF agents. Part of the initial test was to see if the Vault’s assigned residents would even allow strangers of unknown political ideology into their homes. Rather than having the negative effect estimated by Vault-Tec researchers, Vault 25 actually remained a stable community longer than many others. The planted Columnists engaged in no major acts of sabotage after realizing their own chances for survival were far better within the Vault and the open forum offered by the Vault Community Counsel allowed for a sense of communal purpose and open discussion not seen in most other Vaults. The system was not, however, without it's flaws. With a shared sense of responsibility largely went the urge for personal drive and betterment. Vault 25 could maintain itself adequately, yet saw almost nothing in the way of dynamic visionaries after the passing of it's first generation residents. Those who followed seemed to grow progressively less creative and more docile, willing to continue the mostly plodding doldrums of Vault life while they waited for the years to count down until the Vault doors would open. There are at least a handful of "radicals" among the remaining population, the nearness of the day the Vault was scheduled to be open seeming to awake a sleeping vibrancy in some of the younger generation and already many begin to draw up their own plans for how to deal with life on the surface world.

 

New Equipment

The mod would feature a two more or less lore-friendly outfits; the Vault-Tec Sealed Exploration Suit and the Vault-Tec Sealed Security Suit. I call them more-or-less lore friendly as this sort of thing always struck me as something that would be included in most Vaults and yet strangely never was. The player will learn from computer records that due to errors in production and shipping manifests, every known copy of the Sealed Exploration Suit and the Sealed Security Suit were accidentally printed with the 25 designated and shipped to Vault 25, instead of every Vault receiving shipments as intended. The result has been that the remaining residents of Vault 25 have continued to wear Sealed Exploration Suits long after running out of standard Vault Suits and still possessive a massive stockpile them. Sealed Security Suits, being somewhat more rare, are held in reserve.

 

Vault-Tec Sealed Exploration Suit: Radiation Suit in Vault-Tech colors. Intended for post atomic-holocaust exploration. Somewhat less effective at protecting it’s wearer from radiation than a standard suit, but also slightly more durable. Virtually every Vault 25 resident will be wearing one of these when first encountered, as it is the last form of Vault-Tec issued clothing they have in great supply. Unlike a standard Radiation Suit, the helmet is a separate piece.

 

Vault-Tec Sealed Security Suit: Combination of Vault Security Armor and Radiation Suit, in appearance just a Sealed Exploration Suit with a ballistic vest and padded joints. Intended for post atomic-holocaust exploration. The Sealed Security Suit offers protection from both radiation and physical assault. While Vault 25 still possesses a large number of these suits, only a few residents actually wear them as the suits are still rare compared to the Sealed Exploration Suit.

 

NPCs

Horus Mills (Deceased): Cereal mogul Horus Mills is perhaps best remembered in the Wasteland for his most famous and prolific creation, Sugar Bombs. Yet, this was only one of several dozen food-like breakfast products that sprang from the mind of this under looked genius. As founder and CEO of Cereal Mills, one of the largest American processed food stuff producers, Horus Mills was most personally involved in the Advanced Cereals and Pastry Department of his company. It was thanks to his hard work that Sugar Bombs were declared by multiple health and news publications as “Atomically, and Additively, Delicious” (the term ‘health risk’ was thrown around a few times as well).

 

Unfortunately Mr. Mills’ personal involvement in the Advanced Cereals and Pastry Department resulted in much of his company untended and many areas suffered from a sever lack of quality control and rampant corporate espionage. Claims of wide spread food poisoning from people who had consumed Captain Horus’ Fresh Fish Fillet Frozen Dinners, and the subsequent lawsuits from the survivors, forced Horus to partition off and sell nearly all of his companies assets. He managed to retain control of only the breakfast food production.

 

Though generally patriotic, Horus’ obsession with the potential of a Communistic attack on American soil followed after he uncovered hints that the frozen dinner incident may have been a case of deliberate sabotage, possibly by Communist infiltrators, and that the former Frozen Dinner Department of Cereal Mills, now under new management and renamed Moma Dolce’s Processed Food, even at that moment many have been merely a front for a Communist invasion of the United States. When American intelligence agencies dismissed his claims and he was rejected for placement in one of Vault-Tech’s vaults (breakfast food invention being dubbed a “Non-Vital” skill in the post-atomic apocalypse world), Horus returned to his boyhood home in Cold Creek Nevada and founded the Cold Creek Civil Defense Initiative along side long-time friend Byron Wilson. Despite the insistence by friends, relatives, neighbors, and the numerous psychiatrists they hired, Horus liquidated nearly all of his remaining assets into a combination of cash and Sugar Bombs and hired MoleCo to build the Cold Creek Communal Bunker.

 

When MoleCo was later taken over by Vault-Tech and the Bunker folded into the Vault project, Horus was granted the position of Vault Overseer. His first act of preparation for the potential nuclear holocaust was to ensure his Vault would have an adequate supply of Sugar Bombs to last them the projected 200 years.

 

Byron Wilson (Deceased): Former RobCo engineer Byron Wilson was the designer of Giddiyup Buttercup, the atomic-powered robotic horse. A loving father who designed Giddiyup Buttercup under his daughters "strict supervision," Byron Wilson was an earnest believer in the need to keep children happy and distracted from the escalating violence of the world. He brought the design to his superiors at RobCo in the hopes of bringing the robotic manufacturer into the ever shrinking toy market, but Giddiyup Buttercup was personally dismissed by Edwin Robert House as “patently ridiculous” and “the biggest waste of time I’ve ever seen.” Undaunted by this, Byron Wilson left RobCo to found his own company, Wilson Atomatoys, to produce his creation. The first Giddiyup Buttercup rolled off the assembly line in 2042. Wilson Atomatoys launched a highly aggressive advertising campaign which included stunts such as a rodeo on which beautiful cowgirls rode Giddiyup Buttercups and launching a long ranged probe that contained nothing but a Giddiyup Buttercup because “even little girls on other worlds want one.”

 

Despite it’s astronomic price tag, the toy proved an unparalleled success and Wilson Atomatoys shot to the head of the toy manufacturing market in little more than four months. This success was redoubled the following year when Byron Wilson, who by then had taken an interest in miniaturization, produced the much more affordable Giddiyup Buttercup dolls. This success drew the attention of elements within his former employer RobCo, who managed to pressure a reluctant Robert Edwin House into purchasing Wilson Atomatoys and folding it into RobCo the very day it went public. Back under RobCo employ again, Wilson turned his abilities towards popular RobCo patented robots and produced an entire series of RobCo Combat Ready Action Toys for Boys. The most popular among this line was Sam Sentry, a fully functional RobCo Sentry Bot complete with operational gatling laser, produced at 1/10th scale.

 

Though the RobCo toy line proved moderately successful, none of them equaled the success of Giddiyup Buttercup and, following the rather lukewarm reception of Patty Protectron (Pink Painted Guardian of Little Girls Secrets), Robert Edwin House closed down the RobCo Toys subdivision. Though out of work, Byron Wilson was by this time already independently wealthy and rather than pursue work elsewhere, retired to his ranch in Cold Creek where he would continue to work on numerous toy projects in private as a hobby and spent time with his wife and daughter.

 

When longtime friend and fellow Cold Creeker Horus Mills returned home and began trying to convince locals of the immediate threat posed by Communist China, Byron reluctantly helped him found the Cold Creek Civil Defense Initiative. Though not as earnest about it, Byron considered creating a safe place for the children of the Cold Creek community to take refuge in case of a disaster to be worth investing in. After Vault-Tech took over the Communal Bunker, Byron Wilson was assigned as Vault 25's head engineer though he also doubled as the Vault’s instructor until his death.

 

Giddiyup Battlecup (Companion, Pet): One of the last creations of Byron Wilson before his death, Giddiyup Battlecup was originally intended to combat the naked molerat invasion in Vault 25s lower floors. Giddiyup Battlecup is a heavily modified Giddiyup Buttercup (his daughters, specifically) which features armor plating, electrified shock-hooves, and twin lasers installed into it’s eyes. It also features an extensive AI upgrade to take advantage of these features and an eagerness for battle, though it retains it’s original directive to adore children. Giddiyup Battlecup proved overwhelmingly successful at containing the naked molerat infestation until Vault residents were able to begin capturing and domesticating their offspring for the Vault. With no external threats to the Vault since then, Giddiyup Battlecup has been harnessed for a variety of tasks, but mostly to give rides to children.

 

The Courier could convince Vault residents to allow him to take Giddiyup Battlecup with a high Speech check OR after making a Science check to discover that inside Giddiyup Battlecup, Byron Wilson had hidden the location of at least a dozen Giddiyup Buttercups buried in the Nevada desert after RobCo Toys closed it’s door. The Courier can then offer to to locate and convert them all to defensive robots in return for borrowing Giddiyup Battlecup. As a companion, Giddiyup Battlecup can carry considerable weight compared to other pet companions and grants the Pest Control perk, granting bonus damage against mutated bugs and animals. It's weapons, however, are somewhat ineffective against well armored targets. Giddiyup Battlecup’s personal quest is “My Kingdom for a Horse” and centers the mysterious fate the buried Giddiyup Buttercups.

[UttaNutta]

You.... are.... a......

 

 

 

Genius!

 

I LOVE THIS IDEA! You've thought it all out, written it well, and linked it back to the story. Things are explained, while still being reasonable.

 

Now, people don't have to follow the strict layout of the vaults, or block off parts randomly. It can be small, and in any design, because that's the point!

 

And the Battlecup! That is a superb idea! It would be absolutely epic!

 

Kudos to you, good sir!

[Neariox]

cool but overkill. most ppl might not want to read the whole. its a great idea but make a simplier versions

[simplywayne90]

I agree with the previous poster, a simpler version should be edited in above the first since otherwise its VERY overwhelming for anyone to even glace at the content.

 

After you make a simplified version I'd like you to post the idea on the "Post Your Quest Mod Ideas" thread.

 

Also I'd suggest looking through that thread for examples of simplfiying a complex idea, which I've done with a lot of my ideas.

 

Also if you want to provide resources to help any possible modders then try looking here

 

Modders Resources And Models For Modders

[Greymane]

I agree with the previous poster, a simpler version should be edited in above the first since otherwise its VERY overwhelming for anyone to even glace at the content.

 

After you make a simplified version I'd like you to post the idea on the "Post Your Quest Mod Ideas" thread.

 

Also I'd suggest looking through that thread for examples of simplfiying a complex idea, which I've done with a lot of my ideas.

 

Also if you want to provide resources to help any possible modders then try looking here

 

Modders Resources And Models For Modders

 

I would post there, but looking at the thread you seem to have already put up an almost identical idea in your second post. The only difference really is in the details, which it seems like I'd be cutting out almost all of to repost this concept in a similar style.

[simplywayne90]

True, maybe I'll go back later on and link that post to your idea and say yours is a far more detailed and intricate idea that is simliar to it.

 

Still yours is a great idea

[pjstanners101]

The idea of 'reversing' the Fallout 3 concept is superb- instead of leaving a vault yourself to discover the outside world, you are instead part of the outside world discovered by other vault dwellers. I love it... there's such potential for genuinely deep and meaningful roleplaying here. As a concept, it's better than the New Vegas main quest, without a doubt.

[Hengebobs]

@Greymane

 

Ignore the people saying to simplify it. Yes its complex, detailed, thoroughly explained, and utterly AWESOME. Unfortunately, it would prove an extensive work requiring a large range of modding skills to implement. That having been said, it would be fantastic to have this as a complete mod, as said by others, it would add a depth of roleplaying that is lacking in the vanilla game. Kudos for the concept, it really is a great mod idea.

[nyteschayde]

cool but overkill. most ppl might not want to read the whole. its a great idea but make a simplier versions

 

On the contrary, writing this much detail is essential for creating the logs in the computers, notes found in the vault and other details that will surface in conversations. I think it is well written and one of the few ideas rife with enough content to actually start building immediately. If nobody has looked into building this after I've finished my current mod, I'd like to look into building it.

 

Very well done indeed.

[NewVegasPro]

sounds cool