The SCIENCE! Behind The Vaults in Fallout 4 

The problem with the food math is A) We Americans eat MUCH more than basic survival B) You could also just have basic nutrient bars, which could be stacked in literal bricks. C) You did not take into account that this is Boston, therefore we also require equal amounts of donuts and coffee.

anyone have a water chip

All i know about vaults is that... Tunnel Snakes rule

dont forget that food in fallout never goes bad. Im not sure I would want to eat a 200 yr old potato but beggars cant be choosers lol

Note to self: Dig Fallout shelter deeper than 3 feet...

You dont need a filtration system leading to the surface. you just need an "oxygen farm". literally a room full of plants whose sole purpose is to produce oxygen for the vault inhabitants.

Not to mention the fact that two stalks of corn arr enough to sustain a person forever in the fallout universe.

You could also make oxygen inside the vault from water by electrolysis, during which water splits into oxygen and hydrogen. This is used for example on the ISS, where the electricity needed for the oxygen generators is produced by the stations solar panels. In theory, the reaction's by-product hydrogen could also be used as a fuel for fusion power, if such facilities were to be put in place.

Sorry to Tell you Austin, but I think Bethesda's blocked your address by now.

"thats a story for another day" storyteller confirmed

If the vault has an absolutely massive storage of dry foods and clean water, then yes. Anything can survive in there. We have in our modern day and age food that is practically just powder in a bag, and it has incredible nutritional values. It does not go bad as long as the packaging stays intact, and to eat it you just add water. It takes a lot less space, is nutritious and doesn't go bad. Perfect food for a vault, wouldn't you say? Plus, the Vault doors would hold up as long as the explosion didn't happen directly on the door itself. As for oxygen, it is possible to make it out of other substances, same with water.

Wasn't vault 101 opened several times after the war?

The vaults hold up in even better in the food department, if you consider that the inhabitants would most like not eat fresh bread every day etc., but lightweight packed food with nutrients and calories, like astronauts.

Excuse me, but you clearly have never heard of the Perfectly Preserved Pie.

you should talk about pulauski preservation shelters.

You forgot one big problem: When the Beantown Bomb went off, in the intro scene, the elevator started to go down. A blast wave comes by near the same time, presumably followed by a fine mist of radioactive fallout. Fresh fallout, actually. Packing a lot of rads. The people on that platform had to shield their eyes from the light. Light is just another form of radiation. How many rads did Nate and Nora soak up on that platform? How much fallout is swirling around them in that elevator shaft as the gear pulls the toxic air down into the shaft, and thus down into the waiting open vault door at the bottom? Everyone in that vault should be dead. And when you're "unfrozen" a few centuries later? Well... the second time around, they are. But you aren't. I actually have some groundbreaking hidden lore on all of that. Austin, if you want to email me, I'll share it with you. You're about the only RU-vidr who could do it justice.

Vaults are not only feasible, we could realistically build one with modern technology. The biggest issue would be cost.

That new profile pic looks like it took some thought.

You should have calculated the food a human requires , not the average American

the average american consumes 1 ton of food, yes, but in a situation like this i think most people would eat a lot less so you can round it down to 600kg(assuming it's metric tons), like you never see overweight people in the vaults, and this is because they don't have the abundance of food that we have today

1:13 you use Storyteller say, nice I love it.

I see only 1 issue with this one. The 25000 tons. The standard American diet is about 2-3 times more than we need to survive. With rationing and supplementation, You can easily cut it down to about 10,000-12,000 tons/25 yrs. or 80,000-96,000 tons for 200 years. Depending on what you store, its just a mid sized warehouse.

In the fallout bible and other fallout stuff it is explained that most of the food production and recycling is done by machines behind walls and in sealed off areas. Whole caves with nothing but machines, hell if graygarden could run for 200 years without a major collapse why couldn't each vault have a green garden in a seperate sealed cave.

Surviving a "direct hit": It depends on what you mean by "direct hit." We know that NORAD is rated to survive a 30 megaton bomb but this does not mean surviving a 30 megaton warhead literally carted up to the bunker's doors. It survives in part because it's tunnel structure leading to the doors helps redirect the energy so that it is not a sustained assault on the metal. Remember, just because something is high temperature doesn't mean that it has the capacity to melt something else. First off we are concerned with the total thermal energy stored (BTUs) and not just how concentrated (temperature) Second we are concerned about the capacity of said object to transfer this thermal energy (influenced by contact time, material type and the temperature difference between the objects.) Third we are concerned with the target object's capacity to absorb the energy which is greatly influenced by the object's mass. So if we are concerned with just the thermal assault on the metal, a thin door actually may have the yield strength to survive the kinetic energy transferred by the shockwave but is so thin that the thermal energy transfer will just melt it. How thick does something need to be to survive the thermal energy depends on the length of time the blast is in contact with it, we have seen in Hiroshima deformed bicycles, bottles and coins instead of pools of metal because the blast did not sustain long enough to melt them completely. NORAD is capable of surviving a bomb basically on it's doorstep because the tunnel system prevents the energy from staying pressed against the door. Depending on the Vault tech design a similar situation could be observed. This is especially true of fallout 1 and 2 vaults as opposed to Bethesda's retarded revised door system later in the series. Original fallout doors are designed so that the pressure of the blast will press the door tightly into the door frame ensuring seal against the radiation. In Fallout 3 onward the doors instead of opening outward open inward, essentially meaning it's just a big unsupported block of useless metal waiting for a bomb to literally blast it off its track and into the vault killing everyone.

Y'all should do a video about the history of Power Armor, the different models, specifications, and how they work! :D

Sorry for the late post. Traveling back from PAX East took FOREVER!!!! Enjoy! Follow us on Facebook | Facebook.com/ShoddyCast Follow us on Twitter | twitter.com/ShoddyCast Follow Austin | twitter.com/arhourigan Support the show | www.patreon.com/ShoddyCast

How did this Order of Protection come about. That is a story i'd like to hear on another day

Do you actually send these letters into Bethesda? Just curious...

Vaults are suppose to have hydro-agricultural farms. Don't really see them in games, but it was set in lore in the Vault Dweller's Survival Guide all the way back in Fallout 1. Too much of a lore freak not to put that out there.

i think that people would eat a lot less in a vault, and people ate less food in the 1960.

I know you published this one month ago, but I'd like to point out a gloss-over in this video. The melting point of the vault doors Vs the heat of a nuclear bomb. Yes, I admit, the temperature at the moment of ignition is well in excess of the melting point of tungsten, but the X factor is this; how long is it maintained? An ice cube dropped onto a frying pan doesn't blink out of existence. It takes a period of time for heat to permeate any object. Those vault doors are between two and three feet thick. Even if the surface layers begin to ablate and liquefy (or potentially vaporize entirely) would the duration of the heat be long enough to get through before it begins to dissipate?

8:25 Food like Fancy Lads or Instamash all have preservatives that let them last for 200+ years.

Technically Alpha radiation is most HARMFUL, but it can't penetrate skin, so isn't as threatening in terms of nuclear weapons. However, ingestion of an Alpha-emitter would be far more deadly than any possible threat from Gamma.

What about mentality? People may go insane...

These The Science of videos are some of the most intriguing for me on RU-vid and I just want to say keep up the awesome work Shoddy (this is my favorite one)

Aquaponics

Do a Dear Bethesda 'bout not upgrading the fricking Game Engine.

Tunnel snakes approve.

I would love to see your take on the train in the movie Snowpiercer. How possible would it be to make a self sufficient train, and what requirements would there be? Population constraints, maintenance, food etc.

Hi ShoddyCast! I recently ran a Fallout themed experiment for Research for my Biol. major, attempting to investigate the potential rates of mutations in populations of Drosophila flies when exposed to radiation. While my school lacked the equipment to use gamma radiation (ended up using UV), I did come across a litany of past studies done in the US about the feasibility of large scale nuclear shelters, survival planning and rates, high value targeting, etc. This was a great vid! And I totally agree that while we have the ability to sustain life in such a shelter as those in Fallout, it requires a large amount of logistical planning and foresight to ensure survival for even 25 years! A lot of thought went into the vid, and it shows in all the vids the crew of ShoddyCast puts out! Keep up the great work! One last thing, while surviving a nuclear attack may seem hard, home-built fallout shelters were only necessary for as little as 2 weeks to more than 1 month for areas with higher levels of radiation, due to decay rates. It was assumed that once the exchange had ceased and the fallout radiation died down, you would have a situation similar to the game 60 Seconds, where the government/military would signal the all clear, or aid in evacuation.

I wasn't aware the vault experiments idea wasn't in the first game.

since the beggining on the video i was nonstop eating bannanas and when he said radiation in bannanas i was like .__. oh....ok 'nom'

The engineering behind actual nuclear bunkers is interesting. The Cheyenne Mountain Facility (former location of NORAD) is actually a giant chamber filled with buildings, which sets on a giant bed of springs. The springs absorb the majority of the shock from the bombs, so the facility is more or less intact.

In Fallout Tactics, Vault 0 (which is/was the central control for the Vault network) is accessed by detonating a nuclear bomb right outside the main vault door. Vault 0 is/was supposed to be the most secure Vault in the network, and located in the Fallout universe where N.O.R.A.D. is located in our world, in a similar facility which was upgraded to be substantially strong. Also, other than VaultTech's statements on the matter in the Bethesda games, the original games put the strength at being able to withstand indirect blasts withing one mile of the main access for the vault.

The food weight is way off considering you are looking at nutrition and overall caloric count not it's weight. For example a well balanced dense survival ration could have 5-6k calories and weigh very little. You also have to consider what a human NEEDS to survive and maintain a healthy weight. What most people eat is well over what they actually require.

Didn't vault 101 have an open door for certain people, so they wouldn't need all the food, as traders would also sell some

Oh, well I get to call bullshit on the first point. The point of two percent failure rate on direct hit. I do remember seeing a documentary a while back showing high class shelters designed for government officials in today's time can survive direct blasts of up to 20 megaton bombs. And as we know that' because direct impacts are impossible because the vaults are underground. And we also know from the last video the bombs used in fallout were typically around 200-750 kilotons. That coupled with future technology I think 2% failure rate is a very conservative number.

In fallout 3, before you leave, a few people mention that the vault was not always closed. Perhaps they traded with the people in settlements such as Megaton, Rivet City and the like.

Austin you missed a bit of info about how well structures can be built to survive a direct nuclear blast. the short of it is it is far more easy to do so than you stated. Take the now decommissioned Cheyenne Mountain Complex which built using 60s technology was capable of surviving a 30 megaton nuclear blast within 2 kilometers that's literally within the fireball! As you established earlier atomic weapons in the world of Fallout were much smaller at between 200 and 750 kilotons. The upper end of that scale is only 1/40th of what a real world complex could withstand nearly point blank! putting this into prospective it is fairly easy yo believe that the more well constructed vaults like vault 81 (given most of it is an elevator ride down) would survive a direct blast since the bombs in the Fallout universe are just so damn small compared to the real world! The real challenge is leaving since large amounts of debris would likely block the doorway. Cheyenne mountain solved this by having doors wide enough to drive heavy construction equipment through and parking excavators inside. They also had an on staff crew of engineers and an empty building for spoil when it came time to dig out. The vaults didn't have this as you would see some form of garage near the entrance but you don't. So in conclusion a vault could probably survive an in universe atomic blast but the occupants would be buried for good. Sincerely, LORDOceanus

Dunno why, but I laughed my arse off at that banana line.

Well the one thing that Fallout tech has slowed is good expirations if you notice, Fallout food is all canned, boxed or ready to eat. So a lot of food wouldn’t go off, or would not become harmful to eat, so Vaults could stock up on food that is in such large amounts that it lasts for hundreds of years.

Hey man I enjoy your extremely detailed videos. You really get into them really good

Dear Austin, You know what I want you to cover? A follow-up to the Vaults but with a focus on Human Relationships? I mean think about 1000 people in an enclosed space...what about difference races and how they are handled? Marriage? Puberty? Factions and groups and splintering. Entertainment, music and culture. I mean the Vault leaders can decide to ignore certain parts of history, religion, etc and raise a group of mindless followers. Everyone could grow up marrying their sister....so and so forth. Think of the implications that would have for the opening of vaults 10,20,30 years later, etc. What about death? Burials or cremations, etc? Sincerely, VincentCecelia

A...a story for another day? Austin. Austin, when will we see him again. Tell us!

So it’s 2020 I just started watching, seen probably 50 of Austin’s videos and this is the first one where he isn’t yelling. And Man it’s surreal

It's so bitter sweet watching these, I love your videos but am yet to play this game!!! Well done :)

Reading the comments like I'm at school STOP. USING. BIG. WORDS. This nigga is a simple man, not a egg head.

The vaults are made by Alabama confirmed.

The way he starts every video with that absolute silence kills my tinnitus

Reminds me a bit off all these old bunkers and shelter-rooms in lots of mountains and below almost every apartment-buildings here in sweden. They were only there for the initial blasts though, no concern for what would jappen after ^^

New profile pic could be better...

your character's name is Shoddy McPoop (3:20 ish)

6:30 the first 24 hours of oxygen should come from internal stored oxygen, after that it would be safe to extract from the outside

Dude you have made me learn more about stuff then my last 2 years of school..how?!

What about Hydroponics? Wouldn't that solve the food issue?

in fallout 2 there is a place called the glow whic got rekt after getting hit with a nuclear bomb.its roof is gone

you can see the materials a vault door is made of because the fallout 4 vault 88 that was added by the dlc with the ghoul overseer will give you a old style vault door from the vaults in the first games that you can build in a workbench

Good job. I'm totally getting into the vaults when the bombs drop

Institute underground base are considered as Vault if you ask me. For some reasons, it is the most success Vault than others. Experiment : Vault full of scientist instead ordinary people.

What if they had layers of materials that were intended to vaporize instantly, thus creating an insulating layer of gasses. Similar to how tank armor that explodes when hit works?

i just realized that was the music that plays when you dock at a space station in elite dangerous

I'd love a video on food preservation technology! I've learned about it before, in social study classes and post harvest agriculture procedure, but there's a lot of history, technology and expansions that we simply didn't go in depth on, and not in a contextualized way, of their relation to each other, or meeting specific hypothetical requirements. It's an interesting and relevant topic, food preservation. Plus I think it's decently trendy, with fermentation crazes, and public affinity for smoked and candied foods, if we're talking chemical preservation as opposed to developments in storage and packaging

Well, people had been coming in and out of Vault 101 likely trading for food and water.

Wait, are you joking about the order of protection or no?

Just found your channel and it's amazing

the topic you mentioned: feasibility of cryo sleep would be a pretty interesting topic man!

I love you guys to bits, but that thumbnail is vanilla as fuck, yo.

What happened to the "fucks"?

8:05 what you forgot was tgat vault 101 was open for many years and tgey even traded with settlements and caravans before the overseer decided to close the vault.

the 25 year vault is doable with a warehouse of more food equal in size to the Tesco Ireland distribution center, as well as a hydroponics bay which could be expanded into the warehouse area as MREs were eaten

So why does nobody want to talk about New Vegas? Please, somebody help me with this.

"a story for another day." Does that mean that we'll be seeing the cryo stuffs in the first episode of Fallout 4: Storyteller?

8:03 "Quarter Decade" 25 years is a Quarter Century.

Project Brazil is a New Vegas mode with their setting uses a modeled 1000 occupancy vault btw. It's another fun mode like Tale of Two Wastelands.

Support ShoddyCast by using G2A. Or support the people who make the games and don't use G2A.

Is that serious, about the restraining order?

It is possible for an aquaponics farm, but again a like you said it would take a lot of space, time, know-how, repairs & maintenance, and recyclability(water, fish food, and filtration).

nice... "a story for another day"... just epic

i feel like after a year of working at the shoddy cast you would start saying ''thats a story for another day'' alot...

It becomes much easier by not feeding vault inhabitants as much as the average Americans eat.

It can be read on terminals in vault 101 that there were sometimes patrols sent to the surface, and I imagine they had a good way to produce lots of food

For the food storage I'd look at the SyFy show Ascension they were growing food and keeping animals on the "ship".

Who won the pipboy????

I'm calling bullshit on the doors. As far as I'm aware, all of the final, sealed vault doors are not directly exposed to the outside, but inset down a tunnel. Secondly, the time of exposure to that high of heat isn't long enough to slag the entire thing. Third, are the doors stated to be JUST solid steel? Are there any ceramic plating sandwiched between? The thermal fluctuation between them would insulate against one another, even if the gases, adhesives, the material itself of the layers. Fourth, you nixed your previous findings of the payloads of the nukes used. Yes, temperatures at ground zero can be that high, but with what weapons? We're not talking about Hydrogen bombs here, but relatively infinitesimal tactical nukes, barely more potent than dirty bombs.

i cackled real hard after the banana XD

Good vid. I would like to add two things: 1. the melting point of a blast door might be lower than the temperature of an A bomb explosion, but it's applied very briefly - it could melt it a bit, probably not the whole way through (the USA tested atom bombs on a captured japan battleship - an explosion near buy sunk it, but didn't melt it, as far as I know). 2. You could, with proper technology preserve food almost indefinitely. Honey doesn't spoil. Fruit cake (the dried thing rapped in foil) is as eternal as a fossil. Canned food could last very long. 200 years? Well, it's hard to say. Dehydrated foods (uneatable unless mixed with water) would probably last that much. But you are right of course, growing food is the way to go.

Can you talk about the mysterious stranger ever?

Again, the original logo was better

The first SCIENCE! video that doesn't have a goddamned terrifying.

Your series has taught me more Than the chemistry teachers paid to teach me about nuclear energy at my school