Vault-Tec Started the Great War? | Myth & Lore 

Tim Cain did say, accidentally, that China dropped the bombs because the US was developing the FEV

I think the biggest piece of evidence countering the “Vault-Tec did it” argument is the fact that so many vaults were unfinished when the Great War started. If they wanted to test their vaults, those vaults would need to be completed and secured first before that happened. We see plenty of unfinished vaults in every game, some of them barely even having started constructions. Some didn’t even have staff in them. No matter what their plan was, they would have needed the vaults finished before they did anything.

The greatest evidence in the show that Vault Tec did not drop the bombs is that Janey is with her father when they fell instead of with Barb in a vault. She was involved with the planning and said her only goal was protecting her family. Her whole deal was getting them a place in a "good vault".

Something you seem to ignore completely is the fact that the *manufacturer* of a weapon is not necessarily the same as the *user* of that weapon. Weapons are sold, stolen, and misplaced all the time. Even in our timeline, there have been a shocking number of Broken Arrow incidents where American nuclear bombs could theoretically have fallen into another faction's hands. I wouldn't put it past Vault-Tec to make and sell nukes to whomever is willing to pay, and I also wouldn't be surprised if America gave nukes to a country that then sold them or betrayed America, in the Fallout universe.

Bombs? You want them? Its yours my friend! As long as you have enough rupees

I would add a few points to clear up this mess. 1, The Triggerman Ghoul in the Fo4 quest "Unlikely Valentine" said this when being asked about the security of the vaults: "Because they (Vault-Tec) weren't planning to use it, you Moron. We (Union?/Government?) used to pull this kind of con all the time before the War. Get a bunch of union boys to work some construction job that would go nowhere. Keep everyone on payroll" In which Vault-Tec was already making money through the Government with contracts as seen in vaults 114 and 76. The Union of course getting its cuts and Uncle Sam with his taxes on those paychecks as well. In which cost overruns and extensions. Brings back to the point you made that many of the vaults were "unfinished" when the bombs fell proving there was an unexpectedness and unpreparedness of the events. 2, What good is money and profits if you aren't alive to use it? In all reality there is no real capitalist/financial incentive or motive, post war, for dropping the bombs. You lose your customers, money, and power to the ruthless wastes. (All citizens who would've bought seats, government and union contracts, and corporations are all gone. Even Robbert House lost Robco and its manufacturing capabilities and power to the bombs and proves that corporations would die in the apocalypse.) Even if The Enclave (or other corporations) gets remote access to the vaults and exerts its power and experiments for a reconquered wasteland in "its (vault-tec) image", the vault-tec leadership and investors just sold their underground "utopias" (Their Only real money makers) to the US Government for study and they lose out on the potential profits of milking the event further and forever or faking the bombs dropping and extorting the scared civilians while keeping them away from the curious public above wondering where their families and friends went. At least in that case they could finish their vaults, build and sell more, sell more seats, and rinse and repeat while using the US Government, corporations, and media's propaganda to cover up any investigations against them, labeling "conspiracy theorists" as pro communists. The Government/The Enclave could even use vaults as concentration camps as they did with the sino-americans during the war. It would bring justification to any wrongdoings found out about the experiments to the public as they were war criminals. 3, In the Switchboard in Fo4 on a Terminal for DEFCON status for the year of Oct 2077 the terminal announces that there are reports of 3 USOs or Unidentified Submerables off the coast of Cali (Not even mentioning The Yangyze off the coast of Boston.) As well as airforce reports of having Eyes on possible squadron of Chinese airplanes at High altitude off the Bering Strait before 4 probable launches being detected as well as confirmed "birds in the air", Shortly after Pennsylvania and New York were hit by atomic blasts. This plus the Enclave claim in Fo2 and the victories in the Chinese front as well as the Chinese finding out about the FEV all push for China to be the final launchers of the bombs.

That's wild to me. 'We're gonna prevent war by ensuring that future generations will be brought up to be just like the people who had a vested financial interest in starting the upcoming war: us!"

Even if the symbol on the bomb was the Vault Tec one. Theres an old war practice where pilots or gunmen would draw enemy logo's/symbols on their shells, missiles, and bombs as a sort of F-You to the enemy. Basically getting blown up by their own symbol. So the Chinese pilots or whoever could've done that, especially considering how close Megaton's nuke is to Vault 101 and the airport the first settlers used to build the town

Former military pilot here, I will explain as rationally and simple as possible and I believe you will be satisfied with your evident answer for the very first time as to who dropped the bombs first. Honestly, I didn't even know that this topic was still an issue and being discussed among the people as it was right there all obvious to me but today after finishing the show and I must say I loved it, seeing this video I realized that it is interestingly still a mystery. I know and played the whole game series and as of today I know the discussions on the entire Vault-Tec started theory but that's neither the Vault-Tec insignia on that bomb in Megaton nor they detonated any bomb on the US soil. A simple comparison of the original Vault-Tec insignia from the game files with the one on the Megaton bomb shows that they are not identical by any means. A clean version of the bomb insignia also exists on the internet so feel free to check that out, they are simply different. However, these bombs have a major role on grasping and understanding the logic behind as to who started it all. These bombs matter scientifically and from lore perspective. Because they are the only real traces for the eyes and minds just like the pieces of breads in the Hansel and Gretel. Aight so, that insignia on that bomb in Megaton also exists on all of the same model bombs inside the Fort Constantine military base, of which was built and used by the US Army since 2043 till the day bombs fell. Meaning that it is, and in fact all the nuclear bombs you come across in wasteland including 'The One' near Devil's Throat and the other in Sacred bog during the hallucination scene are all %100 US Army nuclear bombs from the US Army inventory, type C-23 Megaton model to be more specific, obviously not Chinese and we see these bombs fell, which is being literally the very *key word* here, on the US soil and also found in a US Army base. Now this, actually tells a lot if you are not a layman without a military education and background on the weapons of mass destruction and how this entire...how to put it; *The End* , process happens, well, when that happens. And my hat is off to the script writers for their seamlessly coherent scenario because they knew it. Yeah. They knew it and put it there as a hint because its the only real hint and I mean it. And I believe they wanted you to search, observe carefully and figure it out yourself. Now I know perhaps some of you did it in your own ways but with a little bit of simple attention others could have done too. Because evidence is all there and flawless with the script, and the lore. So here goes everything. Who launched the bombs first and why were US bombs dropped on American soil? China launched the bombs first. And the scientific logic behind it is simple; why do we find US bombs all around, why were the US bombs dropped on American soil? They were not dropped, they fell. They fell right after they were launched on the trajectory course, their flight path just like any aircraft or jets would have done so, and as they did so you come across them all around the wasteland. Why? See, munitions with nuclear warheads such as ICBMs or rather MIRVs (real bad bombs) not only destroy life on earth or earth's climate conditions after they explode, but they also cause a burst of electromagnetic radiation, which we refer to as Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse or EMP if you will, that creates a powerful electromagnetic field, resulting in the temporary or permanent disabling of electrical and electronic equipment, causing a wide range of electrical failures and damaging electronic systems with current and voltage surges throughout the entire atmosphere and earth's surface, actually even above the atmosphere making it into the space, which is actually being the very reason you see all those fallen US bombs, satellites and some sort of damage on the other types of electronics in the game, such as terminals. The most vulnerable and the very first things EMP reached and affected in the game were those without any solid material between them slowing this very effect: planes and US nuclear missiles which were off the ground on their flight paths. This is what happened in Fallout and this is why you see fallen undetonated US bombs on the wasteland. The US was caught off guard. They launched the bombs *DURING* the Chinese nuclear warheads were exploding on the US soil. And that is actually why the reports on the terminals, like the one in Fort Constantine, are all accurate and telling the truth; the US was engaging to an actual Chinese attack as a *RESPONSE* . Now, if it was the other way around, or if it was -presumed- Vault-Tec or anyone else from inside the US, we would have seen evidence for 2 WAVES, this is very important, 2 nuclear bombardments targeting the US: the very first initial Vault-Tec attack, doesn't matter if it came with a couple of spoof bombs or rained down countless bombs from inside the US and no one saw it as it was happening (even funny while reading), triggering the actual US response. And the second wave, from China came in retaliation for the US attack, which the US carried out after the -presumed- Vault-Tec attack. It would have taken some time for Chinese missiles to reach the US and we would have known if the US started it all without anything. Right? Right. Well, none of these have happened. None. There is nothing, no evidence or whatsoever related to the Chinese wave came after a US attack. The US launched bombs simultaneously during the attack, causing some of its bombs to malfunction and fell on the flight path. And this is the only single reason we find these malfunctioned US bombs exist in the entire game. There is no other scientific, theoretical or rhetorical reason for their existence. As I said, if Vault-Tec or anyone else had launched a spoof attack, we would have seen evidence of 2 WAVES targeting the US as a result of a chain of events. The US bombs were also not launched first and obviously were not malfunctioned in the meantime. Meaning China launched the bombs first. I tried to explain in a simplified manner as much as I can, avoiding the military jargon and terms that might cause confusion so I hope I did well and it helped to clarify things for you. Should you have any questions, I would gladly answer them. Y'all have a wonderful day.

The Zetans dropped the first bomb. While many don’t like the fact that Mothership Zeta is canon, it is mentioned in that DLC.

The answer is probably up there with why the Master would ignore three vaults in his backyard.

I think that they bomb in megaton was just an American bomb that never got used. Like the bomber that carried it got blasted out of the sky (I assume that it was launched via bomber rather than icbm)

Vault Tech is basically the Enclave, so I'm not bothered too much when people say they did it. it's still canon the Chinese launched, but that doesn't really matter when Bethesda's laziness means the Megaton Bomb has the same skin as the one at Fort Constantine. The mysterious symbol is meant to be a royalty-free variant of the US Airforce symbol.

Hey Rad, I just wanted to say I binged your entire channel over the past month. It has been great content and I am happy to have found your channel. Glory to atom ⚛️

I feel its a little dumb making Vault-Tec the one who dropped the bomb there are plenty of examples of unfinished Vaults that we see throughout the games such as Vault 114, Vault 88, and I think the "fake vault 13" from Fallout 1 is a construction site for a Vault (if its still cannon). so why would Vault-Tec drop the bomb if a portion of there Vaults were still unfinished, wouldn't it be better to wait for the completion of all Vaults? I'm sure that there are plenty of examples of Vault staff and residents not making it in time, wouldn't they give the enrolled people and personnel ample time to make it to get the best out of there experiments (unless that was the intention of the experiment). I do think RadKing makes a great point of EMPs and such disabling delivery vehicles (planes, rockets, etc.) and causing there nuclear ordinance to rain down on America and thanks to the large amount of saftey on nuclear warheads to prevent Broken arrow incidents, would prevent them from detonating, and if Vault-Tec or a subsidiary really did drop them on home turf, why didn't they explode? And why would they leave there prints at the scene of the crime? (spoilers I think) I might be wrong on this one but in Fallout 4, Vault 111, weren't they testing long term cryogenic stasis and its effects, as in what happens. so why do we see soo many higher ups frozen in Vault 31 if they were skeptical of the viability and results? Copper Howards daughter is with him when the world is bathed by atoms Devine glow, and if barb knew or had a say in it, wouldn't she make sure her daughter and husband were berried deep below the surface when it would happen. I think that no matter who they say dropped the bomb there will be always people arguing about it and finding holes in the story. But in the end its whoever they say it is and we have to try and make it work

If I'm not incorrect, doesn't the enclave control vault tec, west tec, etc If so, won't it be more appropriate to ask why the enclave would start the great war

Haven't watched it all yet, but my theory is that it's not that Vault tech STARTED the great war, it's that they would've had it not happened itself

Ive seen a lot of people put to Barb Howard and say she said Vault-Tec did it, but she didn't. She just said Vault-Tec would be willing to if things didn't happen "naturally"

That intro is looking sharper

I honestly prefer it stays ambiguous. If the show is to be regarded as canon to the games, then the only thing we know for sure is that they had plans to drop nukes first, whether or not they did strike first is another story.

I think the best option for Fallout is to give ample opportunity for all involved to have been the ones who set everything off, but never give any concrete "they did it, and here's how/why". That way, the mystery stays a mystery, and folks get to explore the possibilities in videos and discussions like this.

It was me. I dropped the bomb.

Glory to Atom! Our Radking has released another banger!

I feel like bethesda wanted to take a big poop on interplays lore

So impressive how far this channel has come, from the intro to the humor and pacing. Keep up the good work brother

Everybody talking about vault tech but what about the boneyard where the heck is it?(They don't explain it in the show)(It takes place in LA and nobody mentions it?)

Wait, the Big MT rep was Sinclair? Why? Sinclair wasn't a military or scientific partner, he just agreed to work with Big MT to fund construction of the Sierra Madre, and was kept pretty in the dark about a number of the experiments going on there.

That entire scene with the meeting of the CEOs of the different companies can be calked up to the writers saying capitalism= bad

One has to note that the bomb in megaton did not detonate so it was not armed at the time. The most likely answer is that the plane was damaged by the EMP and he dumped the heaviest thing he could find. It would seem that he was unsuccessful as Megaton was built from parts of a plane.

Hello, father.

Greetings RadKing! You earned a new subscriber. Your videos on Fallout Bible and Fallout Cartography helped me drive across the country. So relaxing, and I learned so much! I know you like to pronounce things correctly (you taught me I'm saying "slough" wrong) so as a New Englander I thought I'd share this with you: #1 - You say Concord wonderfully in your Cartography videos! It's "Kahn-kerd" not "Con-corde" (the Con-corde is an airplane). Bravo! #2 - Natick is "Nay-tick." Almost "Naydick." #3 - Cambridge is "Caim-bridge." I thought that would interest you. Thank goodness they didn't use Worcester or Gloucester in Fallout 4. No one can get those right! Amazing videos. Keep up the great work, and EMBRACE THE GLOW :)

If the fallout 3 remaster ever comes out it'll be very interesting to see what they do for the logo on the bomb. It's so commonly misconstrued for a Vault Tec logo that they might just actually change it to one.

In my headcanon the megaton crater was made by a long-range bomber that was scrambled too late. Meaning it carried the bomb now in the center and its parts and those of similar planes strewn around the are was what was later used to construct the town. This would also give an explanation to why it didn't explode: It simply wasn't armed. Additionally I think they used the whole theory thing about the Megaton bomb and the scrapped movie to lead the audience on about Vault-Tec starting the war. It seems like a red herring that is going to be revealed as such through a twist later on in the story.

No matter what the canon explanation is, to me it will always be the aliens that started the Great War

You have quickly become my favorite Fallout channel, followed closely by Nate. Good stuff bro

Its important to note that Besthesda Fallout is more of a reboot, rather than a sequel, as lore is freely changed and seems to be more Lovecraft fantasy than hard sci-fi.

It would be fun if the symbol is used to represent west tec

I’m always happy when radking uploads.

You're mischaracterizing the conspiracy by saying Vault-Tec needed investment from other companies due to declining sales. Bud does acknowledge that Vault-Tec's sales are slumping, but denies that VT is in dire straits financially. Nor does he or Barb ask any of the other corporations for money or investment into Vault-Tec, they offer up the vaults for FREE on the condition that they help Vault-Tec start the Great War. So it's not just Vault-Tec starting the Great War, it's the entirety of corporate America plotting to destroy itself for the vaults.

Thank you muchly. Your insight is, as always, so much fun.

Just think if vault tec started the war then they wouldn’t be able to get anymore profit

Why would you self incriminate yourself but putting your logo on nukes? Thats a dumb argument in favor of this theory. And it was pretty clear by the Shi supercomputer in Fallout 2 that it was China but lets just retcon it all

I mean, the symbol is SO close that it could easily be a symbol of another *branch* of Vault- Tec... one that manufactures weapons. That said, it doesn't mean that THEY dropped the bomb - Lockheed and Martin don't *drop* the bombs they make. Looking forward to the show maybe telling us who did fire first!

The bomb in Megaton is from a fallen bomber plane. During the cold War many nuclear bomber planes were constantly on the sky waiting for orders. This one must have been damaged by the Chinese nukes that exploded in DC and fell out of the sky. This explains why the nuke didn't go off (it wasn't armed yet), why it's an American bomb, why it's in a crater, and why Megaton is made from plane parts.

The Enclave in the second game confirms that the Chinese struck first, and the Americans were winning the ground war prior. And The Enclave faction would know. They ordered Vault tech to do the experiments in order to prep for their space colony plans and study stuff(hence the main ones we learn about at the time are Isolation experiments and the Vault 12 radiation experiment). It's definitely possible they were planning a nuclear strike in the near-medium future to further their plans, but the disorganized nature of the Enclave post-war suggests they never got the chance. Perhaps someone leaked their intentions to the Reds and they decided to move first

I dont think its that much to say that the logo may be related to vault-tech when theory or lore crafting. If that be a subsidiary, joint partnership, project logo or a front company. I think people have to remember that none of these games (and most large settings in media) are made with a perfect complete image in mind, retcons and newly made lore will happen, if said lore is ever officially filled in. Like there isn't a true answer at this time but, I don't think its wrong to point to possible relations.

I always disarm the Megaton Bomb, it's the first thing I do whenever I get to Megaton.

I think the issue of who dropped the first bombs is secondary, Vault-Tec had a vested interest in the War starting. Vault-Tec built a large number of Vaults, most of which had some form of socialogical experiment in them. Once they had designed those experiments and set them up in the Vaults, they would want them to run, and for that to happen, the bombs had to drop so the residents would enter the Vaults. The show also leads me to believe that the purpose of Vault 11's experiment was to field test the cryogenic process before they froze their own people for "Bud's Buds". Vault 118 may have been for the same reason, to test the process before using it on high-level employees. Vault-tec may or may not have been the ones that actually started the War. I think it's clear they helped it along at the very least.

Honestly, I’m not surprised that Vault Tech is crazy enough to do something like this. They are so similar to Umbrella. I would love a Fallout game or TV series that focuses on the Pre War era.

I genuinely don't like this idea for a number of reasons. SPOILERS 1. Before the fallout show Vault Tec was just a greedy somewhat idiotic company that gambled humanity's future on silly and dumb social experiments. Evil but more so due to greed and incompetence. 2. The bombs being dropped by Vault Tec kinda take away from the theme "War never changes" Fallout is meant to be the aftermath of humanity's inability to compromise or find a better solution. Are natural drives to commit atrocities for our goals. Vault Tec doing this changes the meaning of corporations greed to profit off a conflict does in a way fit the theme but it's in a more roundabout way. 3. I find it Really Really dumb that you'd rather nuke the world to achieve what exactly? King of dust and bones? Every Vault Tec executive easily lived a better life Pre-War than they ever could post apocalypse. You had super models and cavier now you have rad roaches and ghouls. You had jacuzzis and luxury cars now you have radioactive rain and heavy Boots.....like what? This is like actively blinding yourself for sympathy. 4. Vault Tec despite not being a factor in post apocalypse somehow has the capability to wipe out and cripple NCR throwing it into complete chaos. I'm sorry what? And somehow they associate with the enclave and we only are hearing this now? It kinda makes it feel like the last 5 major fallout games lost a bit of their meaning. Vault Tec apparently could have simply nuked any wasteland threat if it got too powerful. TLDR Vault Tec is somehow responsible for everything that happened in Fallout from beginning to end and despite decades of lore this is just only being told now.

I love your history deep dive into this myth. Tracking stuff down on the internet is insane, seeing how trends, memes, and ideas start and proliferate.

What if, the bomb is part of a sister vault tec company so the symble is so simular but is under the vault tec umbrella

Honestly I don't think whoever started it should be revealed at all. Fallout is at its strongest when it's not agonising over what was lost, but rather building a better future. The non-bethesda fallout games understand this, especially Old World Blues.

(Seemingly) unpopular opinion: I hope we never find out who dropped the first bomb. For me, the point of fallout is to show that total war is the worst possible outcome for life. No one wins in this scenario. War is hell, and war never changes. Saying who dropped the first bomb, imo, diminishes this perspective on the series.

As someone who does sci-fi writing as a personal hobby i also started a fan-fic exploring the possibilities and potential of the Fallout universe and i cant help but feel we are all missing something when it comes to who started it. My purely speculative opinion formed over the years is that someone/a small group in a position of power in the US government got wise to Vault-Tec and the Enclave. In their investigation they find themselves trapped, cornered, with their only option to personally fly out some of Vault-Tecs own nukes in hopes of preemptively starting the war and catching Vault Tec/ the Enclave off guard, one of these would have been the Megaton bomb that was intercepted by the military over DC. Its hard to say but ide imagine these bombs weren't intended for the reds thousands of miles away, they were intended for Vault-tec and Enclave tagets, the ladder of which fared a bit better. It could also be an infiltration job, but i like this idea best where the most partiotic act of any American in the Fallout universe was in nuking their own country.... War Never Changes....

Even though Tim Cain has said that China dropped the first bomb. It doesn’t contradict the idea that Vault Tech could have orchestrated the circumstances leading up to it. I think that the company being behind it just adds more layers to the story.

Video dropped right as I'm looking for something to sleep to, god bless you Radking

I feel like they really dropped the ball with vault tech lore

I think the scene from the show actually helps to counter the argument that vault tec started the war. Why? Because that would mean Mr. House was a share holder, and we know from New Vegas that the platinum chip did not arrive before the bombs dropped. Why in the hell would Mr. House drop the bombs when he himself was not ready for them to be dropped? It could be that one of the other shareholders somehow found out about Mr. House's plans to circumnavigate the bomb dropping plans through the platinum chip so hurried the plan along, but I guess we would need to wait for more scenes before we can start to draw conclusions.

No one seems to have considered that the symbol was from the Chinese, either their air force or such.

I think it would be neat if the symbol turned out to be a secret nuclear division of VaultTec. It would make sense that they'd want some mark that it's their property, but miiiiight not want their public facing brand associated with a nuke when they're selling bunkers 😂

As Tim Cain is something akin to the grandfather of Fallout, I'm inclined to believe him when it comes to deep lore. He has a unique position in the creation and conception of this universe, which gives him a distinctive authority of it, that should be acknowledged.

Is fallout who drop le bomb first is just the fallout version of star war who shots first

It was Gandhi.

It reminds me a lot of the air force symbol (or w/e it is) on the P51 Mustang

So 1 thing that kind of irks me about the idea that the show presents, that Vault Tec was willing to start the bombing alongside a bunch of companies, is that Robert House being part of that discussion retcons a statement he makes in New Vegas. He says that he was able to save Vegas because he accurately calculated when it would all happen. If Vault Tec did drop the bomb and House knew about it then he didn’t calculate anything, he was privy to the details already

Hear me out. Maybe that logo on the bomb is vault tec, but perhaps a secret branch of the company. They could have had a top secret weapons division.

i’m just gonna drop why i headcanon vault tec starting the war: without a smoking gun, i have to wonder from a narrative perspective what “who dropped the bombs” actually means in terms of a story. I can’t really think of any meaningful difference between the US or China starting the war. no real symbolism or deeper meaning. Vault tec is a mega corporation that managed to monopolize the end of the world with a cute cartoon character. vault tec and weapons manufacturers actively stood to gain from stoking the fires of nuclear war. meanwhile, the ongoing war is over resources and expansion. it crafts a story about corporate greed, government greed, and the toxic waste made by combining them. in my headcanon, after governments and corporations started to buckle under their own weight vault tec were the only ones with the means, motive, and opportunity to wipe the slate clean in an ill-fated attempt to own the world that would rise after. this also can explain the experiments. it would take a lot of time and upfront resources to set those up, so why do it if they don’t plan to use that data somehow? if anyone actually reads this i’m interested in hearing ur thoughts but please don’t expect me to argue about my fallout HC, i’m not THAT cringe

A manufacturer would put its name on its bombs, any explosive large enough to stamp a logo on, really. Manufacturers aren't trying to hide the weapons and ammunition they produce, they want to sell their weapons to others, and also so that engineers know each specific brand of explosive for maintenance and use. This applies to tanks, guns, bullets, rocket rounds, grenades, etc.

Great Lore Video

If House was in the meeting, and knew the plan, why was he caught unawares when the bombs came? The biggest issue with the Vault-Tec theory is that Vault-Tec did not survive the war. That’s the whole reason they were supposedly starting the war. It would be like burning down your home for an insurance payout and dying in the fire.

Silly question, but who would still be using gravity bombs in 2077? You'd never get a traditional bomber anywhere near its target against 21st century air defense. Right?

When you asked why they would drop the bombs I always thought they ( enclave/vault TEC ) had some sort of robot or system like PAM (or even Pam herself) that basically reinforced their idea of starting a new world by telling them humans would go to nuclear war either way at some point so they thought fk it we will start it early.

Props on the amazing breakdown of the Megaton Vault-tec rumors. Its all good to have such arguments about a fictional universe, but taking sources into account and under scrutiny is important when trying to find out the truth. Especially when we run off rumours so much nowadays. I'm proud to see practices like this properly being used in entertainment, when its so lacking in even more serious topics. Academia aside of course. Praise be to atom and its scholars. 😊

So heres my take: Just because Vault Tec wanted to drop the bombs first doesn't mean they actually ended up doing it. It could be they wanted to, but China beat them to it. The original Fallout creators even said China was the first to drop the bombs because they found the US research on FEV

There's a Fat Man replica in the Ohio Air Force Museum.

I think they WOULD’VE tried to drop the bombs first, but due to the 3 vaults that are unfinished, 2 being 114 and 88 in fallout 4, then it’s safe to assume they didn’t drop the bomb first.

That symbol kinda looks like the reverse of the Vault Tech logo... so it wasn't Vault Tech .. it was Tech Vault!!

one thing i think is key to understand is that this doesn't outright confirm vault tec started the war, they were merely planning to ensure the war happened if the us or china didn't do it

Not canon

i remember hearing that it could be aliens trying to frame vault tec they copy the symbol but it gets lost thru translation or something

vault tec wouldn't have needed to drop every bomb, just one of two and then the pre-war paranoia does the rest.

It was China. Always was.

An interesting thing about Megaton/Vault101/Springvale is that it is in Real Life McLean VA, (All the Fallout 3 water towers say McLean) and the ZIP code for McLean is 22101.

I will say I think the biggest evidence Vault Tec didn't do it is just The wasteland itself. If Vault Tech had planned it out, then the entire wasteland should theoretically be under their control, or atleast one of them. However, not even the person who should've been the absolute most prepared, Robert Edwin House, was finished with his plans. I believe the person who made the Sierra Madre Casino was also at the meeting, and we know what happened to him. Not a single one of the people in that meeting were prepared, or were in the middle of preperations. Mr. House didn't even have his chip yet.

I just always figured it didn't look exactly like the Vault tec logo because it was old and worn out. Hell with the show doing what it's doing I wouldnt be suprised if that's retroactively what it becomes

I trust corporations less than I trust national governments, if only barely If only because I can count on the fact that a corporation will always do the worst possible thing in every situation without exception

In Fallout 4, we saw the starting minutes of the Great War at the Switchboard. The Ghost Fleet (an ultra secret Chinese project that the US Military didn't even want to pretend was real) pops up on scanners and launches its entire payload at West-Tek, New York, and Philly. NORAD retaliates.

I'm not sure even the show claimed Vault-Tec was exclusively responsible for dropping the bombs. Even if we accept the show as canon (which makes sense to me), It was at best a joint decision between multiple companies and at worst a crapshow where one or more companies detonated a nuke in order to kick off the war.

I would discount the tv show as in any way canonical. And if anyone is confused by that I mean that I don't consider the tv show to be canon. It's a typical bums in seats adaptation of a game series but instead of telling a good story that actually fits into the lore the producer and director ignore it to basically tell their own story that "happens” to be set in a beloved game series world. In other words it's a fanfic but isn't written by a fan.

Because as we know, causing the Nuclear Apocalypse is great for selling Apocalypse Shelters. (not) Yet another dumb retcon by the show.

Man I miss the days when Fallout 2 was the newest game in the series.

Its worth noting that the show never explicitly says that Vault Tec started the great war. Only that they discussed it.

Has anyone considered that it's a vault tech alternate logo? I mean, you can look through real life corporate logos to find alternate logos for tons of companies, especially ones that have lasted for more than a century.

Bethesda be like: "What does this "War Never Changes" mean? Oh! It means that humanity can't succeed or heal from the fallout! We must make everything destroyed and humanity impossibly unintelligent so our vision can be done!"

Doesn’t West-Tec dissolve into Vault-Tec? If so WT is known for its military background. Therefore would it be so far fetched to believe this is a West-Tec bomb and maybe there is a slight variance in logos with the rebranding?

Whatever the developers of the original game intended, I’m sure moving forward whoever dropped the first bomb will be purposefully obfuscated. The tv show lore suggesting Vault Tec would drop the first bomb may or may not be what actually happened.

Hey RadKing I have a question. Theres an unknown only-mentioned character named "Bagman" that's mentioned in FO3, Lonesome Road and FO76 new Update. Apparently he had high level clearance to fire the nuclear bombs at Fort Constantine and the Hopeville Silo. You think he could be the USA president from Before the War?

it's sad they decided to drop the generationship idea in favor of basic "corporation evil" do evil things for profit thing, way less compelling.

they will never blame china for the war simply because the show has to sell in china. Think about it