They were sealed and the experiments entered their decisive phase. When October 23, 2077, came and the Great War took place, the Vault-Tec air raid sirens blared, but the cry wolf effect resulted in just a fraction of people going into the Vaults. The purpose of this experiment was to gather data for the Enclave's own projects, the exact purpose of which is unclear.

Some were not provided with enough food synthesizer for their population, others had only men in them, or were designed to open prematurely. The 105 other Vaults featured a variety of scenarios, ranging from annoying to downright lethal, to gauge how humans acted in these scenarios for their own, nefarious purposes. Only 17 of the Vaults were designed to work properly as control Vaults. Rather than act to save humanity, Vaults were built to test their population as part of the Societal Preservation Program. After establishing control over Project Safehouse, they subverted it to their own ends.

However, even if they didn't, the shadow government decided against Vaults being shelters for preserving humanity. Ongoing drills in completed Vaults slowly created a cry wolf effect: Turnouts for the drills fell as the years went on, limiting the Vaults' future role in ensuring the survival of humanity. Ethical concerns were dismissed as counter-productive and close-minded. The prototypes were meant to convert 'useless' exercise into a socially-useful activity, manipulate the moods of the dwellers or even develop crude forms of mind control. Human lives were considered irrelevant, with quick iteration time given a priority. Unlike other Vaults, Vault-Tec would send test subjects before any disaster scenario, starting in early 2078. Once Vault 88 was fully operational, the company expected to roll out new devices every fiscal quarter.

For this purpose, an entire Vault was set aside to act as proving grounds intended to test a variety of prototype devices with the aim of rolling them out through the rest of the Vaults. The company decided to use them as test environments to create technologies that could be used to redefine society. Regardless of nuclear war, Vault-Tec had its own plans for Vaults. Despite these problems, Vault-Tec began advertising Vaults in newly annexed Canada, though these were in the early stages of completion. Some Vault construction was delayed due to work stoppage. Most were completed by 2063, although the construction of several Vaults was delayed, particularly Vault 13 (which only started construction in August 2063) and the network surrounding Washington, D.C. Some of these miracles manifested as breakthroughs in construction technology, allowing for these gargantuan bunkers to be constructed at a rapid pace. Yet for all these problems, Vault-Tec was able to create a number of cutting edge technologies and develop shelters that legitimately protected the inhabitants. Lack of oversight led to consistent mismanagement, corruption, and embezzlement defining Project Safehouse before the War, even before taking the atrocious Vault experiments into account. The staggering cost was further increased by the circumstances: As crucial elements of national defense, much of the project was classified and protected under the New Amended Espionage Act, and the corporation received broad privileges in enforcing security, up to and including authorization for its private security to use lethal force if Vaults are activated. Vault 13's budget was $400 billion dollars, and by the end of its construction the total costs reached $645 billion, well over 150% of the initial figure. The impoverished government financed the project with junk bonds and even then, only commissioned 122 of these shelters nationwide, allowing less than 0.1% of the population to save their life in the event of the holocaust.

This investment in cadre would pay off in the early 2050s: When the Euro-Middle Eastern War, the New Plague, and the collapse of the United Nations resulted in a nationwide scare, the government set Project Safehouse in motion in 2054. America's preeminent nuclear defense corporation existed as early as 2031, when it acquired and re-branded Morgantown's local college as Vault-Tec University, with some of their top executives and scientists either teaching or graduating from there.

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