Were (, are, will be) the Vault-Tec vaults actually a starship prototype? Is it a part of official lore or a fan speculation?

[kerbiloid]

Some time ago I've watched a youtube about the Vault-Tec vault program and Enclave actual aim.

(In Russian)
(Caution: a disgusting opening image).

Spoiler

 

Everyone knows that the Vault-Tec vaults were a part of psychological/sociological study (though with idiotically planned experiments).

Which is strange itself because who needs it after the total nuke.

***

They state that actual aim of Enclave together with Vault-Tec was to build a colonial transport and send some of survived humans to another star and colonize it.

So, as Enclave considered the then-future total nuclear war inevitable, they were planning an interstellar ark (probably populated with most healthy humans, that's why they are fixed on eugenics and so).

As Vault-Tec was already going to implement the population preservation program, they formed an alliance, so the famous Vault-Tec vaults were actually mockups of a future starship to study the psychological and sociological aspects of isolated human collectives for free, and use them in the final development of the ark (after the war, somewhere in Enclave base).

***

Everything but the ark I had read before.

Is the ark actually a part of the lore (then it explains a lot), or is it a speculation of the video authors?

Edited April 4, 2021 by kerbiloid

[Starhelperdude]

I'm going to play some FO today xD

I think it is actually lore, though I'm not an expert

[Just Jim]

I wish I had an English translation... but I picked enough of it to be very intrigued
Oh... I have a confession to make... I'm a late comer to the game, but I'm a big ol' Fallout fan
I'm currently playing FO4 on Survival mode, which is awesome... and I am really fascinated by all the little details, including, and especially, the Vaults... and I'm doing my best to leave no corner unexplored
The Vaults are all horrible in their own special, unique ways... and I've wondered if there was a higher purpose to the madness. And while I do not recall seeing any direct evidence of an Ark... at least not yet... I find the idea very plausible. 
I could make a long list of the different known vaults and each's experiments... but I don't want to spoil the fun for anyone that hasn't visited them yet.
But when you tie them all together, yeah, a starship could be a possibility... could be... maybe... idk if we'll ever really know... or if we really want to

 

[kerbiloid]

25 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

I wish I had an English translation... but I picked enough of it to be very intrigued

The video mostly describes known facts of Fallout lore, so the brief extract about the ark is actually all it has added.
After that it just brings the description of various vaults as corresponding aspects of space flight. ("The vault #X... was to study what if the spaceship lacks Y.")

I just never met before an explanation of all this megalomaniac experiment, while the ark hypothesis, imho, matches the picture closely.
So, I'm not sure if the "ark" is a part of lore I had missed before, or this is an original author speculation. Anyway, it looks very good.

Upd.

Also it states than Enclave was actually the government and other elite organization, Vault-Tec was obviously one of main sponsors of them, and so was actually under the Enclave commandment. So, actually, the vault project was actually a governmental experiment under the preservation program, whose Plan B was to build the interstellar ark. (Vaults and Ark were two sides of the coin).

The Vault 0 (from the very first Fallout), according to the video, was the HQ of the whole project, collecting information from all other vaults.
Success of any other vault was not essential, the collected info was.

Edited April 4, 2021 by kerbiloid

[DDE]

AFAIK it is official. Vault-Tech actually has a space colonization-themed exhibit at the Nuka-World theme park from the last FO4 DLC.

However, don't be surprised the Fallout lore is a disjointed mess.

FO4 also includes an engine for the US manned Mars mission being tested. There's no evidence that an Ark was ever anywhere near being built - claims to the contrary seem to come from the lore to the abortive "Van Buren" version of FO3.

Edited April 4, 2021 by DDE

[Just Jim]

32 minutes ago, DDE said:

AFAIK it is official. Vault-Tech actually has a space colonization-themed exhibit at the Nuka-World theme park from the last FO4 DLC.

However, don't be surprised the Fallout lore is a disjointed mess.

FO4 also includes an engine for the US manned Mars mission being tested. There's no evidence that an Ark was ever anywhere near being built - claims to the contrary seem to come from the lore to the abortive "Van Buren" version of FO3.

Ahhh, OK. I got the location for Nuka-World from someone... a merchant I think???  But I haven't been there yet.
And yeah, the FO lore is a mess... but I kind of like it that way. I know it might be easier if there was some definitive history somewhere... but finding just little bits and pieces here and there in terminals or whatever... and not having things quite match up exactly... Someone to me that feels more realistic in a post-apocalyptic world

[kerbiloid]

Probably that's it. I didn't play either Fallout-4  DLC, or Van Buren, so it sounds explanative.