The map of Vault 112

Vault 112

One of the most valuable locations, Vault 112, is both fun and plentiful. It’s one of the best sources for Rad-X and upgrade materials. You may actually remember this one from Fallout 3:

Vault 112 was one of the last Vaults to be constructed. It was intended for only 85 occupants, suspended in a virtual reality world for the indefinite duration of the vault’s experiment.1

So, What Actually Is It?

A simulation! Grab your main squad and head out in search of Vault 112 tokens. You pick a node to go to, finish it, and move on. If it’s a combat node (all of them are outside battles btw), you get to pick a buff. If it’s a trading node, you get to trade. If it’s a recruitment node, you get a virtual dweller who will aid you here. A single combat node within this “event” grants you anywhere from 100 to 600 tokens. The standard prizes are:

  • 30 superb attachment upgrade material for 800 tokens
  • 3 vacuum tube amplifiers for 7200 tokens, allowing you to craft a single random SSR attachment, might be worth it to you
  • A treasured diary for 4800 - debatable whether it’s worth it
  • 10 attachment kits (of each type) for 1200 tokens Mysterious Treasure is a better and a cheaper source
  • A single trauma kit (revives a dweller in Vault 112) for 250 tokens Don’t die
  • A purple piece of a set of choice for 4800 Not worth it

Now, I crossed out a “few” prizes. Clearly, it’s not worth it sacrificing 180 materials in exchange for something you can get elsewhere cheaper. So, now that we know what we’re in for let’s talk about the tips and tricks to beating it. Note that I haven’t mentioned the Rad-X yet.

One more thing, once you beat a Vault 112 map, there are 2 more maps to go. You will gain additional tokens for winning the maps (hundreds). Your buffs will reset between each run.

Buffs from combat nodes

Things To Keep in Mind

  1. Don’t die. Ever. If you die, you’re going to either get stuck until the vault refreshes or until you waste 250 - 1000 tokens for a few resurrections.
    • Bring a healer and a tank; otherwise, you’ll be using healing nodes and sacrificing buffs/power for your squad
    • Don’t take on challenges you know you will not beat
    • Do not prioritize healing over a combat node unless it resurrects your fallen dwellers, as each buff increases the power of your squad
  2. Virtual Dwellers are not worth the risk if you have to fight for them
    • You will not beat a squad of dwellers in the virtual pub
  3. Contaminated nodes are more accessible than they look. The enemy might have 200 000 power, but there’s only one enemy there. If you have a good tank and a healer, go for it even if you’re tens of thousands of power below them.
    • They give 2 power batteries and lots of tokens. The second one is actually even weaker.
    • There are 2 contaminated nodes in each vault Contaminated nodes are actually easy to beat
  4. Always visit trading nodes, or at least do it if they have something you want. It’s a secondary source of prizes, and there’s 0 - 2 of them in each run, usually on the second map.
    • Usually, in case you want to buy out their stock, you’ll want to bring 300 - 400 pre-war money
  5. Prefer higher difficulty nodes if you can beat them
    • Not only do they give you more tokens, but they also hand out stronger buffs
  6. Prioritize higher rarity buffs, as they increase your power more
  7. Do not take buffs that don’t apply to you
    • If you do not have Strong, do not increase Strong’s attack by 40%; instead, take the 5% dodge bonus or whatever else is available.
  8. Don’t worry about radiation too much, especially if you come in with Neriah or Madison

Trader Nodes

As I’ve said before, trader nodes are a secondary reward. So you should always take advantage of them. I usually bring 300 - 400 pre-war money that I have in reserve just for this vault. It can sell all 3 rarities of Rax-X in bulk, which means 600, 1200, or even 2000 Rad-X can be gained per trader. Some traders have none, but some traders even sell multiples. The highest Rad-X amount I’ve ever gotten from a single Vault 112 run is somewhere at 4000 Rad-X.

Consider this, if a trader sells you 10 packets of 120 for 160 pre-war money, that’s cheaper than the lowest price when buying it directly. That’d be 20 for 120, then 40 for 120, etc. This way, you obtain 120 for 16, but ten times over.

An example of the trader's stock

  1. Vault 112. (n.d.). Fallout Wiki. Retrieved August 18, 2021, from https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Vault_112 ↩