[quote=@Kuroneko]
[@Thang]
Just a few questions about the Vault, now you say that it wasn't an experiment Vault, which means it's a control Vault, designed to open after a certain period of time. Would that mean that our Vault is in fact open? Could we have people whose job it is to explore and trade with the outside world? Maybe the Vault door is only opened to allow them to come and go?
[/quote]

I thought it was a control vault; I looked for the term, but those vaults were always designed to automatically open at a specific time, so I assumed they were actually experiments too. 

This vault is in the full control of the inhabitants. They can come and go as they please, but only with the Overseer's approval. People have gone outside before, but only for emergencies, such as external repairs to the vault's front wall and the like. 

But yes, people can go beyond the vault. It depends on what kind of Overseer we have, as to how easy that may be. If the Overseer is like "Well, it's time to see what the surface looks like!" then go for it. If they're like, "NO, WE MUST NEVER LEAVE!" then sneaky/law breaking actions are going to be required. 

The general idea is that SOMETHING will happen to the vault. I don't know what. It's down to all of us. 

A technician might notice that the water chip needs replacing/a Security Officer may hear knocking on the outside of the vault door, someone might create a mentally unstable NPC who uses the maintenance stores to create an explosive - anything really. All I know is, at some point, one of us will be like "well, this is boring, LETS HAVE FUN!" and then who knows where we'll go from there? 

That's the fun of a sandbox.