Which Vault-Tec Vaults are referenced in the Fallout TV series’ season 1 finale?

Question

In the Fallout TV series (2024) Season 1 finale, Episode 8: “The Beginning," there's a scene where the top executives of the companies: Vault-Tec, RobCo Industries, Big MT, West Tek, and REPCONN Aerospace share ideas for the Vault-Tec Vault experiments.

Before the TV series, the Fallout video games first revealed that Vault-Tec’s Vaults were not just for survival; they were actually created to carry out a variety of experiments, many of which are heinous. Related question in Arqade: Which Fallout game was it first stated that vaults were designed to conduct experiments?

Barb Howard (Vault-Tec): We have over a hundred vaults spread across America. Enough for each of you to claim several, where you can play out your own ideas for how to create the perfect conditions for humanity. Whatever you want to do, no one needs to know. And may the best idea win.

Here are the (disturbing) vault experiment ideas the executives proposed:

Frederick Sinclair (Big MT): We could intentionally overcrowd a vault so people have to compete to survive inside it.

Julia Masters (REPCONN Aerospace): We have been developing a robot that delivers milk to the front door. It's quite intelligent. I would like to see a vault governed by it.

Leon Von Felden (West Tek): What about using a vault to develop a super-mutant soldier using illegal immigrants?

Frederick Sinclair: We could pump psychotropic drugs into the air supply.

Julia Masters: We could separate parents and children, and only the smartest kids reach adulthood.

Are these Vaults the same ones encountered in the Fallout video game series? If so, which specific Vaults are they referencing, and in which games did they make an appearance? 

Answer 1

Most of these ideas seem to be references to a collection of background material compiled/written in 2002 by Chris Avellone, a designer for Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas, and a cancelled Fallout project. This collection was called the Fallout Bible, and while it is not considered canon it seems to still be used as inspiration for the games and other media.

Frederick Sinclair (Big MT): We could intentionally overcrowd a vault so people have to compete to survive inside it.

Vault 27. This vault was assigned to 2000 people, but only designed to accommodate 1000. Mentioned in the Fallout Bible, and now (likely) the TV show.

Another possible reference is Vault 118, designed to have an overcrowded section assigned to working-class people and a luxurious section assigned to the wealthy. Appears in Fallout 4.

Julia Masters (REPCONN Aerospace): We have been developing a robot that delivers milk to the front door. It's quite intelligent. I would like to see a vault governed by it.

This does not seem to be a reference to any vault, either in the games or other material. A couple of vaults were governed by computers (Vault 0, Vault 51) but none of them were developed from a milk delivery robot, and just from my own memory of the games I have no idea what this could be a reference to.

Leon Von Felden (West Tek): What about using a vault to develop a super-mutant soldier using illegal immigrants?

Possibly Vault 87. The residents of this vault tried to developer super-mutants, but there was no indication that 'illegal immigrants' were used in the experiments. Appears in Fallout 3.

Frederick Sinclair: We could pump psychotropic drugs into the air supply.

Vault 106. This seems to be the only one that appears in a game directly as described in the show: psychoactive drugs were released into the vault's air supply 10 days after the vault was sealed. Mentioned in the Fallout Bible, and appears in Fallout 3.

Julia Masters: We could separate parents and children, and only the smartest kids reach adulthood.

Possibly Vault 29. Children under 15 were assigned to this vault, while parents were assigned to other vaults or otherwise diverted. This is mentioned in the Fallout Bible, though without the part about only smart kids reaching adulthood.

Another possible reference is Vault 75. Parents who entered this vault were executed, and the children were used in a eugenics experiment to create perfect super-soldiers. Appears in Fallout 4.