Interface and icons | Basics Fallout Shelter Guide
Last update: 01 June 2016
Amount of dwellers � The current amount of dwellers living in the Vault, including pregnant women, kids and heroes exploring the wastelands. The small number that might appear below represents the amount of dwellers waiting at the entrance to be accepted into the vault.
Satisfaction level � The indicator that shows dwellers' happiness. It is influenced by the satisfaction of all the dwellers. It can be increased by assigning them to proper rooms or successful use of "Rush". After clicking the indicator you can check the production bonus - the higher the satisfaction, the more significant the bonus will be.
Energy � Energy is required for powering the rooms. If you lack the energy, the rooms that are most far away from the generator will be turned off as first.
Food � Food is needed for the dwellers. If you won't have enough of it, dwellers' health will start to deplete.
Water � Clean water also affects the Vault dwellers. If you won't have enough of it, the radiation will start affecting the dwellers and they will start to receive damage.
Caps � The amount of caps possessed, which are the currency in the game. Caps are used mostly for room building, upgrading them and for resurrecting the dead dwellers.
Build menu � The window that allows you to build new rooms. In order to build, unlocking the room first is required (it is done by reaching a certain population level) and having a specific amount of caps. After marking an already existing room, an dot that allows you to upgrade it will appear.
Vault door � This is where new dwellers appear. The door is also the first place attacked by enemies. When moving a dweller out of the Vault, you can send him to explore the wasteland. Door endurance can be increased, it will force the attackers to waste more time behind they get through.
Inside of the Vault � This is where all your buildings can be found, placed as you want. Remember about leaving some space to upgrade them and about assigning the dwellers with specific statistics to proper rooms. When a room is used for production, after it produces something an icon will appear - click on it to gather the resources. By clicking on a room you can also check how much time remains until the production is done or use the "Rush" option.
PipBoy � Opens a side menu.
Options � Game options.
Survival guide � Here you can use the in-game help and check the list of unlocked weapons, outfits and legendary dwellers.
Storage � A list of all weapons and outfits that you have and that are currently on the storage (which means they aren't used by any citizen). The capacity of the storage can be increased by upgrading the Storage Room.
Objectives � Here you can check all currently active objectives, your progress and rewards for completing them.
Lunchboxes � Here you can open the received (or bought) lunchboxes.
Take picture � This button allows you to take a picture of your Vault.
During the game, interface doesn't change significantly. The most important statistics are available all the time with a view on the interior part of the Vault. On the left upper corner you can find the information about population of your Vault [1] (by clicking on it you will open a list of dwellers that you can freely sort) and the level of its resident's satisfaction [2] In the middle you can see the level of resources: energy [3], food [4] and water [5].
When you click on any of listed resources, you can check the exact level of them. On each icon there is a line which indicates a limit that shouldn't be exceeded if you want to avoid negative effects (power loss, dwellers' health problems, injuries caused by radiation). While the raiders' attack, the resources may start to flicker in red color - that means somebody is stealing it away from you (therefore it is important to defeat raiders as soon as possible). On the right upper corner there is a summary of your budget [6], "a hammer" or "an arrow" [7] - by clicking it you can open a menu that allows you to build new rooms or to improve the selected, already existing one.
It depends on your expansion strategy how your Vault looks like, however the entrance is always located in the same point. [8]. In case of raiders' attack try to defend the entrance first, then spaces located right next to it (it's recommended to keep the well-armed dwellers close). Don't forget to collect just produced resources (not only energy, food or water but also Stimpaks or AntyRads) [9].
Last but not least, there is also the PipBoy [10]. Here you can find all game settings, weapon and outfits storage rooms, collection of discovered weapons and outfits and current objectives.
Notifications and designations
You will be informed about disasters immediately
Apart from permanent elements of interface, sometimes icons symbolizing certain events will appear. One of them is an alarm in case of the raiders' attack, fire or a radroach infestation. You won't be able to build or improve your spaces until you cope with the adversity and the alarm is cancelled. While the rescue action, dwellers are moved and when the danger is gone they can come back to their duties - therefore you can send whoever you need to cope with the danger. Alarm is signalized with a specific sound.
You can accelerate your work by using a "rush" option, but you can either succeed or fail by doing it. In both cases you will be informed by a character appearing in the bottom right corner as well as a statement on the screen. In case of failure one of two disasters will happen in the room: fire or radroach infestation.
Each space that produces something needs time to deliver a final product, e.g. Stimpaks. When the time is over, the product icon will appear on the screen. Don't forget to click on it- work is suspended until you collect the product.
Appropriate statement also appears, when a baby is born in your Vault. The statement contains information about happy parents' names and enables you to change the name of the new resident.
If two characters are related, the game subtly informs you of this fact. They won't start any flirt as this match is impossible. Pay your attention to the messages you see above talking dwellers - if they mention about a family, it means that there is no chance for the flirt.
While moving dwellers between rooms, you will be informed which treat of S.P.E.C.I.A.L. statistics is used in a particular room. Before you "drop" the resident you can see a number in a circle- it equals a level of skill used in this room (e.g. 4 in the circle while moving to work at the power generator means, that the character has a skill developed on 4th level) If the room is full while moving, the person with the lower level of the skill will be replaced by the moved one. In that case, the number in the circle will be preceded by plus (+) or minus (-). It means that the moved person has the skill developed better or worse than the indicated amount. (e.g. her charisma is better of 2 points than the weakest person in the room)
The last important icon is the one that allows you to increase a dweller's general experience level. Each of dwellers has experience bar that indicates the amount of experience gained by achieving objectives, exploring the wasteland and coping with disasters. When the line is full, there is a small "lvl" inscription above the dweller's head. Clicking it will increase the amount of experience, which will increase the amount of life points.
Caution: along with increase of the level, none of S.P.E.C.I.A.L. statistics get changed - those have to be worked out in designated rooms. When you complete the training, an appropriate icon will appear above the dweller's head. Click on it and the statistic will increase. If you don't remove the dweller from the room, workout is continued automatically.