Fallout Shelter: Babymaking Guide

Vault a little lonely? Here’s everything you need to know about having babies in Fallout Shelter.

As Overseer of a Vault-Tec Fallout Shelter, your top priority is increasing the well-being and population of your Vault. It is a little difficult for Vault Dwellers to find love in the dark, damp subterranean tunnels of a Vault-Tec shelter, but not impossible. If you want to increase your Vault's population, you will need to match-make for your Dwellers, oversee their pregnancies, and ensure the safety of their babies.

There's more to babymaking than meets the eye, and if you're not sure how to grow your Vault-Tec family, we've got you covered. Here's everything you need to know about babymaking in Fallout Shelter.

How To Make A Baby In Fallout Shelter

You can start having babies in your Vault from the beginning of the game. All you need is bed space in your Vault, a willing male and female Vault Dweller, and survivable Vault conditions.

If you want to expand your Vault's family, the first step is to find a pair of lovebirds. You will need one male Dweller and one female Dweller to start a family.

You can use the Stats tab in your right-hand menu bar to check how many male, female, child, or pregnant Dwellers you have and their status. The stats book will look like a wallet.

Once you have selected the two Dwellers you want to pair together, drag them to any Living Quarters room with open space.

The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat associated with Living Quarters is a Dweller's Charisma score.

The breeding pool of Vault Dwellers is determined by the Dwellers who are assigned to a Living Quarters space. Non-pregnant female Dwellers and all male Dwellers in the Living Quarters are considered eligible candidates for babymaking.

After some time, the Dwellers who are assigned to the Living Quarters will start up conversations and eventually flirt with each other. You can tell how compatible a Dweller is with another Dweller in the Living Quarters by reading the banter above their heads.

Dwellers who are hitting it off tend to respond to each other with more flirtatious dialogue, but Dwellers who aren't compatible, won't even bother flirting. Pay attention, and you might learn a pick-up line or two.

An early quest in the game rewards 25 Caps for successfully delivering a baby in your Vault.

Once your Dwellers have chosen a suitable partner, the couple will start dancing with each other, and the flirting will increase. After some time and a good long samba session, the Dwellers will retreat to the back of the Living Quarters for a little more privacy.

You will hear a sound cue that signals when two Dwellers are getting their groove on.

A series of floating smiley faces will float at the back of the Living Quarters when the two Dwellers are getting busy. Once they've had their fun, they will come back out into the main living space, and the female Dweller will be pregnant.

Pregnant Dwellers will all look the same . There is no physical variation in a pregnant Dweller's appearance to determine which stage of their pregnancy they are in. They will immediately look nine months pregnant upon conceiving.

How Long Is Pregnancy In Fallout Shelter?

The three trimesters of pregnancy for a human in the real world, equate to three hours of real-world time in-game. All pregnant Dwellers will give birth to their babies three hours after conceiving.

The only exception to how long a Dweller gestates is dependent upon the Vault spaces remaining. Your Dwellers can get pregnant at any time , but they will only give birth to their babies when there is an empty Vault bed for their baby to occupy.

If your Dweller gets pregnant while there is space in your Vault, but Vault space fills up before the baby is born, your Dweller will stay pregnant until another Dweller has died, Living Quarters are upgraded, or you build more Living Quarters.

When your Dweller is ready to give birth a green baby symbol will appear above her. You will also hear a sound cue of a baby cooing.

Click on the baby symbol, and a cute little mini-Dweller will emerge from the back room of the Living Quarters

Once your Dweller gives birth, you'll have a brand new Dweller to add to your Vault. Your formerly-pregnant Dweller will immediately be able to get pregnant again after giving birth.

After your new Vault Dwellers are born, you will be able to name them. You can change any Dweller's name at any time by selecting or double-clicking their names on the Overseer's Clipboard or when opening their stat screen.

You can check the aging progress of a child Dweller by clicking on them. There is a progress bar at the top right of their character screen.

Inherited Stats

Just like in the real world, your baby Dwellers will inherit their parents' skills and abilities. If you breed two Dwellers with high Charisma scores, their child will have a higher inherited Charisma score.

Levels are also inherited. If you breed together two high-level Dwellers, their child will be born with a boosted level.

To get the most out of your Vault, try encouraging Dwellers with particularly high stats to have a baby with each other. Over time, you'll end up with Dwellers who are specialized for certain jobs around the Vault.

You are more likely to breed new Dwellers with high Charisma than other stats, as Charisma is the determining S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat for conception success.

Your Vault Dwellers will also pass down their appearance to their children. If you dislike how a child looks, you can change their appearance in the Barbershop once they have reached adulthood.

Restrictions

As we all know, pregnancy isn't all fun and rainbows; the same is true for your Vault Dwellers. Dweller pregnancies will all be uneventful, but there are restrictions to what pregnant Dwellers can do.

Pregnant Dwellers are considered precious commodities in the Vault. As such, your pregnant Dwellers won't be allowed to head into the Wasteland or solve Vault Emergencies.

You can still drag and drop pregnant Dwellers into rooms with active emergencies, but they'll just run around screaming uselessly. To spare your eardrums and your Dwellers' stress level, we recommend leaving pregnant Dwellers in safer areas.

Once a Dweller has given birth, she will be able to return to dangerous activities like Wasteland exploration, combat, and solving emergencies. Children cannot do any of these dangerous activities until they are fully grown.

However, pregnant Dwellers can still be assigned to rooms in the Vault and perform their duties — even if they are the only Dwellers in a room. Children, on the other hand, cannot be assigned to any room or job until they have reached adulthood.

Another major restriction you will encounter is that, unlike other activities and room skills, you cannot speed up a Dweller's pregnancy or the rate at which two Dwellers reproduce. There is no 'Rush' button on the Living Quarters or pregnant individuals.

Children and Pregnant Dwellers also have item use restrictions. While you can equip clothing and weaponry for pregnant Dwellers, you won't be able to see either in action. Your pregnant dweller will still receive the stat benefits from their clothes.

You cannot equip clothing, pets, or weapons for child Dwellers.

Tips For Babymaking

Babymaking may seem intuitive, but there are a few ways you can create even better Vault Dwellers.

Prioritize Dwellers With High Stats

Since children inherit their parents' S.P.E.C.I.A.L. scores, it's best to plan your breeding pairs accordingly. You are more likely to create children with higher, specialized stats if you breed together two Dwellers with higher stats.

If you know you need more Dwellers who excel in Perception, place two Dwellers with high Perception stats in the Living Quarters. Their offspring are more likely to inherit a higher Perception stat as a result.

Try to isolate your breeding pairs in the Living Quarters to ensure your child Dwellers are only inheriting the desired traits.

Dwellers with higher Charisma will be more successful at seducing other Dwellers than Dwellers with lower Charisma.

Since children also inherit their parents' levels, it's a good idea to breed together high-level Dwellers. The resulting baby will be of a higher level, too.

Use Clothing To Boost Charisma

If you want to boost the compatibility of your Vault Dwellers, the best way to do so is by equipping them with clothing items that improve their Charisma scores. Dwellers with higher Charisma are more likely to attract a partner (or multiple partners!).

Children will not inherit stat levels that their parents gained from clothing.

Train Your Dwellers

You can't guarantee what stats your Dwellers have, as most of them have randomly generated stats upon arriving at your Vault, but you can improve a Vault Dwellers' stats by sending them to training rooms.

By using specialized training rooms to improve your Vault Dwellers' stats, you can pick and choose which dwellers are most equipped for which jobs.

Here's a breakdown of which training rooms boost which skills:

Having specialized Dwellers is especially useful when you are trying to breed more Dwellers. You want to pair Dwellers with the most attractive stats together if you want to end up with the most useful children.