Vault Instincts

**Vault Instincts** is the name given the ECHOear software that both Matt and Caine used to find the Vault of the Dreamer on Pandora. It was created by Arnold Daxam, the head of the Technology Department, who also created the general ECHOear software.

Vault Instincts could be set to function and compute on their own, or could direct the user towards specific co-ordinates. Engineers and technicians who understood the inner workings could also corrupt it or even misdirect it to fool unauthorised user who had not severed its hard-coded Gemini connection.

## Origin

Gemini's head technological expert originally designed the software on broader terms, for use in searching any object whose molecular structure had previously be scanned. In other words, Instinct software could find anything lost or anything related to the original object, although it did not lead the user directly there and relied on the user's own intuition and deductive skill to accurately distinguish its position.

Once the first Vault had been discovered, Director McCain ordered the repurposing of the original Instinct software, and used a piece of the Vault door, integrated into its systems, to allow it to find specifically any new Vault - and only the Vault. Production of this went on for years, as the rock that constituted the Vault Door had an erratic and unstable molecular structure so it was difficult to predict the pattern of its structure to maintain the connection to the Vault. As soon as production completed, the software was renamed Vault Instincts and was bound to the ECHOears the corporation had produced for its Vault Hunters.

## Usage

When Matt gained his ECHOear, the Vault Instincts software was already present and had been updated to version 5. He used the Vault Instincts to find the Vault during his search around Pandora, by using the ECHOear's pathfinding capabilities to determine where the Vault was. This allowed him to narrow down his search to sector NV0C 12o 21e, beginning mainly in the Highlands, up until between the Dust and Lynchwood.

## Finding the Vault

His software continuously searched for and computed data to find the Vault, until he eventually discovered the location of the Vault from Commander Sharp's Holo-Reader computer. He downloaded the information onto his ECHOear for use by his Vault Instincts to properly pinpoint its location from the co-ordination data and prevent loss the location in case of a virus. This directed him towards the Vault properly, however he eventually no longer needed the software.

## Abandonment and Relinquishment

Matt eventually did not need Vault Instincts, as his Siren abilities drew him there inevitably, although he decided to keep it for future use if he were to find any more Vaults. This did not happen for him, as he passed into the Infinite instead, however when he relinquished his ECHOear over to Gaige, the software remained on it and this allowed the Mechromancer to search for any other Vaults, if she were to lock onto any signature.

The Raiders were also able to reverse engineer this technology and use the software for themselves, however this was infrequent as the Vault Key already pinpointed the location of every Vault - although it may have hid some like it did for the Vault of the Dreamer.

## Drawbacks

* **Accuracy:**Vault Instincts are not powerful enough to accurately pinpoint the Vault's location. They could only give a rough estimation the area it would be in, and could not alway be precise.
* **Data Collection:**Vault Instincts did not have a database of every planet in the Hathusis Galaxy, nor could it access one, so the user was forced to collect data themselves before the software could compute its location. Matt could identify the Vault was on the Northwest coast of Pandora, but not what biome/region until he explored more.
* **Data Corruption:**Due to being designed as an "open software", Vault Instincts was easily targetable by its creators and could be corrupted. This was one of the reasons why Matt was unable to find the Vault as quickly as he should've, as the actual area was blanketed from its triangulation systems.
* **Scanning Radius:**Vault Instincts could only scan for the Vault within the radius of a planet, with its maxium at Pandora's size. This meant the Anomaly already had to be privy to the specific planet the Vault he was searching for was on, otherwise he would not have been able to find it.