Vaults, how do they work?

[Kats]

I have a few questions about Vaults.

If a vault is unopened, does its contents get generated once it's opened? Or from the start of the level/when day changes?

After it's opened, will the content remain there if I leave the level and come back once I'm stronger? Or does it go away (monsters and all) after one day?

[Kats]

I did some testing and it seems that monsters are not persistent in vaults, at least once the doors are opened. If there's a particularily nasty one that will eat your face, it would serve one right to run and wait one day.

On the other hand, it seems that the items are persistent, and will remain on the floor until they're picked up. (It also seems that any items dropped in the vaults, will remain there indefinetly).

However, don't quote me on that!

[martinuzz]

Monsters in a vault are generated before it's opened. I don't know if they will be regenerated when you leave and wait a day.
But I've had some encounters with digging 'X' monsters coming out of a vault, before I ever opened it, so they must be generated before opening.

[vance]

I have my own question about vaults. I have cracked open some huge vaults in Dreadfull that were bursting with high level creatures and yet the rewards have typically been very ho-hum. I know you can't expect to find something decent in every vault but has it been considered that the larger vaults should have, for example, a gauranteed randart?

[Frumple]

A number of vaults do have guaranteed items, though not necessarily randarts... or even ego'd. I imagine if you want to make a vault and specify it generate a randart, you can, though I'm not sure how.

Quick glance at the vault code shows it can specify an 'ego chance', which is set to a percentage and can have th'item level adjusted, but nothing about generating randarts specifically.

EDIT: Actually, you can check the ruined dungeon's map to see how to force a vault to generate an artifact. Dunno how to force a randart, but you can at least force artifacts.