Did they make the moon unstable when they hollowed it out to create Eleserr / The Vault?
OR:
Had the Vault already been there for a long time and then people started settling on / exploring Elpis and the Eridians csused The Crackening to scare them away?
I thought the Crackening was caused by Dahl miners, who presumably didn’t know at the time about the underground caverns, and drilled accordingly.
That IS what Janey says, but then she says no one knows if that story is really true, just that she has told it a lot.
I’m pretty sure intergalactic giant corporation Dahl would be able to afford seismic scans, etc, of the planet before they started drilling and excavating.
But why would they? Seems like an awful lot of unnecessary expenses to me. And as we learned from hyperion and jack the don’t give a whole lot of damns about the planets or the people on them.
The Eridians? No. What happened was [insert fart joke]. That’s how it happened.
Claptrap can fart?
Serious answer/contribution: I believe it was the Dahl miners and methane and ignorance.
It says on the Borderlands Wiki that the Crackening was caused by Dahl.
Wiki should be taken with a grain of salt as it can be easily changed to say anything (Roland was a Pro BB player who was banned for farting in public so he took up vault hunting, etc.) but I believe it is correct on this particular issue/inquiry.
I guessi was overthinking again…
Thanks for the replies, guys!
Yes, actually, he can. Watch the main menu in BL1. Occationally he will fart and a small fireball will come out of his ass.
Haha, i had forgotten about that!
That fart should be a Fragtrap ability!
I wouldn’t say that’s a true fart but for him probably the next best (or worse) thing. IMO it’d technically be something like a “mechanical exhaust malfunction” but who cares really?
Not me, f*ck you, I don’t need parts that badly.
Bonus points if you know who I’m referrencing. 
This is correct. Zarpedon says so herself in one of the very first echo logs you find in Varrago Solitude. Amazingly, the Wiki is totally correct on this!
Dahl came in Elpis and Pandora to maximize profits and minimize losses. This was revealed in BL 2 by Tannis. The latter (Pandora) did not end well, and when the Crimson Lance started to attack Dahl, they ran away to minimize their losses. Their plan didn’t work as well too, as they left their finest mining ship in Pandora. And a lot of personnel.
Elpis also didn’t work out well. They were abusing the planet with mining so hard that it cracked. They got methane, ethane and other ane, yes. But not enough. And like Pandora, they ran away after the crackening, leaving all their ships, factories, mining sites etc. Including the spaceport Concordia. They abandoned a lot of Dahl forces as well, who ended up forming the Lost Legion.
They probably dug too deep.
Seems to me Dahl should be more out of business than Atlas what with spending so much for so little a return. I can’t honestly believe that the events of BL1 DLC 3 made them go belly up. Reevaluate their business plan maybe but not go under, it’s not like they solely made and sold guns, shields and grenades! They had drones (could easily be sold as “security bot”), food products (Atlas brand skag meat in a can so more food isn’t unreasonable) and stop signs (only real “weak” product).
They should have a dlc, game or something that goes further into how/why BL1 DLC 3 killed them besides “Oh look, stockpiled weapons got blown up, a garrison or 4 of troops are dead and a general is dead too. Bummer for them.”
The original quote is from the Minecart Mischief by Tannis:
“…when the Crimson Lance showed up, they chickened out and ran away! Abandoning most of their workers in the process. Including me.”
I was agreeing with you. I meant Atlas shouldn’t have gone belly up but Dahl should’ve. Reason Dahl hasn’t is inferred by why there are no longer any Atlas stuff to loot which is that they (Atlas) went belly up cause of BL1 DLC3.
Maybe “out of business” in this sense just means “no longer active on Pandora or Elpis”?
After all, Pandora WAS only the 13th most profitable planet in Atlas’ economic consortium (T-Bone Junction propaganda loud speaker chatter).
So maybe they just decided Elpis was no longer worth the risk of dealing with / on.
I mean, if you take the full contents of Fort Knoxx, you could only equip like 200-400 soldiers.
Not many at all, really.
Still, if Atlas was / is still out there producing weapons, i like to think Marcus would still be able to find a way to get his hands on their guns!