/tg/Station 13

Metastation is undoubtely the best map in the station.

I'm here to ask: Why?
Of course of course, the obvious answer is "Meta has worked continuously on it for years; all that time of polish made it the best station" but what I'm interested in is different: What was that polish? What changed between the first Meta and current Meta?

What is that spice that makes Meta stand so tall compared to Box or Delta?
Is it the layout? Is it the loot inside the rooms? Could it be the maintenance rooms? I've asked that myself A LOT. I know the answer very probably is "it's the combination of everything" but that doesn't sound right; on the surface, Meta is just a bunch of rooms thrown around. They're not in well-defined departments like Tram or intentionally made a certain way like in Kilo. Cargo is weirdly out of the way.

But I look at any corner of Meta, any room, area or department and I can't put my finger on it.
I don't find a single room I can say I dislike. I don't find a single department I find to have a weird layout. I don't finy anything to criticize.

What is this sorcery? How is Meta so good yet seemingly so simple? How did Metacide do this?

you think this because it's the map you started on.

When you look at present day metastation, you're looking at 8 years worth of work by nearly every mapper that's crossed the threshold of TG. To ascribe the entirety of that work to metacide is honestly rather insulting to the dozens of people who have put effort into making that map what it is from metacides original work. Not to downplay metacide, since without his work the map wouldn't exist and the basic structure is all still there from his original, but the present design is a collaborative effort.

Now, as for your question about what's changed, almost everything. The basic skeleton of the station is the same, but 5 of the 6 departments have received full revamps, mostly in the last two years- including nightred's work on service, captlasky's changes to security, zytolg and nari's science, son-of-space's changes to cargo, and my own work on medbay. That's only to list the major revamps- everywhere else on the station has also had tweaks, changes and reduxs. Probably the most similar area to the original is command- engineering is pretty similar to the old days, but the change from the singulo to SM did necessitate some big restructures. It might interest you to know that meta was quite heavily disliked when it first launched- people didn't want to change from boxstation to something new (fun parallels to mapping today, huh?).

And as for why you enjoy it so much, I'm not sure that's a question that I can answer since I'm not a mindreader, but I do think I agree with oranges in saying why it's the most popular map with the community. People start on it, learn it, play it more than any of the other maps, and overlook a lot of its flaws as a result. That also creates a feedback loop, since new players start on meta because it's played so much, learn it, and so on. For a personal opinion, I got sick of meta years ago, probably as a result of working on its medbay. Any time it comes up when I'm playing I just find myself craving something new.

Box was better before the zoomers ruined it with the changes to the service area. Meta is underwhelming and made redundant by the existence of DeltaStation, which is like a big beefy MetaStation that is a little too beefy in places with a generous heart. BoxStation was a well-honed machine perfected over many years of iterations like a timelapse of the development of a map in TF2 and then the zoomers came in and added an ugly, bloated chapel, bizarre hydroponics layout, a lot of wasted space on the top level and weird multi-level parallel kitchens than something slightly shittier than the best map. The only thing Meta has over other maps is its creative cargo area.

its meta because the coders killed box

The Metastation I started on is not the Metastation we play today, and the new Metastation is definitely a major improvement on every front, even if there still exist some holdovers (namely the big square central hall that dominates many of our maps, and some weirdness with the last untouched maint tunnels from thr various overhauls). It has really radically changed over time, and seems to have weathered time fairly well. It is also often one of the first maps updated for new content too, which is something I can't say of Delta, which has stagnated heavily.

But I wouldn't call it Meta, so much as the /tg/station map measuring stick. Box was my true first ever station, but I wouldn't really think very highly of Box today compared to what people are trying to do with Icebox, its spiritual successor. The introduction of the lower levels and alternative paths is a really nice concept only hampered by the slightly less interesting wildnerness that surrounds Icebox. If Icebox ever starts seeing more work on it's multiZ stuff it'll definitely become pretty unique from where it came from.

cacogen wrote: ↑Mon Nov 01, 2021 2:34 pm Meta is underwhelming and made redundant by the existence of DeltaStation

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MAKE MAPS THAT TRY TO COMPETE AND BE SIMILAR TO METAAAAAA

It is also often one of the first maps updated for new content too, which is something I can't say of Delta, which has stagnated heavily.

I don't understand this. Basically every feature that requires map placement updates all five (!!!) maps in the game at the same time.

Can you give examples of this?

Mothblocks wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:07 am

It is also often one of the first maps updated for new content too, which is something I can't say of Delta, which has stagnated heavily.

I don't understand this. Basically every feature that requires map placement updates all five (!!!) maps in the game at the same time.

Can you give examples of this?

They're not wrong about it- for a few features there were long periods of time before they were added to other maps- the chem factory would be my main example from the past few years, as would dedicated cytology space. Ultimately it shouldn't be happening but theres always stuff to slip through the cracks.

I mean to be fair, none of our original maps are exactly designed in mind with the idea of departments getting content that required major space requirements (chem factory being a giant empty spot being an example)

Very true, and I still hate the ridiculous amount of space needed for the chem factory. Really wish that it had been done in a smarter way, like putting it on Lavaland, or the fabled minichem, rather than forcing a 20x30 room to be forced into medbay.

EOBGames wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 3:46 pm I still hate the ridiculous amount of space needed for the chem factory. Really wish that it had been done in a smarter way, like putting it on Lavaland, or the fabled minichem, rather than forcing a 20x30 room to be forced into medbay.

I usually RCD a cult or heretic room there(ITS GREAT!(Make the airlocks cycle)

EOBGames wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 2:03 pm

Mothblocks wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:07 am

It is also often one of the first maps updated for new content too, which is something I can't say of Delta, which has stagnated heavily.

I don't understand this. Basically every feature that requires map placement updates all five (!!!) maps in the game at the same time.

Can you give examples of this?

They're not wrong about it- for a few features there were long periods of time before they were added to other maps- the chem factory would be my main example from the past few years, as would dedicated cytology space. Ultimately it shouldn't be happening but theres always stuff to slip through the cracks.

Chem factory was one that I was definitely thinking of but I think there was also some delays on changes from when initial circuits were removed and nanites added on a few maps. I think some maps also didn't get the genetics swaparound all at once either but I don't remember that change too well. I think exploration drones too a bit as well.

MetaStation has been the best station since the days of it only being Box, Meta, and MiniStation, though. Easy 7 years of being the best map.

Part of this was it's always had significantly larger maintenance areas than most maps, making it much easier to build Cool Shit out of the way.

I think prebuilt Maintenance Bars are maybe taking this a bit too far, these days, though.

Mothblocks wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:07 am Basically every feature that requires map placement updates all five (!!!) maps in the game at the same time.

God i hate it, too many maps in rotation