Modular Station

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Mon May 11, 2015 2:35 pm #87346

I've had an idea for a station for a while, and the only thing that has kept me from putting in the time to make it is that I'm not sure people would even like it.
That's what this thread is for, I suppose.

The general concept is a sort of modular station, where every department would be a a modular extention from a sort of "main" hull
Here is the concept I've worked out so far:

Spoiler:

I haven't marked what area is what, but it is color coded so you can probably guess which area is what and maybe play a fun guessing game to see what room servers what purpose.
Of course everything is subject to change.

The biggest problem with a modular station is alternate access, you have to connect all the modules with more ways than one, because having only 1 way to get to something is not how things should be in most cases.
I've tried to work around it as you can probably see, lots of bridges and maint tunnels.
Because of all those bridges, the station is pretty horizontal, with the main hall being a straight line. I'm not sure if that works well yet, would love feedback on that.
I suppose I could make the hallway more of a square, and put modules on all 4 sides, but I don't know how well that would connect with eachother.
Right now I feel as if the hallway would be a lot like the ones you find at airport terminals, filled with little shops and crap on the sides.

Another big thing is that every module has the possibility of some sort of independence in case shit goes down. The little checkered engineering/atmos areas will have some spare air, and solars in different states of disrepair, so if the station blows up or lights on fire(or you just want to make your department independent), there is the possibility for modules to rely on those areas at least for a little while. Engineering will have their work cut out for them, if they feel like making those places work, and I think the same thing would be nice in a lot of other areas. Maybe medbay has only 1 cryo pod at the start, but has room for at least 2 more, Maybe there's some mech charging bays in other places around the station that could be fixed up. Stuff like that.

This is what I've come up with, I hope to get some feedback.
Do you like the concept? Maybe I've fucked up the layout? Perhaps you think the whole idea is rubbish? Maybe there are just some small things you'd do differently?
Please let me know. If enough people care, I'll actually make this thing a reality.

Screenshots:

Medbay:

Spoiler:

Science:

Spoiler:

Engineering:

Spoiler:

Atmospherics:

Spoiler:

Steelpoint · Post by **Steelpoint** » Mon May 11, 2015 2:38 pm #87347

Its definitely a interesting idea.

A long hallway might work, I tend to dislike them but it could work, also there's the fact that due to the isolated nature of each department that it suddenly makes it significantly harder to more stealthily move about the station or hide effectively. So if someone ran into Sec Maint there would really only be one direction they can go.

peoplearestrange · Mon May 11, 2015 4:16 pm

Love the concept. I think you could make the design look really intresting with each module looking like its been added at different dates, giving different tech to different modules.

Maybe there could be one connecting central hub though? Or make it more like a + shape with a central node where the 4 arms meet. (Maybe engineering or bridge? something that would have to be setup first if they were constructing the station over a long period of time).

The lore could be that its an old station design that took many years to construct, unlike the new space stations that can be constructed with a drone teams in a matter of months.

Remie Richards · Mon May 11, 2015 4:16 pm

I wouldn't have 3 of the 4 solars on one side, this means there'd be 1 period of extreme power gain, 1 period of low power gain and 2 of minimal/no power gain in terms of solars.
Two on each side would suffice, one on each side would be perfect.

Scones · Post by **Scones** » Mon May 11, 2015 4:18 pm #87365

I ain't never seen that green text before, Remie, is that a new title thing?

Anyways, regarding the station: It's a cool idea. Explore it further. I couldn't gather jack shit from that concept map though.

Remie Richards · Mon May 11, 2015 4:25 pm

yes scones, it's new, must have been late last night or today.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Mon May 11, 2015 4:57 pm #87382

Steelpoint wrote:Its definitely a interesting idea.
also there's the fact that due to the isolated nature of each department that it suddenly makes it significantly harder to more stealthily move about the station or hide effectively. So if someone ran into Sec Maint there would really only be one direction they can go.

Yeah I definitely tried avoiding that as much as possible. It's kinda hard to do on corners though since there aren't many places to go. For the most part though, maint has a lot of alternate routes.

peoplearestrange wrote: Maybe there could be one connecting central hub though? Or make it more like a + shape with a central node where the 4 arms meet. (Maybe engineering or bridge? something that would have to be setup first if they were constructing the station over a long period of time).

The lore could be that its an old station design that took many years to construct, unlike the new space stations that can be constructed with a drone teams in a matter of months.

Yeah, I'm considering doing an alternate draft with a more circular design, but then you run into problems with connecting all the modules together in other ways than just the main entrance.

Remie Richards wrote:I wouldn't have 3 of the 4 solars on one side, this means there'd be 1 period of extreme power gain, 1 period of low power gain and 2 of minimal/no power gain in terms of solars.
Two on each side would suffice, one on each side would be perfect.

There are actually 6 points where solars can be made. Some points will just be more finished than others.
They're not there to power the whole station together, it's more that they are there to power their repsective deparments.
I should probably make the corner solars on the sides though, instead of having them all point up or down.

Scones wrote:I ain't never seen that green text before, Remie, is that a new title thing?

Anyways, regarding the station: It's a cool idea. Explore it further. I couldn't gather jack shit from that concept map though.

I've added some explanation for the color coding, hope that helps.
It's the big picture that matters for now though, don't worry about all the little rooms and things.

Scones · Post by **Scones** » Mon May 11, 2015 8:14 pm #87406

There were several moments wherein I kept thinking the AI sat was really a command sat and got really excited

Put the AI entrance in Science. Makes way more sense and is way more convenient considering the RD should have direct access to the sat.

Not-Dorsidarf · Mon May 11, 2015 9:21 pm

Scones wrote:There were several moments wherein I kept thinking the AI sat was really a command sat and got really excited

Put the AI entrance in Science. Makes way more sense and is way more convenient considering the RD should have direct access to the sat.

This. The AI is for the scientists to prod, not engineers.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Mon May 11, 2015 9:27 pm #87428

Scones wrote:There were several moments wherein I kept thinking the AI sat was really a command sat and got really excited

Put the AI entrance in Science. Makes way more sense and is way more convenient considering the RD should have direct access to the sat.

Yeah, that's a good point. easy to change too.
though, tcomms is also on that satellite, which is engineering.

Steelpoint · Post by **Steelpoint** » Tue May 12, 2015 12:25 pm #87607

Exercise great care in the placement of the AI Core. The location of the AI is a very big determinant of how malf/traitor AI rounds will go.

Scones · Post by **Scones** » Tue May 12, 2015 3:26 pm #87634

Well, good thing there's a teleporter on it. Engineers honestly rarely need to get into comms

Or, maybe, just make comms it's own sat off of Engineering.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Tue May 12, 2015 6:42 pm #87683

Yeah, i'll either split the satallite in two, or make the tube go to both engineering and science, I guess I'll see what works when I get to making it.
Seems like people like what they see so I'm going to go ahead and get started.
Thanks for the feedback so far, will post updates on progress.

allura · Post by **allura** » Tue May 12, 2015 10:22 pm #87729

this has all the potential in the world, i love it, PLEASE come to me if you ever need help, holy shit i love it

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Wed May 13, 2015 12:11 pm #87842

Alright, made some progress today. Started with medbay, not sure why though. Because it's comfy I guess?

Spoiler:

Feedback is welcome, I'm sure I missed some obvious stuff.
I know it's still missing a lot of intercoms and request monitors etc.
Wiring/piping/maint will come later.

Steelpoint · Post by **Steelpoint** » Wed May 13, 2015 12:35 pm #87847

I would highly recommend you start with just the simple floor layout of the station before getting to deep with placing items in rooms.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Wed May 13, 2015 12:57 pm #87849

Yeah, you should do it in layers. First floor plan, then pipes and cables (or at least leave enough room to improvise these (cables can't go through walls, avoid pipes through walls as much as possible)), then everything else.

I like this idea, although I wouldn't call it modular (maybe I don't get it). A big enough bomb right in the middle to isolate parts of the station sounds fun.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Wed May 13, 2015 2:13 pm #87856

I'll keep that in mind. I just like to make sure I have enough space for everything I want to put in a room.
I've already had to resize a few rooms and I've only just started.

And yeah, some of the modular appeal is lost in me trying to balance access points. It's kind of as if the departments got added to the main hull, and then maint and other things got added on later.
I'm trying to keep things as seperate as possible, but having multiple ways of getting to places is really important.

I guess the next previews you'll see will be a lot more rough.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Wed May 13, 2015 2:26 pm #87859

I like to think of the modularity StarCraft-style: Yes, each unit is self-contained, but as soon as it is attached it is immediately connected to the rest of the station, that includes maintenance.

I imagine in-department maintenance to be something somewhat complex, but not much more than simple access tunnels between each module.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Wed May 13, 2015 8:29 pm #87934

Another update, this time it's science.
I think there is a chance a few people will disagree with how I've done things here, but who knows.

Spoiler:

If anything seems out of place please let me know.

Also you can sorta see the modular thing take effect now, with the gap between science and medbay.
Though they do seem a bit cramped, I might nudge one of them to the side a bit.

RocKeD · Post by **RocKeD** » Wed May 13, 2015 11:17 pm #87973

I really despise the fact that the cross is upside down, if you're going to put a cross in the chapel, put it right side up. No I'm not joking.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Thu May 14, 2015 12:02 am #87983

Well, the chapel is facing down, so from the perspective of the people it would be right side up.
That's what I intended anyway, not trying to be edgy here.

On the actual station I'll probably avoid any symbolism though, since people make up their own silly religion anyway.

RocKeD · Post by **RocKeD** » Thu May 14, 2015 3:55 am #88036

Celdur wrote:Well, the chapel is facing down, so from the perspective of the people it would be right side up.
That's what I intended anyway, not trying to be edgy here.

On the actual station I'll probably avoid any symbolism though, since people make up their own silly religion anyway.

I understand, but no matter how you look at it from the games perspective it will be upside down.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Fri May 15, 2015 12:09 am #88239

Here's engineering:

Spoiler:

There isn't actually much in engineering roomwise, so there is quite a bit of maint to make up for it.
I just slammed in as many tables as I could and it seems like I have more than enough room for all the items engineering needs.
Probably will remove a few once I start jamming in items.
As always, let me know what you think so far.

allura · Post by **allura** » Fri May 15, 2015 8:17 pm #88384

loud applause
i'll post a full evaluation in a bit

John_Oxford · Post by **John_Oxford** » Sat May 16, 2015 1:43 am #88446

Maybe you can have a tier system.

Hallway System
: Department Modules
: Micro Modules (Auxillary Rooms)
: Maint Modules (Sections of tunnels connecting department modules)

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Sat May 16, 2015 2:42 am #88455

Small science update, moved the small engie checkpoint to the right side, this allows the solars to be on the northeast side, which is just better in general.
It also allowed me to make a little room for a pneumatic tube that will go to the AI satellite, once I make that anyway.

Spoiler:

Currently working on atmos.
It's not going too great so far, turns out that filter/mix pumps only have a few directions available, and my atmos is facing the opposite direction of meta and box's atmos.
I'll either rework all of atmos tomorrow or try to work around the filter limitations somehow.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Sun May 17, 2015 2:23 am #88626

Wow double posting fun.

I finished the layout for atmos, must have redesigned it like 4 times, got some advice too (thanks for that by the way)

Here is most of it:

Spoiler:

What could be just off screen at the top? What a grand mystery, no one will find out.
Anyway, that's atmos. I'm pretty happy with it now.

Here's a closeup of the pipes for people that want to see if I fucked up anywhere.

Spoiler:

Next I'll probably start working on the south side of the hall, It won't be the same as in the draft drawing I made, perhaps I should update that first.
Tell me if I fucked up anything in atmos though, there were a lot of pipes to cover.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Sun May 17, 2015 9:08 am #88674

While I'm personally fond of the idea of a physically separate distro loop, a lack of it is fine, too.

Checking valve-list...

Release valves for all storage tanks:
O2: Check for Tank to Mixer and Mixer to Pure.
N2: Check for Tank to Mixer and Mixer to Pure.
CO2: Check.
N2O: Check.
Plasma: Check.
Mix: Check.
Air: Check.

Loop separators:
Filter to Mix: Check.
Pure to Mix: Check.
Air to Mix: Check.
Mix to Port: Check, no separator for lower ports.
Pure to Port: Check for upper ports.
Air to Port: Check, no separator for lower ports.
Port to Waste: Check for upper and lower ports.
Mix to Waste: Check.
Mix to Distro: Check.
Air to Distro: Check.
Air to Pumps: Check.
Scrubbers to Waste: Check.
Distro to Waste: MISSING.

Suggestion: Add a Distro to Waste pump for quickly purging the distro loop.
Also, try and have all three to-Port pumps enter on the same side, separated from the ports themselves by two valves or pumps (compare Box's atmospherics, which is nearly identical to Meta's.)

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Sun May 17, 2015 11:33 am #88691

DemonFiren wrote:While I'm personally fond of the idea of a physically separate distro loop, a lack of it is fine, too.

Suggestion: Add a Distro to Waste pump for quickly purging the distro loop.
Also, try and have all three to-Port pumps enter on the same side, separated from the ports themselves by two valves or pumps (compare Box's atmospherics, which is nearly identical to Meta's.)

I knew I missed something, didn't know it was as obvious as distro to waste. Thanks for pointing that out.

Is there a reason to have the port set up like that though?
The little buffer between sources and ports seems like it just makes things more tedious without adding any benefits, unless I'm missing something.
And the way I have it set up now makes it so that you can technically have something pure filled/cooled/heated at the top while at the same time you can put a mix in the bottom part.
I mean sure, like it is now you can't get pure to the bottom ports without adding a few pipes or flipping the pump next to the water tank, but in the end you get something nice out of it.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Sun May 17, 2015 8:34 pm #88752

The buffer is mostly there for allowing you to use one port section for cooling/heating of gas and simulateneously run a mix through the other. Also, for separation in the event that you need to siphon one set of canisters while filling another.
Also, Pure to Port not connecting to the lower ports is disadvantageous for people who want to quickly fill a lot of canisters with PERFECTLY SAFE MIXES.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Fri May 22, 2015 10:58 pm #89980

Double feature!

Here's the brig.

Spoiler:

Not sure what to think of it, please tell me your thoughts, probably will have to modify this a bit.

And here is arrivals, sans ships. Those will come later.

Spoiler:

It's pretty small, but then people don't spend much time there.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Sat May 23, 2015 9:28 am #90037

Put law office next to courtroom, give lawyer door into courtroom.
That aside, nothing immediately obvious to me.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Fri May 29, 2015 4:04 am #91477

Here's something:

Spoiler:

Bar on the left, then we have the AI core, bridge, tele and comms all cozy together on the right.

That's right, AI is not on a satellite. You can all get angry now.
It has a nice protective layer of space and Rwalls, so it should be fine. Probably.
I prefer how it used to be on box anyway. AI is too vulnerable to nuke ops on a sat, and with my setup the AI should do fine in malf.

And the bar looks pretty nice, don't you think?

Not-Dorsidarf · Fri May 29, 2015 1:34 pm

The AI doesn't need a sat - the only reason it got one on box was that there wasn't enough room in the bridge to give it a spacemoat like you did here. The spacemoat is the important bit.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Sat May 30, 2015 3:07 am #91741

That's why they changed it? I remember quite a few people complaining about the AI's location in comparison to meta, but I guess that never went anywhere then.
Still, it's probably better on the station in pretty much every round type aside from perhaps malf/traitor AI.

One thing though, is that I originally planned the gravgen to be where the AI is now, and I still haven't thought of another place to put it.
I guess I can probably stuff it in engineering somewhere. Suggestions are welcome of course.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:46 pm #92174

Spoiler:

Here is el cargo.

And yes, the chaplain will have a much more interesting time here.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:26 am #92260

Oh yeah, you're probably right.
I'll be sure to change that.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Fri Jun 05, 2015 2:47 pm #93311

So the station is finally at a point where I could test it out a bit and wander around.
And it turns out that taking everything away from the main hall makes the main hall very boring to go through, who knew.
So I started adding a few things to it to make it more appealing, which was pretty successful, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that a straight hallway was a bit of a mistake.
And then I realized how dumb it was to rely on such a horizontal design, because escape is about 10 tiles away from Z drop-off.

On the plus side, all the modules are comfy as hell and feel like a module as they should.
But I'm gonna have to do a bit of work to the hallways, probably making it a square with 2 or so departments on each side makes the most sense.
If it will be a square I will either put the AI or the bar in the center, whichever one is the most appealing.
I won't change too much about the departments themselves, since they are pretty good in my opinion, but I will have to change the way they all connect through maint and such.
Also expect to see more shit stuck to the hallways in general.
Oh and I can't flip stuff 90 degrees so I'll have to 100% redo some modules, probably sci/med which will go on the east side.

Feedback would be most useful now, before I start tearing shit up.

allura · Post by **allura** » Fri Jun 05, 2015 4:35 pm #93343

it would be nice for a full screenshot of what you have now.
i dont like the idea of a square, because the other square map we have - asstation - proved the concept to be thoroughly shit and ugly as all hell

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Fri Jun 05, 2015 8:32 pm #93398

Here it is.
A lot of places are obviously work in progress, mainly the hall and other stuff I haven't shown off yet.
But you can see how I'm running out of options with the hall, and the horizontal only hallway brings a lot of problems with it.

The hall doesn't have to be a square necessarily, I just need to flip some modules on their sides so that i utilize a bit more vertical space.
I wasn't suggesting going full square though, I mean, pretty much all major stations have a square hallway somewhere in their design because they work out well with traffic flow.
Maybe a H shape could work out. Who knows.

All you need to know is that most modules work out pretty well on their own from what I've seen, so those don't need much changing.
And since they're modules, I can just slap them down somewhere else and edit maint a bit.

rdght91 · Post by **rdght91** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 12:56 am #93466

I think it'd be interesting if control stations (maybe just add a computer to sec stations?) were placed around in each module in a decentralized manner, so that a smart, prepared rouge head/sec officer, traitor or hacker would be able to isolate and barricade their module. Airbridges like on goon to each module would be interesting.

allura · Post by **allura** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 5:18 am #93507

air bridges are absolute garbage code, and being able to isolate a module would be op as hell and be done EVERY FUCKING ROUND and make people mad.

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 12:04 pm #93576

The thought of that has come to mind before, but like allura said it wouldn't really be a good idea.
As it is right now you already have a few options to sort of semi lock down a department,
seeing as how hard of a time people have unbolting escape when some cunt locks it all down.
Of course you'd never want a place truly locked down, with a toolbox you have some good odds, and maint is a lot harder to control.

Anyway, as for the hallways, What kind of shape would you suggest? a rectangle center with 2 modules on each side could work out if done right, a H could work too technically, or maybe a cross would work better.
Maybe there's something simpler that I'm overlooking? Or maybe the current station could work if I do x.
I'd like to hear some good ideas before I do what I planned to do in the beginning.

allura · Post by **allura** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:20 pm #93637

do an h. a rectangle is ugly and EVERYONE has done the cross shape.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:28 am #93831

Cross shape is only acceptable if you do a swastika.

Ricotez · Post by **Ricotez** » Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:22 am #93851

Celdur wrote:Here it is.

celdur this website is mocking me

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Sun Jun 07, 2015 3:21 pm #93877

Whoops, that's what I get for using uguu when pomf is down.
Here it foreverish

DemonFiren wrote:Cross shape is only acceptable if you do a swastika.

Someone else actually suggested I'd do an iron cross.
should I really start appealing to nazis?

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Sun Jun 07, 2015 7:18 pm #93946

No, but appeal to Buddhists.

(Content warning: TVTropes.)

Celdur · Post by **Celdur** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 9:00 pm #97484

Just want to let people know that I'm still working on this.
Nothing really to show yet though, had to redo a lot of places to sort of reorient it with the station, and trying to make everything fit.
I should have just done an H from the start though, honestly. Looks a lot better.

Would you play on a station like this?