Abandoned Station Spawn Ruin (Space)

[Steelpoint]

A idea I've had for a little while, more so since after the Iron Hawk fiasco, was to add a space ruin that functions as a mini space station.

The general concept is that the station has been abandoned/adrift for fifty or one hundred years, long enough that the station lacks access to advance technology that we see on NT stations, ranging from health scanners, stun batons, the more advance power cells, chemical machines (though they have access to beakers of base chemicals), certain engineering tools, etc, etc.

The station, due to being unkempt for so long, is run down and decaying. Half the station is infected with Hivebots/Xenos, and the other half is run down, has no power, few rooms have atmo and the station is vulnerable to meteor strikes. There is only one source of water, no food, very low power (station starts with no active power, someone has to go to the generator room and activate the backup generator), the engine is gone, the Solar Arrays are all busted and disconnected, atmospherics is non-functional and not connected to the grid, low medical supplies, etc, etc.

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The idea is that one to three people can spawn on the station, and their job is to repair the station, establish a meteor defense system, set up power, grow food, secure the hostile infected portion of the station and overall get the station running again.

I was also thinking of throwing a RnD system on the ship, likely putting it on the infested side of the station so the few crew have to clear the infestation first before they can research.

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The fluff, while minor, is that the crew were forced into cyrosleep to avoid a radiation storm, said storm scrambled the prototype AI which then kept the few living crew members in cyrosleep indefinitely. Eventually the AI died due to it being a prototype and was never expected to operate for long periods of time. The crew were re-awoken when the RnD Console recieved a data burst of information from a nearby station that automatically woke up the crew.

This fluff would be conveyed via in game text and logs.

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Is this idea worth pursuing?

Thanks for reading.

[WJohnston]

Sounds like a fun ghost role, sure. Just try not to make it absolutely huge like the actual station.

[Steelpoint]

It would fit in around a 50x50 area.

The station would be compact but split into two parts. The west side is where the players spawn, its free of hostile xenoforms but most of it has no air and some areas are exposed to space. Just getting from the cyro room to the bridge is going to take a lot of effort.

The east side is mostly intact, air wise, but its overrun with hostile lifeforms. Still deciding on what those lifeforms are, either hivebots, xenomorphs of pre-lavaland mobs.

[Steelpoint]

Basic overview of my first run over the west side of the station.

Technically there are three parts to the station, however the far west part is gone, which was where medbay was.

Spoiler:

The station starts depowered, the only light source is the lights two computers produce which illuminates a paper print out, which gives instructions to the player on what to do, with their objective being to reach the bridge which has further instructions.

[Armhulen]

make sure they have jobs, all of em

[Steelpoint]

Define jobs? You mean spawn the roles with a assigned job?

That was the plan, even if the roles are more fluff.

[Armhulen]

Like, what their old jobs was I suppose. They're all working towards fixing the station now.

[FantasticFwoosh]

Are you sure you don't want to just replace the derelict drones instead of making a whole new map?

[InsaneHyena]

What's the catch? Are security on this ruin starship troopers with autorifles?

[Steelpoint]

The most advance weapon on the station will be a old Phaser, a resprited Laser, and there would likely be only one or two of them in the space exposed security.

Also the three jobs that a person can select, based on one of the three spawners, will be a Engineer, Scientist and a Security Officer. All this affects is your uniform and head ware. The engi will just be in a jumpsuit and hardhat, scientist in his labcoat, and the officer has a sec cap and a uniform on.

[FantasticFwoosh]

Russian engineers, must reconstruct the derelict and have a portal in which to call more russians to assist.

New racial species = Russian, comes inbuilt with cold resistance & a dwarf alcohol organ, as to revive Kor's old portal idea.

[DemonFiren]

They should also only be able to speak Russian.

Additionally, make sure there are no chairs or stools on the station.

[Anonmare]

Don't forget the squat action button, only a real Slav can squat - use it to weed out Nanotrasen spies.

[FantasticFwoosh]

This is the furthest i could bend the legs into a squat without distorting the position of the arms.

slavsquat.dmi (438 Bytes) Viewed 12769 times

Spoiler:

[Grazyn]

Make another sprite with their arms raised up and make the sprites alternate when they move, without direction sprites.

Behold, crab people

[Steelpoint]

Derelict is its own thing, I don't think its fair to plop some spawners down and tell people to remake it, that's for extended/admin projects.

Hence why I'm going with a separate minor station.

[FantasticFwoosh]

It might be best not to emulate MMMiracles deepstorage rework by putting in absolutely no non essential loot to just maintaining the station (maybe some tools for the peeps to use) to counteract greytiders rushing it and even so, its a replacement for the derelict that might not be as thematic in mapping terms.

-Please no mandate for making a iron marine or maintainer banned earth faction outpost in a self suffient mini station ghost role just for yourself

[Steelpoint]

As I said, the most unique item that'll be on the Ruin are one or two Laser Guns and a broken down RnD area that is overrun by monsters.

There won't be any unique loot such as auto rifles, combat boots or special items like that. If anything the items on the station will be sub-standard, considering the station is around one hundred years old, the technology is not up to par with what is on SS13.

[Steelpoint]

Here's my most up to date image of the station. Including the central station and the derelict western station. Eastern station will be mostly similar to central station.

The western station was where medical and atmospherics was. Currently it'll contain a few minor medical items (the medkit you see has no analyser or epipen), all exposed to space, and a broken atmo area. The atmospherics will need to be repaired to assist in pumping oxygen back into the airless area's of central and eastern station.

Spoiler:

The players will need to activate the emergency power to the station before they can access a single old space suit in engineering, this will be necessary to fix atmospherics and acquire some medical supplies. Then the survivors will need to find the solar array assemblies so they can fix and power on the station's solar arrays so they can start getting power.

[Armhulen]

Please let emergency power be a switch that makes a loud sound and shakes the whole ship

[Steelpoint]

Please let emergency power be a switch that makes a loud sound and shakes the whole ship

If I knew how to do that I would.

[FantasticFwoosh]

Well the gravity generator has relevant effect of that kind, maybe you could crop and paste that.

A similar boot up should be ported to most mechanical ruins then i guess so they aren't infinite energy or perma-powered all the while.

---

Where is research with said monsters inhabiting and are they tightly contained or at risk of floating off into space (in the interests of not repeating water flans)

[Steelpoint]

The research station will contain the monsters in a enclosed space, so no threat of them wandering out.

Still trying to decide what kind of monster to use, but one step at a time. I kinda want the research base to be slightly unique appearing.

[Steelpoint]

More progress, more just so I can post my overall thoughts. I'll do another image update when most of the station is finished.

Spoiler:

The ultimate order is that most of the central station will be locked down until the survivors can activate the backup generator (bottom left room of central station) and open the blast doors.

You'll also notice the eastern side of central station has firelocks down, those area's have no air and will require either a space suit or atmo to be repaired to enter. Speaking atmo, the bottom of west station has a partially intact atmo, requiring only small repairs to get functioning again, I'll also add a area for dumping unwanted gases.

For the moment the enemy mobs will be hivebots.

[Anonmare]

I'd try and make the blastdoors start off powered. Unpowered blastdoors can be forced open with a crowbar.

[Steelpoint]

I'll do a meme of having the tile where the blast doors are being on a separate 'area' that is powered yet the control button is in a area with no power.

[Steelpoint]

I am going to be using Hivebots as the enemy monsters on the research station. We never use Hivebots so I think it'll be a nice addition.

While I'll likely just be sprinkling dozens upon dozens of them onto the research station, however I was toying with the idea of placing a Hivebot Fabricator down to constantly produce Hivebots. Main issue here is that if left unchecked it'll continue to spawn a infinite amount of Hivebots even if there's no one on the station.

One solution could be to tie the fabricator into the powernet so the room its in needs to be powered from the solar array first, but that again leads to issues that if the survivors simply cut power to the Research station then the fabricators will do nothing.

As such unless there's a way to only have the fabricators activate if a Human mob walks within X tiles of it, I'll likely won't be using the fabricators.

Here's a image of the WIP research station area.

Spoiler:

[Remie Richards]

I'll also add a area for dumping unwanted gases.

Why not just... you know... SPAAAAAACE.
just vent that shit.

[Steelpoint]

I'll also add a area for dumping unwanted gases.

Why not just... you know... SPAAAAAACE.
just vent that shit.

That's what I meant, just a pipe that dumps it into space.

[Remie Richards]

Good good. carry on.

Also, engines? I don't think a station should have engines like that (especially with those flimsy tubes connecting the stations, they'd have snapped off)
But just some kind of structural support would make it ok.

Anyways I like this so if I have some spare time and you want some stuff coding, I can do it for you (like fabricators needing to be "woken" up etc.)

[Steelpoint]

The engines are for the Hivebot ship, in my head the Hivebots hide their ships inside hollowed out asteroids to remain somewhat undetected.

The main power source for the station is a solar array, I intend to have a "prototype" lab that has a few experimental items, at least experimental 100 years ago, such as one crappy Hardsuit, one Energy Gun and one Singularity Beacon so a intrepid engineer could set up a singularity engine.

If there's one feature that would be nice is a Fabricator that only wakes up when a player controlled mob enters a certain distance of it, a distance that can be altered. That would make the Hivebot Fabricators far more viable. But that's just a bonus feature.

[Remie Richards]

If the prototype hardsuit doesn't look like an old-timey diving suit I will be disappointed.
It also has to make you real slow, and it should make a 'clunk' sound when you move.

[Steelpoint]

In terms of the sprite I can nab one of the Baystation RIG sprites that has a older appearance and use that.

I'm not so sure on how to add a "clunk" sound to every step someone takes in the Hardsuit, though if I knew I would do so.

Don't forget that it is also competing with a old Space Suit, though I can compensate by making the Space Suit suffer similar slow down.

[Remie Richards]

There's an on_mob_step function for shoes, and some other things have on_mob_move
I'm sure suit items (hardsuit) will have something similar.

[Steelpoint]

I'll look into doing that for the Proto Hardsuit.

This project will likely require a lot of balance after I finish it (assuming I do considering my track record with Maps) to ensure its a tough, but fair, station to repair and fight over.

[Remie Richards]

on_mob_move() is definitely what you want, just so you know.

[Steelpoint]

Good to know.

For the RD Station, I would like recommendations on what items should or should not be on it.

Spoiler:

The idea being that a intrepid crew can conduct research but it'll be limited, what kind of layout and items should be on offer for the researchers? I should note that to start off the Research station won't have a chemistry machine, but it will have a room full of beakers that contain 100 units of each base chemical.

[XDTM]

Some stock parts, a blue toolbox or two, metal and glass are enough to do pre-mineral science. Stock parts can be left out since you can print them.

[Steelpoint]

I was thinking of sprinkling a few asteroids around the station that have some minerals in them, maybe I'll toss some space carp around them for deterrence.

Good tips however, thanks.

[Armhulen]

Old hardsuit:
80 melee
80 Brute
20 Laser
20 Burn
Increased stuns
Increased armor when stunned
Massive slowdown when worn
Cannot use guns when worn

[Steelpoint]

Interesting but that would absolutely trivialise the Hivebot threat.

I get the concept of wanting to make Hardsuits seem like a massive piece of bulky armour that provides a separate level of protection, but also slows you down and gives considerate weight to your movement, whereas currently our Hardsuits are just another pair of clothing like a jumpsuit. Sadly that's well beyond my coding abilities in all respects to change.

I'm working on the Prototype Hardsuit now, right now it has slightly above average armour (20 all around) and full rad protection but it suffers from a slowdown factor of 3.



Just trying to figure out how to make it produce a sound effect whenever the player moves in it.

Also tempted to add in a sort of vision restriction like the welding helmet when the head part is on. Sadly just one level of 'tint' blocks half your screen off, there's no much leeway to alter how much of your screen is blocked.

[Steelpoint]

Good news, the suit works.

Currently it has a slowdown of three, its helmet has a tint of two so it blocks some vision and it produces a walking sound akin to the Clown shoes (using the 'Jackboot' sounds from Paradise)


I want to emphasis that this is not the modern Hardsuits we all know, but the original Hardsuit with none of the improvements offered to Hardsuits far later on.

[Wyzack]

Yeah the old hardsuit having 80 melee and brute resist would be awful. It is supposed to be an ancient piece of shit that has been rusting with no maintenance for over a hundred years anyways, not some kind of super armor

[Armhulen]

Yeah the old hardsuit having 80 melee and brute resist would be awful. It is supposed to be an ancient piece of shit that has been rusting with no maintenance for over a hundred years anyways, not some kind of super armor

yeah but why even have it on the ruin if it's gonna be a massive slowdown barely any armor hardsuit that really isn't needed because you'd do a billion times better in the space suits that will be around

[Wyzack]

Will there be space suits around though?

[Steelpoint]

I'm mostly happy with the basic layout of the Research station, I've yet to go over and add major fluff items to make it look nicer and the Hivebot ship is still mostly a empty space. Notice the southern part of the station, that is the prototype lab where some of the more experimental items are kept.

Spoiler:

I think I'll toss a bunch of extra metal, glass and plasteel onboard the Hivebot ship as a pseudo-reward for securing it, though I'll ensure there are a whole bunch of 'strong' Hivebots defending the metal cache.

In terms of weapons the only weapons on board will be two 'old phasers' (resprited lasers) and one energy gun in the prototype laboratory. That should be sufficent to arm the survivors, but they'll need to cooperate and drag some rechargers from security over to help.

@Wyzack

Yes, in the central station's Engineering there will be a old 'Engineering Space Suit' (orange syndicate space suit) that will suffer even worse slowdown and have no protection whatsoever. its more designed to allow one person to simultaneously go over to the Medical/Atmo Station to scavenge medical supplies, reestablish the atmo system and get the Solar Array's repaired and online.

The Proto Hardsuit is more a reward item for securing the Research Station.

E: As I said in the OP, the whole theme of the station is thats its a rust bucket from one hundred years ago. The items on board should be clearly inferior to their modern counterparts, at best the items are on par with what SS13 has. Nothing should be better than what SS13 has round start until you get to research.

[Armhulen]

I'm mostly happy with the basic layout of the Research station, I've yet to go over and add major fluff items to make it look nicer and the Hivebot ship is still mostly a empty space. Notice the southern part of the station, that is the prototype lab where some of the more experimental items are kept.

Spoiler:

I think I'll toss a bunch of extra metal, glass and plasteel onboard the Hivebot ship as a pseudo-reward for securing it, though I'll ensure there are a whole bunch of 'strong' Hivebots defending the metal cache.

In terms of weapons the only weapons on board will be two 'old phasers' (resprited lasers) and one energy gun in the prototype laboratory. That should be sufficent to arm the survivors, but they'll need to cooperate and drag some rechargers from security over to help.

@Wyzack

Yes, in the central station's Engineering there will be a old 'Engineering Space Suit' (orange syndicate space suit) that will suffer even worse slowdown and have no protection whatsoever. its more designed to allow one person to simultaneously go over to the Medical/Atmo Station to scavenge medical supplies, reestablish the atmo system and get the Solar Array's repaired and online.

The Proto Hardsuit is more a reward item for securing the Research Station.

>even worse slowdown than the full body metal armor
>??????????????

[Wyzack]

Well there you have it Armhulen. It will be a good reward because the other space suits are even worse.

This is supposed to be a barely functional pile of shit attempting to come back to life after a hundred years of unchecked decay. Everything sucks ass by design, if you dont think that is cool there is an entire well maintained and functional station for you to use on a different Z

[Armhulen]

Well there you have it Armhulen. It will be a good reward because the other space suits are even worse.

This is supposed to be a barely functional pile of shit attempting to come back to life after a hundred years of unchecked decay. Everything sucks ass by design, if you dont think that is cool there is an entire well maintained and functional station for you to use on a different Z

I think it's good design for sure, and I think the clunky shoes sounds awesome, it just makes no sense at all.

You should make the egun a retro laser, this is 100 years in the past.

[Steelpoint]

Its a one hundred year old Space Suit that was never designed to go that long without maintenance, the fact the Space Suit is still functional is a miracle unto itself. I can fluff it that all those years of non-maint have made the suit very unwieldy to use, and even dangerous to move in quickly in fear of tearing the suit and breaching it.

If I had the coding expertise I would make the station even more shitty, the best goal the crew can hope is to get RnD online and start getting SOME modern gear from it eventually. I've lored it that the station semi-woke up due to the ship's Artificial Program (pre-AI, non-sapient/sentient program) recieved a data burst from SS13 that contained the basic RnD systems. The Artificial Program then decided to expend its last remaining power to wake up the remaining crew, before the power loss permanetly killed it.

@Armhulen: I might use some of Ausops gun-crafting sprites to make the egun look even more basic. Its meant to be a very early prototype Energy Gun. Maybe I'll make it worse by only letting it have enough power for five to eight lasers and fifteen or so disable rounds.