Hyperion wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:43 am
My Grading System
No no no no no no no, that won't do
That A+ station is just a truncated half-cylinder, mirrored and zoomed. It's not fancy at all!
And A was made on drugs, it's impossible to understand where even to dock.
What was graded as C and D are the best in my opinion, and most fitting the Freelancer-like theme. Generally, I'd say that stations can look like anything and vary wildly between various functions, but to make them believable, their function should define form; and their function is defined by the faction that owns and operates them.
So, no
Spikes of Villainy on the pirate bases, simply because it's impractical to have them. Pirates usually are low on money, low on resources, low on quality engineering, low on time, and being hunted down by the authorities; a hollowed-out asteroid deep inside the least-friendly asteroid field in the system is probably the absolute limit of their abilities.
And if it's a large pirate group controlling entire regions of space (like Corsairs in Freelancer), then they would have enough resources for crude, but sturdy constructions whenever they see fit, as well as well-hidden asteroid bases everywhere else.
If it's an Evil Empire-type faction, then there's no need for spikes o' doom either. You just make stuff big, and I mean REALLY BIG. And awe-inspiring. And having obligatory mooring port for a battleship, and heavy armour, and heavy turrets, and a lot of docking compartments with fighters ready to go. And a big, good-looking insignia of the Evil Empire in question.
If it's a big trading company, they'd be utilitarian to the max. Nothing fancy, just a collection of cramped internal spaces, big outside storage depots, mooring points for transports, and a single luxurious module for executives and the like. Same goes for any other big company - just add whatever industrial capacity is needed (mining, smelting, ship construction, industrial production, etc).
Sure, it'd make stations look less visually interesting, as in 'less of a modern art object and more of an actual space station'. It'd make the universe itself much more 'alive'. I'd also really love to see 'meshing' of different factions' styles - e.g. when one faction takes over other faction's station and starts adding modules to it, resulting in a Frankensteinish abomination that visually captures the history of this region of space.
It'd also be cool if destroying / adding new modules to the station and change of ownership / status trigger additions to the station history. Like, I don't know,
' [station constructed] Yuma border station was constructed by the Western Exploration & Trading company in the year 236 SA. [ownership change: WE&T -> none] It was abandoned in 328 SA due to the downsizing of the company. [ownership change: none -> $Local Crime] [status change: HP degradation over time] Briefly occupied by pirates and smugglers, it fell into disrepair. [ownership change: $Local Crime -> $Local Law Enforcement] [status change: repair] It was taken over by the Westworlds Police Department in 331 SA and returned into active service [module addition: {fighter dock} {long-rage scanners} ] following the installation of additional fighter docks and scanner systems. [trivia bit] Station provides protection for the Araz jumpgate and the 8th Westworlds trade line. '
I think that modular approach allows to do all that
Survivor of the Josh Parnell Blackout of 2015.