Medium Civilian Station WIP

What, if anything, are you using as a reference? I'm wondering if bases like Talos or the UBW stations in WC4 could provide some inspiration for some doodads like spinning radar dishes or lots of spindly arms and girders and things like that on larger stations

I really like the idea about swappable top sections, that would keep things simple but add a lot of variety

I say go for it!
 
Howard Day said:
I'd welcome any feedback on this subject, though - Now's the time - before I get to the texturing.

It's medium civilian station, isn't it? You can always add some more modules, enlarge it a little bit then rename to "large civilian station" and do some smaller ones (medium, small -- if any) with different design and size.
 
Howard Day said:
So here are the modules I have planned to work on:
Hydroponics, Shipyard, Commodity Dealer, Refinery, Weapons platform, Hangar, Large Hangar, Ship dealer (separate from a shipyard - that's used for major repairs), Bulk Storage, Supplimentary Housing, and more if I can think of them.

You can add:
- power reactor module (completely inhabitable yet equipped with sort of a power reactor -- enabling the station to exist without any solar panels -- which, if hit well, would make the station do a big booom)

- entartainment module of sorts. I won't come with precise discription, but hey -- people always love some fun -- right?

- some "telemetry" module intent on monitoring ships comming in and out from some jump point, working probably like one big customs scanning center (especially in systems in Confederation's neighbourhood)

The glass dome modules and other stuff like this always adds some effect to the stations look but since it gives a feel of station being rather expensive and advanced (at least to me) you could maybe restrict it only to selected few largest and richest stations.
 
The only thing with all those modules is coming up with the interiors and making them all work in a way that makes them make sense, i'd have to say that's a lot of work that is best spent after the project has been released. Commodity, Ship Dealer, the Offices (Merc, Merchant, Confed, Landreich), Weapons should be about the focus right now. Anything else like I said is a 'down the road' type deal.

BradMick
 
Plasteel Skull said:
You can add:
- power reactor module (completely inhabitable yet equipped with sort of a power reactor -- enabling the station to exist without any solar panels -- which, if hit well, would make the station do a big booom)

- some "telemetry" module intent on monitoring ships comming in and out from some jump point, working probably like one big customs scanning center (especially in systems in Confederation's neighbourhood)
It seems to me that things like that are integral to the station anyway. Certainly, they can be modeled to add detail, but they don't need to have the level of player interactivity as the hangar, etc. and they don't have the same effect on what you can do at the station.
 
Brad, Magnum: that all is probably true, yet IMO it is always good to serve those ideas since there is this possibility, that something fresh and interesting (like space or some kind of on-base mission, completely new kind of base or whatever) will emerge sooner or later (this or that release). Having Pioneer creators flooded with ideas from which 50% will be probably dumped will leave us (future Pioneer players) with a game of our dreams fulfilled. They have their mind and will and ultimately nobody is saying them what to do or do not. It is a freedom of doing the fan project done with help from the community.
 
BradMick said:
The only thing with all those modules is coming up with the interiors and making them all work in a way that makes them make sense, i'd have to say that's a lot of work that is best spent after the project has been released. Commodity, Ship Dealer, the Offices (Merc, Merchant, Confed, Landreich), Weapons should be about the focus right now. Anything else like I said is a 'down the road' type deal.

BradMick


I can understand limiting the visitable areas of a station to the basics for now, but there's no reason why the external portion shouldn't be modelled sooner than later.
 
Okay - For the time being, I'm at least going to rough out all the modules I've mentioned. I really don't mind blowing a little time on this, as it's something I enjoy, and it's reletively easy to do. That and I'm none too eager to move onto station interiors. Anyhow, I put together the Commodity Interchange today - It has support for three levels of "activity" I suppose. I've also done some more work on the hangar bay - it now has internal supports, and some more interesting details on the outside. Both clock in at well under 2000 polys - about a third of the standard fighter in the game.
Enjoy, and comments are most welcome. I'm probably going to start the Refinery bits tomorrow, while moving on to the shipdealer bits. Maybe.
 

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The commodity module design is neat, but for a medium station, are 3 sets of containers really necessary? The current module design looks like it'd be more suited to a large station in a more populated part of the Landreich. It seems to me that just 2 sets of containers should be sufficient, for backwater stations.
 
that's two commodity modules on there, each module has 2 sets, one on each side of the central arm. It looks like there are 3 because the two sets are close together and kind of merging.
 
Yup. Here's a more detailed demonstration - This is just one commodity module, with two levels of complexity being shown. The first is the simpliest - this is what the smallest, backwater stations will be sporting - if they have a commodity trader. Obviously, the selection will be limited. The other is a full-up module - closer to what you Want to see.
Hope this clears that up!
 

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I understood that there were two commodity modules on that station mockup. What I meant was the outermost pair of boxes on each module seems a bit too much for the "backwater" mentioned above (post 16, to be exact).

On further thought, are those commodity modules to be used on large stations as well, just with all the box slots filled? If that's the case, then I withdraw my suggestion, which was based on the commodity module shown being only for medium stations.
 
That is indeed it's purpose. Depending on how far out you are, you'll see fewer and fewer commodity warehouses. In a really, really high=traffic system, near a jumppoint, you may see a large startion with 3-4 of these full up. Quite impressive to look at.
Anyhow.
 
Looking great so far, but I have a thought/question about these modular stations: If these things are going to be spread around at all sorts of minor planets, jump points, etc., will there maybe be a unique station or two at relatively major planets like Hell Hole?
 
Absolutely. Keep in mind that these are being created to populate the vast majority of the star systems. They're not going to be used to represent major installations. They are going to be varied enough to pass for most all the other stations.
 
Annnd I've wrapped up the modelling on the Refinery Module. Right now it clocks in at 7500 Polys. I like the level of detail on this one, but I will probably go back in later and add afew other things.
 

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Howard Day said:
Annnd I've wrapped up the modelling on the Refinery Module. Right now it clocks in at 7500 Polys. I like the level of detail on this one, but I will probably go back in later and add afew other things.
holy cow I love it!

the details are great, this whole modular concept looks to be working really well
 
It looks good, but I was wondering how the cargo crates on the cargo module are supposed to come off if there's another module directly beside it. It looks like they slide on and off from the side.

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AD said:
It looks good, but I was wondering how the cargo crates on the cargo module are supposed to come off if there's another module directly beside it. It looks like they slide on and off from the side.

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I thought they were permanent attachments, like warehouses

are they supposed to be picked up by a drayman or something?
 
Vinman said:
I thought they were permanent attachments, like warehouses. are they supposed to be picked up by a drayman or something?


It's very possible I'm just looking at it wrong. I was thinking of it more along the lines of modern day shipping containers that are interchangeable between Ships, Rail (double stacked), and trucks. If they are more or less permanent then you're right and it doesn't matter. Otherwise some kind of empty transport, like a drayman or like those seen in wc4 would be loaded with them and unloaded.
 
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