Alright, I'm feeling good today, so I'm gonna share Cargo- I did promise it would be coming soon, didn't I?
As I said in my previous post, Cargo somewhat bucks the trends of the other departments, mostly in omitting a primary focal point- this was done mostly to fit it into a more central location on the station, but I think it makes cargo feel tighter and cozier than the other departments- fitting for its smaller workforce.
Now, again, usual caveats apply- while structure and initial detailing are mostly done, the department is far from fully finished, and table clutter and such will come at a later date. I don't anticipate cargo will change much (unless the reception is truly awful), but you never know, so to again reiterate-
this is not final.
Cargo's main desk is accessed off of the main hallway loop, via a staircase (that won't be as dark as this in the final version!)
This opens into cargo's lovely waiting room (ignore the placeholder vaporwave floors- I've been using those in place of catwalks as catwalks are kinda annoying to deal with in the editor):
The main cargo office has a staircase to the mailroom, as well as access to the cargo bay itself, the QM's office (so he can watch over his underlings) and the secpost for cargo:
Let's take a look at the QM's office:
The QM to me has always felt like a more grounded department head than the rest (hell, when this office was built, the QM wasn't a head at all), so in keeping with that theming, it's less extravagant than the rest, though it still obviously cements his place above the rest of cargo. It also gives a commanding view of most of cargo's workings via the windows, and if that wasn't enough, the QM gets cameras to keep tabs on the rest- nothing escapes his watchful eye.
The Cargo Bay itself is based on some warehouse designs I've seen, with a raised office area and the lower working warehouse floor. This gives the large space some much needed division and produces a unique effect when compared with the other maps:
It's plenty big overall (the actual size rivals that of Deltastation) but with the dividing line between upper and lower, the space feels more contained overall- perfect for maintaining a cozier feeling down in the bay.
The supply shuttle itself is a train, much like the arrival shuttle (...occurs to me that's not been shared here yet- I'll put some of that misc stuff on the end of this post, because hey, I have the game open and it's on my mind, might as well). This helps again in keeping the bay contained. I've also taken design cues from boxcars in making the shuttle, so it has wide shutters to make loading and unloading easier (though conveyors are still provided for the more automation-minded):
The floor space in the shuttle is negotiable- I'm happy to lengthen or widen it if need be, although the overall space should be fairly similar to other stations' shuttles.
Now, this opens an obvious question- how does the supply train get to/from the bay?
This leads into the dark, gloomy depths of maintenance, which means this is a teaser for a later day (unless, of course, you look at the full map renders, but you wouldn't do that, would you?)
The northern side of the bay houses another small desk workspace, as well as the department's loader modsuit and Big Bess. Haul gauntlets are provided too, because options are nice:
And then, we have the breakroom. Not much to say, it's just a nice space for the cargo crew to congregate, have a cup of joe, and gamble their meagre earnings away, all while getting a lovely overview over the lower caves, and the lobstrosities that are itching to snip you up. You know, cargonian stuff:
Finally for the lower level, there's the warehouses (there are 2 of them). Not much to say, just a useful spot for storing stuff, or converting into meth labs, or whatever the current cargo trends are- I'm out of the loop somewhat, but I hope the space is welcomed:
Now, observant viewers might have noticed some shutter doors- that, my dear viewer, is the cargo elevator, which I figured would be necessary for moving crates and such between the various levels of the station:
It links to the warehouse hallway, main desk, main level hallway, and upper cargo, and should make for a simple and efficient way to move mass quantities of crates.
So, shall we head upstairs?
The mailroom comprises the middle deck of cargo, and it's a fairly communal space, with everything you might expect of a cargo mailroom- the sorting belt, a desk for people to get their mail, the cargodrobe, some desks- but it also hosts chilled's mulebots, which couldn't be placed on the lower level due to the way bot pathfinding works. The crate return is also up here, and leads into the cargo bay- although behind some windoors, before you tiders get any ideas:
Heading upstairs again, we find ourselves on the top deck, at ground level. The drone bay is the main functional space up here:
Then, we have cargo's outdoor setpiece, the container decks- a 4-level structure heading down to the upper mining level, situated next to a pit. These take advantage of the new shipping containers to give a decorative space to cargo- one that also allows the enterprising miner wannabe an easy route to the lower levels, if going via public mining is too simple for you:
Note: the above images are brightened, since, you know, the icebox exterior is pitch black (I was holding out hope on the day/night cycle PR, but that's not materialised, so I will
probably need to light these areas better- c'est la vie, huh?).
Now, onto those minor things I mentioned earlier.
Arrivals takes centre stage, being placed (pretty much) centrally on the map, and being accessed via the 4 staircases next to the garden. Its design is based on a subway station, with the shuttle itself being a train:
The observant amongst you have probably noticed an issue- I'll be looking to resolve the parallax behind the shuttle being space- something more like a speeding subway tunnel feels like it should make more sense, but that's going to involve working with some coders, so it's not a priority for the time being.
Departures feels like an appropriate place to cover next, so let's head there. It's based on an airport departures lounge, with plenty of seating and open space:
Finally, let's look at dorms. I wanted to try and make dorms feel a bit more sensibly sized for a station of anywhere between 60 and 120 pop- 4 rooms doesn't quite cut it. While the 24 beds offered by the dorms on Chilled still don't remotely match that (even with hotbunking that's a squeeze), I do think it devotes a more reasonable amount of space to crew comfort than most of our stations.
Your typical dorm room looks a little something like this:
There's some greenery, two beds (you'll be sharing your room, space efficiency matters!), and storage. I set this up with the idea that workers on an NT station (at least in canon) won't be there longterm- probably a few months at most before they're off rotation, similarly to how arctic research posts or oil rigs work, and so they can afford to sleep in a more dorm-room styled arrangement given it's only for a short period of time. With 12 rooms, there's a fair amount of space for players to go SSD, if they want to leave the round in an RP-friendly way (personally, I subscribe to the oxygen tank theory, at least on the standard-RP servers, it gives the janitor more to do).
This then left me with some space to hand over to RP-centric spaces- let's take a look at the breakfast nook and rec rooms, located to the eastern side of dorms:
These areas don't add much mechanically (but hey, if the chef wants to put on a breakfast buffet spread in the breakfast nook, I say he's dedicated to his craft and applaud him), but I think they're nice for making the station feel more like a real, lived in space, and less like a utilitarian design- something our current stations are unfortunately quite stuck in (not to say they're bad, it's just a different philosophy).
Holy hell, this post has gotten long! Let's round it out with a room I really like from command, since the bridge probably doesn't warrant its own showcase:
Going forward, I'll round off departmental showcases (for the two that are left, anyway) with this sort of content, since there's a lot of smaller stuff that, while important to the station's design, don't warrant a full post on their own (until I run out of other things to show off, anyway). Expect stuff like the bridge, fluff rooms, interesting maint spaces, etc. to fit in this category.
Thanks again for reading, especially since this turned into a real monolith of a post. It'll probably be a bit longer until the next one of these- both sec and engi are kinda kicking my arse right now, so they'll need some time. See you whenever that next showcase is.
