What do you put inside your space stations?

[aRottenKomquat]

I've realized that so far the majority of my space station designs involve a ton of systems, but the player-accessible interior of the station is usually one or two rooms only. I'm a very practical function-over-form designer so it's hard to make a nice-looking base.

Now I'm replacing my station with a new one and attempting to give it an actual interior: hallways, rooms, command centers, and so on. I have a hard time forcing myself to make decorative-only areas, so this is how I tend to break areas up and try to have meaningful rooms.

First, the station is separated into three major areas, or rings of security/access:

• Faction Staff: Doors and transporters have no permission modules, so only high-ranking faction members can enter here.
  
• General Faction: Faction permission modules on everything, so any faction member can enter or use.
• Public: Public permission modules on everything.

Within each area, I try to have some of the following (locked to the appropriate permissions, of course):

• Medical rooms, with medical cabinets and Undeathinators.
• Transporter rooms
• Docking areas with USDs
• Factories. The main factory area with the station's main cargo and high enhancer/cargo space support goes in the General Faction area. A few smaller factories will go in the Public area. General Faction may also have some smaller factories so members can chain/link factories together for complex recipes without altering the high-efficiency main factory.
• Cargo: Main cargo is generally in the main factory, but a smaller VIP cargo also goes in the Faction Staff section. No cargo in Public. Sometimes main cargo will sort into other cargo (hull, capsules, decorations, etc.) but it's usually more convenient to put everything in one giant cargo.
  
• Crew Quarters: Generally just a room with some cargo, to be used as personal storage. The rooms have Display Blocks so they can be claimed and labeled.
  
• Conference rooms and lounges, one of the few mostly-decorative-only areas I bother with.
• Command Center: Faction-Staff only. Contains build blocks, Displays with all the station data, some USDs, a Transporter, VIP/Founder cargo.
  
• Shipyards of various sizes (small up to titan), but only for the General Faction area.

How do you guys work on station interiors? How do you feel about decorative-versus-functional rooms and areas? Any tips for expanding beyond a basic interior and making a station that seems more real with lots of places to go and things to do?

 

[Shaker]

Central teleporter room.

North i have officer factory/sotrage/buildblock/factionblock.
Factory/storage is hidden behind logic door that doesnt have a permission block

East i have crew quarters, each player gets a small room with a personal storage

South i have member factory/storage and internal hanger

West i have station scanners, medroom and shipyard

Ive set mine up with function being the key, once you teleport in, anything you want is quick to get to. ive got an upper floor for biodome and nightclub and anything extra players wants, but game related things ive put all on the bottom floor. if the npc's stuff comes out ill add a lower floor and add their rooms there.

1 tip is to have a 20 block gap/solid to the outside so your faction is safe to walk around inside wiyhout being rained on by enemy missiles

 

[Edymnion]

Standard stuff:
Sick Bays: Medical beds, doctor's offices, med blocks and undeathinator.

Quarters: Bed, shelves, chairs, desk, mini-kitchen.

Barracks: Bunk beds, chair, desk

Bar/Lounge: Big bar desk, tables and chairs, etc

Command Room: Build block, computers, docked scanner antenna, etc

Manufacturing Center: All my factories

Main Storage: Room with all my storage chests

Occasionally:
Kitchen/Restaurant: Tables, chairs, bar, big working kitchen, salad bar, etc.

Sports/Entertainment: Racquetball court, holodeck (big black room with yellow grid)

Strip Club: This one was fun. Stage with poles, backstage dressing rooms, bar and tables/chairs out front.

Arboretum/Park: Big tree, grass, bushes

Shop: Display shelves out front, shop module, then a door leading into a room with the cargo for said shop module

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I don't really make stations but rather, large mobile command bases that look like stations and have large city-like interiors inside. The true station is actually just a rudimentary frame that my Mobile Command System (M.C.S.) docks around.

For the stationary frame I include the following:
- Undeathinator
- Factories and refineries (public and faction)
- 1-2 Shipyards (3-4 if I build out externally)
- Storage shelves/racks/platforms
- Shop

For the current version of the Mobile Command System, I include the following:
- Command core (controls M.C.S. movement, warp drive, weapons and alert status)
- Multiple decorative cities. (Most buildings are filled with power or shield capacitors. Some have offices or public living spaces)
- 1-4 internal docking bays for ships ranging from 105-150 meters in length depending on the size and specific version of the M.C.S.
- Full-size public hospital (near the undeathinator so you re-spawn right in front of the hospital entrance)
- Public docking/air locks for visitors
- Parks
- Basketball court
- Baseball diamond
- Visitors' quarters
- Visitors' storage
- Farming/hydroponics bay
- Concessions stands
- Reserved construction sites for frequent visitors to construct their own on board office/custom living space

 

[Panpiper]

Let's see... When I build a 'space station' it's primarily a homebase for my faction of one. I need it as a place to dock to to keep my ship(s) safe when I'm away and to be a secure place where I can do factory work and build. First order of business is an enclosure in which I have the essentials of build block, faction block and undeathenator. I need factories immediately so they'll go in there right away as well. Then I'll add some power lines and pop off some factory enhancers. Almost immediately I'll need extra cargo space so I'll build some and add it typically to the roof of that enclosure. Next thing you know, I'm adding more factory enhancers, more power lines, more cargo storage...

All this is done with some urgency, so there is little forethought to how this will all look in the end. By the time I get around to wanting to beautify the place, it is a hodgepodge of large flat falls, a few plex doors and a few docking areas. Roughly at this point, I'll want to spam out some decent sized turrets to put on the thing to keep the riff raff away. So I'll belatedly figure out how to add them without the whole mess looking too much of an eye sore.

Interior remains ultra spartan, completely utilitarian. I just don't have the patience for detailing if it has no mechanical function in the game.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Nice ball turrets Panpiper. They look like they can crank out a nice amount of DPS.https://starmadedock.net/members/panpiper.424140/

 

[alterintel]

I like to go spartan as well.

This has got 3 sets of factories with full enanchers.
Each set has a basic standard and advanced factory.
one set produces 1 item at a time.
second set produces 10 items at a time.
and the third set produces 100 items at a time.
And enough power to have them all on at the same time.


This little guy should be updated with some turrets and cargo. But it works great as a cheap starter station.
Download from the Dock here

 

[Panpiper]

Nice ball turrets Panpiper. They look like they can crank out a nice amount of DPS.

For their visual footprint, a turret six blocks tall and 23 wide, I suppose they do. Technically I would consider these to be on the small side of medium turrets, doing about 40K dps each. I'll often have two or three different weapon systems built using the same blueprinted empty turret. They are self powered with 400K power. I had built them for my miner (also pictured) and they were ready to go for adding to the station. The station could fend off a 100-200K ship I suspect, but larger than that could probably tank the fire.

I will say that generally, what I lack in greebling acumen, I make up for in system efficacy.

 

[Lonnehart]

I better watch this thread. I'm still new at this and I still don't know what to put in my station. Except maybe a power section... shaped like an apple core...

 

[Scypio]

To all of what have already been told i would add a solarium. Because you're in space so you need to take care of your crew and a nap under the sun is a good way to keep your dose of vitamins. Otherwise it's pills.

Also to have been a swimmer i like to make a swimming pool. That's sad that the water bloc aren't solid right now but i hope they won't be in the future. And with that there is usually a sport hall just nearby because crews needs to be healthy. Space being a weird place for human body you need to do a lot of sport to maintain it working correctly.

And with that, your station can be a small city with bars, stirp clubs and things like that.

 

[kurosawa]

space station extreme sports: solarium sit down

p.s. no UV filtering
[doublepost=1478717395,1478717260][/doublepost]just skimmed the ideas and did not see

- power station
- department structure
- resturants
- parking lots for station transport

 

[splatthecat]

I like to go spartan as well.

This has got 3 sets of factories with full enanchers.
Each set has a basic standard and advanced factory.
one set produces 1 item at a time.
second set produces 10 items at a time.
and the third set produces 100 items at a time.
And enough power to have them all on at the same time.


This little guy should be updated with some turrets and cargo. But it works great as a cheap starter station.
Download from the Dock here

I've used this station myself before and can vouch for its' versatility. I have a modified (week one) version of it that I sometimes use as a throw away mining outpost. Processing and manufacturing of carved minerals, crystals, ingots and paint. I park a freighter on one dock and once this is full I fly it back to the Homebase and then back to the outpost. Once done in a system I tear it down and move on.

 

[Lonnehart]

To all of what have already been told i would add a solarium. Because you're in space so you need to take care of your crew and a nap under the sun is a good way to keep your dose of vitamins. Otherwise it's pills.

Also to have been a swimmer i like to make a swimming pool. That's sad that the water bloc aren't solid right now but i hope they won't be in the future. And with that there is usually a sport hall just nearby because crews needs to be healthy. Space being a weird place for human body you need to do a lot of sport to maintain it working correctly.

And with that, your station can be a small city with bars, stirp clubs and things like that.

Maybe an ice rink is a better idea?

 

[KiloZulu]

Last station my friends and I put together had a command center, offices, a medical facility, kitchen/cafeteria, living quarters for faction members and guests, conference rooms, resource storage, a manufacturing floor, a logic floor (housing all the production logic for factory automation,) shuttle docking bays, fighter docking bays, large ship docking terminals, security/holding facilities, a power plant/engineering section, a small ship yard, a large ship yard, a shielding machinery room, communications room, a large elevator between floors (with enclosed car and logic doors), a rail car between terminals, and a variety of turrets - missile, cannon, and point defense.

It was an extensive and unsymmetrical beast.

I've never enjoyed building stations much, myself, but it was easier with friends. I can't help but start to feel tied down the longer I sit working on an immobile platform rather than being out exploring the stars. I have been considering building my own station of late. What I have in mind would try to incorporate some of the style of the original neutral Starmade station (four hangars, four pods, elevator through the middle, and disc on top,) but altered and on a scale to incorporate a fair-sized shipyard and the ships that it could create.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Last station my friends and I put together had a command center, offices, a medical facility, kitchen/cafeteria, living quarters for faction members and guests, conference rooms, resource storage, a manufacturing floor, a logic floor (housing all the production logic for factory automation,) shuttle docking bays, fighter docking bays, large ship docking terminals, security/holding facilities, a power plant/engineering section, a small ship yard, a large ship yard, a shielding machinery room, communications room, a large elevator between floors (with enclosed car and logic doors), a rail car between terminals, and a variety of turrets - missile, cannon, and point defense.

It was an extensive and unsymmetrical beast.

I've never enjoyed building stations much, myself, but it was easier with friends. I can't help but start to feel tied down the longer I sit working on an immobile platform rather than being out exploring the stars. I have been considering building my own station of late. What I have in mind would try to incorporate some of the style of the original neutral Starmade station (four hangars, four pods, elevator through the middle, and disc on top,) but altered and on a scale to incorporate a fair-sized shipyard and the ships that it could create.

I agree with you 100%. I hate being tied down to one place unless I have an entire planet. That why every single station I've ever had wasn't a station at all but rather a Death Star, posing as a city, posing as a ship, posing as a space station...

 

[Lonnehart]

I think I'll experiment with making "power cubes". Reactors in their preferred formation surrounded by capacitors. Should make for an interesting power core station section...

 

[Panpiper]

I think I'll experiment with making "power cubes". Reactors in their preferred formation surrounded by capacitors. Should make for an interesting power core station section...

Oh gods, those damn power cubes again. Is there anything we can do to rid the community of those bloody things? It seems every newcomer stumbles upon something to do with power cubes and thinks they are some sort of efficient way of generating power. Over and over again I see people with those cubes and when they need more power, they add more cubes!

Do NOT use power cubes, EVER! They are a terrible way to generate power. They were only ever used as a theoretical exercise for a handful of people, they were never meant to actually be used. The best way to generate power is with very long single lines of power modules. You can extend the lines into a 3D X, as long as each module added adds one to either the X,Y or Z dimension of the power structure. These sorts of lines are so VASTLY superior in power output that once someone understands the difference, they will never so much as think of those god forsaken cubes again.

 

[kurosawa]

true but long lines of reactors looks bloody stupid so if he wants to do a nice cube or solid block of reactores to make it look good. more power to him then.

And, yes i would like to see reactor bonus be made more simple to allow something other then fugly long lines

 

[Lonnehart]

Oh gods, those damn power cubes again. Is there anything we can do to rid the community of those bloody things? It seems every newcomer stumbles upon something to do with power cubes and thinks they are some sort of efficient way of generating power. Over and over again I see people with those cubes and when they need more power, they add more cubes!

Do NOT use power cubes, EVER! They are a terrible way to generate power. They were only ever used as a theoretical exercise for a handful of people, they were never meant to actually be used. The best way to generate power is with very long single lines of power modules. You can extend the lines into a 3D X, as long as each module added adds one to either the X,Y or Z dimension of the power structure. These sorts of lines are so VASTLY superior in power output that once someone understands the difference, they will never so much as think of those god forsaken cubes again.

So I should use very long power bars instead (lines of reactors surrounded by a sheath of capacitors and armor)?

 

[Dr. Whammy]

true but long lines of reactors looks bloody stupid so if he wants to do a nice cube or solid block of reactores to make it look good. more power to him then.

And, yes i would like to see reactor bonus be made more simple to allow something other then fugly long lines

Fugly huh?

Ok... I challenge you to build a 150 meter long ship and reach the 2,000,000 power regeneration soft cap using power cubes.

I'll build a ship 50 meters shorter than yours with more efficient power regen than yours. Then you can ask me why my entire fleet is filled with 'tiny' ships that punch well above their weight while yours can barely fire their weapons and move at the same time.

So I should use very long power bars instead (lines of reactors surrounded by a sheath of capacitors and armor)?

You don't necessarily have to use lines of reactors. Just increase the overall L.W.H. dimensions of each reactor chain by any means you see fit.

Example; I love my old Challenger-class ship

Spoiler

But with only 495,000 power regen It will NEVER see PVP combat. As cool looking as it is, it's nothing more than a conversation piece now.

Enter the Pathfinder Series; a newer, more combat efficient ship with 950,000 power regen.

Spoiler

Similar build style, much more power efficient, more heavily armed. This was the primary Axis combat ship for over a year. It's held up pretty well; all things considered. ...But I can do better.

My newest 100 meter class combat ship is still in development. I don't have a name for it yet so I'm unofficially calling it the "Enforcer-class". This little guy spews a lot of DPS for its size. At 2,000,000 power regen, It has the close to the maximum amount of sustainable firepower that can be equipped on any ship without without using auxiliary power or suffering from power failure.

Spoiler

Designed to close in shred targets with auto-cannons, this thing will kill any other ship in my fleet in one on one combat by pure toughness. When I add my point defense and light ion turrets, this thing is gonna be nasty in combat.

And for anyone who still doubts the validity of efficient power reactor layout, I present to you, the Defender MK2; a 50 meter long ship with more power regen than the 100 meter long Challenger shown at the top of my list of examples. The DPS is rather nice for a smaller ship.

Spoiler

Try powering something this size with your power cubes and you're gonna have a bad time.

Bottom line; don't give into power cube hype or you won't be able to generate enough power to run a respectable weapons load out to compete with specialized PVP ships of the same size. You'll find yourself building long ships with a poor rotational speed that are outmaneuvered by smaller more efficient ships