Storyline Based Design Competition

[DeepspaceMechanic]

My miner/salvager is officially finished (until I'll have to refit it when/if the new configs hit).

I broke the "The ship is not to feature armaments" rule by adding a just-in-case basic beam weapon (it kinda asked itself to be included, since there was plenty of power and space in the front for it). I also omitted the extra point of the challenge by not including my power generator design from previous sections (there wasn't really space for including an additional roleplay engineering room for it).

Cargo capacity: 150K.
Crew: six in total -- pilot, medical officer, and four robotic arm operators -- all of whom have dedicated sleeping, eating and working amenities.

Check stats, screenshots and GIFs at the download page, and try it out in-game for the ultimate experience:
Brimstone-L7 Advanced Salvager

I'd be very curious of anyone's impressions, please share them!

 

[OfficialCoding]

OK there is no point competing against that ship lol. It's fantastic

 

[DeepspaceMechanic]

OK there is no point competing against that ship lol. It's fantastic

Lol, right... Sabotaging this competition was actually my secret diabolical plan all along.

Just kidding, I obsessed on this ship for like 10 days-2 weeks, and I'd be most happy if others would look at it as an inspiration source.

Out-do it in the specific areas you're good at; add your own touch of originality to whatever you come up with, and it shall be all good and competent.

And thanks a lot, happy to hear that you like it

 

[AngelusKutona]

And so begins the scrapping of part of my project in an attempt to make it a little cooler. Your bells and whistles are bigger than my bells and whistles by the looks of things. That ship is amazing :D.

 

[DeepspaceMechanic]

And so begins the scrapping of part of my project in an attempt to make it a little cooler.

I'm sure it would've been cool anyways. Again, I think that the originality of a design, and perhaps some elegance/cleanness of execution, are more important than aiming to create over-the-top builds.

Your bells and whistles are bigger than my bells and whistles by the looks of things.

Yeah, I noticed that what starts out early on as "Oh, I could try including such an experimental feature" become "must-haves" later on, so you end up developing a habit of adding all sorts of fancy stuff as if they were standard, AND then try out even fancier experimental stuff on top of them. Lacking most or even all of the kind of bells and whistles I tend to include aren't a problem at all, no minus points on that basis.

That ship is amazing :D

Thank you, I tried my best, and thought it turned out very well myself, glad that others like it so much too

 

[StormWing0]

lol totally forgot about this contest due to job hunting so I'll upload both my Sec 3 and Sec 4 builds at some point.

 

[AngelusKutona]

Fear not as I have not abandoned thee! I have had a few things going on and am finding time very limited, however I am posting the next section for continued story aspect.


Section 5 - Extensive Production

Production of your mining vessels has increased the yield of materials your faction/company need! They have begun immediate manufacturing of your vessels and are sending out large groups to harvest these precious materials. There has been noted one problem with this, the quantity of materials far exceeds the capacity of storage and the ability to process these materials! Your factories have not been able to keep up with the enormous yield and something needs to be done about this!

Your faction/company has asked your thoughts on how they could improve production further. They have an off-site processing station that requires a revamp and have tasked you with designing the upgrades and improvements. It is necessary to further your faction/company's influence and trade in that region. They understand that your quarters are not there but they require your time and will reward you and your team greatly for your assistance.

Minor pirate activity has been seen in the region and so they request you also work on the defenses. Your faction/company intends this station to be a key area for cargo storage, factory work and minor trade. They are not expecting a fortress but they need it to be prepared for any eventuality.

After some travel you arrive at the old station. Venturing around the station you are able to see large spaces and key areas for different necessities. You begin your plans with your team...


In this section of the story you are tasked with designing a production/factory station. The rules will be as follows:

1. Production is the main goal. You will need to provide a factory setup.
2. Storage capacity is a must, the station will require large scale cargo capacity.
3. Minor armaments are advised for the station to deter incoming pirate activity in the area.
4. For goods to be delivered from mining vessels you will need vehicle access or docking areas.
5. The station will be run by a dedicated crew, they will need living quarters, food and medical necessities.
6. Please assign areas for various teams, engineers and mechanics may be needed to repair the station components, medical crew will also be needed. Ontop of this you have the main staff that run the factory and a catering group, this should all be factored into your designs.
7. Size is once again at your discretion.

The focus of this task is on your detailing of stations and components within it. This section will require some thought as the station is flagged as 'Special' and will be featured in later sections (through improvements to the station and added components). As such it may be advisable to avoid extra components not featured in the specification to allow room for development and growth. Your secondary focus is to provide detailed turrets for defense, they are not expected to be of excellent quality and are the secondary 'Special' flag as you will be given room to improve on these later. You will need to focus on both interior and exterior on this station.


The due date for this section of the competition will be on the 05/02/2020. This allows for time to develop a decent station and added time for turret components to be designed. Sorry once again for the late update to this story and hopefully I will be more timely in future with updates. Good luck and have fun building!

 

[DeepspaceMechanic]

Fear not as I have not abandoned thee! I have had a few things going on and am finding time very limited, however I am posting the next section for continued story aspect.


Section 5 - Extensive Production

Now we're talking! - This certainly sounds like the part of the story with the most room for complexity, so far.

Yet, it can still be enjoyable for those too who would prefer to indulge in a more relaxed challenge, given that there's no lower limit on the scale of the build (it could potential be tiny / super compact), and since the criteria boil down to:

1) Good factory setup
2) High storage capacity
3) Moderate turret arsenal
4) Miner unloading amenities
5) Basic crew facilities (sleeping, washing, exercise, and recreation areas)
6) Specialized work facilities (engineering, medical, production, and catering areas)

...Which should be doable for anyone (except for me, because I never played around with production systems, so I'll have to study up on those beforehand). Around 3 months of time to submit feels a lot more than necessary, but I guess there's no need to rush after all.

I too wish good luck and fun building to anyone who chooses to try themselves at such a station!

 

[AngelusKutona]

I have several questions for you all:

1. Is there enough allotted time for a station to be built? February might be a ways off but it is just 3 months.
2. How extensive do you plan your factories to be?
3. Will you be designing a new generator for use in your station or will you upgrade the prototype from earlier on? :P
4. How big do your turrets need to be for 'minor' pirate activity?
5. What is 'minor' pirate activity to you?
6. What volume of people would be needed to fill your 'crew' on the station?
7. How will you organise your storage?
8. What will the factory machinery look like?
9. What sort of vehicle docking will you have? (USD, interior, etc)

All of these questions are designed for you to think about what you are building and how extensive you want it to be (aside from question 1). There is no right or wrong answer to these questions, the answers are all up to you and your discretion but should give you a brief idea of the scale you will be looking at when you answer them for yourselves. Some of your answers may be good as Statistics on your entries/builds.

 

[DeepspaceMechanic]

I have several questions for you all:

1. Is there enough allotted time for a station to be built? February might be a ways off but it is just 3 months.
2. How extensive do you plan your factories to be?
3. Will you be designing a new generator for use in your station or will you upgrade the prototype from earlier on? :P
4. How big do your turrets need to be for 'minor' pirate activity?
5. What is 'minor' pirate activity to you?
6. What volume of people would be needed to fill your 'crew' on the station?
7. How will you organise your storage?
8. What will the factory machinery look like?
9. What sort of vehicle docking will you have? (USD, interior, etc)

All of these questions are designed for you to think about what you are building and how extensive you want it to be (aside from question 1). There is no right or wrong answer to these questions, the answers are all up to you and your discretion but should give you a brief idea of the scale you will be looking at when you answer them for yourselves. Some of your answers may be good as Statistics on your entries/builds.

On second thought, I take it back, 3 months is probably a reasonable amount of time for this... I originally thought that like 1.5 at most would suffice, but I was thinking starting right away and working uninterruptedly. Best to allow time for potential participants who might need a while to build up the motivation to start, as well as for those who tend to work in phases separated with breaks.

And thanks for the guiding/instructional questions, they should prove to be useful considerations in anyone's planning process.

 

[DeepspaceMechanic]

Just bumping this thread with the hope of bringing it into the attention of those who might want to take up the latest challenge... Not much else to do ingame in the game's current state anyway.


Ironically enough, I originally said that the 3 months given until the due-date was too much, while now, with only 3 weeks left, here I am having to admit that I still didn't even start... Oh well.


Thus is the curse of being a chronic procrastinator :\

 

[AngelusKutona]

Just bumping this thread with the hope of bringing it into the attention of those who might want to take up the latest challenge... Not much else to do ingame in the game's current state anyway.


Ironically enough, I originally said that the 3 months given until the due-date was too much, while now, with only 3 weeks left, here I am having to admit that I still didn't even start... Oh well.


Thus is the curse of being a chronic procrastinator :\

I've started, but it is rough.
3 months we said, plenty of time we said...

 

[DeepspaceMechanic]

I've started, but it is rough.
3 months we said, plenty of time we said...

I'm sure if this creative challenge was more of a goal-oriented, reward-motivated, high-stake undertaking than it is, 3 months would've been more than enough.

Problem is, it's hard to get oneself to even start, let alone carry through uninterruptedly, when the game/forum activity level indicates that very few care about any of this nowadays. We're currently in a record-length time period without significant updates, and now that new configs are in dev, we're again in a position where you can't be sure whether the systems you build today will be any good tomorrow.


Perhaps extending this section too (maybe to some time after the QuickFire configs have solidified and got released in a proper stable game version) would bring more participants and better results.

 

[AngelusKutona]

I'm sure if this creative challenge was more of a goal-oriented, reward-motivated, high-stake undertaking than it is, 3 months would've been more than enough.

Problem is, it's hard to get oneself to even start, let alone carry through uninterruptedly, when the game/forum activity level indicates that very few care about any of this nowadays. We're currently in a record-length time period without significant updates, and now that new configs are in dev, we're again in a position where you can't be sure whether the systems you build today will be any good tomorrow.


Perhaps extending this section too (maybe to some time after the QuickFire configs have solidified and got released in a proper stable game version) would bring more participants and better results.

Worth suggesting that we put the competition on temporary hold? Or would we like to go about a 're-visit' of competition stages when the game has reached a stable version with QuickFire?

Any responses welcome, from those joining, those already taking part and those whom just want to peak at the thread from time to time.

Edit:
Last potential option - this storyline based competition could be focused on a specific server itself? I could technically get one set up and hosted and then people that want in on the competition could also reap some server related rewards? Potentially in the region of materials for crafting, credits, ship designs and blueprints?

Maybe even an advanced knowledge of upcoming server events? Like a sort of reward for the voting and given prior information on maybe raids or designs of potential enemies?

That sort of thing?

 

[DeepspaceMechanic]

Worth suggesting that we put the competition on temporary hold?

I would suggest to wait until a certain number of submissions have rolled in for previous sections of the story/competition, before creating a new section.

Or would we like to go about a 're-visit' of competition stages when the game has reached a stable version with QuickFire?

A new QuickFire-y stable build seems to have been released the day you posted, so it probably is safe to build systemed stuff again. Revisiting previous systemed submissions, as in refitting them, is something I'm personally not interested in for now - maybe the mining ship a few months down the road.

Last potential option - this storyline based competition could be focused on a specific server itself? I could technically get one set up and hosted and then people that want in on the competition could also reap some server related rewards? Potentially in the region of materials for crafting, credits, ship designs and blueprints?

Just want to say, I'm personally interested only in the creativity aspect of StarMade in general, with SP building being ideal for me.

But have fun in case others are interested in that MP possibility.