Space structures
Posted by ju on April 12, 2008 at 8:46 am
In Beta 5 the only items which can actually be built are ships. Moreover the only “permanent” items a player can control are planets which are located at specific coordinates. With the introduction of real buildings it felt logical that a planet’s surface might not be the only location where permanent structures could be installed. How about space?
That’s where space structures come in. Space structures are structures which can be constructed by an empire or an alliance in various places in space. Three types of space structures are considered, depending on the locations at which they can be built.
Space stations are constructed in orbit around planets. They have several uses, such as extending the building space and living space of the planet by placing the equivalent of ground buildings in orbit, providing supplementary military structures or supporting mining operations in neighbouring asteroid fields and nebulae.
Starbases are constructed in a system’s Oort cloud. They can serve as an advanced warning system, tracking movements at the limits of the system, provide supplementary military structures - especially devices that cause the collapse of Hyperspace windows - and support mining operations in neighbouring asteroid fields and nebula.
Gate bases are constructed near supergates. This type of space structure can only be built by alliances. They provide supplementary military structures just as the other space structures type. Moreover they provide means to limit the use of the supergate such as tolls and provide diplomatic facilities on the alliance level to improve the results of treaties.
Space structures are built according to a principle similar to the ship design principle. They are first of all composed of a superstructure. Various superstructure models exist, each providing a specific number of module slots. Various specialisation modules are available, in the same way as ship parts. These modules are either counterparts of ground buildings, such as housing or economic modules, or space-specific modules such as dry docks, sensor arrays and so on. Each module uses a certain amount of module slots therefore limiting the number of modules which can be installed in a given superstructure.
What do you think of this space structure principle?
Do you think there should be limits to its use?
What kind of specialisation modules would you see attached to a space structure?
Tags: gate base, Oort cloud, planets, space station, space structure, starbase, stellar object, systems
April 13th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Tis a good idea.
I think that space structures need supply of stuff like ore/water/darkmatter in case of siege. (just a thought :S)
I also reckon that a base should be able to specialise into 2 main categories and have a 3rd catagory which sorta goes into the two:
1. MIlitary (pretty straight forward)
-Stuff like building/attacking ships and keeping the peace (or something)
2. Commercial (again pretty staright forward)
-Mining, trade and other stuff like that
3. Communications (three outta three in straight forwardness)
-Essentially a breakaway of the two main types, this can be used for either military purposes or Commertial purposes
OK, I am rather tired and I can’t think straight but that doesnt mean I am going to shut up
April 13th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Oh is an Oort cloud, I tried to find a reference but failed
April 13th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
First, regarding Oort clouds : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud
Now, regarding the specialisation - a space station can be specialised depending on its size, as described in the last part of the post. If it is truly enormous, then it stands to reason that you can put just about anything on it as long as it fits (think of the Babylon 5 TV show).
If you want to create a really specialised base, only put modules of one type on it; if you want a more versatile station, nothing prevents you from doing it either.
Regarding supply to space stations, they will of course require maintenance; this will be provided by the planets using maintenance work units and of course resources. While it’s easy to keep maintaining a space station as it’s not really far from its supply source, it’s a bit harder for distant “outer space” stations, so yeah, if they’re under siege they won’t get any maintenance done.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
You say these stations are permanent… Are they unable to be removed?
April 21st, 2008 at 8:57 am
No, they can be destroyed like buildings, although the work units required by their destruction are taken from factories instead of construction workers. What was meant by “permanent” was of course that they can’t be moved.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Will they get completely destroyed, leaving no rubble to harvest or can you harvest the rubble like it is an asteriod field (albiet a small asteroid field :P)
May 7th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Yes, you will be able to harvest the remains of space stations (and the remains of fleets as well).