Deep maintenance Z level

[Kotlol]

I figured a few things out for these "deep" sections and how to make sure they are great for antagonists but not something you want to enter.

1: No cameras. This is the underbelly.. putting cameras here is just not allowed.
2: There is no electricity. This is the underside, the darkness, the shadows, the thing you crawl through to get to other maintances.
3: There is no O2 in there. Seems NT cheaped out on the air there. Better bring life support with you.
4: It's immune to being blown up. Oh that's where the budget went! They don't want under maintance bombing! (Also some stations have their own below Z level like our famous water stages and I don't think we should conflict of interrest that design)
5: They are maaaaaaaaaaagiccccccc... Cause blowing up where you think they should be aren't there. Must be some sort of anti-matter technology? (Just saves time redesigning every map)

[Decarcassor]

Its an interesting idea but what would be the purpose of this deep maintenance other than being a sneaky way to get trough the station ? What is it used for in terms of regular station operation ?

I can think of a few things like a toxic dump where all the chems flushed by station machinery end up. Some kind of waste filtering and recycling place for the station water. Maybe a stinky compost silo. Stuff like this ? Places you don't want to go most of the times but might on occasion need some unclogging or purging.

[Emimiyu]

Incoming people yelling "Staffie McStaffie just vented!" on radio

Good idea, but I have the same question as decarcassor. There should be other use for it so people actually has reason to come in there as non antag. If it only function for antagging spot, people will more likely to just avoid it.

[Glamurio]

Its an interesting idea but what would be the purpose of this deep maintenance other than being a sneaky way to get trough the station ? What is it used for in terms of regular station operation ?

I can think of a few things like a toxic dump where all the chems flushed by station machinery end up. Some kind of waste filtering and recycling place for the station water. Maybe a stinky compost silo. Stuff like this ? Places you don't want to go most of the times but might on occasion need some unclogging or purging.

This is an excellent point. If we start designing an "underground", there's no way we can't factor in above ground things such as disposals and sewage. Barring a rework on how pipes work, perhaps pipes could be obstacles in the underground, and if we're doing a 1x1 mapping, damaging a pipe below ground could damage the pipe above ground? But that's a big if.

Other than that, I kind of envision the underground to be a mix of sewer, dumping ground, maintenance area and belt hell. Maybe a couple creepy crawlies, spiders, ants, roaches. On that end, since there's now hostile entities, it's a risk-reward area, both for maybe quick undetected traversal, but also for the occasional looting spree. I'd assume it should fulfill a simiar role to that of the trench. And most importantly, it should still maintain the "maintenance" feel, it should be radiation immune, there should be multiple access points, and lots of goodies and random things strewn about.

[Frank_Stein]

I feel like this would be easiest to pull off on a terrestrial map. Something like Oshan and it's trench, which would take care a bit of the weirdness of things like damage or atmosphere.

Hostile environment surface, with an underground area that serves as a place to run utilities through, maybe a more finished area that acts as a tunnel/transit system for cargo

[Confuseddp]

I've brainstormed about this with a few people over the years, it's a really unique idea and could be fun, but each time the actual code part scared me off. My idea was always like, some sort of vent system you could crawl into that served as a very narrow Z level or something thats overlaid over the map somehow, so you could for example hear people fighting and dying in the vent system while standing in Medbay and it would do the clonk clonk as you walk through.

The real question is how to approach the design. Both has pros and cons.

• Make it randomly generated
  • High variance per map (More fun?)
    
  • Difficult to balance
    
  • Difficult to code
    
  • Random room / procedural generation might look ugly
    

• Make it static per level
  • Zero variance (Less fun?)
    
  • Easier to balance
    
  • Easier to code
    
  • Allows for unique feeling map layouts & easter eggs
    

Ultimately I'm in love with the idea, we'd just have to narrow down a direction.

What about static but a few "Maintenance" prefabs that could encourage exploring?

A few areas underground where you need to lay rods and floors would be cool too.

[noidedman]

I think this feature would work best in a map made especially to consider multi-z levels, and I think instead of trying to ram it into a new form/feature that justifies its existence, the mail system should instead be made to run through it.