Probably not what you were going for but this made me picture a crazy impossible cool idea.
Having a core station that's somewhat small (A little smaller than Donut with Destiny-sized-ish departments, with paths going out in each cardinal direction and Engineering on pylons in the center like Donut) with a limited size but full complement of departments, and with the ability to buy additional station extensions that lock into place in specific spots and connect up via airbridge, with power systems automatically integrating into the station.
I've brainstormed up a few extension possibilities (warning: I went on a VERY large rant):
Large Extensions (there'd be two slots for these - east and west. North is Arrivals, south is Escape.) The access airbridges are 3-wide, and the sections have two doors at their entrance (one for the public area, one for the private area).
-Extended Hydroponics bay with a lot of plant pots and space to grow things, and a small salad bar with tables and seating for the Botanists to offer up their delicious produce.
-Extra pod bay with one pod, and assembly hardware for the new cruisers.
-Extensive Med-Sci division with a multi-manufacturer Robotics lab, two more Genetics research stations, a multi-person Pathology lab and a shared Genetics/Pathology monkey pen, as well as a small pharmacy with public sleeper and private aid kits / Chemistry setup / cloning device.
-Full size Chapel (Chaplain would start in office next to the Bar with shutters, with confession being entered through the Bar on public side (can be locked from the inside) / office on private side).
-Large personnel recreation module with gym, swimming pool, fully furnished washroom with showers/tubs/sinks, and arcade VR pods (station would just have a small crew quarters and bathroom by default).
-Mechanic experimentation area with a large blast-door-capable room and several mechanic component vendors, a stack each of metal and glass, and two Reverse-Engineering Fabricators and a Ruckingenur Kit. The experimentation area has a public access airlock that can be closed off with a blast door separately from the main window blast doors.
Small Extensions (four slots for these - northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest.) Thinking somewhere around 7x7 interior dimensions, give or take.
-Security guard post with mini-brig (flusher and timer included), two security lockers, a Securitron and a security computer / camera computer
-Backup generator room with two furnaces and an SMES.
-Extra medical kiosk with good equipment complement (first aid and regular medical lockers, scalpel/suture/staple gun, sleeper, NanoMed).
-Public emergency storage (air tanks, breath masks, firesuits, medkits, air scrubbers, fire extinguishers, etc.).
-Extra bathroom with basic amenities.
-D&D room. Need I say more?
-Jazz Lounge with slot machines, saxophones, old carpet and a Boogiebot.
So... yeah, I did that. The idea of an "IKEA station" just excites me terribly.
Goonhub
