Aetherion: an atlas pop alternative

[Kotlol]

I like the maintance ring, there is only 1 station that has a maintance ring and that is... Nadir, who also has a main ring next to the pool. (wich no one really uses, if someone wants to box it's the maintance ring.)

I'd move it one more to the left so the coffins are easily accessed and seats next to.

Also the ring ain't mandatory, but knowing how much people love "Stepping issues to the ring" I do recommend having one.
Shame it took over a 3x3 random room. Either way the station is looking great!

[Snowy :D]

Add a few chairs next to the ring for spectators to watch.

[Tyrant]

Wires are in, and disposal pipes are being installed. Not fully finished yet but we getting there. Then we do detail work room by room.
I go on holiday tmr so this may be the last update for a while.

[Tyrant]

apart from updates today ofc.
law room has been made tougher, like the armoury, and all mail pipes are in and theoretically funtional.
Now it's just detail work to do (the bane of my existence) and we're good to go.
Exciting stuff.

[Kotlol]

I noticed Matsci (The thing next to mining) is behind some engineering doors or via a maintance shaft via the owlery.
This is abit odd to me, while Matsci is always near or attached to mining. It's also public acess.
This way it's a lot harder to get there and do your own custom matsci-ing if you have the materials.

I can't think of a station where matsci isn't public from the top of my head.

[Lord_earthfire]

I noticed Matsci (The thing next to mining) is behind some engineering doors or via a maintance shaft via the owlery.
This is abit odd to me, while Matsci is always near or attached to mining. It's also public acess.
This way it's a lot harder to get there and do your own custom matsci-ing if you have the materials.

I can't think of a station where matsci isn't public from the top of my head.

It appears you can access it over maintance from the owlery or from space near mining.

Clarion has its matsci section only avaible over space near mining.

[Victoriae]

Thoughts:

1. Maintenance is fantastic, and I think is key to a great map. Airhookups too provide more gameplay opportunities.
   
2. There is a good flow from arrivals to escape.
   
3. Escape is visually huge and distracts from the rest of the map. You could cut the left and right arms off and leave the horizontal hallway as the dock for an east or west facing shuttle. Like Donut2.
   
4. If you wanted to save room on-station, the AI could have its own satellite base like Donut3 or Horizon.
   
5. Regarding theme: there is the idea that Nanotrasen has invested a lot of money into this station - hence the glass flooring, the casino area, luxury pool. Now, what are the corners Nanotrasen has cut in order to fund this? Where are the skeletons in the closet? Take a look at the dormitories south of telesci - at the moment they are two 3x5 rooms with nine beds and a locker. Perhaps Nanotrasen doesn't maintain these rooms (too expensive) so you can add stains and broken floor tiles. Having a solid theme and focus invests a map with personality.
   
6. Detail work is one of the best parts, now you get to breathe more life and character into the station!
   
7. I will also say: Have you considered the unique selling points of this map? One is a sub-20 population niche. Two is that the flooring shows off the wonderful new parallax effect. What else feature-wise? Nadir brought in a new engine and acid effects. What could this map bring?
   

There is a lot of effort and thought put into this map. Please, ensure it provides something the development team wants before spending too much effort, lest it comes to naught.

[Tyrant]

I can't think of a station where matsci isn't public from the top of my head.

Well, it's accessible via maints, which i thought was a fair compromise given its position. It's a bit awkward to get to, yes, but at the same time, it's a fairly low activity area. Donut 2's refinery is similarly hidden away (although it is connected to mining's absurd south primary hallway too so eh).

3. Escape is visually huge and distracts from the rest of the map. You could cut the left and right arms off and leave the horizontal hallway as the dock for an east or west facing shuttle. Like Donut2.

My main concern with this is if the shuttle goes east, i'd have to redo the solars to be out of the way, and if it went west, it'd cross the mining magnet and that is bad for in world lore reasons, it shouldnt just go through things, and i know donut3's shuttle exists as a counterpoint to that, but like, i like it pointing north. It's got this upward flow which goes nicely with the arrival shuttle too.

5. Regarding theme: there is the idea that Nanotrasen has invested a lot of money into this station [...]. Now, what are the corners Nanotrasen has cut in order to fund this?
6. Detail work is one of the best parts, now you get to breathe more life and character into the station!
7. [...] Have you considered the unique selling points of this map? [...] What could this map bring?

You're right in that it could do with some more uniqueness... but it's really just a regular space map that's sort of sprung up as this temporary hotel type thing with future expansion in mind, before some lore event happened and funding dried up. Not really much very special about it other than its sub 20 niche and my personal liking for glass floor. And the combined rooms. And the chapel-crematorium-morgue complex. And the maint ring. And the sort of tidy TEG. And my wire art.
Suggestions are welcome.

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rotated escape

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oops forgot area borders

[Tyrant]

back from holiday btw. work on it will restart too
i have also closed the github pr since it fulfilled its purpose: advertising and resolving merge conflicts

[Tyrant]

So I made some progress.
A lot of mapping oriented PRs went through so i had to manually re place every window and every spawning landmark, but it's all good now.
Added dirt and catwalks to most of the station's maintenance shafts, except for the ones near the luxury section. Luxury section is all carpeted up too.
Lots of lattices have been placed using the new auto lattices, so the station will really feel like an unfinished framework. Some artifacts sprinkled throughout the lattices too.
Added some random rooms inside external ships out in the lattice structure, just chilling. Sort of like an abandoned construction job.
Started installing firedoors and fire alarms.

[Tyrant]

Update:
added robuddy depot and tech storage replaces one of the dorms.
Door accesses and firedoors are all in, in theory. As are security cameras. Areas purposefully omitted from camera coverage are maints and head rooms.
Some other misc changes, patching up some missing windows and whatnot.

[Tyrant]

With the help of oldpotato on discord, a lot of the floors are being redone.

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most noticable in the guest wing
but the main corridors and stuff have also been redone

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this thread has basically turned into a diary lol

[Tyrant]

An engineering rework has been pull requested by Cherman and has now been merged.

[Kotlol]

Man this station is looking pretty neat now!

[Tyrant]

thanks!

Here's a guide to the general layout to those who are a bit overwhelmed by the layer of detail or just unfamiliar with it.