Aetherion: an atlas pop alternative

[Tyrant]

Sorry i took a break from mapping for so long. I bring you an october update:

1. Belt hell is now functional, as are pretty much all the station systems. It's to the point where I'm looking for station systems to implement. I think i've gotten pretty much everything at this point.
2. AI upload has been detached slightly from the structure, and has an airbridge.
3. Belt hell routing has been made less clunky. Routers are smaller, and the paths are outlined better.
4. Added some posters
5. replaced a load of the in corridor tables with folding ones, ostensibly so they can be moved out of the way. The corridors do be narrow. Put some in cargo too to fill the space.
6. some other polish.

If anyone has layout ideas or think they have spotted a thing that i have missed, now is the time to say it. I will probably pull request it in the next few days/weeks and see what dev reception is like. Chances of it getting in are slim as hell but we're trying anyway. 

Here is the latest screenshot of the map, with no area borders and all things visible.
As i said before, i think the station itself is fleshed out, so now i need to do Off Station stuff. Like the ghostdrone ship, asteroids, listening post, etc. Please do reach out, either here or in discord, if you have any ideas at all on additions. I'd love to hear them.

[Kotlol]

Is there a chance you can make a video of you walking through all of the station?

[Tyrant]

Behold
https://youtu.be/T8yRoD8mxLQ

[aft2001]

This is a really cool map so far! Nice and compact. Some feedback from watching the video:
- The escape floor signage feels out of place on the purple carpet in the civilian area. Maybe a wall sign would be better?
- The diplomat's office should have a wall safe, as should all the personal rooms IMO
- Maybe replace the morgue chute or medicine storage locker in the med checkpoint with a sleeper?
- Maint is wonderfully messy and dingy, and the wrestling ring is a perfect touch, though I can't believe I'm saying this, but there seems to be a bit TOO much dirt in maint
  - I'd personally remove maybe 40% of the dirt, and increase the variation a bit. I think I only saw 2 of the dirt variants but I swear there's at least 1 or 2 more variants you could use IIRC.
  - I'd also add scuff marks here and there for more dinginess. I forget what the decals objs' names/path are, but I recall using them for Cog1's router sorting room.
- The gene booth is very clearly out in the open and easily accessible to passerbys. As a geneticist player, I love you for this.
- Test chamber could do with some blast doors, especially with that window directly into medbay.
- Science maint is beautiful. Excellent execution. Having railings being there making it obnoxious to quickly run through makes it feel more cluttered and not-human-friendly, which is perfect for a space station's back tunnels.
- LOVE the idea of having a docked shuttle being used as an extra room. I'd make the wiring look messier in accordance with the 'temporary' wiring solution that note talks about.
- I'd test to make sure someone sitting in the far corner of the courtroom can hear someone speaking from the HoP's office/vice versa. That's also a LOT of chairs for such a small station, so maybe... I dunno, add a fish tank or table if that's too far to hear? Or lawyers' lockers.
- Interrogation has no intercom. As an AI enjoyer, this upsets me, for I wish to listen into the juicy conversations and occasionally butt in.
- Love the airbridge to the AI Upload. Maybe make it thinner though? You'd also be able to add that missing wall if you did.
- For how dirty the station is, the detective's office has no dirt. Sacrilege.
- The grille-covered wiring connection between the engine and the station is quite neat. I like it!
- I'd give Engineering a front desk of some kind. It's not really necessary at all, but that foyer leading into Engineering is a bit sparse and I think it'd make a great break room/front desk.
- Warehouse is surprisingly clean. I'd personally make it a tad more cluttered and add some bits of random stuff lying around.
- The shower room floor flusher is hilarious. Honestly if you scooched it over to be next to the security checkpoint, you could make it look like a repurposed prison cell, with the flusher still working. Maybe add a bolted door between the checkpoint and shower room and cover it with wooden boards?
- Bridge is also a tad sparse. I'd add some tables along some of the walls/windows, space permitting, with some junk on em, like office supplies and a printer.
- Just saw how LARGE the arcade is. I don't disagree with it being unreasonably big, but you could get away with scooching part of the right wall to the left to give some extra space to the medical booth.
- Maybe add a meteor shield crate to Emergency Storage? No clue if there's any full on crates of that stuff on other maps so idk if there's a precedent for that yet.
- Blast doors for the AI Core Chamber's exterior windows, please.
- Maybe make the escape pod airlocks transparent? Not the blast doors, the airlocks. Could also do with making other airlocks on the station transparent as well.
- Tempted to ask for a nuclear reactor to replace the TEG. Not at all necessary, I just want to play with nuclear reactors more. Maybe do what Cog1 does and have a randomly chosen engine???
- Some wall cabinets here and there would be great.
- TRASH CHUTE NEXT TO ONE OF THE GENE CONSOLES P L E A S E. I personally go through so many injectors and you can't recycle them into the console unlike with activators.

I'd have to rewatch/explore for myself to give more feedback, but this is what I've gotten so far. All in all, amazing map and I'd love to try playing on it sometime!

[Tyrant]

YESS FINALLY GOOD AND LENGTHY FEEDBACK

I have things to work on, lord be praised.

- The escape floor signage feels out of place on the purple carpet in the civilian area. Maybe a wall sign would be better?

You raise a good point, changed it to more wall signs.

- The diplomat's office should have a wall safe, as should all the personal rooms IMO

Good idea. Added

- Maybe replace the morgue chute or medicine storage locker in the med checkpoint with a sleeper?

You're absolutely right in that two medical lockers is overkill. I've dropped the medicines one and left the medikit one in.

- Maint is wonderfully messy and dingy, and the wrestling ring is a perfect touch, though I can't believe I'm saying this, but there seems to be a bit TOO much dirt in maint
  - I'd personally remove maybe 40% of the dirt, and increase the variation a bit. I think I only saw 2 of the dirt variants but I swear there's at least 1 or 2 more variants you could use IIRC.
  - I'd also add scuff marks here and there for more dinginess. I forget what the decals objs' names/path are, but I recall using them for Cog1's router sorting room.
[...]
- For how dirty the station is, the detective's office has no dirt. Sacrilege.

Yeah this is mainly because i uh copy pasted the same dirt pretty much everywhere except "high volume traffic" areas like corridors. I could have sworn that using the default dirt cleanable randomly picks between dirt types 1 to 5, but i might have been mistaken. I'll look into it.

- The gene booth is very clearly out in the open and easily accessible to passerbys. As a geneticist player, I love you for this.

I'm glad you like it. I didn't go full cog1 strategically placed vending machine, but i wanted it visible.

- Test chamber could do with some blast doors, especially with that window directly into medbay.

Blast doors are definitely something i should add. Probably the the chemistry test chamber too.

- Science maint is beautiful. Excellent execution. Having railings being there making it obnoxious to quickly run through makes it feel more cluttered and not-human-friendly, which is perfect for a space station's back tunnels.

The idea was that i didn't want maints to go around, but instead through. But i optimised it for scientists passing through instead of maintenance workers going through. Glad you like it.
I'm quite fond of the railings in game, but many people think they look ugly (and to be fair, they aren't 3/4 perspective). In terms of people flowing through the station, they work really nicely. I have a lot of them on the outer catwalks shielding the cargo routes and things, as well as having one behind every maint facing window, to (really poorly) slow break in attempts. And in-lore, to stop people smushing their faces right up against the glass.

- LOVE the idea of having a docked shuttle being used as an extra room. I'd make the wiring look messier in accordance with the 'temporary' wiring solution that note talks about.

Messier wiring, got it. There are also even more shuttles sitting further out in the catwalks and lattices. Also the clown hole itself is a shuttle crashed into the side of the station, lol. I really like playing around with the "unfinished station" vibe.
Oh and btw the cables connecting the main station grid to the robot depot shuttle grid are bright green to show how different and temporary they are. Dunno if you noticed :p

- I'd test to make sure someone sitting in the far corner of the courtroom can hear someone speaking from the HoP's office/vice versa. That's also a LOT of chairs for such a small station, so maybe... I dunno, add a fish tank or table if that's too far to hear? Or lawyers' lockers.

It might be a bit far in the very furthest corner, but I like it that way. Imagine construction workers being told "you need x amount of chairs" and they just put them down without care for position or orientation. Could even lead to fights for front row seats! I might still remove the very very furthest one though.

- Interrogation has no intercom. As an AI enjoyer, this upsets me, for I wish to listen into the juicy conversations and occasionally butt in.

oops. will add that

- Love the airbridge to the AI Upload. Maybe make it thinner though? You'd also be able to add that missing wall if you did.

i did leave it as a 3x3 (5x5 including walls) tunnel by mistake. It was meant to be thinner lol.

- The grille-covered wiring connection between the engine and the station is quite neat. I like it!

The danger of having a detached engineering core is the wires easily being snipped. Kondaru handles the problem using blast doors, but instead i thought i'd really overdo the wire density and set up electrical grilles. It just LOOKS dangerous and unfinished now, and I'm really happy with it as well.

- I'd give Engineering a front desk of some kind. It's not really necessary at all, but that foyer leading into Engineering is a bit sparse and I think it'd make a great break room/front desk.

Hm, mechanics has a front desk, and as engineering and mechanics access is the same now, it's the engineering front desk if you squint. It's a bit tight in there sadly, so I'm not sure how else I'd fit a front desk.

- Warehouse is surprisingly clean. I'd personally make it a tad more cluttered and add some bits of random stuff lying around.

Yeah you have a point. It should be messier than maints not cleaner. I've added more dirt plus some blood.

- The shower room floor flusher is hilarious. Honestly if you scooched it over to be next to the security checkpoint, you could make it look like a repurposed prison cell, with the flusher still working. Maybe add a bolted door between the checkpoint and shower room and cover it with wooden boards?

THAT was a total accident. I have no idea how that appeared and it was fully unintentional. It jumpscared me while i was recording. As for messing with it to make it look like a repurposed minibrig... fantastic idea, but 2x2 is not enough space to flesh that out i think. Also the checkpoint and shower room are separated by a small waiting area for escape, so they're not actually physically connected. TLDR: great idea, but i don't think it's possible with the space given.

- Bridge is also a tad sparse. I'd add some tables along some of the walls/windows, space permitting, with some junk on em, like office supplies and a printer.
- Just saw how LARGE the arcade is. I don't disagree with it being unreasonably big, but you could get away with scooching part of the right wall to the left to give some extra space to the medical booth.

Part of the idea of the station is the wealth gap. Everything in the guest wing is really huge for no reason, simply because it caters to guests. The bridge reflects this somewhat too. I could make it more compact but I like the contrast. Do you still think it should be compressed? Do let me know.

- Maybe add a meteor shield crate to Emergency Storage? No clue if there's any full on crates of that stuff on other maps so idk if there's a precedent for that yet.

Another good suggestion. Upon checking, there was also only one energy shield. That has now been fixed.

- Blast doors for the AI Core Chamber's exterior windows, please.

done. out of laziness i've connected it to the main ai core shield. should it be a separate button control or nah?

- Maybe make the escape pod airlocks transparent? Not the blast doors, the airlocks. Could also do with making other airlocks on the station transparent as well.

Honestly i'm thinking about coding a transparent version of the reinforced external airlocks. Same sprite but transparent. They have glass in them anyway... Would make a lot of the airlocks on this station a lot better.

- Tempted to ask for a nuclear reactor to replace the TEG. Not at all necessary, I just want to play with nuclear reactors more. Maybe do what Cog1 does and have a randomly chosen engine???

Randomly chosen engine is a great idea (which has been suggested before). I would love to do that. However. It's a hassle to code, and the map isn't even complete yet. Plus, the chances of the map itself getting into rotation are slim. BUT. If it does get in, I promise you, we will have randomised engines here. And possibly on kondaru if i can be bothered, the detached structure is good for it.

- Some wall cabinets here and there would be great.

True. Any particular spots in mind? We have a couple already but not as many as I should really have.

- TRASH CHUTE NEXT TO ONE OF THE GENE CONSOLES P L E A S E. I personally go through so many injectors and you can't recycle them into the console unlike with activators.

I spoil you. I've added one next to each console. Now geneticists have even less reason to move.



Thank you once again for the excellent and constructive feedback, I really appreciate it. Do let me know if you have any other ideas or improvements!

[Kotlol]

I was gonna comment on the video and say stuff, but I think I got beat to it... guess my video suggestion paid off with divident for you.

Seeing the thing in action I was trying to think but then aft made a post and made most of the points and more that I wanted! KEEP IT UP!

[Tyrant]

Yes, this is still being worked on

We're in the endgame now. The final cleanup and "making sure stuff actually works" stage.

UPDATE:

• law room has been changed kinda a lot. There's now a computer core attached to the station which airbridges to the room itself. Turrets around the room have been removed for easier antagging.
  
• WE FORGOT EVA STORAGE (it's now next to the pod bay)
  
• All of medbay has been reshuffled for better flow. lol.
  
• The crew quarter flooring has been redecorated by none other than oldpotato. It is looking snazzy now.
  
• removed the john bill bus because uh it's not supposed to have one whoops
  
• removed catwalks from maintainence so that janitors don't cry
  
• many many minor tweaks which i have forgotten
  

[Tyrant]

This will hopefully be the final update in this thread. I think it is now fully complete. I can't find anything else to work on, although no doubt there are no doubt errors that will only be found by playtesting.

The full 300x300 map, now including the ghostdrone factory and syndicate listening post.

---

Lol look how many screenshots i have
30 plus the latest full 300x300 one

[Tyrant]

pull requested! the new thread for comments now that it is complete is over at https://forum.ss13.co/showthread.php?tid...#pid198564

thanks for all the help, everyone!

[Tyrant]

Update (yes i'm still updating)
- fixed multiple apcs which were not connected
- fixed multiple missing wires and pipes, mainly under doors
- widened the south hallway to three tiles wide. Maintainence is now a bit more crowded as a result, and chapel is slightly reshuffled too
- medical access removed from chemistry. It's now just purely chemistry, which happens to have a door to medbay, for letting pharmacists in.
- other fixes based on feedback coming soon