NSS Arrhodes - Shepard Station [PROPOSAL]

[Kugamo]

This is my proposal for the revival of the Shepard Station project. @Design Team (I am not sure who to ping, I'd appreciate some help in making them aware of this). I am interested in developing Shepard Station again and getting it added to the game, but I have read mixed opinions on the matter of adding another map to the game from some people and wish for a clear answer on whether or not the  design team thinks itd be good for the game. We had a few days of tests on this map a while back now, and it had its challenges but I think the majority of the playerbase thought it was fun and an interesting map to play on.

The map has been updated to the latest version of our codebase, and has already been through a meticulous review process, and as a result is basically in a merge ready state.

 

Of the 4 maps currently in rotation 3 are of extremely similar layout, a central box hallway with spurs off it that house all the different departments. The design of Shepard Station was done in careful consideration of the current game's needs, but also with a unique take on game balance which informed its design.

My case study was the Cyberiad, which is about 1/3 maints. Originally, 7 years ago or so, the Cyberiad was less than 1/4 maints and with them all being more isolated. Over the years on the Cyberiad the maints have gotten more bloated and more connected, which I feel like is a worse outcome for the game.

So antags need maints, as a place to loose people following you, as well as a place far from too many eyes to get up to mischief. Larger and more interconnected maints only serve to increase foot traffic in these areas due to them being more of a destination and a shortcut. This has eroded the efficacy of the maints as a gameplay element, as well as segregated the antags from the rest of the players due to the uncanny effectiveness of the maints.

On Shepard I returned to a 1/4 maints ratio, and along with the rest of the station made them a whole lot more separated. This is probably the most contentious design element of shepard, so I took the time to explain my reasoning above. My intent with the design was to balance the smaller and less connected maints with longer travel times (as well as retractable space bridges, which I never got to implementing but would act as a further aide to antags [Can implement if needed]). I understand its a radical step, but I felt good taking it as I believe there isn't alot of difference in playstyles between the maps. And I think maps supporting a different playstyle would enliven the game greatly.

The maints are still connected, and you can make a grand circuit from engineering's lobby through science, and service to cargo. Theres a larger maint surrounding medbay and SouthWest Dorms too on the opposite side of the station as the aforementioned grand circuit. And lastly a diagonal cut from service to engineering's lobby through the center. Also there being many more seperate smaller areas of a similar volume to that of the cyberiad means each has a less chance of being searched or traveled through making each do their job better.

Anyone worrying about the travel times; I'd argue they are only an ever-present issue for sec, and I've taken the liberty of increasing the segway count to 4 as well as adding a shortcut for them through the command module. For the long travel times of late arrival scientists I've since added another hallway going directly east from engineering for this explicit purpose (but it lead to EVA, and dead ends in science for all other roles)

It's a larger map by a bout another 1/6 of the cyberiad's in turf count alone, but I think with paradise's pop its warranted (we might have to consider limiting it from being played on low pops). It also demands a different playstyle out of antags and sec, assigned patrols of areas probably being encouraged, as well as a more high stake field for antags, and the time to perform them in. Last but I think not a small point is that Shepard has more windows, its too easy to forget you're in space on other maps I feel, and with them you'll encounter it more often :P. 4 tile wide main hallway!!

Thanks for reading through all of this for those that did. I am excited about the new maptick-threading that we've gotten from the byond devs, and wouldn't be proposing readding shepard otherwise. I think with the new addition of the maints above the station, and the hallway to science from engi the map might play alot better. LMK what you all think, design team especially.

EDIT: I also removed all the lattices and nearby-station-areas from around the station, hopefully to drastically cut down on lighting costs.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Kugamo
updated image to latest and greatest

[Medster]

[Teebonesnek]

I don't play enough Space Station 13 to know about the finer details of maps but this looks great - I love idea of more glass to really feel the space station vibe and Cyberiad does feel rather crowded on large crews. I just hope there are enough of the signposts for departments that I don't get lost lol. Hopefully we'll see this in game soon 

Edit: Is there a high-res image of the station like the one you've included? I'd love to look around the map

Edited April 12, 2023 by Teebonesnek

[ID404NotFound]

how does this map compare to farragus, the big map with segmented maints that people say they hate?

[Medster]

 

2 hours ago, ID404NotFound said:

how does this map compare to farragus

Last i remember, people had more issue with performance than the size at the time

Though with how farragus is currenty going, i wouldnt be supprised if this may have some of the same issues with travel time

[Kugamo]

8 hours ago, ID404NotFound said:

how does this map compare to farragus, the big map with segmented maints that people say they hate?

It is similar to Farragus in its layout (no association) but Shepard's main loop is roughly 348 tiles (97x77), and Farragus's is quite a bit larger: 484 tiles (133x109); meaning one loop on Shepard is about 140 tiles less (70% of Farragus's in length).  In regards to the segmented maints, on Shepard there are some similar to Farragus, but the majority have multiple entrances and exits. Also unlike Farragus there are "deep maints" that run between modules (notably on the right, and upper sides of the station). In general Travel Times will still be longer than the box-like maps, but should be shorter than on Farragus, and the maints are a split between those found on the box-like and the ones on Farragus.

 

13 hours ago, Teebonesnek said:

I don't play enough Space Station 13 to know about the finer details of maps but this looks great - I love idea of more glass to really feel the space station vibe and Cyberiad does feel rather crowded on large crews. I just hope there are enough of the signposts for departments that I don't get lost lol. Hopefully we'll see this in game soon 

Edit: Is there a high-res image of the station like the one you've included? I'd love to look around the map

I've added more direction signs than we had on the testmerge last summer, they'll be at every bridge and in the center of most departments.

Still working on EVA in the blank area in the center of the station WIP :0)

[sirius]

Looking good i like this design of map with more open space and better longer maints

[SynthTee]

I really hope this map gets a chance! I like it more than Farragus already from the looks of it

[Teebonesnek]

The hallways on Farragus are awful, but I'm looking forward to Shepard :)

EDIT: P.S. it was very thoughtful of you to include the windows in the autopsy room so I can continue to display my plushie collection when I work as coroner

Edited April 24, 2023 by Teebonesnek

[DGamerL]

Heya! Just gotta say I love how this station looks! I love that atmos now gets some big, out of the way maints for some warcrime experimentation! I have a few small issues however:

- Engineering gets a tesla roundstart, with which is nothing wrong as Kerberos (Or Cerebron? idk they are very similar) does it too, but instead of there, here you don't get a SM to experiment with, as it is one of the things to experiment the most with.

- What's with the big empty space in the middle of the station? To me, it seems like you could put something else in there, maybe EVA as that seems to be missing too?

[Sirryan2002]

I finally had a chance to look over this (a long time coming I know). Here are my initial thougths

• I like the idea of the map, having more unique maps to para, especially with someone who built it from the ground up within the community who is going to maintain it always a welcome thing.
• I would prefer we stick to only 4 actively maintained and used maps on the server, so that means in order for Shepard to be considered, a map like Meta would need to be pulled from rotation.
• I like the amount of open space, I hope our server can start moving towards having room for players to be more creative with constructions and having map support for potentially more customizable builds.
• It will need to go under similar performance scrutiny as cere

Would like to hear other design team member's opinions of this, especially on what map this could potentially replace.

[Teebonesnek]

If another map had to go out of rotation I for one would see Shepard swapping out Farragus as an absolute win - I've only played on Farragus a few times but the long hallways and relative distance from everything to each other made it confusing and arduous to play on. From what I can tell Shepard takes this idea and improves on a lot of its weaknesses and with how rarely chosen Farragus is already I don't think it would be an issue even if Shepard was reserved for higher-pop games.

P.S. Farragus also doesn't have a window table in the morgue for displaying plushie collections :(

[AffectedArc07]

One design nitpick

I worry about the proximity of this to the zlevel transition border 

[Kugamo]

Heres the latest version of the map.

[Teebonesnek]

The map is looking great, I appreciate that there is a dedicated seating area for bridge hobos just in front of the command room

[Gunther]

1 hour ago, Teebonesnek said:

The map is looking great, I appreciate that there is a dedicated seating area for bridge hobos just in front of the command room

pfffft I just noticed this

 

Ditto to what everyone else has said, it's nice to see a little change of what we're used to in our maps. Sure we could point out pros and cons, but I just wanna TRY IT.

Regardless, lovely work on the map. Thanks for taking the time to do it, it looks lovely :D

[Frank]

This is a big map for a big playerbase. I both loved and hated it when it was tested a while back. My main issue was always the travelling time reminding me of no fast travel playthroughs of Skyrim. I still love the design and I will most definitely vote to play it. 

[SynthTee]

5 hours ago, Frank said:

This is a big map for a big playerbase. I both loved and hated it when it was tested a while back. My main issue was always the travelling time reminding me of no fast travel playthroughs of Skyrim. I still love the design and I will most definitely vote to play it. 

Would you say Farragus is a longer travel time, if you have played it? I wanna get an understanding of how big Shepard really be

[Frank]

31 minutes ago, SynthTee said:

Would you say Farragus is a longer travel time, if you have played it? I wanna get an understanding of how big Shepard really be

If I remember it correctly the newest version looks more compact than the one we tested in 2022.

Farrsgus is a bit more all over the place and might be more walking now because of that. 

[Kugamo]

https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/21083

Shepard was approved for TM by the design team!

[SynthTee]

we are back