No. . . it's bad. I'd be all over a rebuild if it happens. :::crosses taquitos:::
HA! See!? It IS canon!
Yup, I think I even have a copy of the print version somewhere around here. . .
Ya, that park would be pretty cool, but would probably be too much work, and too much essentially unused space for a hub.
No, it's bad. Yes, everything is accessible, and yes, everything has signs pointing to it, but it's still very confusing. The fact that it's a full loop actually makes it more confusing than if it were just a big arc. I also hate that it's supposed to be in that giant dome park that Phoenix pointed out, but the whole thing is only 400' across instead of the 3000' across that dome is supposed to be. That makes the whole place feel incredibly fake to me. And art is dated and ugly. Doesn't represent 2409 very well. If we ever redo it, I will push hard to make sure that the new interior is the size it should be for where ever in the station it's supposed to be placed.
Signage in general is an issue. Those signs never felt right. We tried to touch them up a little, but they're still pretty bad. Signs need to stand out, and be noticeable, but they also need to feel like they belong to the space they are in.
I agree with pretty much all of this.
Actually, I prefer the loop. It makes it easy to get around. Though, If I was changing things, I'd set it in the interior spire of the station, with a lounge you can go to at the top of the station looking out over everything.
Use the four arms inside as the hubs of stuff like the shipyard (other than requisitions, which remains where it is), the admiral's office and admin, vendors, and stuff like that, arranged around a central track that overlooks the main lift shafts and transporter rooms. Then you've got a lift that takes you up to a big, bad new Club 47 with lots and LOTS of room. Maybe it's own separate instance, with all sorts of minigames and dance moves and a dabo table or twenty.
Just a thought but one of the issues with small spaces versus large seems to be, well... runspeed.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the TOS interiors. Racing down the halls makes sense. But sprinting around sickbay looks bad and is one area where I can see interior size being a big issue.
So here's my thought:
Could you have volume effects that shift people to walking?
A lot of MMOs traditionally dismounted players in smaller or more confined spaces. I think it would add to the look of the game... and I've always said that "roleplay" should go beyond text. I think it should have a ludic component, like the Sims or various social games. I think a social action bar with realtime social actions that are parsed as combat (bluff, persuade, perception rolls) would be amazing.
But I actually can see a rationale for allowing/automatically having running outdoors and in hallways/corridors but transitioning indoor spaces to walking first, whether or not a social action bar could ever happen. Because otherwise you see a lot of what looks like people scraping their knees and elbows ramming into countertops every time they move.
If I can't run from the beam in to the bank/exchange/mail and security NPC, I'll get very angry.
Yes, running around the interiors may look bad and out of place, but some of us are there to get something done. Slowing that will make it very tedious.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Use the four arms inside as the hubs of stuff like the shipyard (other than requisitions, which remains where it is), the admiral's office and admin, vendors, and stuff like that, arranged around a central track that overlooks the main lift shafts and transporter rooms. Then you've got a lift that takes you up to a big, bad new Club 47 with lots and LOTS of room. Maybe it's own separate instance, with all sorts of minigames and dance moves and a dabo table or twenty.
I agree that would be a good place for it, but remember that that center pylon in the docking bay is 1000' across (even before you get to the lugs). Scale would be way off if we took up that whole space with a reasonably sized ESD Concourse.
If I can't run from the beam in to the bank/exchange/mail and security NPC, I'll get very angry.
Yes, running around the interiors may look bad and out of place, but some of us are there to get something done. Slowing that will make it very tedious.
Not what I'm suggesting, really. I'm saying those would be your hallways but when you go into a shop or small area, you shift to walking. Then when you go out of the confined space, you start running again.
Why not just make it a straight hallway that on one end has a slightly curved glass wall that looks out into space and on the other end looks into the the core where the ships are docked. Then put everything we need to see and interact with between the two ends in their own rooms except where it makes sense for them to be outside. With it being more of a grand office space in a major starfleet hub you can make the hallway huge so we can see either window from anywhere in the hall and it would be one of the few larger than life hallways in the game that feels right. Then you can say we could be located at any of the windows on the top portion of the station.
Ideas in this thread i'd really love to see realized:
Making the ESD interior alot bigger but more modern.
Separate civilian/military/logistics areas.
A separate zone like a personal lounge with your actual ship the way you designed it sounds awesome to me.
View from shipyard into interior docking area with random ships docking or leaving ... Yes i think that would make it more life-like.
Oh and i definitely love the idea of an automated walk toggle entering smaller areas like shops, pubs and such.
About the signs:
My idea would be to get rid of them completely. I would set navigational consoles at hotspot locations. There the player can choose his destination and be given a holographic line to follow (as used in the mission "cutting the cord" Addiotionally you might give the player the choice of "activate navigation" or "point to point transport" for those in a hurry.
Of course the navigation line would need a "deactivate" Button.
Perhaps a shuttlebay for access to fleet holdings.
This would be quite a nice feature I think, with the unlock in the Fleet Starbases it streamlined a lot of moving about the fleets holdings in what i think was a very neat and tidy fashion.
Not a major thing, But it would be nice if i didn't have to beam up the ship from ESD ( loading screen) then transwarp to the starbase ( loading screen) then dock at the Base ( loading screen) and then take the shuttle to the fleet holding ( loading screen)
The Idea of having a Park inside the Base like in the plan views earlier posted in the thread would be amazing to see, But I wonder what function they would play? Since the open green space would be quite similar to what we already have at Starfleet Academy?
My Question is this , What function could such a Park space play? Perhaps somekind of Event location a bit like the Winter Wonderland or Risa?
Oh and I'm not sure if its an Art department area, but in any future ESD, what happens to foundry door mapping? Will our mission start doors simply be hooked up to new doors that serve the same functions?
These are the Voyages on the STO forum, the final frontier. Our continuing mission: to explore Pretentious Posts, to seek out new Overreactions and Misinformation , to boldly experience Cynicism like no man has before.......
I agree that would be a good place for it, but remember that that center pylon in the docking bay is 1000' across (even before you get to the lugs). Scale would be way off if we took up that whole space with a reasonably sized ESD Concourse.
You needn't fill -literally - the suggested 1000' of space from one end to the other of the four radial concourses.
I would suggest using what is currently the center room of ESD as representing the central hub aka ESD's Ops. Take that lower level station out of the current Admiral's Office and place that there, too. With the the four branching concourses much like we already have now. We needn't be able to run any one of those four concourses all the way to the extreme (500' from center) end. Only far enough to have some of the pertinent features to one side or the other of each concourse. Block out the extreme concourse length with, say, airlock doors on one and transparent aluminum doorways with forced perspective art to interpret more space on another. Those doors we have now, which don't go anywhere - would become the Lounge, Requisitions, Admiral's Office, etc. Not everything on the current ESD floorplan need be placed along those concourses. And of those that are, not all of them would need a window view of the parked starships - just Requisitions and the Officer's Lounge. As suggested above, I would place Club 47, The Exchange and the Tailor in only one-quarter of the circular deck its on currently. No need to waste the view out the window with the mushroom overhead. We know some good work was done for that lovely perspective.
I'd draw it out with my MS Paint. But will spare everyone the headache. :P
(/\) Exploring Star Trek Online Since July 2008 (/\)
Not what I'm suggesting, really. I'm saying those would be your hallways but when you go into a shop or small area, you shift to walking. Then when you go out of the confined space, you start running again.
Well, then it really depends on what areas exactly get this treatment. But I can hardly be against it in its entirety.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
WOW! I really forgot how bad it looked. I have been with the game since BETA and the first thing that I saw that disappointed me was the old ESD. I mean really that thing was bad and looked like it had been plucked from some random fantasy space game that was canceled.
STO didn't even try to look like a Star Trek game. So you want to bring back the old ESD that made STO look like EQ in space and like the DEVs had never seen an episode of Star Trek? :eek: That thing doesn't belong anywhere near a Star Trek game of any measurable quality! Give it to the Klingons for a day, burn it out with fire, nuke it in orbit, let the Pakleds salvage some of it, and then drop what's left of it into the biggest black hole that can be found.
They need to make ESD better and not make it worse. Like this idea below.
No, it's bad. Yes, everything is accessible, and yes, everything has signs pointing to it, but it's still very confusing. The fact that it's a full loop actually makes it more confusing than if it were just a big arc. I also hate that it's supposed to be in that giant dome park that Phoenix pointed out, but the whole thing is only 400' across instead of the 3000' across that dome is supposed to be. That makes the whole place feel incredibly fake to me. And art is dated and ugly. Doesn't represent 2409 very well. If we ever redo it, I will push hard to make sure that the new interior is the size it should be for where ever in the station it's supposed to be placed.
I love this. You could conceivably do the park as, idk, a viewable interior through windows, but not a place you can actually get to. That'd still be reasonably cool- and the same for the interior pylon viewing lounges we've seen in the movies.
I also definitely like the idea someone had of having separate 'civilian' and 'starfleet' areas.
You could also maybe do something like a proper bridge/command deck, move Admiral Quinn up there, and stick the essential services in the central tower.
There's also no real reason why you couldn't have multiple essential locations- you could still retain the civilian sector stuff as it's own thing, then have a 'starfleet personnel only' section that ALSO has those console/access points.
Also, if you increased the interior size, you could add patrolling civilian NPCs, and ships docking and that sort of thing. Would really add to the feel.
Signage in general is an issue. Those signs never felt right. We tried to touch them up a little, but they're still pretty bad. Signs need to stand out, and be noticeable, but they also need to feel like they belong to the space they are in.
Have you considered big LCARS signs? If I recall, command consoles in TNG and DS9 had this nice looking white/grey/red LCARS setup, that you could use. Black background, discipline color LCARS bars at the top, white or gray text.
Then of course there's the Klingons. I mean, they have Qo'onos which is lovingly done, but I think they'd benefit from a redesigned shipyards station that centralizes things.
I mean I love the Klingon art to pieces, but it's annoying to have to do anything in Klingon zones because you spend like 90% of your time running across vast distances between essential services.
and as others have pointed out the interior was the same.
It also worked with the old exterior of course since it was essentially in that domed structure at the top. IMHO this one, which appearently based a starbase the Gua'uld used in Stargate, could be repainted and used as an alien starbase very easily.
It also shows how incredibly generic this thing was. Paint it green, stick some raptors on it and put it in orbit of New Romulus and it works just as well as it worked in Earth orbit...possibly even better.
Perfect for the Romulan Faction's Starbase...Just need a new exterior texture and an interior...wait...wait /coldwater...that will never happen.
Comments
Actually, I prefer the loop. It makes it easy to get around. Though, If I was changing things, I'd set it in the interior spire of the station, with a lounge you can go to at the top of the station looking out over everything.
Use the four arms inside as the hubs of stuff like the shipyard (other than requisitions, which remains where it is), the admiral's office and admin, vendors, and stuff like that, arranged around a central track that overlooks the main lift shafts and transporter rooms. Then you've got a lift that takes you up to a big, bad new Club 47 with lots and LOTS of room. Maybe it's own separate instance, with all sorts of minigames and dance moves and a dabo table or twenty.
I am in support of this idea.
Yes, running around the interiors may look bad and out of place, but some of us are there to get something done. Slowing that will make it very tedious.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
I agree that would be a good place for it, but remember that that center pylon in the docking bay is 1000' across (even before you get to the lugs). Scale would be way off if we took up that whole space with a reasonably sized ESD Concourse.
Not what I'm suggesting, really. I'm saying those would be your hallways but when you go into a shop or small area, you shift to walking. Then when you go out of the confined space, you start running again.
Making the ESD interior alot bigger but more modern.
Separate civilian/military/logistics areas.
A separate zone like a personal lounge with your actual ship the way you designed it sounds awesome to me.
View from shipyard into interior docking area with random ships docking or leaving ... Yes i think that would make it more life-like.
Oh and i definitely love the idea of an automated walk toggle entering smaller areas like shops, pubs and such.
About the signs:
My idea would be to get rid of them completely. I would set navigational consoles at hotspot locations. There the player can choose his destination and be given a holographic line to follow (as used in the mission "cutting the cord" Addiotionally you might give the player the choice of "activate navigation" or "point to point transport" for those in a hurry.
Of course the navigation line would need a "deactivate" Button.
This would be quite a nice feature I think, with the unlock in the Fleet Starbases it streamlined a lot of moving about the fleets holdings in what i think was a very neat and tidy fashion.
Not a major thing, But it would be nice if i didn't have to beam up the ship from ESD ( loading screen) then transwarp to the starbase ( loading screen) then dock at the Base ( loading screen) and then take the shuttle to the fleet holding ( loading screen)
The Idea of having a Park inside the Base like in the plan views earlier posted in the thread would be amazing to see, But I wonder what function they would play? Since the open green space would be quite similar to what we already have at Starfleet Academy?
My Question is this , What function could such a Park space play? Perhaps somekind of Event location a bit like the Winter Wonderland or Risa?
Oh and I'm not sure if its an Art department area, but in any future ESD, what happens to foundry door mapping? Will our mission start doors simply be hooked up to new doors that serve the same functions?
You needn't fill -literally - the suggested 1000' of space from one end to the other of the four radial concourses.
I would suggest using what is currently the center room of ESD as representing the central hub aka ESD's Ops. Take that lower level station out of the current Admiral's Office and place that there, too. With the the four branching concourses much like we already have now. We needn't be able to run any one of those four concourses all the way to the extreme (500' from center) end. Only far enough to have some of the pertinent features to one side or the other of each concourse. Block out the extreme concourse length with, say, airlock doors on one and transparent aluminum doorways with forced perspective art to interpret more space on another. Those doors we have now, which don't go anywhere - would become the Lounge, Requisitions, Admiral's Office, etc. Not everything on the current ESD floorplan need be placed along those concourses. And of those that are, not all of them would need a window view of the parked starships - just Requisitions and the Officer's Lounge. As suggested above, I would place Club 47, The Exchange and the Tailor in only one-quarter of the circular deck its on currently. No need to waste the view out the window with the mushroom overhead. We know some good work was done for that lovely perspective.
I'd draw it out with my MS Paint. But will spare everyone the headache. :P
Well, then it really depends on what areas exactly get this treatment. But I can hardly be against it in its entirety.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
STO didn't even try to look like a Star Trek game. So you want to bring back the old ESD that made STO look like EQ in space and like the DEVs had never seen an episode of Star Trek? :eek: That thing doesn't belong anywhere near a Star Trek game of any measurable quality! Give it to the Klingons for a day, burn it out with fire, nuke it in orbit, let the Pakleds salvage some of it, and then drop what's left of it into the biggest black hole that can be found.
They need to make ESD better and not make it worse. Like this idea below. This is a good idea. Maybe actually see random ships coming into dock and leaving.
I love this. You could conceivably do the park as, idk, a viewable interior through windows, but not a place you can actually get to. That'd still be reasonably cool- and the same for the interior pylon viewing lounges we've seen in the movies.
I also definitely like the idea someone had of having separate 'civilian' and 'starfleet' areas.
You could also maybe do something like a proper bridge/command deck, move Admiral Quinn up there, and stick the essential services in the central tower.
There's also no real reason why you couldn't have multiple essential locations- you could still retain the civilian sector stuff as it's own thing, then have a 'starfleet personnel only' section that ALSO has those console/access points.
Also, if you increased the interior size, you could add patrolling civilian NPCs, and ships docking and that sort of thing. Would really add to the feel.
Have you considered big LCARS signs? If I recall, command consoles in TNG and DS9 had this nice looking white/grey/red LCARS setup, that you could use. Black background, discipline color LCARS bars at the top, white or gray text.
Then of course there's the Klingons. I mean, they have Qo'onos which is lovingly done, but I think they'd benefit from a redesigned shipyards station that centralizes things.
I mean I love the Klingon art to pieces, but it's annoying to have to do anything in Klingon zones because you spend like 90% of your time running across vast distances between essential services.
Perfect for the Romulan Faction's Starbase...Just need a new exterior texture and an interior...wait...wait /coldwater...that will never happen.