Skorak's Systems/NPC Development Blog - !Picture heavy!

[Skorak]

The Ring

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I've actually had the base version of this in the drawer for a very long time. I just never got around to finish it properly and there were some other issues that needed sorting out.
But it's finally done. The Ring is supposed to show off Rheinland's prowess as an industrial superpower. Almost a megastructure and with that the only human one. So clearly a statement of skill in terms of constructions and engineering. It being an amalgamation of various industrial parts and storages should make clear what Rheinland's focus on the intersystem playground is.

With that massive construction we also have Bonn Station moving to the now freed up space. That was done both for consistency, since these stations are always at the capital for good reason, as well as to fill the empty space there. Now you might wonder if the orbit isn't full enough yet and you are right of course but that is all clearly wrapped around the planet. There needed to be something opposite and Bonn has the proper size to provide some counter weight.

The Ring itself has been designed look like it's one consistent functional structure. Clearly there is a few more details in the front as it cannot actually rotate ingame. But the back of the planet still has all the details to make it believable. I moved the dockable parts of the Ring to the left and the Oder Shipyard segment is on the right, showing off considerable shipyards to feed Rheinland's military with much needed replacements.

A few docked vessels round off the representation of Rheinland as the definite centre of industry for all houses.

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Stationary NPCs

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In addition to bigger systems work, I've done some more npc experiments. This time I made 'stationary' ones. Simply put, they're npcs without an engine or something akin to a station. Yet they spawn dynamically without being a hand placed solar. This also means they're destructible.

So for example after the destruction of Fort Riley, a stationary dreadnought can spawn near it. Some of these are pretty much the same as the normal npcs just tankier to make up for the lack of movement. And others are entirely unique encounters. There's at least one more in this patch. The goal is to both provide some more dynamic/creative encounters to see and find in the game world but also to give some vanilla campaign feeling back for some other things. Please give me plenty of feedback on these so I can improve them or do entirely different things with them.

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World Enhancements

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I'm always trying to make environments more immersive and putting more decorative elements there. Another thing I also try to do more is showing instead of telling. If something can be made clear through the game world instead of merely describing that in an infocard, I want that.

Texas has received a bit of that treatment as have others and more will still. Thanks to @aerelm for the massive help and providing of a lot of content for us/me to use.

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