Dreamix

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I like the name "Quark". I think it's fine, it sounds science-y, and the similarity to "Spark" is intentional, cause they're both small shuttles used for exploration. With naming you can never make everyone happy, but also people get used to it quickly, so it's kinda whatever. Expedition weaponry will probably be moved outside of the Intrepid, so it could be brought to either the Intrepid or Quark if anyone wants it. Dunno who will be able to use it, I don't really make these rules. But I doubt there will be any change from current rules. The hangar was unused/broken for a long time now, and currently we don't have any offship shuttles that could even use that hangar. Also the burglar shuttle can use top deck docking ports.

I think a new BC learner role would be alright. idk why the offship argument is used so much. You can do engineering or security or medical work on offships too, but yet we do have learner roles for these jobs on horizon.

Feedback for this PR: https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/20127 PR description from github:

As a solution to the "it should only run on phoron" issue: I'd keep the gasses as is, say they're for cooling or as a moderator or something, and also make the drive use phoron sheets to run.

Most of these items should be added to the autolathe, instead of protolathe. Protolathe should contain stuff that requires research levels, stuff that is more "advanced" than most the basic tools or items mentioned here (like toolboxes, fire extinguishers, etc). Machinist workshop has a autolathe too, so they could print them still. But these basic items shouldn't be limited to machinist's protolathe.

Machinist is a weird role that does not fit perfectly in any department, but I think it fits the best in operations. Like the other operations jobs, they provide supplies and resources to the rest of the ship: hangar tech - supplies, gear, equipment, etc; from the warehouse and cargo shuttle mining - ores and materials machinist - mechs, hardsuits, etc Machinists do not fit well in science at all. They do not do any research or science. They don't invent new mech parts, or make experiments with them.

A security checkpoint makes zero sense in the middle of the ship, where anyone can easily just go around it. It makes sense for docks, where any visitors have to go through the checkpoint to get to the rest of horizon. It would be a security office or outpost there, replacing the janitor closet. And I see no positive gain in doing that, with the actual brig just around the corner. Security should be encouraged to go out and interact with other departments, and a security office right in the center of the ship, is going to encourage the opposite.

Initially, when I was thinking about this idea, I thought it should just be a small group of unnamed rich people who own the company and Hedgemaze, and don't really appear publicly or on the ship, which is why I have not focused on them at all, beyond just giving the company a name, The Garden. But now, I think it would be much more interesting, if the owners had names, personalities, etc. And most importantly, their own goals as to what The Garden, and Hedgemaze, should be doing. Goals that may not align with the other owners, or be conflicting. I think this could give some identity to the owners, and give them simple "baselines" to work from. Perhaps, one owner could be very pro-corporate, and wish to move the company closer to megacorporations, while another could be the opposite, and prefer independence, or even to harm megacorporations. And this could affects events or contracts, too, or offer Hedgemaze (and the players) multiple ways to complete them, with different consequences. For example, we could find some abandoned NT facility, but with some research equipment still left there. We could recover it, and give it to the nearest NT facility, to score some points with megacorporations, and make the pro-corporate owner satisfied, who could later host a party on Hedgemaze as a thank you to the crew. Or maybe we could sell that research equipment, making the anti-corporate owner more happy. Or we could take it for ourselves, but report the facility to NT still, as more of a neutral option. And this could allow the company's owners to be more personal and closer to the crew and players. They could board the ship for briefings, host parties, announce things, make appearances. Right now we do have all these CEOs, but they may as well not even know that Horizon exists. It makes little sense for them to visit Horizon or address the crew directly, cause presumably they have more important jobs to do, like running their corporations. And SCC itself, I don't think has a lot of identity itself, being a tiny group with a small number of ships, and small number of direct employees, who aren't even actually working for SCC but are loaned by the other corporations. I don't think it would necessarily become a mono-dominant employer, returning to the old station setting where it's all just NT. Or if it were to be a mono-dominant employer, I think this setting could offer something different still. You're not just working for The Garden, you're also working for yourself, and have direct stakes in the ship's survival and prosperity. I do think the different corporation choices as they are on Horizon, are very nice, and offer a lot of cool character backstory or roleplay opportunities. An Idris security officer feels very different from a PMCG mercenary, for example. But this could transfer well to an independent ship - it'd just be ex-Idris vs ex-PMCG, and the dynamics between characters wouldn't change at all. But I don't think they're used to full potential. Other than different uniforms or corporate representatives, it still kinda feels like we're working for a mono-dominant employer. We are on a SCC ship, we answer to SCC, get announcements from SCC, represent SCC, our IRs are handled by SCC staff, etc. There's very little organizational conflict between corporations that could be seen on Horizon. We don't have events where we can, let's say, pick whether to help NT or Zeng, angering the other. You did bring up potential issues that I haven't thought about, thank you. I don't want to look like I'm just saying Horizon is dumb and my idea is awesome, either. I do think an independent ship setting would be better and more interesting, but Horizon is nice too, and some of the ideas I present in this thread I think could be used to improve Horizon too.

Oh, these would be very neat, even for Horizon. Though, the idea of that Hedgemaze map in the first post, is more of a quickly made prototype - it would require A LOT of polishing and detail work to actually be playable in game.

I don't think it would be really all that of a massive change, to the point where it wouldn't be "Aurora" anymore: Most character concepts would still be valid (with the exception of non-quenless vaurca or owned IPCs). Most of Horizon characters could be transferred over with no issue (or with minor retcons). All of the event arcs that we've had so far on Horizon could've still worked with an independent ship (of course, with some changes like reducing scale, scope, and importance). All of our current lore would still be relevant and important, and none of it would have to be outright thrown away or invalidated. All the nations, factions, corporations, and SCC itself, would still exist. For me, the strength is in the people, rather than the corporate aspects of the setting. It's hard for me to describe this right now, but I feel that (outside of stuff like IRs or corporate representatives) these "corporate" aspects are very much left in the background, and only appear when relevant or convenient. This can even be seen on the wiki, where most of our lore is in planets, factions, species, and not in the corporations. And I even see people even just ignore these corporate aspects, just pick a corporation for their character based on how drippy are their uniforms, or even just ignore uniforms altogether, etc (which is fine of course, for a lot of people IRL a job is just a job and nothing more). Most of the roleplay, gameplay, character arcs, that I see on Horizon, including on extended, could happen on any ship no matter if corporate or independent. I think also that a lot of corporate-related or corporate-adjacent character concepts would transfer well to a independent ship. For example, characters can still be in debt and desperately trying to pay it off just like on a SCC ship, except that now they can also be running away from that debt, something that can only be done on a independent ship. I more meant that these "extreme" things (like piracy) could just be examples of the contracts that this independent ship could take, that Horizon could never really do (outside of maybe noncanon events or Odyssey scenarios). I didn't mean that these would be the everyday bread and butter life of its crew. Other examples of more "mundane" contracts that an independent ship could do, would be stuff like trade, cargo transport, taking in refugees or passengers, patrolling, escorting or fixing up other ships, etc. We could have some of these tasks in Odyssey or as away sites with Horizon, sure. But they would fit so much better and more naturally on a independent ship, one that isn't the most important flagship of the conglomerate.

I guess it's a bit hard for me to explain, and "camaraderie" is a bit of a vague vibes-and-feelings based concept, but the extreme events you mention I think generate "active" camaraderie, with the people you actively interacted with these events, who maybe saved you from harm, or you helped them, etc. This is how I feel at least, having played these events, they don't really generate a longer-lasting sense of "we're in this together", if that makes sense. I think an independent ship would allow for more "passive" camaraderie, a more mundane and everyday one. You are in this together with all these other crew, facing the same hardships, answering to the same leadership, and working in the same company. Your problems affect them, and their problems affect you, even if indirectly. Unlike on Horizon, where everyone gets their paycheck from different corporations, talks to different corporate liaisons, wears different uniforms, and can be reassigned out of Horizon at any time. I wrote more on this in my previous post replying to wowzewow/Wezzy. I've already touched on this in my second post in this thread: "I meant that they would be more justified to be on Hedgemaze, not that there would be no filter or limit as to how "extreme" they can be, or that more of them would be present on the ship. They would still have to be reasonable and professional enough to be hired and work here, do their jobs and support the ship, and not clash too badly with other crew. (...)". As for the question of "why would it be hard to replace crew". A small independent company just does not have all the backbone infrastructure and reach that megacorps have. If Horizon's crew somehow all collectively decided to quit, SCC could find a new crew in a day, as they don't even need to hire new people and train them specifically for this ship. They have facilities and ships all over the spur to reassign people from, people who are fully trained and proven to be capable.

I very much agree with you about Horizon - "station-on-wheels" is a good way to describe it. It doesn't look or feel like a spaceship; I could list lots and lots of reasons as to why, but I think it would be a bit off-topic here. The map of Hedgemaze that I made isn't perfect either, though, I agree as well. It's actually pretty bad if you take a closer look - super long hallways, maintenance spaces that go nowhere, pretty bad department inter-connectivity. But the point of that mapping exercise was to include the design requirements I wrote about in the opening post in the thread, like being a ship that actually looks and feels like a ship, etc; and I think I accomplished that well. If I were to try mapping this again, starting over from scratch, I'd add another deck on the bottom that's mostly just maintenance and storage spaces, and make the ship a bit more wide and a bit less long, with all departments connecting to some "central ring" like on Horizon. I touched on this on these concerns in previous posts of mine in this thread. I think the ship should be either fully independent, or fully corporate, otherwise it's like the worst of both worlds, neither being independent nor corporate. I do think everyone being independent is interesting, I think it'd help with crew cohesion with everyone being in it together, facing the same hardships and problems. Currently, we have all these corporations on Horizon (even further splintered in PMCG with all its different contractors), and sometimes it feels like a random collection of people working in the same building, rather than crew of one ship. Everyone gets their paycheck from different corporations, talks to different corporate liaisons, wears different uniforms, and can be reassigned out of Horizon at any time. I see very little conflict on megacorporate grounds, and I even see people to pick their corporation based on aesthetics of their uniforms rather what the corporation represents. I think a lot of conflict on Horizon is inter-personal, and an independent ship would only reinforce that and give it more weight. I don't think authority or stakes would be a problem, or maybe I don't understand what you mean here, but as I described in the opening post, Hedgemaze wouldn't be like, lawless. It's still part of a small company with actual leadership, it's not just the crew doing whatever they want alone on the ship. The crew are still here to earn credits, and are even paid partly with shares in the company. If they don't listen to authority or do their job well, then the crew as a whole is directly affected by that, with their wallets becoming lighter and their shares losing value, or even things actually getting dangerous if maintenance is behind or security does not want to deter pirates. If anything, I think this is less fragile than the situation on Horizon. If Horizon does its a bad job with whatever assignment it got, or pirates come to steal corporate stuff, or whatever else; then the crew is not really directly affected, except for IRs, but only affecting those to blame for letting it happen, but even that is not guaranteed. There's little reason for the average non-command crew to even care about whether Horizon does well or not - they're not even working for SCC, after all, but for Idris or Zavod or whatever.

I considered an independent ship that has megacorp crew, hired or loaned for some time, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it should be either fully independent (like Hedgemaze) or fully corporate (like Horizon), otherwise it's kinda the worst of both worlds: The ship isn't fully independent, so it can't do actually independent things like acting against megacorps or megacorp-friendly nations. Or if it does things like that, it would have to be super secret so megacorps don't find out, and it would generate very uninteresting conflict for characters and players ("I work for Orion but we're stealing from them... why shouldn't I just take the next shuttle off this ship and tell Orion?"). And the ship isn't really corporate, so there's none of these grim corporate vibes that some people like, or stuff like corporate liaisons make little sense to be on some random independent ship, and these zavodskoi officers are only "zavodskoi" by uniform and other accessories but otherwise don't really answer to zavod. I do think Hedgemaze is a cool name. I like getting creative with ship names, another one I really like is "Double Rainbow" on the SCC Scout Ship that I added a while ago. I find it a sad how "Horizon" or "Intrepid" are just like the most generic inoffensive names you could find in any random scifi work (there's actually ships with these names in Star Trek for example). There's no creativity here, and they're not even cool references cause names like these have been used a million times in different scifi works or in real life - it's just boring and uninteresting.

Indeed, on the pics there are two zlevels, bottom deck zlevel 1 being on the left, top deck zlevel 2 on the right. The top deck on the right is taken with "multiz rendering" enabled in strongdmm, where transparent turfs (like open space) show stuff on the zlevel below. So that for example, you can see the garden under the bar, in one of the biodomes. When I was listing this in that point in the main post, I meant that they would be more justified to be on Hedgemaze, not that there would be no filter or limit as to how "extreme" they can be, or that more of them would be present on the ship. They would still have to be reasonable and professional enough to be hired and work here, do their jobs and support the ship, and not clash too badly with other crew. People that are openly like "hey let's literally kill all corporates/dominians/solarians/synthetics/whatever" ideally wouldn't be hired, cause it would hurt the mission and bring crew morale and cohesion down. Almost all of these can work on Horizon already, and I don't think it causes a lot of problems coming from it. But the difference is that on Horizon, flagship of the SCC, they require a bit of suspension of disbelief as to why are they hired onto here. That suspension of disbelief is, of course, entirely reasonable and understandable, cause "realistically" SCC would only hire bieselites, solarians, eridanians, all humans and maybe some skrell, but that would be very boring and we don't want that. On an independent ship, it's not a problem, and it doesn't require any suspension of disbelief. That is a concern, yeah. But at worst, I don't think it would be too different from Horizon. Most of the conflict you list is between characters, and it would still be present on this independent ship. But here it would be more personal as in "if you scream you hate all solarians then maybe some day they'll just group up and throw you out of an airlock", and less "you'll be hit by an IR and suspended for a week". I think an equivalent of CCIAA/HRA should still exist though, cause there has to be someone to handle personnel management, hire and fire people, and process incident reports. It is an independent ship, but it's not like, lawless, outside of civilization. It can't work and complete contracts, if the crew is constantly fighting amongst each other, spending more time arguing than doing useful things. And ideally, yeah, I think there would still be conflict, just different. And a better sense of like camaraderie, of people working on the same ship, facing the same hardships, with little outside support. Something that I don't think is really present on Horizon, where people aren't even all hired by the same entity, but for different corporations, just assigned to the same ship for some time, and could be reassigned elsewhere at any time. That sounds neat and interesting, thank you for sharing.