Horizon Remap Wishlist

[Mr.Popper]

I like the setting of Horizon, but the mapping leaves a lot to be desired. This is a thread for compiling suggestions towards a hypothetical remap. Keep in mind I'm not a mapper or dev and I don't expect anyone to do all this; this is just to gather feedback for anyone doing so in the future.

These are my main points:

• More verticality. Right now the crew is overwhelmingly congregated in deck 2 with a few attractions on deck 3. There's nothing wrong with keeping the pop concentrated (except when the pop's TOO high) but the wide approach makes Horizon feel small. There's also certain locations that feel haphazardly tacked onto deck 3 like the smoking lounge. I'll go on to propose a 4th deck in this suggestion but I understand not wanting to bloat the map. In that case, just roll my deck 3 suggestions in with the bridge.
• Following up on the last, try to give every department a reason to be on each deck. I don't want different departments to NEVER interact nor should one deck contain everything of importance. An easy way to do this is to make sure every department has at least 2 floors (which the current map has).
• Kill the central ring. The stargazer's great but the central ring, especially the gaps between decks, make it feel like a building or station.
• Make things DIRTY. Most of the Horizon is Star Trek levels of clean. I'd much prefer a grittier vibe like Alien's Nostromo, but to be fair part of that is spriting and aesthetics. Maybe arrange Horizon into layers of maintenance, with the lower decks where the grunts work being poorly maintained in stark contrast to the polished public areas.
• Darker, spookier maintenance tunnels. The current tunnels are remarkably well lit and feel more cozy than haunting.
• More mini-lifts, public ladder shafts, less stairs. Engineering in particular needs a lift to transport heavy equipment between decks. Why does my spaceship have stairs everywhere?
• Public facilities that aren't the holodeck.
• Either move the thrusters up a deck or spread them out across decks; it's really cool hearing the engines boom in flight but currently you have to be in a very specific part of deck 1 only janitors and engineers go to.
• Bigger hydroponics and a dedicated cryogenics array. I know these things don't see much use, but they add a lot of credibility to the deep space vibe.
• More signs/posters with corporate ads on them.
• Cut the diagonal walls. They're janky, see-through, can't be replaced, and not even particularly immersive; if anything seeing the actual wings makes Horizon feel much smaller than it should be.
• More escape pods. Ideally there should be some on every deck, save maybe the bridge.

Here's one possible layout to give an idea of what I'd like to see, from bottom to top:

1. Flight Deck. Horizon's crucial but ugly underbelly. Landing pads dimly lit by red torches make up much of the deck, with the hectic supply office tacked onto the adjacent corridor as an afterthought. Closest to the main lift is the engineering office, with Horizon's reactor(s) waiting beyond it. Operations and Engineering are headquartered here, sharing a dingy breakroom. Xenoarchaeology also has a laboratory next to SCCV Quark's hangar.
2. Operations. Horizon's lifeblood. Hydroponics, cryogenics, and the ever secretive research labs fill this deck, all protected by the security office. The second floor of the operations department is here, represented by the dingy workshop. Atmospherics and propulsion can also be found in the depths of maintenance. Beside cryogenics is the morgue and medical lift, allowing for critical patients to be quickly frozen. For emergencies, the AI core and bunker hide within twisting corridors, blocked off by blast doors only accessible by command. Security and Research are headquartered here, sharing a firing range.
3. The Promenade. Horizon's downtown. The public and merchant docks are found here, neatly funneling visitors into the library, dining area, bar, and other attractions. For emergencies, the medical department is in a central location accessible to both crew and visitors. Crew can find even more facilities such as the amphitheater and gymnasium tucked deeper into the deck, somewhat private from the docks. Telecommunications and the shield generator are secure behind a bright yellow sign no one would dare cross. Liaison, Consular, and Investigator offices are also open to the public. Medical and Service are headquartered here.
4. The Bridge. Preferably the deck with the bridge should be reduced in size, with just enough room for the bridge itself. Command are literally above the rest of the ship but unable to stay here all round; it only holds the bare necessities. Think of a Star Trek bridge where it's essentially one room connected by an elevator, although it could retain the public bridge atrium we have now. Command is headquartered here.

Just to reiterate, the goal with a layout like this is to give everyone a reason to be on every deck. Certain choices may appear inconvenient from a meta standpoint (separating the bridge and the bunker by 2 decks, splitting security and medical, putting the supply office at the very bottom) but their intent is to encourage movement and potentially conflict; command would have to be much more tactical moving to the CIC if it's further away, for example.

What do you think? What would you add or remove from the current Horizon? What does your ideal layout look like?

[QuestioningMark]

My  wishlist here would be:

• Damage Control Lockers - Lockers around the ship with engineering access with porta-pumps and scrubbers inside and hoses to connect and refil them. Packed with firefighting and chemical spill gear, and pre-stashed with supplies to re-build. Everything you could want to actually respond to a location locally. Maybe even a first aid box.
• Reinforced Engineering Subsystems - It's already practically a rule that you're not allowed to grief the SM and so on. With this in mind, it would be nice if we could blast door it down to keep it safe. One would hope you'd have a remotely higher level of security to the ship destroying radiation producing reactor, thousands of litres of flamable gas and a blue space drive that produces black holes. I'm not asking for the lobby or officers or locker rooms here, just the actual critical infrastructure
• Easier to Escape Brig - While having it tucked on a corner makes sense, right now the brig feels pretty confined and so audio-close to the security department it's a pain to escape. Ideally, the brig should be access by a staircase downstairs from the rest of the department and thus give you some more leeway to get a cheaky escape from. 
• Integrate the Gas Turbine into the Hot Thrust - Space saving measure really, we could very much however make the gas turbine directly tied into the hot thrust burn chambers and save some space. A few control valves would be the only things necessary for keeping it safe.
• Some sort of plot mcguffing to replace cooling waffle pipe - Right now we do active cooling by plugging reactor cold loops into huge arrays of pipes and while that makes sense it doesn't look very cool and has very "Space Station" instead of "Space Ship" vibes. Would be cool if we could have a alternative cooling solution thought up that just gave us a better radiator system.

[KingOfThePing]

After giving it some thought I agree with basically everything here. I think this would all enhance gameplay and immersion. Especially the maintenance tunnels need to be grimier and resemblence maintenance tunnels more.

 

However, such a refit would take a considerable time in dock. Maybe we need to SKIP some time until the Horizon's refit is. 😰

[QuestioningMark]

1 hour ago, KingOfThePing said:

After giving it some thought I agree with basically everything here. I think this would all enhance gameplay and immersion. Especially the maintenance tunnels need to be grimier and resemblence maintenance tunnels more.

 

However, such a refit would take a considerable time in dock. Maybe we need to SKIP some time until the Horizon's refit is. 😰

Ditch horizon entirely, get new vessel.

Have the horizon crash into a space whale and destruct.

[Nagito Komaeda]

On 11/03/2025 at 19:06, Mr.Popper said:

More verticality.

A hundred percent, yes. Verticality is what breaks up departments really well. In particular, I think there should be more reason for people to be scattered around decks - the cafeteria, Medical's foyer, Security's foyer and the central ring in general means people congregate around those spots on deck two all the time. If the Medical and Security main entrances are misaligned, you already break up the crew over decks REALLY well.

The way I would love to see the Horizon (mind you, this is spitballing)...

Deck 4: The Command deck. Predominantly occupied by the Bridge, but also holds the offices. Have every department's Head of Staff office be on the top deck near their own department. To me, this gives room to separate the crew a little more, and for antags to more securely break into Head of Staff offices when their respective Head is in. The CorpRep and Consular offices would also be here. If you really want to make it the 'expensive' deck, put the Vault, Ammunition Storage and Server Room here. The general gist of this deck is that it's the 'fancy' deck, and as an underpaid worker you should realistically feel a little out of place being there. The Stargazer would also be here, somewhere, probably (honestly make it soul and actually put it ON the Bridge).

Deck 3: The Crew Facility deck. This is where a large part of Service should be (Bar, Kitchen, Library, Journalist & Chapel) and the bulk of Medical should be. This deck should also have the docking arms for off-ships and merchants. A small Operations office is here, primarily for equipment retrieval from bounties, and filing orders. The Investigator's office is here. too. Research has 'studies' here, a central location where they can theorize, roleplay etc., connected to an elevator going down to the operational deck. If you're a visitor wanting to 'stroll around', this is the place to be.

Deck 2: The Operational deck. The bulk of Engineering, Security, Research and Operations are here. Engineering sees all the monitoring equipment, locker room & their workshop here, as well as their reactors. Security has their equipment room, the armoury, briefing, the actual Investigator laboratory, and a shared firing range with Research here. Research has its labs on this deck, except for Xenoarch. Operations has the Warehouse and the Machinist on this deck. Hydroponics is also located here, so that Service has more of a reason to be downstairs. The general gist is that crew are at work on this deck.

Deck 1: The Flight deck. This is where the shuttles are, where the prep locations for Xenoarch and Mining are, and where a large part of ship maintenance is. This deck is a little messy, sees flights going in and out, and just generally functions as the 'drain' of every department. Operations has Mining here, Research has Xenoarch here, Engineering has Atmospherics and a large part of maintenance here, Medical has the Morgue here, the large Custodial closet is on this deck, etc. You should come here every shift, just not for a wander around the ship.