Bus Station
Created by: Kurfursten
A little over a month ago when there was a fever pitch in the thread over frustrations with Taxi, I suggested an overhaul to the entire map. Probe liked the design, but it was too much to ask of him because it was such a big change. Basically, the idea was to redesign Taxi from the ground up to place the Taxis as far apart as possible to make it harder to sabotage both at once and reduce bottlenecking. This redesign follows that idea, along with including more maintenance and enlarged rooms. I can't take credit for many of the key ideas from this map, since inspiration was drawn from the thread and from the other maps we use. Here's a basic summary of what I consider to be the most important changes.
- Some of the rooms which needed space the most were enlarged. All xenobio cells sized up 2x2 -> 3x3, security cells increased from 2x2 -> 2x3, botany increased from 8 trays to 18, and many other offices enlarged (head offices, QM office, kitchen, IAA office, library, etc.)
- R&D + RD reunited with the rest of the science team on one station. IAA, Library, and Chapel also reunited with the rest of the civilians.
- Maintenance is now much larger and includes some of our 'greatest hits' of maintenance rooms (ghetto botany, ghetto bar, etc.)
- Medbay has been entirely restructured to promote better flow of patients
- Security quality of life (the familiar security atmos and security disposals from Box, patrol route for Beepsky, hardsuits moved out from the armory)
- Disposals space sorter is now a mini-station with safe atmosphere.
- Brought back missing (or halfway-done) rooms from Taxi: holodeck, teleporter, dorms, laundry room
- A number of small quality of life changes (e.g.: telecommunications is now properly turret-protected and has a gas sensor, bhangometer now within comm range, sound systems in almost every room, dedicated borer hatching chamber, etc.)
- Makes full use of layered pipes. Pipes never go under walls when they don't have to: scrubbers are fully layered with distro.
- There are many more differences, but creating an exhaustive list in a complete remake seems fit for Sisyphus.
Experimental/Gimmick Since this is still a prototype, there are a few things I've done that were a significant break from the original spirit of Taxi that I think are worth trying out, and are mostly sourced from suggestions in the thread. My hope is to be as upfront as possible with this stuff: I'm not trying to sneak it in under anyone's nose, and we can have a full discussion about the pros and cons.
- Every station is equipped with an EVA loaded with space pods and civilian space suits. This is to promote alternate means of transportation between stations, as well as survival in extreme situations such as bombings. Requires standard EVA access to enter.
- Telescience was moved to the Paramedic room as an experiment. One of the biggest complaints about Taxi was that paramedics couldn't save victims in time due to Taxi congestion, and it's no secret on the repo that I've long thought that Tsci should be in the hands of paramedics. I think it's a gimmick worth testing out on one map.
- Engine switched to TEG and Toxins TTV count lowered to 2. Another major complaint that was any damage to Taxi spirals to to catastrophic levels very quickly. By moving away from the Singularity and reducing the TTV count, hopefully there will need to be more strategic decisions about how to end shifts as opposed to simply bombing all three.
- One sepia camera spawns in the chapel. Think of it like the detective's thermals on Meta, a little perk for the chaplain to make Bus a little different.
- Xenobiology starts with tier 1 colored slimes (and one gray) instead of all gray slimes. A trade-off for having less working chambers than other maps. By including two of the most basic colors (metal and purple), Xenobiology can start moving in their preferred direction just a little faster.