Shuttle (Update): DYS Dove

[CloudOfNeutronFlux]

About the PR

A rebuild of the Dove that fixes some of the long-standing issues of the shuttle and attempts to bring it closer to its inspiration piece, both in function and atmosphere.

Why / Balance

The Dove is my favorite expedition shuttle, as it checks all the right boxes for me: an easily recognizable shape, big enough to run with a bunch of other folks (but not too big so you can still run it solo if you wanted), cramped but cozy rooms and a bunch of toys to play with (literally too). Despite all this, however, the shuttle clearly has issues, from annoying mechanical quirks you have to deal with every time you buy it, to its layout that sometimes clashes with its identity as a cargo runner. This PR attempts to solve these issues.

If these drastic changes are uncalled for, I also have a simpler PR ready that only touches the annoying parts of the current Dove (air alarms, firelocks beneath external airlocks, etc.)

Below is a detailed description of the design philosophy and reasoning behind the changes I've made.

Shape and exterior layout

While the current Dove is still easily recognizable as the Falcon, it always bugged me (and some other players I talked to) how the shuttle looks too square-ish for what it tries to represent. The redesign uses diagonal walls to address that.

One of Falcon's notable features is its pretty beefy thruster block in the back, which is why I decided to move the aft dock to starboard and join the two engine pods into a single one.

The current Dove uses its prongs in a pretty smart way: the pointy shape is too awkward for an interior, but perfect for housing thrusters. I decided to commit fully to that idea, moving all lateral and forward-facing thrusters there. This also eases engine maintenance and upgrades.

Dove's identity and basic interior layout

The Dove is described as a versatile multi-purpose light freighter, but I think the current design doesn't lean into its core identity enough which makes it a bit awkward to work with.

The Millennium Falcon is, first and foremost, a cargo runner, and while there are a lot of interpretations of the Falcon's interior, most of them depict the ship having multiple pretty spacious holds to store all your (il)legal goods. And this is exactly what I did: instead of two holds separated by a corner workshop, I've designated two Primary Holds (C1, C2), a Port Hold/Loading Hold (L) and an Auxilary Hold (A), all of which are separated by firelocks and shutters instead of airlocks, making them much more accessible for moving freight.

This layout is also very friendly to customization: removing walls between Holds, as well as ditching the sofa out of the Auxilary Hold, lets you have even more space for cargo.

I was not quite done here, however, as another part of Falcon's identity is that it's a smuggling ship, which the current iteration of the Dove doesn't show at all. Of course, I couldn't replicate Falcon's hidden floor compartments exactly, so instead I added a handful of hidden rooms around the ship: one in the center, and one in each "corner" of the ship. The center one can be accessed from any side in case you need to unload your contraband quickly, or just too lazy to walk through the main corridor like a normal person.

APCs and Air Alarms

The original Dove has a pretty annoying quirk: it has too many APCs and Air Alarms. More than that, said alarms are only linked to firelocks (which the Dove also has too many of), and to none of the scrubbers or vents. The redesign instead splits the ship into three parts, each governed by its own APC and Air Alarm.

Handling

The redesign is slightly bigger and bulkier than the current Dove, but it's enough to noticeably affect handling. Extra thrusters for each direction and an additional gyro compensate for that without impacting the price too much (partially because of the next point).

Machinery

While I tried to maintain all the lathes and machines the original design has, I don't think the cyborg recharger and the exosuit fabricator are needed on the ship: these two are almost never used (both from my own experience and observing other people), barring making a medibot or two, but two medibots don't justify having an exofab on the ship and the price markup that incurs. The redesign removes both machines.

Pricing

The price is set to 82108 spesos: 63160 on mapinit and a T3 30% markup. Feel free to correct it if I priced it wrong.

How to test

Buy the ship at the Expeditionary Lodge.

Media

Requirements

• I have read and am following the Pull Request and Changelog Guidelines.
• I have added media to this PR or it does not require an ingame showcase.

Changelog
🆑

• tweak: Full redesign of the DYS Dove

[dustylens]

Hi there! Requested walkthrough now in progress. Wee ooo wee ooo.

First impressions:

-It feels that the shuttle is a little rounded, and the forward struts are now very forward. I don't know if the profile is completely balanced for me. This is purely an afterthought but it did cross my mind. Not something I would consider a blocker. But it does feel a bit odd.

Stepping on board:

• I wonder if the tileset in the airlock might not be better off with some differentiation. I'm not sure if it's meant to feel like a continuation of the space in the next room or like a segregated passage. The airlocks lack something of an "airlock" vs "interior hull" vibe for a shuttle with something of an industrial/cargo/ atmosphere. Again, just me.

• Throughout the shuttle there are a lot of catwalks. I'm not sure if those are intended to serve as indications of a kind of general "patchy" vibe with exposed hulls with grating over them here and there. If that's the vibe cool cool. But it might be something that could be leaned into with a little more uniformity perhaps? When I see random catwalks scattered about I'm not sure if it's meant to serve a specific purpose or if it's meant to be an aesthetic piece. Maybe a piece that could help my brain process that vibe would be some more filth added about down the road.

• As I get ready to explore I realize I have two doors ahead of me and no real clear idea of what leads where. Even if signs aren't sought it might be ideal to setup some airlock door differentiation to color code for "common" vs "industrial" areas.

• Mass scanners: An annoyance with the mass scanners it that they generally all need to be on the "north" wall to present a uniform idea of what is what.

I choose to head north

• The common room feels a little under cooked. The homage is cute, but it doesn't feel like a very welcoming space to congregate. While I feel like this is a reasonable spot to stick the holopad I wonder if the fax machine doesn't destract somewhat from the vibe and the space. It isn't particularly homey. The sink on the far side of the table is technically within reach but feels a bit awkward.

Bridge:

• Good use of those wall mounted consoles. Always glad to see those.

• I think the forward railing is there to make the ship's profile feel a bit more rounded. I'm not sure if that's serving you well here. It does feel a bit odd. The starboard airlock is already a lost cause with respect to being a flush docking point. There may be some wisdom in beefing up the cockpit a bit more if a more robust footprint is desired.

• Good security buttons.

Main cargo hold:

• Seems nice. Good access to what needs accessing. I like the system you've set up here. Nice and mobile.

• The forward spars are pretty long for what they are. If they're going to take up this much space I'd laden them with a few more thrusters. Point to follow in handling comments. I'm not sure if they're going to provide much utility for the footprint they're occupying and space they'll remove you from wrecks/rocks.

• I might swap the forward facing lights for exterior lights. Much longer reach. Can be nice for seeing what's down the road. I get the navigation light piece but those running lights are usually more to the actual port/starboard.

• The floor markings regarding where some things should maybe go seem a bit inconsistent. I'm not sure why there's paint on some steel tiles but the techmaint floors are generally bare.

• Port "Stand Clear" was painted over a bit.

Dorms:

• I wonder if this room wouldn't benefit from surrendering the smuggling compartment to provide additional floor space for another chamber, or differentiating the "bed" room with more of a common space.

• The bathroom gave me a panic attack.

Engineering:

• There it is. Glorious. Could possibly use another light on the AME side. It's not impossibly dark. But a bit dim.

Medical room:

• Doubles as the janitor's closet. Maybe good for cleaning blood.
• Good space to set aside. The filled doctor's closet will likely result in a frown.
• Probably worth adding a table between the beds to break up the space a little.

Handling:

• I took the shuttle out for a spin. It handles pretty sluggishly. As someone who has never flown a Dove before I'm not sure if that's common. I think you'll want a minimum of one additional gyro and a real look at some additional lateral thrust. You aren't hurting for power so it might be worth it? Don't want to sky rocket the cost and you don't need to be a speed demon but it did seem a bit wanting.

Fabs:

• The exosuit fabricator seemed a bit curious. What is the history here?

General closing thoughts.

• I think that your general direction is a tremendous improvement in terms of QoL for the shuttle. My perception is that the shuttle has been given a real focus in terms of practical utility and that really shines through with the generous allotment of space for the procurement and hoarding of "stuff".

• I think that the various smuggling compartments are generally clever. I think that the middle smuggling room with the throughfair option to swiftly cut through the shuttle was inspired. Nice job.

• Many of the social and people spaces strike me as WIP. Which I think they literally are. So I'll leave that one to you.

• I believe the shuttle would benefit from differentiation in terms of tilework.

All in all I think there's a lot of promise here and I think you should feel good about the direction your hard work is moving in! Thank you for the invitation to take a look!

[CloudOfNeutronFlux]

Alright, lots of words to read, and lots of words to write back!

Starboard airlock and north-adjacent

...tileset in the airlock might not be better off with some differentiation...

Done. Agreed, looked a bit bland. Decided to extend the airlock flooring by one space. Can't really tell you how I feel about it yet, needs to stir a bit before I'll decide if I want to keep it that way.

Throughout the shuttle there are a lot of catwalks.

Intended. I personally really enjoy this element in the currend version of the Dove: gives it that patchy, a bit "makeshifting your way out of problems" kinda vibe, and coincedentally fits the spirit of the Millennium Falcon. It doesn't have as great of an effect at the moment because there's no dirt mapped, but as I wrote in TL;DR, I don't want to map cleanables until the shuttle's less of a draft.

...no real clear idea of what leads where.

Changed one of the airlocks to the general green one to give a better idea of how to get to cargo.

[Aux Hold/Common Room comments]

We've discussed this particular room in detail over Discord, and came to a disagreement in views, ahahah~ I actually do find this kind of ""lounge"" comfy and homey, in a scrapper-salvager-vibes kind of way. And, hopefully, the ease of removing the couch to get even more cargo space will be appreciated by pilots.

Cockpit

The starboard airlock is already a lost cause with respect to being a flush docking point.

I wouldn't hurry to call starboard a lost cause as quickly, if only because I actually made sure the cockpit is extended enough for you to be able to dock with as many things as possible. Yes, this side doesn't have a conveyor, but it lets you quickly access a lot of ships that are important for cargo/exped shuttles. Science, food, ambulance-type medical ships - one doesn't need a cargo belt to access their services, but what one may appreciate is not needing to run through the entire ship to get their favorite Bink's Bonut. Now, having wrote all that...

...the forward railing...

Oh how I wish mass scanners showed diagonal walls. Railing/no railing is more or less the same in terms of how much style you keep for the mass scanner vs. how much style you keep in the world, but no railing lets me keep the fax in the cockpit (good suggestion btw), so we'll be staying with that for now.

Main Cargo Holds

More thrusters added, markings standardized, lights replaced with non-navigational versions.

Dorms

Reduced the smuggling compartment to give some breathing room in the dorms.

The bathroom gave me a panic attack.

Isn't it fucking great? XD I wasn't planning on placing it where it is now, but at some point, as I was looking for references, I stumbled upon this masterpiece:

and almost choked from laughing. Maybe I won't keep it sideways, but it has to stay there for sure.

Engineering

I don't think I can actually add another light there. There's an example of acceptable lighting in the guidelines with a not-too-dissimilar setup, and they keep it pretty dim. Chances are I might even have to remove lights in other rooms, but I'll leave that to the review.

Medical room

Reshuffled the layout a bit. Thanks for noticing the locker; dyslexia and the myriad of med-doc locker variations don't mix well.

Handling

Added another gyro (in addition to thrusters mentioned earlier). Initially the idea was to keep machinery and handling close to the current Dove, but I'm not against upgrading it a bit.

Fabricator

The only history here is that it (alongside one cyborg recharger) is mapped on the current Dove. That's it. Personally I don't think it's needed, especially with how new guidelines categorise this machinery. And, in fact, I've removed it entirely from the current version.

I think that's it? I think that's it.

[dustylens]

o/ The day has ended, I have my tea. Doing a stroll about as requested : )

Entrance Airlock:

• I like the variation of tilework. Your decal work is also very nice here.
  
  As a small reminder any mass scanners that aren't orientated north are going to give you a strange perspective relative to the orientation they're facing. Something to keep in mind.
• Some door differentiation, nice.

Lounge:

• The plant of course makes everything nicer. Though I wonder if the sink AND cooler are both needed.
• It seems a bit odd that the tile work is dark on one side and light on the other. I don't hate the dark steel in the lounge, but I'm not sure why they're different colors if one is just meant to be the counterpart to the other side.

Cargo bay:

• a bit ahead of myself here, but the material locker that you have in the engineering bay COULD be exchanged for a crate version in the cargo bay.

General thoughts:

• Interior feels nice. Probably the least offensive collection of interior wall corners I've experienced. Though they do leave the inner smuggling room rather exposed due to their transparency.
• Handling is much improved. She's not the Falcon but she's not a pigeon either.
• Good nuanced lighting. You can't see it in the gloom but Magnus is giving you a thumbs up.
• I think the dorms are a little crowded. I don't know if you're going to have that many people crashed out at once. But I could be wrong.

All in all this feels like a really solid step and a nice take on the Dove. Walking about it felt natural and excellent to this person. I'm curious what others think!

[github-actions]

RSI Diff Bot; head commit b8ea467 merging into d386280
This PR makes changes to 1 or more RSIs. Here is a summary of all changes:

Resources/Textures/_NF/Guidebook/shuttle_maps/128x96.rsi

State	Old	New	Status
decadedove			Added

Edit: diff updated after b8ea467

[CloudOfNeutronFlux]

Reduced crew size by one to the original "3 shmucks + 1 important shmuck". Mass scanners now look north. Mats moved from the locker to a crate in aux hold. Swapped all exterior lattice+catwalk tiles to hull plating.

Updated the price, made the guidebook entry together with a map. I think that's all, so I'm undrafting and throwing the thing into the review grinder.