First drafts of the base design documents

Docs/core.txt

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+==========================================
+Drill Station (working title) core concept
+==========================================
+Written by arenaconspiracy
+
+
+The concept for Drill Station came from a wish for a round flow not reliant on antagonists driving it.
+It's core idea is that roundflow is dictated by an autonomous Drill at the center of the station,
+with periods of "uptime" and "downtime" corresponding to the Drill being on and off.
+The Drill autonomously turns on and off on a set timer of 30 minutes. The 1st and 2nd in command
+on the station have the authority to manually start/stop the Drill after 15 minutes of either state.
+
+During uptime, the Drill's operation causes events that place the station and it's crew in danger.
+The volume and intensity of the threats scales as the round goes on, until it ends.
+During downtime, the crew is given time to breathe, repair damage to the station and themselves,
+and relax & engage in unobstructed roleplay.
+The round permanently cycles between uptime and downtime on a set, predictable period, with Command
+being able to influence it only in emergencies. 
+
+Gameplay takes place underground, on a mining station embedded in solid rock.
+The map is a large grid of rock with an indestructible outer rim, and a network of procedurally
+generated caverns, centering on the station. The caverns are barren and serve only as out-of-view
+spawn points for hostile mobs. The crew has no reason to leave the station for the caverns.
+
+Instead of a continuous event scheduler gamerule, events are called by the Drill while in operation.
+The entire crew is involved in the hazards to the station, which comes from the Drill, failing station
+infrastructure, and hostile mobs brought by the Drill.
+Antagonists among the crew are an optional modification to the gameplay, as an auxiliary to the game.
+The crew is subject to permadeath, elimination of all crew members serves as a round end condition.
+
+The overarching goal of a round is achieving a set profit quota, reaching a population dependent
+balance in the station budget, achieved through selling the output of the Drill.
+There is a "target product" the Drill produces in the form of Phoron,
+that has a sell value far surpassing anything else the Drill produces, with occasional use on station.
+The other outputs of the Drill can be sold at a lesser price, but are more necessary on the station.
+
+Once the shift profit quota has been reached, Command may authorize an evacuation pod to drop
+down to the station's level, and subsequently take off, ending the round.
+
+The gameplay depth comes from managing, modifying, and living around the Drill. It produces
+vital resources necessary to sustain the station, but the crew must deal with it's inherent danger,
+and adapt to it's whims, and changes made to the station for the sake of upgrades and supply routes
+between the Drill and destinations with fixed locations, such as the Requisitions Pad, power engines,
+et cetera.
+
+
+*******************************
+Drill mechanical specifications
+*******************************
+
+The Drill permanently cycles between uptime and downtime with a maximum interval of 30 minutes
+between phase changes. After 15 minutes of either state the SO or DO can run an emergency start/stop.
+Dedicated gamemodes may modify the intervals, creating more extreme experiences.
+
+The Drill structurally can be compared to an AME from upstream, consisting of 2 (kinds of) parts.
+A Drill body, similar to AME shielding - and attached modules & ports, similar to AME controllers.
+The Drill has many different Input and Output ports, as well as a discrete Computer Control Module.
+Input ports must be adjacent to body corner tiles, and output ports must be adjacent to edge tiles
+with a core tile behind it. With the exception of the computer module & a roundstart power input,
+which both work adjacent to any tile.
+
+The map starts with a pre-mapped Drill assembly with a configuration immutable during the round.
+Engineers can add additional parts onto the Drill assembly to increase it's productivity midround.
+The body, computer, roundstart inputs and outputs are indestructible and cannot be moved or modified,
+the "flavor" and unique challenge in a map comes from it's configuration of the Drill and
+it's relations to destination structures, and possible ways to modify the station for supply routes.
+
+The Computer Control Module serves as a console through which crew can interface with the Drill,
+see it's parameters/data readouts, and engage the manual start/stop.
+
+Input ports include Power and Gas input required for power supply and ventilation. Every connected
+port has a resource demand, except input ports which do not demand what they're supplying.
+Input ports are limited by a 'choke' on the wattage & gas volume they can supply to the Drill.
+
+Output ports include Phoron, Ore, Gas, Reagent, and Miscellaneous outputs.
+Phoron ports output Phoron into discrete Phoron Kegs connected to them.
+Ore ports output chunks of ore onto conveyor belts.
+Gas ports output mined gas, configurable to send specific gasses to separate attached pipe layers.
+Reagent ports output reagents to an internal buffer, which can be transfered to storage tanks.
+Miscellaneous ports spit out odds and ends into disposal pipes.
+
+Most port types have 3 tiers, a higher tier corresponding to a higher throughput & resource demand.
+Pre-mapped, indestructible ports are discrete, but correspond to Tier 2 of their type.
+
+New ports come at a high material cost, increased challenge with their demands, and must be
+researched before thier machine boards can be printed. Drill ports use a discrete, directional
+machine frame separate from the generic machine frame for everything else.
+
+The Drill, and destinations for it's outputs such as the Requisition/Sale pad, power engines, et alii
+are practically or literally immobile, to create depth and challenge in midround modifications to
+supply routes from the Drill and back.
+

Docs/departments.txt

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+===============================
+Drill Station department design
+===============================
+Written by arenaconspiracy
+
+
+Each station department is tasked with unique, largely non-overlapping duties.
+Every crew member has a functionally identical backpack item, and each role has a standard issue
+gearing consisting of a belt slot item and 2 pocket slot pouches necessary to perform their job,
+intended to be worn 100% of the time. Crew members are limited to their role by the amount of 
+job-related gear they can carry on their person, with personal storage being at a premium.
+
+All role specific gear, including functional clothing should start in the respective job's locker,
+and crew members should spawn with a minimum of cosmetic clothing and a backpack.
+
+Death is permanent. Losing a crew member should mean a tangible increase in tension on station work.
+
+
+*********************
+Operations Department
+*********************
+The Operations department is responsible for working with & around the Drill and it's products.
+It closely resembles a joint of SS14 Engineering and Cargo in it's function.
+
+Operations is comprised of Maintenance Technicians [MTs] (analogue to station engineers),
+Supply Technicians [STs] (analogue to cargo technicians), and Director of Operations [DO] as the
+department head.
+MTs are responsible for maintaining & upgrading the Drill, handling it's waste products,
+fixing & modifying the station, and maintaining the station power.
+STs are responsible for handling the Drill's desired products, handling requisitions & sales,
+and ensuring the departments are supplied during the round.
+The DO is responsible for leading Operations, coordinating the staiton's needs with other Command,
+and being one of the two people authorized to early start/stop the Drill (outside of skeleton crews).
+Operations is expected to modify the station to the whims of the Drill in the name of profits,
+the DO generally being considered second in command on the station.
+
+MTs should be expected to attend to the Drill during uptime, and to the power engines during downtime,
+as well as repair damage to the station during both uptime & downtime.
+The station should experience semi-frequent structural faults during the round to encourage MTs to
+attend to them in various locations, bringing them away from the static drill and power engine.
+MTs will be expected to bulldoze structures and departments near the Drill for upgrades, and to
+pave new supply lines between it and sales pads, atmospherics, power engines, and other immobile 
+destinations across the station.
+
+STs should be expected to deliver supplies between departments, make sales of Phoron and other surplus
+at the Requisitions Pad in Ops, handle & purchase requisitions using the station budget.
+STs should be required to approach the Drill to do their job, to process it's outputs, and subject
+themselves to the hazards that come from the Drill's operation.
+
+The DO should be expected to command MTs on modifications to make, evaluate when requisitions are
+worth cutting into the station budget, and coordinate resource use between departments. The DO is
+expected to be second in command to the Site Overseer in an emergency.
+
+The station's power supply should be provided by relatively simple power engines, to shift depth
+from the engines to the Drill.
+Continous operation of power engines should produce waste products and environmental hazards in
+their immediate area, with guaranteed failure states if left unmaintained for too long.
+Power engines should be immobile practically (extensive waste management infrastructure which
+takes up space) or immobile totally (cannot be deconstructed or unanchored)
+
+Sales and requisitions happen on an immobile Requisitions Pad, sales are winched up and requisitions
+are dropped down in crates. Purchased crates have the potential to crush things they land on.
+Purchases using the unified station budget cut into the profit quota, thereby delaying the round
+end condition. It should be a challenge to evaluate what purchases are worth cutting into profits.
+
+
+******************
+Medical Department
+******************
+The Medical department is responsible for keeping the station's crew in good health.
+Crew deaths are permanent. Resources are at a premium. Time until next cycle is finite.
+
+(this document assumes Offmed or a similar medical system is implemented)
+
+Medical is comprised of Nurses, Doctors, Paramedics, Chemists, and the Chief Medical Officer [CMO].
+Nurses are responsible for stabilizing patients on site and treating minor damage.
+Doctors are responsible for performing surgery and treating major damage.
+Paramedics are responsible for moving & retrieving injured crew members from around the station,
+and stabilizing patients outside of the medical bay.
+Chemists are responsible for stocking the medbay with medical reagents.
+The CMO is responsible for leading Medical, ensuring patients are handled correctly and efficiently,
+and assisting treatment.
+
+The individual medical roles should be mechanically encouraged to separate their duties.
+A sufficiently advanced medical system creates a divide between stabliziation/healing/aftercare
+on it's own, but additional means should be employed, such as Doctors getting belts with surgical
+tools; Nurses getting belts holding reagent bottles, syringes, injectors, et alii;
+Paramedics being able to store rollerbeds in a specialized belt, which are otherwise too big to store;
+the Chemist workflow being sufficiently involved; et cetera.
+
+The supplies in the Chemistry lab should be limited. The round should start with enough to
+stock the bay with a minimal supply of basics that last the Medbay the first uptime at most.
+Chemists should be expected to process the output of the Drill to source more precursors for medicine.
+
+
+*******************
+Security Department
+*******************
+The Security department is responsible for neutralizing threats from the caverns assaulting the
+station, and arresting crew members breaking the law.
+
+Security consists of Security Officers, the Warden, and the Head of Security [HoS].
+Security Officers are responsible for the defense of the station against hostile mobs & arresting
+crew members breaking the law.
+The Warden is expected to oversee inmates & manage materials used to print ammo and supplies.
+The Head of Security commands the department.
+
+As threats to the station are nearly everpresent, locking away arms in an armory is less important.
+Instead, focus is placed on personal-carry weapons, with frequent ammo restocks at security necessary
+to sustain fire.
+
+Due to the scarcity and cost of medical treatment, security is encouraged to use nonlethal tools
+above all else when performing arrests, and are highly liable for crossfire or unnecessary damage.
+
+Security members are all given a standard issue set of a combat knife, a sidearm with a holster,
+and a small pouch for sidearm magazines. As well as a choice of a major weapon surpassing the
+sidearm and weapons available to anyone else. Starting available options should include 1 option
+for each brute damage type, e.g. a machete (slash), a sledgehammer (blunt), and a shotgun (piercing).
+Other weapons could be unlockable through research, acting as upgrades and filling new niches.
+
+Hostile mobs should have a high diversity, with certain enemies having notable mild, major,
+resistances, and vulnerabilities to damage types, encouraging security officers to diversify their
+choice of weapon across the security force and between rounds.
+
+Personal carry should let you keep barely enough ammunition to last a particularly intense uptime,
+encouraging constant restocks & the viability of melee options. Ammo boxes should have a notable
+do-after filling magazines, and only let you replenish one magazine at a time, to complicate using
+them for carrying ammunition on your person.
+
+
+*******************
+Research Department
+*******************
+
+******************
+Service Department
+******************
+The Service deparment is responsible for maintaining the station's morale and padding out downtime.
+
+Service consists of Chefs, Bartenders, Janitors, the Clown, and the Service Manager [SM].
+Chefs are responsible for growing crops, turning hostile mobs into food, and preparing meals.
+Bartenders are responsible for tending the bar, and preparing drinks.
+Janitors are responsible for cleaning the station, and maintaining decoration.
+The Clown does clown things.
+The Service Manager commands the department, makes sure the crew is fed and enriched,
+and yells at the Clown.
+
+Service should be expected to be more active during downtime, facilitating relaxed roleplay
+engagements and contrasting the gameplay intensity of uptime.
+Service roles should have substantial enough mechanics and impactful enough duties to necessitate
+belts & pouches carried at all times. Service roles should not be able to 'fill in gaps' in staffing
+by using gear from other departments that they have the space for, nor should they be 'spare hands'
+that can be hired to a department if necessary.
+
+The SM has access to a uniform printer, capable of printing alternative or replacement clothing for
+crew members, not limited to clothing from the service department.
+
+
+******************
+Command Department
+******************
+The head of all other departments collectively form the Command department, additionally headed by
+the Site Overseer (SO) holding authority over the station, in a Captain role.
+
+Command members should be expected to consistently communicate and closely negotiate resource use
+accross the departments. The SO should be expected to ensure departments are adequately performing and
+working in tandem through oversight, doing work manually only in case of emergency.
+
+The SO and DO have the authority to manually start/stop the Drill after 15 minutes in either state,
+colluding with the entire crew to determine when starting/stopping is in the crew's best interests.
+
+The SO should be able to defend themselves individually, but not assist in defense on the frontline.
+Potentially achieved with a high burst, low sustain weapon, with hard to carry ammo, like a revolver.