It's been a while since I posted in here. I have decided that it was time, as it were, to throw up a few different examples of my own design and thinking behind that design.
As parrotheada1a has illustrated, bling/style is individual. It doesn't *matter* what the overall aesthetic is, so long as it is personally liked by you - there will be someone else out there who really digs it. Even if its not to our personal taste, we can appreciate it. Heck, even if you're the only one that digs it, that is all that matters.
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To preface, these images are not from actual settlement building - unlike the rest of the thread has been. They are from my Power Armor Basement mod, a personal cell put together in the Creation Kit.
My basic thinking behind creating this mod was: I really want a secure place to hold my personal stash of Power Armor. Because Home Plate is too small and it's all looking very crowded and nasty in that corner over there.
Then some people were wondering if I would release it. Which was kinda surprising to me. Okay. I added to that above thinking: Yagisan and Pra seem to be enjoying making small city plans at unusual locations. They might want to try the same thing here. As might someone else. Heck, might as well try to make it so that Sim Settlements will work inside. If doing that, then allowing Fast Travel and Provisioners would also be A Good Thing™.
Initially, I did a single room. Then expanded it to three large rooms. These were for: initial entry and all workbenches, an empty room for whatever reason, a very large room with several Power Armor stations and a bunch of space to rank the PA up in for easy access. Then there was raising the ceiling of the rooms. Then I added another four, smaller rooms that can be used for whatever the player wants to use them for. Likely a player-home area, fill it out however he desires.
You can go see the basic evolutionary process and chat in the
Power Armor Basement thread.
In this post, I want to cover overall thinking/design decisions and the four smaller rooms - why they look like they do - what my thinking processes were with regard to the room-design and the overall design.
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Overall thoughts:
Why would this area be blocked off, for the Sole Survivor to discover later? It would be a heck of an advantage to someone to own and use this stuff. Okay - it must be because there are nasty critturs down there. Waaay too nasty for ordinary people to deal with. Solution: brick up the entrance and forget it. (Add nasty critturs.)
This place has been blocked off for a long time. It's also sheltered underground, no exposure to the elements. There are no raiders/wastelanders/random vandals/supermutants/scavengers digging around through it and busting stuff. Therefore it is generally in good shape. Being made of concrete, and given that it must have been a military area at the time of the war (thus the Power Armor stations etc, that stuff was military-only) - this place is not going to be a mess of collapsed rubble and junk. Housing what are effectively small tanks, with the latest front-line high-tech military equipment, it's going to be overall very solid.
Should I put a suit or two of Power Armor in here for the player? Why would it still be here? When the bombs dropped, essential military equipment gets taken out and used with population control and to deal with various local emergencies. No freebie Power Armor is appropriate for the player to discover. The basic equipment and layout will have to do them.
The inhabitants or "opponents" that the Sole Survivor has to deal with. Will they be military? Unlikely. Again, military personnel would be out dealing with the local emergencies. The inhabitants will have been administrative personnel or civilians. So they have been...affected...by radioactive gunk that got in (it was never a full Vault or military bunker).
This is how and why I decided upon the overall aesthetic, coupled with the opponents that the Sole Survivor has to deal with.
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Kitchen area:
Workers in an area need a place to take a break, eat lunch, chill out, that sort of thing. Basic amenities - fridge, tables, cleanup area, cups/plates, a couple of couches, and (of course!) a Nuka Cola machine so they can grab a quick pick-me-up.
Some of the lights are broken - 200 years abandoned will do that.
Hey, you can't properly chill without a pool table. Full set of balls and a couple of pool cues included. This game has been waiting on the players for 200 years.
Piper chilling out on the locker room bench.
Mucking around with Power Armor is a greasy, dirty business. It also takes a lot of hands - including one cheeky ratbag who put a greasy handprint on the sign!
Well, at least they have somewhere to store coveralls and clean up before they walk outta the area and back to their aboveground barracks/homes.
To be continued...