There is one big issue that you didn't address in my opinion: The modules are all separated from each other meaning that you have to go out in the hostile environments just to go from a hab unit to a mining control unit. I think that it is hugely impractical for the workers and it forces the constructors of the outposts to fabricate more airlocks than actually needed.
Yea that’s seriously goofy. Although this type of outpost would be very good for rapid deployment where a land claim over valuable resources was found, CIG needs to make an incentive for players to recycle this type of habit into what has been shown recently, as in the Star Wars building sets. In which case the “Pioneer” is going to have to be reconcepted in order to fulfill two functions, quick homestead builds and a recall by the player to come back and dismantle these materials, then construct more permanent buildings in a different shape. I would imagine the same functionality of the Reclaimer will be used for the Pioneer.
Absolutely. If you have an oupost it should all be contained in one single building where different wings are separated with airlocks in case of decompression.
Agreed. It should be a valid choice in non-hostile natural enviroments as assault to the location would cause more damage if an attack would occur, but in those instances where nature itself poses the greatest threat they should be connected to form one singular hub, both for the survivability of users aswell as the lifespan of the facility.
The alternative is to move materials required for living, mining and refining through one shared area which means a busier air lock leading to a choke point that can be easily controlled from the outside. What is the issue with having separate structures that contain fires and potential dangers from the rest of the outpost. Is it really that hard to put on a space suit and take a 30 second walk to the other building?
"These buildings with the orange lights indicate trade post" - you mean there's a way to find them, other than walking to the wrong building 3 times? Great video as always
I remeber that I also didn't noticed those lights until I posted in spectrum that they need to be marked and someone told me about those. Still I think they need to be more obviouse. Same with Area 18 and other spaceports need better landing lights to make the port stand out more. Espacialy A18.
There´s actually a tag upon every entrance telling you what the building is for. Apart from that, it would be nice from CIG to tell us 1. Why the fuck all these buildings look the same from outside without real color differencies and 2. Why the heck it´s all active outposts when there´s no supply available in instant food / water / medpen / oxygen pen. Its a settlement of enclosed hightech buildings, ffs.
Maybe one solution to increase "placeness" might be to have elements of the prefab pull information from the environment much in the same way that they paint vegetation. If the system understands an environment to be hot, it would have attachments designed to shed heat, while a cold environment might cause a prefab to spawn additional heating / insulating elements. There could be items based on precipitation, humidity, acidity, etc. The collection of those elements would reinforce a connection to the place and give subtle information about what the environment is like where it is. I think it's important for elements to be somewhat procedural to speed the workflow.
These prefabs are going to be replaced with actual buildings in the future, they're just placeholders at the moment. Player homes are going to be nothing like this, they actually showed what player homes will look like (they're designing and making the models already. They look like something straight out of Star Wars Tattooine). From my understanding, you need the right building for the right planet as well.
@@Cramblit in the game Star Wars Galaxies you had to use certain housing module types for different planets. There were three different models of each module type, so we still had a choice, and you could place as many as you could afford to pay upkeep taxes on. I had several homes on many different planets. But there were a few planets you couldn’t build on. I suspect Star Citizen will follow suit. It all made perfect sense really.
I honestly think that this will be revamped in the future, like so many other systems. The best way to do this would be to simply make an addition to the lore where mulitple different companies manufacture hab structures. That would solve the repetitive design of these outposts. I, for one, can't imagine why there would only be a single manufacturer of modular outpost buildings in the entire universe.
I'm an electrician, I've installed solar arrays before, on existing buildings and as new solar farms. Those panels are fine in terms of height. Most rooftop units are placed even lower than that. As for the armature thing, that would not be ideal, as you would need to power a small motor to rotate the panels, which would heavily reduce the efficiency of each panel. But, in places where the trajectory of the sun changes according to the seasons, these things are not uncommon on larger arrays.
I can’t believe you are an Architect - you seem to have an actual life. ;) Regarding the outposts vs. genius loci: I‘m not so sure about that. First, nonlocality is a problem in the globalized world already and secondly, a system like Stanton could have an exclusive contractor for their outpost modules. Also, none of the outposts in Stanton are actual settlements but outposts of corporations - it’s not about People Building their lives but about corporate systems making profit, Levski and GrimHex maybe being the only exception. In future systems, I would also wish for more variety in outposts - other design languages from other module manufacturers. Also, actual settlements would be amazing, like clay huts, tree houses, etc.
These prefabs are going to be replaced with actual buildings in the future, they're just placeholders at the moment. Player homes are going to be nothing like this, they actually showed what player homes will look like (they're designing and making the models already. They look like something straight out of Star Wars Tattooine). From my understanding, you need the right building for the right planet as well.
The importance of acoustics is so underestimated. Even in the hospitality industry, people just don't seem to think to factor it into design, and can't recognise the problems that causes... Thanks for another great video!
This is the kind of far away content that i'm really looking forward to within SC. Many of my fondest gaming memories are from of being a founding member of an SWG guild (euro chimaera) and taking on the challenge of building the player city and being mayor of it. I completely fell in love with the architect profession and poured over scouring worlds to place various haverstors mining minerals for the multiple factories that I ran 24/7 to build things like the shuttleport, cantina, guild hall, all of the houses etc. The possiblity of similar gameplay but with the ever improving fidelity of Star Citizen is an exquisite prospect.
i like how he just assumes everyone who plays star citizen has their life together XD. no house or solar panels here. i wish i had em but gotta get them spaceships bois
Completely agree! I'd love to see the mining stations next to massive mining pits with excavation trucks going back and forth while fly fly down to the landing pad to pick some up, or tractors ploughing fields in the farm outposts. Just something to make them truly come to life and be immersive.
I feel like better signage would go a long way, but i kinda enjoy the soulless corporate prefabs. It seems more realistic than beautified bespoke outposts. Accountants run the world after all, there's no way beautification would get approved in most budgets. Good. Video.
It makes no sense. Is there only one manufacturer of modular outpost habs in the entire PU? If the anwer is yes, why? And if the anwer is no, why don't other manufacturers distinguish their product from their competition's? From a branding standpoint it's not very competitive to make your product exactly the same as everyone else.
@@CriticalRoleHighlights oh come on guys, for real? there is plenty of stuff to fix and to come, least issue right now is to have a copy/paste placeholder.... jeez
This series has taught me so much about architectural design. I had no idea about the thought and careful consideration that went in to every little aspect such as the window across from the entrance creating an open feeling. Thank you for teaching me about these things. In my opinion videos like these the best way to learn about these things because of how engaging they are. Lessions learned in a lecture, at least for me, are forgotten before I leave the building (or exit the zoom call given the current climate) but lessions learned from videos like that will stay trapped in my mind for a MUCH longer time.
I agree, the environments are stunningly beautiful. Pictures and videos often seem of real environments on Earth. I like the pre-fab habs. They remind me of the modular Eagles from SPACE 1999 tv series or various artist conceptions of Lunar colonies, Mars colonies or other space colonies. Having pre-fab modules make sense for space colonization. Also, being from Chicago, I'm used to seeing block upon block of brownstones, bungalows, duplexes as well as suburban tract housing that look like they were all cranked out of an assembly line. That said, I could see how local housing would be expected to use local resources to build housing--unless there were countervailing reasons not to. Habs tend to be quick-builds or quick-dropped habitation. You land on a planet to mine, harvest or trade resources, and instead of staying couped up in a ship, you plop out a hab. It's sufficient to do the job until you have saved up enough to go to your real destination. So it makes sense habs would look the same from planet to planet. Also, designing pre-fab towns the same way makes it easier for you to navigate. Today, that holds true for franchise stores. The layouts can be similar from one Walmart, Target, McDonalds, IHOP, Waffle House, Applebees, etc. Familiarity brings comfort over the novelty of surprise or variety. Knowing when I land on a pre-fab area, that the hab module is at 2 o'clock, the trade hub is at 6 o'clock, the power generators are at 10 o'clock, etc., is reassuring for me and makes me more efficient in getting work done. Also, solar panels that follow the local sun is logical but probably resource intensive feature to put in the game vs place still solar panels in a circle. As far as the solar panels not being high enough to allow for cooling, maybe in a thousand years materials processing has improved heat tolerance of building materials. The fact that there is pre-fab hab, still in places long after they might have the time and ability to make more bespoke habs that are of the planet also tell a story about who set them up?
I think my favorite thing about your Architect Review videos is that not only do I get to enjoy and further fall in love with the crafted assets of this beautiful game, but I ALSO get to always learn something new. I learned the monikers that denote the difference in buildings which I can't believe I somehow was never observant enough to figure out, and about how hard surfaces affect a room's acoustical ability. This may explain why my work, which is just flat services everywhere, seems to always have sound carry into a cacophony despite projecting in every conversation had. (We do also have blenders and such going on but they always seem to be loud even though we have new "quiet" ones.)
@ 8.00 you call the room just past the airlock a foyer but in starship naval architecture we call that "suit locker" or "ready room". That nitpick aside loving the series and your professional reviews, been learning things so thanks a bunch. Safe travels and clear orbits! :D
This reminds me a lot of the player-made outposts in Mass Effect Andromeda, actually. They have the same problem - they all look the same. Sure, the modules are arranged differently and the locations themselves are beautiful, but there's no distinctiveness. If you ask the inhabitants, they will tell you what their outpost specialises in providing to the Initiative, but then you look around and there's zero indication of that whatsoever. It's just a bunch of buildings and a landing pad. Compare this to the habitations that you find already set up around the place, and they will generally have a clear purpose in mind. For example the habs on Kadara will be raised far off the ground to avoid dangerous predators, and the power station has dozens of windmills with cables leading back to the main settlement. Conversely, the Angaran settlements on Voeld are all in caves to avoid the freezing cold, and there's tons of communications equipment around due to the ongoing ground war. You didn't need to talk to locals to see what was up at all, and it was a great piece of environmental storytelling.
great review, and great footage - I would love a review of the concepts they revealed. I also yearn for some distinction between the planets and moons - they are supposed to have been settled for hundreds of years, surely homesteads and houses would have sprung up in all that time, not to mention roads and villages...
Great video! I've never actually gone in the habitation habs, so it was pretty cool seeing something "new" in the game. And I'm sure your Caterpillar review is taking so long because you have so many great things to talk about :p
@@bingusgames I went back through his videos, and if you meant the video he does about hauling, that was cool but I want an architect reviews video on the caterpillar
Fantastic detailing and info, that was really interesting about the arctic habitats and functional habitation. I hope this gets a lot of views in the Cloud Imperium offices, its a great series. The quality and considerations of models in Star Citizen are what help it be so immersive and with all these touches I can imagine a "home" or home base could really anchor the immersion and feel of the game for players that spend a lot of time investing in the verse. Cool.
Great video, with a very intelligent commentary - well done. You might be interested to know that the Halley research station modules are also moveable, so that that they can be relocated as the ice shelf moves towards the sea They are towed individually over the ice on those skids, then reconnected to each other. Anyway...subscribed !
Prefab buildings like this make sense on the two extremes of environment you spoke about - hot and sandy (with likely frequent sand storms) and freezing ice planets (with likely frequent snow storms) - where the habitation risks getting buried if not elevated, plus is difficult to spend time slowly building something more permanent. You wouldn't imagine sending builders out in the North Pole to attempt building stone structures - they'd freeze to death or be buried before they got the job done, as would the structure - so prefabs are sent by ship and towed or airlifted into place with little outside work needed to attach them to each other. This also makes sense for extreme biome planets in Star Citizen. But for more gentler climates where it's much safer to spend the time laying a foundation and building a structure the more traditional way, prefabs don't really make sense. It gives off the air that this base really hasn't been there for that long at all, and is absolutely intended to be only temporary to house the very first colonists whilst they build the permanent base that will actually be used for the forseeable future. So, if Star Citizen wants people to believe these outposts have been there for a much longer time and are permanent fixtures they need to develop new unique buildings made from materials locally sourced on the planet or moon the base is on. Or at least from the local solar system.
Great video Morphologis. What makes sense to me is for the base habitation modules to have a generic look to them if they based on their manufacturer. You could have some variance on how they are "snapped" together, like the different dug labs around the system. It would also make sense to me if the landing pads and some of the outbuildings looked like they were add after the habitation module was set up and made from locally sourced materials.
I love this series so much. Would you consider exploring a real-world building and pointing out design elements in the same way you approach the structures and ships in Star Citizen? I'd love to see your take on the Sydney Opera House, for example, or St. Peters in Rome.
Morphologis, I always enjoy your reviews with the architects point of view. I've always been interested in architecture throughout history. I understand your point of view and like hearing the review as you do give an unbiased review. You always say things in a professional manner and cover both the good and bad points. You say why your points are what they are and even suggest how they could be better. I know many of the developers aren't architects, but you can see that they indeed do their homework when designing the various things you review. Thank you for your videos, and keep doing it.
9:21 - Another MAJOR issue with the upper bunks for prefab hab modules like this is that they cannot be sealed in the event of a hull breach. Most of these modules we see in game are on planets and moons with extremely harsh environments or vacuum-hugged blackrock worlds, and it doesn't make sense that they would have bunks open to the elements like that if there was a breach. The bunks in most of the apartments look like they can self-seal in an emergency, as do many ship bunks (hell, the ones on the Idris seal automatically during sleep cycles for privacy and protection, as seen in the Squadron 42 gameplay footage). If these hab modules are designed to be placed anywhere, then it would make sense for them to be in similar cubbies for privacy and safety
Many streams I read the header and decide whether to watch or move on. Morphologis streams, I read header and automatically click play. Interesting topic and something I'm looking forward to...home base building and fortifying. Great that you give architect advice as you "nitpick"...I see it as observation.
I remember when CIG was creating the asset templates or whatever they call them for the outposts and the buildings. It took them months to make. If they were going to make unique outposts for every single planet it would have taken years. This kind of thing can wait until the core game is finished. And yes @Morphologis, the outposts will have functional components and there will be missions to service them in the future.
As a sound engineer, thank you so much for addressing the importance of acoustics, especially in spaces where people live and work! It makes such a huge difference that most people never realize.
A way to increase a feeling of uniqueness would be to have multiple manufacturers of prefab outpost buildings and mix and match older and newer generations, etc. where it makes sense in the backstory of the outpost. Hurston outposts would use all Hurston habs, but a 3rd party research outpost might have some old ArcCorp habs and some newer Hurston habs to replace the broken ones. Perhaps drug labs would use the older gen buildings, etc. It would be cool if some older colonies were added onto with makeshift structures made from local materials (to make a sort of town almost). And especially on planets with harsh weather, the insides of the habs could be decorated with cozy lights, posters, perhaps some furniture, and the personal effects of the people living there rather than just scattered luggage. And maybe on warm breathable planets there wouldn't be as many airlocks. Outposts could be made of a bunch of clustered smaller buildings vs a few large buildings with airlocks on planets with a non-breathable atmosphere.
i have given up all hope of seeing this game or sq 42 finished before i die but this is a really great presentation and all your recordings are top notch thankyou
On the subject of PlaceNess I think the Antarctic Outpost give that vibe irl because there are very few people that think about this Outpost outside of the Antarctic they're not a common enough occurrence something that is supposed to be mass-produced is actually kind of unique because we don't use them very often. But like always great video
Those adjustable ground struts perform a third important function : they limit thermic transmission between the ground (which will be colder/hotter than the ambiant air) and the structure. Useful on extremely hot/cold planets !
Really appreciated the amount of work and detail you crammed into the time-frame, but [one of] the most glaring flaw of outposts were omitted: the fluorescent light directly overhead the trading console. Unless that was a sneaky design feature to distract a person trying to trade, all they had to do was remove the one light causing the glare, as making the trading console screens non-reflective would of course break immersion...or, there is a good chance the person(s) doing the lighting placement was NOT a trader. Or an architect. ;)
One thing you missed in the video is that all these Outpost buildings we have right now are also the ones that get constructed by the Pioneer you can see on some concept art where they are welding the moduls together. the new Homesteds they are working on will most likely repace existing outpost. specially since they are working on Streets or Roads generated on the Planets and Moons together with Rivers. once Roads and Rivers are done we will most likely see more Design diversity.
Love the resolution you shared your video in looks great! I would prefer to be able to build underground(more stealth/less detection) the inside of big asteroids would be a hidden location I might look for way out in the middle of nowhere. I would also like the computer to monitor and notify me of suggested improvements. That would include research and how to create new components/ingredients for new improved construction. Hidden pocket universes of say 1000 acres of any type of environment would be great for hiding away. Would love to have a big giant castle on 1000 acres with my choice of beastie on it. All of this could be ran by an advanced computer system ; )
Also looking forward to new star systems and different hab manufacturers so there isn't such a uniform landscape for outposts. The uniformity of out posts does make sense in Stanton though. For example, corporate areas that are purly functional like mining or construction sites often look similar regardless of culture or place. The same equipment and small beige foreman's or contractor's trailer. I struggled thinking about how more interest could be added and you nailed it in regard to better vistas. This makes sense because Kudre Ore is one of my favorite places to visit.
Something that i'm not sure if its been mentioned but you might of missed is the outposts are disconnected, causing anyone working there to have to go through the process of suiting up, traversing the harsh environment, entering the next unit 10 meters away, re-pressurize, and then suit down into work gear to do their job, and vice versa, while we do need more unique layouts, this issue needs to be addressed heavily on planets without a suitable atmosphere, it may be almost 1000 years into the future, but that shouldn't mean we take more risks in our day to day work and livelihoods.
LOL. I also noticed the kitchen. So its not just Taiwan that has this taboo :D Your "review" posts are some of my more favourite as they are like "edutainment".
Looking forward to scouting, getting a hab, and then really exploring a particular spot down to the finest detail. Planting an emergency weapons cache under a rock if I'm ever attacked...
Thought it was useful, I agree that the counter for the trading hub should have been next to the door. (customer service and security) the bunks were indeed badly implemented, privacy is not only a premium but a necessity to keep people off of each other's throats. 😁 One way I could see, to make the differing outposts look unique would be after-market modifications to the prefab buildings. such as wooden porches where there is wood. Adding after-market gabled roofs were there is a lot of rain or snowfall. Tube-ways (Inflatable Kevlar type like some habitats they are working for space now) for hostile environments. Using local Brick or Concrete under the habs to create storage/raised beds and/or roads.
If I was a dev working on homesteads I think one angle to attack would be to look at the Tiny House trend currently popular. If the aim is to allow players to build and occupy their own HABs and bases, high end trailer living I think would overlap to degrees. They often move away from uniform to tailored to individual tastes and comfort and are designed around a compact size like one might have if the modules were shipped by freighter. Leaving more utilitarian structures to remain in the industrial style.
Acoustics is one of the reasons that wood is such fantastic building material. I do realize that wood panelling may seem frivolous or hazardous in a scifi setting but there are plenty of modern wood analogues that are equally as porous and completely fireproof.
As someone already pointed out, these are Corp outposts not settlements, so about the different architecture, i'd think it would be more likely to have a different style by corp than by planet, for example an outpost from Crusader Industries would look like different than, said, one from Hurston Dynamics. It would make more sense to me than the same architecture by planet.
The indifference to privacy in sleeping quarters has been a running problem in many of the ships of Star Citizen. Starfarer crew have a row of beds like an orphanage. The captain sleeps in a privacy free alcove around the corner from a loud crew mess. Origin 600i has a great owner's cabin, but the crew sleep in a big privacy free cave. (Origin 300 series toilet has no privacy under that big skylight.) Hull-C Crew beds are in the same space (no separating wall) as the crew mess and kitchen - good luck sleeping. The Vertical Slice gameplay video included a nice bunk with articulated privacy screens that closed in the bunk. I'd like to see that available more widely. It would also help with people logging out on a multi crew ship, as the privacy screens might conceal them disappearing. It'd be nice to have just a little privacy for human crews, as it is something people generally want to have, but it is even more important since Star Citizen is also going to have 'alien' ships whose living quarters will reflect their alien origins. The Banu Merchantman, as a prime example. But if the 'human' ships seem like they were designed with inhuman qualities - like less privacy than we need for optimal sleep or badly configured lounge areas - then the contrasting 'alien' designs would presumably *also* be poor reflections of the cultures they are meant to represent. It blurs the human/xeno distinction.
I never noticed the light pole thing. Usually i tended to look at the signage outside to know which one had the trading spot in it ^^ so thank you ;) An thing to remember about the seating: While in a living community it might be ok, in a work environment the meals are usually the one spot where you want to have everybody together to foster a feeling of belonging so ... the lacking chairs for that to happen are a big issue that people would solve on their own quickly i bet.
Fun fact, Antarctica is a desert and does not in fact "frequently" experience snowfall. What does happen however is the loose surface snow gets whipped around by the strong winds causing blizzard like conditions. In fact the Gobi Desert receives more annual precipitation than Antarctica.
As a realism guy I really don't get the outposts on bodies with non-breathable atmospheres not being attached together either directly or with some expanding/inflated/etc connecting pieces, having to put on a space suit and go through an airlock multiple times a day to live and or work is incredibly hazardous and inconvenient compared to attaching the different parts directly together or with corridor like sections between them. Current setup is if the ISS didn't have open bulkheads between modules instead you'd have to take a space walk to go between modules. Pads also doesn't make a ton of sense in non-breathable atmospheres for the same reason, would make a lot more sense to have one or more hangars attached to the outpost with air shields on the hangar's exterior doors and an airlock between the hangar and the rest of the outpost for safety in case the air shield looses power or malfunctions.
I think the biggest beef with outposts for me is that the trade terminals could really do with being placed below a window (or a couple of windows) that look straight out onto the landing pads. So you can see if your ship despawns before trying to load it up. Also don't put bright lights directly above the monitor so you can't see half of what your doing.
