Trade Station Final

Trade Union  R&D Memorandum

To: Regional Directors and Stellar managers
Subject:  new Ambassador Class Trading Hub

Our trademarked ringed cylinder stations are a venerable and recognizable symbol of the Trade Union throughout known space.   Functionally, however, they leave much to be desired.   The classic cylinder is an engineering marvel of stock retrieval and processing, but our customers view them as nothing more than automated points of exchange.   Even the recent addition of station personnel leaves much to be desired.  All alone, several junior trade representatives have, in their solitude, gone mad, joined the pirates, or even become tragically addicted to y-holes.   Our current stations are also poorly defended against attack, relying on their shields and TU patrols for defense.

Download sector export at: http://starmadedock.net/content/trade-guild-station.888



The Ambassador Station is the answer to all of these concerns, and the culmination of extensive customer response testing.

The first thing you will notice about the Ambassador is that she is built on four nearly identical quadrants, each essentially a station unto itself.  This separation and equality allows the station to host representatives of up to four mutually unfriendly factions, so long as they aren't actively shooting at each-other.  If they DO start shooting, separate atmospheric processors allow for any quarter to be sedated without affecting the others.   Each quarter is identified by a unique color (red, blue, green, and yellow).  This aids both in internal navigation, and in helping to avoid territorial accidents.

When all customers are friendly, the layout of the station affords the security of multiple redundancy on all systems.  Even in the event of a catastrophic failure of three quarters of the station the final quarter is capable of sustaining life and even a degree of comfort and functionality.

The Ambassador Station allows us to sell much more than simple trade goods.  Hotel suites, dining areas, Combestimats and lounges allow us to provide hospitality to our customers.   Enclosed hangar bays capable of supporting one of our new Isanth-zeroes, provide a safe haven for upgrades and repairs, which they will of course purchase through us.

Similarly, the Industrial bays encourage customers to process their materials themselves before selling them to us.  Our research shows that the average customer will not realize the processing fees they are saving are actually less than the labor cost's we'd have to charge if we hired industrial personnel.

Crew quarters have been vastly improved over the old  staff accommodations.  Actual beds and personal computers replace the old standard.   It turns out that failing to install gravity generators is not the answer to failing to install a bed.  Standard TU crew of the Ambassador is two representatives, but for special functions up to six crew can be housed sleeping in shifts, or even more if any of the rental suites are vacant.

Updates from the latest version:

Older Images from previous versions, below:

Exterior: Isanth-Zero compatible hangar bay.

Exterior: One of two airlocks for entry ships too large to dock.

Exterior: Lower Station detail

Exterior: detail 1

Exterior: Detail 2

Exterior: These inset cylinders contain the shield generators

Exterior: Redundant multiband transmitter arrays

Industrial floor

Industrial Floor: PlexLift Up to Main Deck -or-  Down to Hangars

Industrial Floor: 4 of 16 refining stations

Industrial Floor: 3 of 12 Micro-assemblers

Industrial Floor: 1 of 8 multi-stage macro-assembler factory units 

Hangar Bays: Entry to the lower decks.

Below Decks: Physical support access below-decks.

Below Decks: Elevator logic and access to Reactor #3

Commerce level: Overlook of industrial floor, and ramp to hospitality platform.

Commerce level:  Informal lounge with view of station exterior and Industrial level.

Commerce Level: View across industrial bay.

Hospitality Platform: 1 of 4 open-air eateries and 4 of 16 rental habitats

Hospitality platform: A tasteful atmosphere for replenishment of any biochemistry.

Hospitality Platform: One of four executive accommodations

Hospitality Platform: Rental habitat entrances.

Station Core: View from above blue hospitality platform

Station core: Medical bay entrance 

Station core: two medical bays with four "pleax-undeathinator(tm)" Biological re-constructor units allow our customers to continue purchasing after even the most grizzly escapades.

Station core: View of space from between Red and Green quadrants.

Station Core: Main trading floor, and neutral territory.

Crew service areas are plainly marked.

Atmospheric Processors: Independent AP plants are located in an out of the way corner of each hangar deck.

Atmospheric Processors: a fully modeled ventilation system subtly increases immersion for role-play.

Quadrant colors aid navigation.

Below Decks: Independent modeled reactor systems for each quadrant, as well as for the station core.

Below decks: Logic for multi-floor,  active plex-lifter systems are plainly displayed where an inquisitive customer can  examine how the logic is constructed.   (A momentary switch is an excellent and simple example of  the function of all the basic gates)

Docking Bay: For the ease of customer navigation, docking point s are recessed into the floor, but preceded by a docking beam channel that allows beam-lock at a much more comfortably oblique angle.  Bay doors are automated to close on docking and open on undocking.   Nevertheless, customers are asked to remain in their pressure suits while on any hangar deck.

Turrets: Mounted at the station poles, these over-sized turrets would deter almost any pirate attack, if pirates were bright enough to be deterred.