Feildberg comes online

Fieldberg Station was commissioned April 14, 3109.

The station is permanently crewed by 6, with the possibility of docking larger ships or habitation containers (modified shipping containers) for temporary residence of other personnel. Additionally the underlying infrastructure (especially the underside of the platform) allows for significant further development as growth dictates.

FRG Thor remained on escort duty while the station remained without point defense.

Fieldberg Station comes online minus point defenses.

After only a month of operation, the station has already become a beacon for the entire system, with traders anchoring nearby and a small community developing around the station.

A small and diverse community is developing in the shadow of Fieldberg and Thor, which in turn attracts further residence.

Already Fieldberg Station represents one of the safest areas in the system.  One of Dry Empire's latest Imperial vessels, CRV Seeth patrols the surrounding space and often hangar's at the station, bolstering the point defense offered by FRG Thor while Fieldberg's permanent point defense is constructed.




Fieldberg Station is downloadable (currently minus point defenses) and available for public use for free.  Simply put the file into your "blueprints" folder (eg: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\StarMade\StarMade\blueprints) and you will have access to this station in-game under "Catalog" menu.

Fieldberg Station pre-launch tour

Fieldberg Station is now populated by a full compliment crew, who are busy completing the build process ready for launching the station into full operation.

The habitation facility, shielding, energy generation and storage, matter storage and conversion, wharf and logistics facility, control tower, life support, and basically every station system is now fully operational.  The station only needs a few more minor infrastructure and human comfort additions before being totally operational.

It also needs the defense matrix to be built and brought online, relieving FRG Thor to be able to patrol the rest of the Empire.

Matter Conversion Battery uses plasma-suspension ovens to compress and encapsulate matter signatures

Stairwell access to the sub-levels of the matter signature storage cryovats allow inspection while gravity-bound

Habitation facility has it's own dedicated cargo pod bay and docking ramps

Cargo pod bay can store up to 12 standard cargo pods, with access to the maintenance bay up a ramp

 The maintenance bay just up from the cargo pod bay is used primarily for the storage of machinery being operated on, and small manufacture and repair tasks to be done under cover from solar radiation and micro-asteroid bombardment.

An external mesh gangway connects the maintenance bay to the airlock leading into the main habitation facility.

Decontamination (and standard hygiene) shower cubicles within the habitation facility.

A small spartan triple-bunk crew quarters bolsters the personal quarters already located on the original mining outpost, bringing the total crew capacity to 6

A small mess hall and food combinator provides meals and waste disposal services to the crew

Tight hallways and humming servers are something you get used to quickly on Fieldberg

The central AI is one of the most powerful computers in the empire at this point in time

Upstairs in the con tower facility another airlock leads directly into space, with an observation port to the right and the traffic control tower to the left

Traffic control tower is a three man facility, with a Communications Officer, Traffic Monitor, and Master Controller

Master Controller has a separate darkened room that oversees the docking and cargo operating areas

The 180 degree up down view of the cargo docks gives the Master Controller unparalleled views of the station from within a pressurised area

The view allows the Master Controller to see all docking activity first hand, including wharf cranes, containers being docked and unloaded, and any other activity, while keeping all AI-fed relevant data within field of view by a myriad of feeds

Right side of the Master Controller's view shows vessels approaching the docking area.  Here a container dropped by a recent transport vessel waits to be docked by an WDU, containing supplies for the finalisation of the station build

The Shield Dome is a self-contained shield unit delivering both capacity and charge in very large quantities

Two huge matter signature storage cryovats have enough space for mind-blowing amounts of matter signatures, allowing the station to stockpile mammoth quantities of matter

One of the main walkways on the station, looking back between the energy batteries (right) and cryovats (left), towards the mining outpost and connecting gangway

Access to the generators for maintenance is via a series of gangways and stairwells to help protect maintenance crews from both asteroid impact risk as well as drift risk

Generators are lined up with three levels of maintenance access with dividing stairwells

The Pisces-Class generator banks provide huge quantities of energy to the station to drive both the matter conversion as well as the upcoming defense matrix

The station viewed from underneath shows a lot of the underlying structure, cabling, and fluid conduits

Life support, fluid recylcing, and power conduits writhe their way around the superstructure between the critical systems

Top view of the station shows the small connecting gangway between the mining outpost section and the processing plant section

The station is effectively operational, although it is still undergoing systems tests and requires a large defense matrix to protect the sizeable investment this station represents to the empire.

The matrix is said to include a double-redundancy shield, armoured deflection battlements, anti-missile cannon batteries, torpedo racks, several large beam turrets and a compliment of three fighters. Already some citizens have taken residence in local space under the protection of Thor, knowing that this station will represent one of the best protected parts of Dry Empire... Fieldberg Station is likely to therefore fulfill a secondary purpose of forming a commercial hub within the empire.

They're boxy, but they're good.

As Dry Emprire grows, so does the amount of cargo and shipping done within the empire... everything from raw asteroid gravel through to heavy machinery parts being traded between stations and systems.

All this cargo being different shapes and sizes causes all kinds of logistical nightmares... and it was soon decreed by Chairman Broez that all cargo would be shipped in standardized containers, adopting a system that was loosely employed by some of the larger traders.

The shipping containers are armoured, lightly shielded, and designed to interlock so that they could be readily stacked both in gravity and zero gravity.

Container's top docking lock, allows other containers to stack efficiently.

Docking camera allows rapid AI docking to speed container transfer.

A range of colours are available to allow various traders to demarcate their own individually.

Strong and durable framework allows crates to take quite a bit of impact before being damaged.

Stackable crates of uniform size make wharf and cargo areas far more organised and efficient, promoting growth and profit throughout the empire.

Roller doors at both ends allow easy access to the interior.

Tracks, temperature control, atmospheric control, lighting, and docking AI's make these the most sophisticated and effective shipping containers available. Manufactured by the state for the state.

The shipping containers are cost-effective, efficient, standard, and compulsory.  Goods shipped without one of these is considered contraband and is either confiscated or destroyed, and the parties responsible for shipping them are considered pirates and enemies of the Empire.  Needless to say, the containers have become the sole method of transporting goods larger than can be contained in a Cargo Pod.

The full range of Shipping Containers and Cargo Pods can be downloaded from the Ships and Stations page, and is free for public use.

Fieldberg Station nears completion

With the influx of raw materials being brought in from the mining outposts springing up throughout the system in the relative safety created by the removal of raider stations, Dry Station was rapidly collecting far more than it could handle on its own.

The bottle neck needed to be addressed not only to handle existing supply, but anticipated growth.  Dry Empire would, after-all, move beyond the system to neighboring stars in the future and this would require growing raw material processing to meet demand for construction materials, fuels, weaponry, hulls, food stuffs, and a host of other products.

To convert such large quantities of raw materials into usable resources required a processing plant of a quantitatively higher order.

One of the mining outposts built nearer to Dry Station was selected as the base platform, and a design was chosen for a separate linked processing platform being produced while the mining outpost's existing infrastructure was used as a logistics and work platform during the construction process.  Ultimately it would be modified and included in the overall design, but during the initial stages of construction the 3 man mining outpost was used to house work crews, organise the details, store supplies, deal with shipping traffic, etc.

FRG Thor was designated to oversee the construction, a good indicator of its value to Chairman Broez.

The empire's most powerful vessel is assigned to escort the station during construction.

The station is built around a platform design consisting of large alloy I-Beams spanned by light-weight fluro-illuminated structural supports.  This basic platform design is strong, cost-effective, and provides a good base for larger structures that would otherwise need a structural integrity to avoid damage caused by inertia tearing smaller weaker components apart... for example in the event of a rogue impact or an attack.

One of the Pisces Class generator modules being moved into position.

CRV Alannis occasionally visits the site to buffer defenses as construction continues.

A battery of 8 Pisces-Class triple generators (three sets of 3x3x3 per Pisces) will provide the processing plant with power generation to dwarf even FRG Thor's power matrix.

The processing plant has a few key components, being:

• 2 large matter signature storage cryovats
• Matter conversion battery
• Battery of energy storage cells
• Battery of Pisces Class 3x3x3 (x3) energy generators
• Central processing AI unit
• Central processing and habitation module
• WDU rack
• Fluids purification plant (life support module)
• Shuttle Bay
• Observation port
• Traffic Control Tower
• Logistics area (wharf and cargo container storage area)
• Defense matrix (specifications currently classified)

The human areas are some of the last zones to be completed, followed by the shuttle bay and the logistics area.

Construction of the platform draws to a close, with the plant expected to be operating within 6 months.  It will be defended by an unprecedented defense matrix, and is expected to be the single highest trafficked platform shortly afterwards, providing an input and output that will dwarf Dry Station's current traffic load.

Processing Plant "Fieldberg Station" during the final stages of construction.

Currently the Fieldberg Station has the central processing AI, energy generators, energy storage, matter signature storage cryovats, observation deck, stage 1 habitation facility, and WDU control facilities operational... as well as the initial mining outpost infrastructure which remains unaltered.

The final stages of the habitation facility will allow the crew to move in, the modification of the original mining outpost, and will greatly accelerate the final stages of Fieldberg's construction.

Milk Run

Journal Entry 811;
recording entity - Seargent Frit Fatham

Date: 021412

As a maintence engineer in DEEME, I'm given special priveledges.
For one, I have my own quarters on Dry Station... the only one in fact.  All other personnel live aboard their own particular vessels.

It's good to wake up to a view.  Looks like SVG Excavator is back from the outer sectors.

The shipyard at Dry Station has been occupied building a new design of frigate... a support vessel with a new experimental jump drive that should really speed up my job, among others... and ultimately allow Dry Empire to expand into more sectors by drastically reducing travel costs and times.

I have a call out to one of the mining posts today - apparently it was damaged recently by a rogue roid impacting it.  Pirate troubles are few and far between these last few months, but that hasn't reduced my own workload, it seems.  As more things are built, more things get damaged and need maintenance.  It's only a matter of time until I'm running a crew.

 

One of the very best perks of my position is my private run-about... an Ajax Keelboat affectionately named "Green Meanie".

 She has tan synthetic leather seats. Yeah baby.

As I pull away from Dry Station I always inspect my own quarters. The last thing I want is for some structural stress crack to open up the structure like a grenade and blow me out into space while I sleep.  It's right next to Green Meanie's dock, so it's just instinct really, to check it out on the way in and out.

Not much for privacy, but I wouldn't trade my creature comforts for curtains if they were solid threns.

The airlock accesses a small external passageway to the library.  There's an internal door too, but it's permanently sealed until the library is pressurised... no immediately plans for that, but apparently Chairman Broez intends to at some point, or there's little reason to include an internal door between pressurised and vaccuum-filled sections of Dry Station...  Either that or there's a little red button in his quarters that allows him to open that hatchway if ever he decides my services are no longer required... heh.  Good thing I'm good at what I do, I guess.

The WDU's always get a little cranky when I pass through the shipyard area... but I've got to inspect for maintenance issues now, don't I?  Nothing to do with getting a sticky beak at the progress of the ship being built, of course.

Dry Station has grown so much since I was hired by Chairman Broez...

I lay in a course for Sarafrey Mining Outpost, and increase the tint on my LCD visors, putting Green Meanie into overdrive as she heads almost directly at the sun.

I pass through the outer asteroid belt, which is studded with 6-point turret emplacements... they always get a bit twitchy if you hang around too long, so a quick inspection is enough for me in this unshielded boat without disarm codes at the ready...

Several hours later I reach Sarafrey and approach the dock... hailing the station's operator to inform them I've arrived to carry out the inspection and repairs.

Already I can see some of the damage to the infrastructure... shouldn't be hard to fix in zero gravity with the aide of the station's WDU... just some simple combinating and welding... no big deal.

One of the lateral I-Beams got hit pretty badly it seems.  Again a reasonably easy fix, if time consuming.

The main habitation facility appears to be structurally intact.

Airlock systems functioning fine.

Internals are fully pressurised, and the station operator reports no issues.  I have to check it all out thoroughly for myself though, while I'm here.  The operator is a twitchy fellow that prefers to just let me go about my duty, staying in his quarters till I'm done.  Pretty typical for operators of stations like this - they live out here alone for so long that interacting with people tends to make them uncomfortable.

External airlock to the drone facility was a little glitchy, but turns out it was just a small wiring issue - fixed it as I inspected it.

The drone control facility was grubby and scattered with trash, but otherwise functional.  Not my job to recommend different life-style choices, although the conditions would certainly go down in my report...

Structurally the habitation facility appeared in pretty good nick.  I've seen far worse.  Micro-asteroids cause the most damage usually... smashing into the most unexpected places and leaving tiny holes no bigger than a pin-prick that leak fluids, atmosphere, sever wires, and sometimes ignite combustables.  Cheaper to risk the entire facility and crew than to install shields, apparently.

The cargo bay had a light out, but the doors functioned well. Cargo pods were scattered hap-hazardly and again there was clutter everywhere.  I carried out the necessary repairs over the next two days, prefering to live in my suit and Green Meanie than to interact too much with the station operator. Stam, his name was. He seemed to prefer it that way too.

Repairs were completed without incident, and it was good to return home.  I'll spend the next day filling out paperwork.

Glad I've got my quarters and don't live out there like those mining outpost operators...

Ajax Keelboat is downloadable (available in white and green) and available for public use for free.  Simply put the file into your "blueprints" folder (eg: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\StarMade\StarMade\blueprints) and you will have access to this station in-game under "Catalog" menu.