Tech Node Design

ChromeAngel

<div class="IPBDescription">Appearence of the power grid tech nodes</div>Here's my thinking, if their are these fixed points to build command structures on (Hives & Command Stations), they want to be recognisable to the commander(s), so they need to be standardized.

Since the Hives hang from the ceilings and the marine command concept art shows screens hanging down to eye level perhaps the "Tech Nodes" could also be ceiling mounted?

I'm picturing a crosshair like ring (+) about double the diameter of a res node, with glowing upper surfaces to attract the commanders eye in otherwise "powered down" rooms and reinforce their role as a power source.

I know ceiling mounted doesnt bode well for outdoor maps, but that's clearly not the direction NS2 is taking.

locallyunscene

I'm not sure how standardized the rooms could be. TSA and kharaa have very different needs for defensibility.

ChromeAngel

This not really about the layout of the rooms, more about identifying a room as a tech node in a way that fits with the setting of the game.

StixNStonz

I think there should be a few different, standard models that denote a tech node. That is, every tech node is one of, say, 3 different tech node models.

This way you could have variation, but keeping the learning curve low. The current Res Node system comprises of just one model, which can be kinda boring, but at least they are extremely visual. It's hard to not notice the steam flow coming out of an uncapped node.

Sadly, I don't think the UWE team has the resources to create that kind of depth, so we'll probably be seeing just one type of Tech node console, which will probably not even have an accompanying animation (similar to how +use in NS has no animation).