Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Damage Is A Shortcut

When I'm designing a building, I try to start by figuring out what rooms that building would need to accomplish its purpose.  Sometimes, like in the case of a major military facility, that's a very large amount rooms; barracks, kitchens, storage, infirmary, garages, and that's before you get to mission-specific facilities, like airstrips and 'Mech hangars.  One thing that I've found to be a shortcut is to seal off a section of the facility; either because the location is in lockdown, or because it has sustained damage.

For instance, a subterranean base might suffer a cave-in under bombardment, cutting off a large section of the facility.  This serves two purposes; first, it means only the part on this side of the cave-in needs to be designed, and second, it allows a hand-waving answer to any questions of "Where is the _____?"  The answer is simply "On the other side of the cave-in."

I think I'll end up using this trick for the Word of Blake Bioweapons base; I'm finding I can't get it to fit reasonably on a battlemat without making it unrealistically simple.  A lockdown might make more sense than damage in this case; it is unlikely the Resistance has access to bunker-busting weapons.

No comments:

Post a Comment