The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Is there any information on how the starbase works? Like where are the dock, energy cores, living quarters, etc.

Also, are there any pictures of the interior of the starbase? Or do we know anything about it?

I'm drawing some SC2-related stuff and I want to know which parts I have to figure out myself.

    Well I would presume (unless they use artificial gravity... which is possible, I suppose) that the rotating section is the habitat area. It looks like the hyperwave antennas are at the bottom. If I had to guess, I would say that ship repair and construction happens in the top part of the starbase (which, since it's not spinning, presumably would have zero-g, ideal for ship construction). I would guess that this top area is hollow and with big doors so that ships can fly into it (in the same way they do in star trek: http://services.tos.net/pics/st3/st3-starbase.gif (http://services.tos.net/pics/st3/st3-starbase.gif))
    The long things sticking out of the rotating section could be docking ports for ships not needing heavy repair but only supplies, fuel, limited service. I would guess that the reactor core is in the bottom of the starbase, far from the rotating area. I have no evidence for this other than "what else would they put down there?" and "where else would it be?".
    On the other hand, they may have artificial gravity and this may be all backwards, and the rotating section rotates for who knows what reason? Still, I think the Reactor Core/Habitat Area/Ship Construction areas are probably separated into the three separate sections. Edit: I would guess that the ore storage and processing areas are also at the top, so that materials can be easily sent to the construction robots who turn them spaceship parts.

If you want to easily access all the canon information in the game, you can browse the commander's descriptions of the starbase facilities here:
http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/scwc/quotes/commander.txt (http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/scwc/quotes/commander.txt)

One quote:
"Our shipyard facilities are sophisticated and fully automated,
permitting a handful of starbase personnel to do the same job
as five-hundred, vac-suited construction workers."

I don't have a clue what the blue domed thing on the top of the starbase is.

It looks rational and is how I would do it , but something in-game potentially contradicts the rotational habitat - at the end cutscene , sick-bay window is overlooking the Earth for lengthy period of time , for being a substitute for gravity it should rotate qute fast .
I could calculate the speed , but am too lazy to search mentions of that area's diameter . In-game graphics are of no help to calculate from proportions , as the ships appear almost planet-sized and in no proportion amongst the ships themselves .
For the repair docks - the flagship is portraied outside the bridge window , not inside of the starbase ...

You're right about the sickbay window, I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps we could chalk that up to "animator didn't want to have a moving background for cutscene" or "nobody thought of that anyway".

As for the flagship, it's possible that the reason you see it when you talk to the Commander is that it's docked to one of the docking tubes and you can only see its front. I would imagine though it would have to go inside the starbase's construction area to get the various modules added to it.

If you want to stretch canon you could claim that it's a big videoscreen connected to a feed from somehwere else. I can't recall if the Captain says "looking through the windov". If he deos, it might mean that in the future/in space "window" often refers to a viewscreen with a static feed from somewhere.

Or maybe the Ur-Quan, while designing the Starbase thought "Hey lets slap plastosteel windows everywhere so that we can peer in at our slaves and make funny faces. That'll teach them subservience for sure."

very good points

I'd like to think that when visiting the commander, Vindicator is docked into one of those "long things sticking out of the rotating section" and the commander is in the rotating section. That would make the Vindicator seem stationary in the window.

From the window you can see some sparkling lights over the Vindicator. Would those be the minor repairs which don't require flying inside the dock?

Conclusion:
top part: dock for heavy repairs and building stuff
rotating part: living quarters, sick bay and such
bottom part: energy cores

pretty much like PsyDev said

I'm pretty sure that Hayes mentions that his staff makes minor repairs to holes in the Vindicator caused by micro-meteorites.

I should mention, some people have suggested that there is artificial gravity in the Star Control universe (gravity on a ship without rotating it), but that on a starbase it makes sense to save energy by spinning it instead of having an artificial gravity system like with battleships (whose design might be inferior if they have to rotate?).

The way the starbase spins would make the gravity towards the outer walls. But the shape of the spinning part would make that pretty inconvenient. I'm getting the impression that in the spinning part the "floor" is "downwards".

I would agreed with this defenition...especially when we know that this station is ur-quan based..so it is able to defend itself...and NOBODY would put a window on a freaking battleship...that would be dumb...especially in space!

semi-related:

How old is Zelnick and how long has the starbase been operational at the start of the game?

If you go by the manual that shipped with the game, Zelnick is a precocious teenager, born on Unzervalt, and as such, under 20 years of age.  I never liked that, despite being in the target demographic at the time I was playing, and always imagined myself as a 40-something fleet-officer-turned-dirt-farmer-turned-fleet-officer-again.  Hopefully UQM 1.0 will ship sometime before I can fully identify with that character.  :P

Similarly, the Ur-Quan established the starbase after the defeat of Earth, and as such would have been in operation for somewhat less than 20 years.

I think you guys are just missing the point.

It's just a game.

Star Control 2 handles Suspension of Disbelief quite well but there are loads of minor details that no one designing the game thought of and therefore the game is just a bunch of strange, inconsistent elements.

It's just a game.
(And the best game there ever was.)

Do not dispute our right to 'sperg out over our favorite game. Isn't that what this forum is for to begin with?

There used to be an entire subforum over at SCDB filled with stuff like this. It was always fun to read through and watch people come up with creative explanations for oversights. The "it's just a game" solution seems so crass. We all know it's a game, but we'd like it to be much more. And in a way, it is to us.