Sunday 14 January 2018

Lowpoint Starport

I have not managed to post so far in the new year. Not that I have not been working on things. After a flurry of activity on the Bomar domed city I decided I wanted to go back and finish off my Lowpoint Starport I have been working on for months. Armed with more ability in Blender now it did not take all that long to finish off the 50 buildings of the starport.  Given that Bomar has 500+ buildings I will need to use more general methods to complete it or I will never get it done.

I have attached a bunch of images taken in the Lowpoint render.

Distance shot from out at sea

Lowpoint is located at the end of the Logaolos Point. A desolate, rocky point of land more than 100 kilometers from the Newalter, the capital city of Tusa. The original starports for Tusa were on the continent of Atsox. After the scream there was an accident at one of the starports and the entire continent became uninhabitable. Tusa was re-discovered by starships from Kaitos in 3072. At first ships landed on concrete landing pads wherever they could be built. Eventually, it was decided Tusa needed a starport. Heeding the lessons learned by the Atsox catastrophe it was decided to place the starport on a desolate peninsula.

The Overlook Hotel
Once the landing pads were in place, offices and warehouses were built, then bars and hotels for travelers drawn to Tusa for big-game hunting. Eventually, Logaolos Point Star Port or "Lowpoint"  grew to a few dozen buildings and a population of around 25,000.

The most popular Hotel is the Overlook. Perched on the edge of a cliff. The hotel has its own landing pad for air cars to take wealthy guests hunting on the continent of Moneaux. It also has elevators down to a building at water's edge where guests can charter a deep sea fishing boat.

The Piazza
Lowpoint is built around a central, open square dedicated to growing grass, plants and trees. I stayed true to my original map in most cases. Some items look fine on a map but out of scale in reality. Once I put down the buildings I realized the square was far too big. But I decided not to change it.

Khamid Tower
The most popular spacer bar is located in Khamid Tower residences on the piazza. The "Landing Pad" is located mid-way up the tower. It is recognizable from large hologram of an overweight spacer sitting on a rocket.

The Landing Pad does a brisk business late into the night

The bar/entertainment zone that draws in the locals from Newalter and beyond is Morley's Bar. Licensed gambling on just about anything. Large holo-screens and a good location right next to the Hyper-Loop terminus.

Morley's Bar
Wealthier travelers and spacers with their own air cars usually fly to Newalter and other cities and locations on Tusa. The locals who work in Lowpoint and live in Newalter come by Hyper Loop. A much cheaper way to travel. For a few credits you can get in a capsule and zip into Newalter in just 20 minutes.

The Hyper Loop Line
The hyper loop line comes into Lowpoint right beside the twin towers of the Frontier Alliance office. FA has a major office on Tusa at Lowpoint and it has a reputation of calling in debts on star ships and impounding them at the Lowpoint Impound pads. Some spacers with bad credit make a point of not landing on Tusa because of this.

The Montegue Hotel
Moving away from the piazza are the few areas of danger in Lowpoint. Muggings and car-jacking do occur in these areas. Lowpoint does not have much of a police force. Customs officers are the only police in Lowpoint and they are more interested in checking for smuggled goods.

Low Rent shops
Smaller shops offering financing and credit advances, lawyers, weapons shops are common in the back alleys of Lowpoint. Late night pedestrians are warned to keep alert.

Landing Pad X2
Two landing pads are set aside for a government run service shuttling passengers and cargo down from Tusa Highpoint space station. Moving goods from ships not configured for atmospheric travel. From the landing pads, passengers are moved by bus and cargo goes through customs inspection. Enormous tanks of hydrogen fuel are located not far from the starport terminal.

Viewing Lowpoint from the surrounding hills. A local farm boy is warned
of the dangers of Lowpoint by his Uncle Ben.

One last image taken from the hills outside Lowpoint. To provide scale I tossed in an air car and a few locals.




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