In the vast realms of occupied space, there are many wondrous cities immense size. These cities are often more prominent than the geographic features on the planet's surface, and sometimes occlude the surface entirely. The trap we often find in using these cities as backgrounds for games is that any unplanned area generally ends up being described by a regular array of buildings and streets in a boring grid pattern.
This is, of course, patently ridiculous. It barely works for cities of millions, much less for billions.
So, in an effort to provide a mental crutch for weary referees, and to help add an interesting touch of appropriate backdrop, we thought it would be useful to have a basic set of common mega-city architectural types.
First, some macro-types:
SPIRES
These kinds of mega-cities are the most closely related to the simple two
dimensional array of buildings that most referees are accustomed to, but with
the distinction that the scale of the individual buildings is vastly different.
These monster buildings are generally over a kilometer tall, and often with
completely different internal structures. The obvious limitations with
respect to external surface areas mean that all traffic (both personnel and
vehicle) on the ground is extremely dense, and any significant transportation
needs to be done by vehicles capable of flight. Generally, public
transportation in this type of mega-city is either ad-hoc or even non-existent,
with aero-taxis often being the dominant form. While there is ready access to open
air from most buildings, the staggering overall inefficiency of this arrangement
means that very few mega-cities are planned to be this way, but rather are
actually just very old cities that have developed into this form from humbler
beginnings.
DECKS
This macro-type of mega-city is actually one of the most common currently played
in AIF. The cities tend to be constructed of three to ten massive levels, each ranging
from 100m to 300m, and allowing for a massive multiplication of "ground area".
While this means that there is considerable room for most pedestrians and ground
vehicles, flying vehicles usually have much more convoluted access.
Usually there are massive open shafts and columns to allows vertical access
between the levels and out of the city, but the distribution of these can vary
widely. This type of mega-city often has some very distinct stratification
between the levels, with the heavy industry contained in the gloom of the bottom
decks and the privileged enjoying the access and view of the upper levels.
Due to the cohesive structure of these mega-cities, the major features are
usually all completely built at once in one colossal effort. This means
that they tend to be products of super-organizations, such as the Confederation
or Nastidyne. Deck mega-cities are the type most conducive to the needs of
totalitarian isolationist regimes.
STACKS
Stack mega-cities were developed as modular constructions that tend to be more
efficient than spire or deck types. The stacks are usually
geometrically-regular free-standing vertical blocks about a kilometer to a
lateral side, and towering anywhere from half a kilometer to several kilometers
(or, in the case of New Bronx, almost one hundred kilometers!). The stacks
are comprised of layers like small decks - usually 50m to 100m each. In
effect, each stack is a separate city, each capable of being self-sufficient.
The gaps between the stacks mean that the decks have greatly increased access
than a full deck type mega city. Meanwhile, the regular structure allows
for much more convenient pedestrian and ground vehicle access than in a spire
type mega city. In the waning years of the Confederation, most new
mega-cities constructed in the known galaxies were created by private
organizations and the preferred type was the stack mega-cities.
LEANING DECKS
Only a very recent type of mega-city, some regions are starting to favour this
exotic type of mega-city. With these, the decks are tilted at an angle of
about 15° to 30° relative to the surface of the planet, starting from the
surface of the planet, and running for 1 to 5 kilometers so that they protrude
hundreds of meters to over a kilometer vertically. The decks are spaced
200m to 500m apart, usually connected by massive columns and beams such that
horizontal travel through the plane of deck is facilitated. These
mega-cities also allow a great deal of mobility and access, and are modular in
that additional decks can readily be added without altering the basic structure.
The primary drawback for these leaning deck cities is that the sub-structures
need to have greater robustness then deck or stack-type mega-cities because
there is less protection from climactic conditions. That, and they tend to
give some species a kink in their neck.
More significantly, some micro-types:
SPACE PORTS
While all mega-cities have space ports, there really are very few required
similarities. There is invariably a designated landing region for vessels
with plasma drives, and there is usually a heavy-cargo handling space suitable
for large freighters. By simply functionality, space ports must be
connected to major routes to allow the transfer of large items. The level
of separation from the rest of the city generally depends on the level of
security that a particular city wants. Other than on the most extremely
rare worlds, at least one bar directly associated with the space port can be
assumed as well.
INDUSTRIAL ZONES
The massive populations of the mega-cities have some distinct life-support
requirements as a bare minimum, with export, luxury, and military production
being cumulative. Thus, there needs to be some large zones dedicated to
industrial process, and these regions are not usually designed for convenient
access. Most commonly, these zones will be restricted to casual public
access, though the scale will require that there be large portals to allow large
equipment. Immense material-transfer pipes and colossal tanks will
dominate this space, with only catwalks and crawl-spaces being the only
guaranteed manner of movement for most areas.
TRAVEL TUBES
Many mega-cities provide for high-speed vehicle transit in specified conduits
that course through the regions to allow distributed access. Travel tubes
will often have some physical or energy buffer between the speeding traffic and
the general population, with access points only every 500 meters or so.
While there is an unspoken custom of avoiding the bottom edges of travel tubes
in case there are some unfortunate pedestrians in the conduit for some reason,
this cannot be counted on and being caught inside a travel tube on foot is
clearly risky. Due to the simplified shapes required for high-speed
transit, the distances involved, and the limitations on where beings can be
without risk from traffic, there is usually a penalty of-5 to hide and sneak.
TRANSIT TUBES
Some mega-cities allow for enhanced personnel movement by networks of transit
tubes.
DEDICATED SHOPPING ZONES
HIGH-DENSITY HOUSING ZONES
AFFLUENT HOUSING ZONES
OPEN CONCOURSES
SEGREGATED CONCOURSES
MASS ELEVATORS
MASS RAMPS