Outpost 3
Last Updated August 2010

Now that the A210 Mobile Command Fortress has finally taken my favorite Construx design to the limit, I've begun reviving another favorite design that's never fully seen its potential. This design is an expansion of the Cobra Space Outpost Viper, which was, in turn, a reimagineing of the earlier Cobra Relay Fortress. I hope to make this design my new A200 series project, continually building and improving upon it for a long time to come. What you see below, with some mismatched pieces and many exposed walls, is merely a rough draft. Keep in mind that I'm constructing this while keeping the enormous A210 Mobile Fortress fully intact.

I've changed my idea for this playset, envisioning it now as a seedy and distant outpost with somewhat more limited technology than what you'd see on the A210. As a result, I've tried my best to find new solutions to most structural challenges (even chairs and doors) attempting to give this base a truly distinct look and feel.

 

The main door. I've dropped the unique but utterly clunky design from the previous model and returned to traditional hinges.

 

The door remains open via small beams that swing out and latch onto the ceiling.

 

The lower level.

 

The On-Duty room. With a limited crew and a distant location, full time security need only amount to one guy with a room and bed who can leap out with a laser pistol at a moment's notice.

 

Versa-Beds. These two small rooms with beds can function as additional On-Duty rooms in times of high alert, infirmaries, or even confinement cells, should the need arise.

 

Heavy doors flip up in order to hold detainees.

 

A robot physician utilizes the space as an infirmary.

 

A replicator (a rare commodity in these parts!) nearby can provide medicines and medical tools.

 

The ladder to the second floor. It is intentionally designed to make intruders cross a large open area before being able to move upstairs to the sensitive portions of the fortress.

 

Second Floor Habitat Section.

 

The dining/meeting area.

 

Crew quarters. Unless the Versa-Beds are available, there's no space for individual rooms. This actually provides an incentive for serving in the On-Duty room.

 

Leaving the crew quarters. Back into the main corridor.

 

This heavy security door guards entrance to the Main Operations room. I've utilized the basic design before in the Command Tower's shuttle bay door and Castle Von Doom's detainment room, but I feel it's utilized much better here.

 

The door rotates open. It reminds me of the gear-like entryways in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

 

Main Operations. The operator chairs here are the only portions of this base that mark a notable similarity to what you see on the A210 only because the A210 borrowed its operator chairs from this playset's predecessor.

 

As in the previous design, an operator can climb up into the anti-aircraft module.

 

An improvement in this version is that a handle in the back can easily adjust the angle at which the missile battery is aimed.

 

The secret passage features of this playset have not changed.

 

The entryway to the Engine Core is revealed with the swing of a secret door.

 

I've played with the look of this room quite a bit and am pleased with the changes. The new Engine Core is lifted directly from the underbelly of the Starship Dauntless.

 

Of course, there was a second secret entrance that we passed up on our way to the Engine Core.

 

Once again, a motor on the opposite end of the fortress tower controls this second door.

 

With the push of a button, the ladder extends downward, suspended by dental floss.

 

Climbing the ladder leads to a carefully hidden control center, perhaps used in case of invasion, or to hide high profile refugees. The retractable security bars holding back our new visitor give whoever is inside a chance to shoot first. If they order the secret door/ladder to swing up behind him, this can easily become a prison/death trap for a would-be invader.

 

Once again, the room is designed to keep someone living comfortably in isolation for quite a while. In addition to the control room at their disposal on the second floor, there is a bed and food replicator (barely visible) on the first floor.

 

 

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