Tactical combat involving battlestations is a logical extension of the REDACTED BY HEGEMONY COMSEC most players are already well aware of despite dire warnings to avoid them from our benevolent protectors. Stations are also part of the colony-building features Alex has discussed recently, though I can’t make comment on how precisely they will play into the higher-level simulation.
在之前所发布的按照霸主通讯安全条例其内容不予显示的文章中，大部分玩家应当已经得到了警告：在未来的舰队战中，太空战斗堡垒的参与势在必行。虽然现在我仍然不太清楚Alex对于空间站系统实现的具体细节，但可以确定的是，空间站将会作为殖民地建设系统的一部分在近期被加入游戏。
However it’s going to work, we’re definitely going to need some enormous space-fortresses bristling with guns and danger. Someone is going to have to draw these things and figure out how all the pieces go together!
不论如何，加入空间站的计划已经确定了下来。现在，某人（作者）必须要画出炮塔林立的巨大空间堡垒，并设法将这些不同的部分组合在一起。

So let’s talk about how we developed a design for these things!
那么，现在让我来谈谈构思这些设计的过程。
Restate the assumptions　重申设计理念
The first step is to consider how stations are meant to fit with the rest of the game, even if details about the campaign level aren’t known yet. Due to certain REDACTED elements unleashed in the last major update, we actually do have some good experience with how stations play in tactical battles, so that’s a great starting point of practical knowledge there. Let’s restate some design imperatives:
设计空间堡垒的第一步是思考如何让其与游戏的其他部分恰当地结合。虽然目前在生涯模式中，空间站运作的细节还未可知，但依据在上次游戏大规模更新时透露的部分构思，我想我对于空间堡垒如何参与舰队战斗已经有了足够的经验。作为一个不错的实践出发点，让我来重申几个最为重要的设计目的：
Stations should be more powerful than the most powerful battleship.
Stations should be awe-inspiring.
These are the space-castles of the new dark age, and they should look like it!
空间堡垒应当比最强力的战舰更为强大。
空间堡垒应当是磅礴庄严，令人敬畏的。
空间堡垒应当成为星区新黑暗时代的太空城堡，并有与其设定相符的外观！
In game-engine terms, a station (as discussed in LINK REDACTED BY HEGEMONY COMSEC) is implemented as an immobile, rotating base “ship” with smaller ships (as “modules”) attached at various points. These modules have their own sprites and act as sub-ships with motion determined by their parent’s rotation. Stations also get a unique hull system which provides all of their weapons with a huge range boost so you can’t sit at max range and plink the station to death.
从游戏系统的角度来说，一个空间站实际上是由一座固定在一个位置的旋转“基座船”和连接在其各个节点上的小船（空间站模块）组成。这些小船有各自独立的控制系统，并作为空间站的“子船”随空间站一同旋转。空间站拥有一个独特的船插，极大地提高了其上所有武器的范围，使玩家无法利用射程优势在空间站的射程外悠闲地将其射爆。
Back to modules: How big should these modules be? With the REDACTED battlestation we could get a little silly with the design and not worry about game balance too much provided everything looked cool and was both challenging and interesting to defeat. Here I imagine we’ve got to be a little more careful because it’s likely that more mundane stations will be a more common opponent so they need to fit more closely with the game’s power curve and world-building.
而说到空间站的模组：它们的尺寸应该是多少？在之前版本中（和遗迹空间站）的战斗里，我们可以允许在设计上犯些小错误，并且不用过多地考虑游戏的平衡性。只要让空间堡垒的外观无比炫酷，并使击败它显得有趣而富有挑战性即可。但在这个版本中，我们必须在这方面更加谨慎；因为根据现有的计划，许多（与遗迹相比）较为普通的空间站很可能会成为玩家常见的对手。我们需要谨慎地考虑其设计，以使其在游戏内的难度序列上处于一个合适的位置，并与世界观紧密地结合起来。

Battlestations, take 1　设计方案一
When presented with a complex problem of seeming immense scope, one may simply jump into a solution with the understanding that the first take will be insufficient, but that the experience of working out the issues therein may inform a much better subsequent solution. So this is exactly what I did!
当面对一个复杂而又宽泛的问题时，人们倾向于首先提出一个简单的解决方案，并在随后才意识到其中存在的不足。但是，人们在这一实践过程中所积累的经验，通常都会对他们后续方案的提出有所助益。这便是我选择这种策略的原因。
Here’s the first-attempt plan:
以下是第一次尝试的计划：
The station will be a big round wheel-looking thing, like the small station sprites in the campaign suggest.
The rim of the wheel will have lots of heavily armed modules.
Let’s use four-way symmetry, because it’s easy to losslessly rotate stuff 90 degrees (so I don’t have to draw so much unique junk at strange angles). (And a warning from my future self: Down this road will lie no small amount of pain!)
空间站的形状将会是一个又大又圆的轮形，就像现在星系地图上那个小圆圈表现的那样。
在轮子的外环部分应当有许多全副武装的战斗模块。
让我们先用十字对称的方法来绘制空间站，因为把一个东西旋转90度非常容易（然后我就可以不用画那些奇怪角度上的乱七八糟的东西）（并且让自己对未来做好心理准备：设计空间站的过程中这种麻烦绝对少不了）
Cool, let’s do it. I drew a big circle-looking sprite plus some modules to stick to it.
我觉得这个构思还行，于是我画了一个圆环状的实体并在其上挂了一些战斗模块。
Here’s what the very first take looked like:
第一次的试验品大概长这样：

Yeah, that’s way too small, the firepower is insignificant. It was underwhelming and boring to fight.
的确，这个东西的尺寸实在是太小了。其上的火力显得微不足道，让人提不起和她战斗的兴趣。
(Though, aside, I did play around with the idea of small defense platforms like the above, but smaller. We might revisit this idea.)
（但其实在此之前，我已经有过与这个类似，但体积更小的小型防御平台的设想。我以后可能会重新考虑这个想法）
Graphics here are quite placeholders, of course, but not completely awful ones. I do want to test how the masses and composition feel to be able to understand their visual impact before spending far too much time polishing art that I absolutely know is going to have to change. There’s lots of use of kitbashing here, plus simple fills, linework, and gradient shading.
需要说明的是，这里公布的这些图片只是一些凑数用的未完成品，但并不是完全没有意义。我想在开始花费大量时间打磨这些粗糙的绘画细节之前，通过这些原型来了解空间站重心和结构组成对其视觉效果产生的影响。目前的原型上面使用了大量从旧设计上移植来的部分，以及简陋的勾线、填充和渐变。
Okay, too small? Let’s make it bigger and pump up the guns.
之前那个太小了？让我把她的体积扩大一些，并将其上的炮台包入主体结构中。

Here the sprite has become rather larger and the layout is looking a lot like the circle/plus of the station icon from the campaign map. You can see how the shield modules are done in a white higher-tech style so they stand out as clear targets. My thought here is the classic scifi media trope where you have to take the shield generator out before doing whatever else needs doing to blow up the station.
在这张图里，空间站的体积显著的增大了，并且其布局与星区地图上的圆圈十字形空间站图标看起来更加相似。空间站上的护盾模组用白色的高技术设计风格进行绘制，使其成为显眼的目标。在这里我借鉴了那些经典科幻影视作品的思路：在将空间站炸翻之前，必须先摧毁其护盾发生器。
It’s still too small, though, and doesn’t have the firepower needed to stop a proper fleet. One Onslaught (D) can make short work of this station.
即便如此，空间站的体积仍然不够大，并且缺乏足够的火力来拒止一支适当规模的舰队。一艘带有D船插的攻势 级就足够干掉这个站点。
As for what’s working, the concept of distinguishing modules by weapon slot type seemed cool, so I went further with that:
至于这其中可取的点子，我认为将武器模块按类型进行区分是一个不错的主意，所以我进一步改进了设计：

体大弱雷

More guns! Also module loadout types are distinguished by colour using the UI hint colour per weapon type as a starting point.
更多的炮塔！作为一个开始，武器模块所对应的武器装载类型以每种类型的UI主题颜色进行涂装。
You may see that there’s also a layer of decor modules underneath the station base sprite. These would have no hit box and be treated as pure decoration. We ultimately removed these because it made it a lot more difficult to see what was going on, though they did look pretty cool. The thought was that these stations are of a spindle-type, like so:
你也许注意到，在空间站的下层还有一层用作装饰目的的模块。这些模块并没有自己的碰撞箱，并且仅仅会被视为纯粹的装饰。虽然这些装饰看起来十分炫酷，然而我最终移除了这部分内容，因为这些装饰的存在使玩家难以看清上方的战况。空间站的形状实际上是纺锤型的，就像下面这样：

(This painting was used to make the colony-screen icon for the orbital station.)
（这张图片曾被用作轨道空间站界面的插图。）
And we’d portray this spindle from the top-down, which is where you get the round shape with modules stuck on. Or something like that.
从空间站最上方安装各种武器模块的圆形（或者任何类似的部分）开始，我们自上而下地绘制空间站的纺锤形主轴。