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Afterlight Station

Placement & connections

Commander’s manual · Rules v3

10 Placement rules

After every installation, removal, and exchange, the whole station must satisfy all of these rules:

  1. Every module occupies one node, with its inward marker toward the Command Core.
  2. Every module has a continuous corridor route to the Command Core.
  3. Every middle-ring module is supported by at least one installed module in the inner ring, in the same sector or an adjacent sector.
  4. Every outer-ring module is supported by at least two installed modules in the middle ring, in the same sector or adjacent sectors.

Support depends only on which nodes are occupied; a supporting module does not need a corridor to the module it supports. Sockets do not have to match. Empty nodes anywhere on the board are legal, including nodes surrounded by modules.

Placement: corridor routes and supportA station board with a pentagonal Command Core at the centre and pods in sectors 0, 1 and 6. In sector 1, an Observatory on the outer ring connects by corridor to a Laboratory on the middle ring, which connects inward to a Greenhouse on the inner ring, which connects to the Command Core: a continuous corridor route, highlighted. Pod A, a Reactor on the middle ring of sector 0, is supported by the Habitation pod on the inner ring of the same sector. Pod B, the outer-ring Observatory in sector 1, is supported by two middle-ring pods, in sectors 0 and 1. Where the Reactor's clockwise bulkhead meets the Laboratory's counterclockwise port the contact is sealed, which is legal. Pod C, a dashed Habitation on the outer ring of sector 6, is illegal: only one middle-ring pod stands in sectors 5, 6 or 7, and an outer-ring pod needs two.0123456789INNERMIDDLEOUTERCOREHABGRNREALABOBSDCKREAHABABCROUTE TO THE CORE

Figure 3 · Placement

Solid pods are installed. The dashed pod is a candidate placement being checked. The heavier bridges trace one corridor route: from the outer-ring Observatory in sector 1 inward to the Laboratory, inward again to the Greenhouse, and into the Core.

  • Legal. A middle-ring Reactor in sector 0. It is supported by the inner-ring Habitation in the same sector (rule 3) and reaches the Core through its inward corridor (rule 2). Its clockwise bulkhead meets the Laboratory's counterclockwise port: a sealed contact, which is legal.
  • Legal. An outer-ring Observatory in sector 1, supported by two middle-ring modules in sectors 0 and 1 (rule 4), with the highlighted corridor route to the Core (rule 2).
  • Illegal. An outer-ring Habitation in sector 6. Only one middle-ring module stands in sectors 5, 6, or 7, and rule 4 requires two. Its corridor inward would be fine; support is what fails.

Corridor Route to the Core