Minervas Den Operations

* See also Minervas_Den (1st DLC map level)
* See also Minervas_Den_The_Thinker (3nd DLC maplevel)
* See also The Thinker, Porter, Wahl, Sigma
Minervas Den DLC - Operations Level
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Map Orientation :
Reorienting the map when it need not be ( level designers apparently did not coordinate ). The only direction the elevator could possibly let you out is facing North on that previous level's map (Minervas Den), because the Lobby skylight window can only be there IF there is no building above it ( and there you see the building above outside which the elevator comes DOWN through ). So North is now to the Right on THIS map, which was 'Up' on the previous MD level set.
Because you obviously descend, there is an obvious downslope topography ( this extension of the sprawling complex could not be Underneath the previous level's buildings ).
Level 2 on this 'Operations' level Map set matches upto Level 1 on 'The Thinker' Map set.
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The Thinker Super Computer was added later (mid 1950s) in Rapture's history, AFTER the Bio-Electronics technologies were developed by McClendon (initially for his Robotics). Before the new development, the existing imported Surface technologies ( even those later in the 60s using Transistors and early Integrated Circuits ) were not anywhere capable of what "The Thinker" is supposed to do ( even with faked/pseudo AI ).
The people at Minervas Den/Reed Wahl must've kept good relations with Hephaestus, or suffered having their power/air/water/heat turned off/not maintained. All of Rapture WOULD have previously used Manual controls for the utility systems and other things the computers controlled/monitored ( they HAD TO, as they predated any major computer automation ... the Thinker came later ). So Minervas Den needs what Hephaestus supplies, but not vice versa.
You might notice that much of these maps (like 2/3rds) are Orange colored interior spaces representing interiors on other floors and adjacent to the area we move through in the game, but which are not directly visible in-game. This 'unseen' space represents the continuous filled-out volumes within the building walls ( which have been/would be constructed to be largely monolithic -- similar footprint for floors above and below floors we do see/move through ). These undersea buildings (like real ones) need alot of supporting infrastructure, which would make use of all that volume.
The overlapping "Porters Bat Cave" area is left largely un-detailed here, as that is really part of the next level set ( "The Thinker" ) to present.
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==Additions :==
Added the Mk1 (old) Atlantic Express Train Station ( in-game you see the wrecked tracks going across outside the 'Airlock and Ocean Walking' area ). The tracks now emerge from a tunnel from the South, which goes thru the seabed hill/upslope ( far UNDER the previous level ). This old line was abandoned when the AE system was rebuilt (~1951), but not until after it was used to help construct the new Thinker Wing of Minervas Den. This AE Line is different from the newer MK2 Minervas Den level AE Train Station ( South end of previous level maps ) and Tracks which was part of the expansion/improvement of the City's transit in the early 50s. The "Another Tall Building" on that map set would have had access to an AE Station below its basement, located down far enough to match the AE tunnel's ( indicated on this map level ) depth.
This AE line terminated at Minervas Den, and has a loop that would allow Trains to be easily turned for their return trip. The old Mk1 traincars were single-directional, and most of their Stations platform tracks were too short to run pairs of opposite facing traincars, which might have allowed double-ending like the newer Mk2 system allowed.
Minervas Den Mk1 Atlantic Express Station - is a different type than others seen on most Level maps. This station type uses the ONE Airlock chamber itself as the loading platform, and has direct Ocean Entry-Exit on both ends. The system used additional machinery and large water reservoirs to quickly fill/empty water from the Airlock. This design was new and used much more on the rebuilt/improved Mk2 Atlantic Express system.
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Outside area (near the wrecked Bathysphere we get the Signal Beacon from) has a barge wreck which may have caused the wrecked Viaduct running between buildings on the right side ( and possibly also damaged the AE track ). That Viaduct now is shown as a path from the main Operations hall to the Old Mk1 AE Station.
The Airlock system for that old AE line could have been repurposed as a submarine dock ( Handy when Minervas Den was 'isolated' from the rest of the City by Wahl ).
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Pipes/large cables in-game are not contiguous in adjacent scenes when they go through walls. There is serious discontinuity AND weird goings in-and-out of building structures when it is not needed or logical. So it was like solving a puzzle to try to connect them where it is obvious and across levels and have them divert and change levels to connect to others, and add additional connecting stretches where they are too far apart. That, while trying to make it somewhat logical where they go. Many of them just don't make much sense.
Big data cables ( They have smaller colored cables indicated within them IN the game ) would largely be passing thru this level, past Climate Control, with many having descended from the First "Minervas Den" level, and are on their way to tie-in to The Thinker.
The computer systems in Porter's "Bat Cave" Cavern get their own cooling system pipes added ( It seemed logical to connect from those pipes you see out the window from the 'Computer Test Lab' in the System Programming Wing ). I've added a big data cable that connects the main complex to the 'Bat Cave' to tie those systems into the 'core'.
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Added A Pump Station ( the standard building seepage draining system that all the building complexes have ).
Cafeteria and kitchen/storerooms/freezer added on lower level ( which were original to the facility ). Use of Pneumo to distribute food was very possible ... The MMORPG version would have more vending machines to facilitate 'late hours' workers.
'Cut Off' Minervas Den needed to get their ADAM from somewhere ... So we have a few Sea Slug tanks/habitats, besides the ones in jars ( some mislabeled 'Fresh Water' ).
Added additional company offices/conference rooms. Added Restrooms for staff ( I doubt they came up a Plasmid/Tonic for THAT ).
Added several Maintenance Airlocks in basement level ( for access to building exteriors - someone has to clean the windows out there ... )
Added Concrete Supports for some of the pipes ( in non-visible spaces, but where pipe networks were indicated and tied together between building sections - including from The Thinker Level maps ).
With Minervas Den being "cut-off" from Rapture by Wahl, staff living cubicles (cells) were dug out of the foundation/drainage sump level concrete to make additional 'quarters' for the facility's staff, who live there like troglodytes. Hammocks woven of Kelp fiber became common as the population tried to inhabit this restricted space. Of course managers get bigger living cubicles than ordinary staff. The arrangement no doubt resulted in 'monastic' austerity, with poor heating and damp seeping concrete walls. Various kludgey arrangements for supporting the residences would have been made.
Coolant Reserve tanks and pumping systems were added. Water Chillers use de-ionized purified water to limit cooling system corrosion. Water cooled computers - old school technology...
Added an Utility Aquaduct ( embedded in seabed on map level 0 ) coming from Hephaestus, bringing Electric Power/Water/Heating/Sewage conduits/Communications lines/Tram transport. Redundant (as usual) Utility lines came in from several directions into this building complex ( along AE tracks and Trolley 'Street', which went to other nearby buildings on the 'Minervas Den' level ).
Added and connected pipe systems into various machinery. The misnamed Climate Control would mostly be a chilling system for liquid coolant used to remove heat from the computer systems. At the same time Heat would be distributed to the rest of the buildings. The 'turbines' are parts of compressors used to compress gas in a closed system. This system concentrates heat, which is then transferred for disposal out into the Ocean via heat exchangers on the building's roof. A closed system containing a working liquid with lowered temperature is then pumped and circulated through the computer machinery. The computer equipment temperature is closely regulated.
The Climate Control facility would have a secondary purpose of conditioning the facility's air environment ( temperature and humidity which are important to control for electronics and electrical equipment ).
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I've added an Automated Tunnel Boring Project test and exhibit area (now abandoned). An extensive Tunnel Boring Robot Test Field out in the nearby seabed rock is seen on level 0 and 1. This is another McClendon product which had promise/success - used for utility conduits and the building of additional Farm space ( needed as Rapture's population increased ). Plasma Cutters ( of Ryan's design ) were used to drill and melt/fuse/seal tunnel rock walls. This would allow making many small tunnels, which were both self-sealed and self-supporting, thus greatly lowered construction costs (an important business factor). It was one of McClendon's previous big successes used extensively in the later city Construction period.
Added a Tech Library near the main Operations Hall. It has 2 levels, with lotsa shelves and various reading areas ( someplace to go peruse the latest tech journals brought down from the surface world ).
Added : Another set of restrooms has been attached to the hallway leading to the Airlock, A Sea Robotic Demo area ( to make sense of that area out where we go get the 'signal beacon' ), New elevator/stairs which connect/lead to the old AE station.
Added a manufacturing/assembly area in the 'Tower' building and its now extended hallway which connects to the triple elevators -- the ones coming from the upper (previous) level. Computers of that time had a mass of internal wiring and sub-assemblies which needed substantial time to be hand constructed and assembled/tested. Workshops with parts storage, etc ... , have been added across several floors. The place where the Vita Chamber is in the main Operations hall was previously an entrance-way back into the manufacturing wing.
Local Bio-Electronic fabrication facilities on these maps could be in the multi-storied Tower building in the intervening floors ( between where we enter the elevators in 'Minervas Den' (top) level, and get out into the 'Operations' main floor ).
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==Fixes :==
Inattention to detail on original maps - Elevators ( which you enter the level thru ) come 'down' from the building some ways above, but you can plainly see through the lower floor's ceiling window there is no building/structure directly above where the elevators shafts should be. ( Fix for that is mentioned below ).
It also indicates Minervas Den is built on a Westward downslope. It is illogical/wasteful to build very tall foundations underneath the higher 'level' buildings to support a few floors of those squat sprawling buildings). So the seabed makes a drastic dip at this point. The 'Tower' ( continuation of the first level - boardroom on top floor... ) looming over the entry elevators should not extend quite as high as is seen. This (Operations) level was mutated to now have those elevators now properly inside that 'Tower' to match the (previous) Minervas Den level maps.
That "Tower" building's view ( seen through ceiling window ) is a generic building facade with the usual undersized windows and floor separations. That regular pattern of windows would be broken ( if shown correctly ) to reflect floors up there -- made to correspond to floors we have been in, which have no such windows on the inside. The RT&T facilities I added ( previous leve l) would fill out the building exterior with something approximating the seen window pattern.
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The original game map's seabed walking area ( area to get the Bathysphere signal beacon ) was indicated incorrectly in a few places ( like where you grab the Sea Slug outside the window near the Airlock ). Corrected. Minor detail - just sloppy.
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There is a missing section on the in-game map near Climate Control, where you go down into a Sump below the main floor. This HAS been added to level 0 map.
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A MAJOR fix - The previous (higher) level's building sprawl extends far past those level transitioning elevators ( like by a 150 foot offset ), and this level's lobby area has a open sea skylight ( can't have anything directly above it) . Even the ceiling windows of the further Central Computer Hall room would be impossibly below the previous level's building structures. Cantilevering it out would be a horrible design, and also is simply not shown in any of the existing window views. SO I've had to strettttch the lobby length a great deal ( from the elevators to the opening to the Central Computer room ) to clear that ceiling window. ( The previous level's elevators were also shifted just a little Northwards to try to shorten the adjustment ).
There is visible ( look up through the entryway ceiling window ) a tall building which, though too tall ( as always in the game's outside views ), would really be where the edge of the first level of Minervas Den was located above. A cliff/seabed slope edge of significant height should also be there. Operations is 'downslope' of the previous level. They didn't bother to show anything of Operations through that previous level's windows ( ie- Porters Office, or the Executive Wing, or any seabed rise ... ).
There is another overlap between the previous and current level's maps - The original correlated position of Operations Airlock outside is right next to the foundation of Porters Office ( the foundation/seabed would be right where you walk thru outside ). The above Offset Corrections would be made to make their relative positioning cohesive/non-conflicting between levels in the MMORPG ( it was largely irrelevant to the Solo game level developers ).
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The Rapture Central Computing Hall you enter into ( with balcony and descending fancy curved stairs ) - its ceiling window looks up into empty ocean westwards, but that conflicts with the stacked building stories you can see from the Viaduct you go through to get to Climate Control. The Hall could probably be made taller inside ( at least another story ) to push the curved ceiling window high enough to avoid a conflicting view (and result in a higher and more impressive looking hall).
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A number of the Tubes and Large Pipes seen in and adjacent to the Climate Control Section (and elsewhere) don't always match up with what is on the other side of a wall. I've tried to make sense and connect the various Tubes within hidden areas to make a more cohesive system. Some just couldn't turn within the thickness of the wall, so have been relocated a bit to get them to match up.
There are alot of odd retaining walls around those in-sea tubes and pipes ( there to block the view out to the same old recycled Skybox horizon scenes ). The one between the first part of Climate Control and the Airlock access out-in-sea walkabout area had to be corrected ( the outside view shows a building side and the inside view has rocks there ). That was arranged to have the inner water area and retaining walls, and might serve as a contained SeaSlug Habitat area ( a bit larger than other 'Sea Slug Tanks' seen in other places ).
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Dr. Porters upper Office (on the MD level) overlaps the open area outside the airlock ( the one which you take a stroll thru to get the signal beacon ) so the 'Lobby' entry way ( as you emerge from the elevator ) has been stretched 50 feet to remove the possible overlap. A computer museum display ( highlighting Rapture's Advances ) was added as filler there.
We are, of course, ignoring the elevator which spin you around to face the door on entering the new level ( when you left you face the button ). Those round elevators can turn I guess. The open ocean seen on this level are definitely NOT underneath the seafloor and buildings of the level above ( which they would otherwise be if aligned as presented in-game ).
The MMORPG would handle all this better ( real views of the other buildings, seafloor, etc ... ) ...............
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Near the Spitfire Room, you look out the window and see a Skybox portrayal of a long distant horizon, when there actually should be visible another nearby building of the current building complex. The seabed should also be seen rising up to what is visible in the Minervas Den level map ( meaning - there is an inconsistency of terrain contours between 'levels' ).
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The Security Airlock leading to 'The Core' has an odd glazing/frosted-over texture through which you can see a skybox beyond ( instead of the usual closed in water space most of these views have ). You also don't see the wall immediately adjacent in the next room that should be blocking the view (minor detail). Again ( mentioned ad nauseum ) the MMORPG will have actual views, so little issues like this won't come up.
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The original stylish round elevators ( which have room for little more than one person in them ) are not too utilitarian or efficient. I generally have enlarged them to be near 8 feet across to hold/transport more people (and other cargo) somewhat better.
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==More Additions :==
Three elevators at the start of this level - where do the others go to since the exit point of the previous level only showed One elevator ?? - This would be evidence that there is more to the facility ... ( which is good for the MMORPG - all the staff and supply and support areas that are largely missing ). I have fixed the previous level to have all 3 elevator shafts, so to efficiently transport personnel. With Minervas Den being cut off from the rest of Rapture, then all of Wahl's minions ( including the Lancer BDs ) need living quarters and facilities ( We never saw any such ). These would be somewhere down (and up) where those extra elevators lead, by necessity in converted spaces which had previously been storage area or used for other functions ( and as shown on floors 0, dug out of the foundation/sump level ).
A Gift Shop was added in the extended Operations 'Lobby' ( They could sell AT LEAST miniatures of 'The Rodin Thinker' statue ... ). Again, from back when they actually gave tours of "The Thinker".
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The usual basement/foundation spaces are shown located below level floors - Where the inevitable water leakage is collected to be pumped out, and the ceilings of all those basement passages would contain numerous pipes/conduits/cables needed for the floors above ( and would be left open to be easily accessible for maintenance ).
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McClendon Robotic Submarine Testing Area
More robotic products from Rapture's Robotics genius. Submarines with remote control and automation, which were first used for the Construction of Rapture ( allowed use of many fewer deep divers, and significantly cut costs and time delays. ) Operators of (quite large) construction machinery could operate many machines thru TV links and from mini-sub cockpits ( the Novel mentions this ).
Docks for the mini-subs ( basically smaller one man 'Bathyspheres' ) are seen up on the building side, out in that water area ( the place you have to fetch the 'signal beacon' for Porter ).
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Added - An automated Hydroponic Test Farm was one of the facilities built to make use of robotic devices which McClendon specialized in. Hydroponic agriculture can be automated to a large extent and tedious hand labor would be something worth eliminating/reducing, to bring expenses down. Some expensive crops can take alot of care and semi-intelligent machines could greatly lower the overhead costs to produce them. Experiments were also done seeing how well plants grow at higher air pressures ( so as to require less expensive construction ). The farm unit (tunnel) may have been isolated so that tests could be done on Oxygen production - a valuable byproduct of crop growing.
The outside area ( where you go to get a signal beacon from a derelict Bathysphere ) is fairly limited in size. Why would they build that whole Airlock structure just to reach that small area used for dumping a few old things outside ?? The (improved) use would be access to the entire outside of the buildings for maintenance, and would be appropriate for water-type robotic equipment testing and demonstration. It is too bad they didn't add a bit more extensive outdoor terrain area to this DLC ( to make it somewhat different from BS2 ). But then, to really do it right, they would have had to extend the game mechanics to allow the Player to manipulate more things/fire some weapons while submerged in water and create additional 'water' actions/interactions. The MMORPG would be expanding the Player's "water" environment extensively ( being at the 'bottom of the sea', it kinda makes sense ).
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The 'Old' Mainframe systems ( off to the side of 'Programming' ) have been expanded with more rooms full of related equipment - battery backup and power systems ( on the floor below ) and a Magnetic Tape vault. This all would have been the computer system used BEFORE "The Thinker" was built ( and that whole wing was added to Minervas Den ). The ADAM-based Bio-Electronics technology The Thinker is based upon did not exist in the City's early days. The other Computer Systems there were likely upgraded/replaced with the new technology.
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==Observations :==
The 'Frozen' door to the Core is a bit weak as a plot situation. How many frozen/iced up doors did we melt with our handy Incinerate! Plasmid previously ?? There were so few doors blocked that way - we could have had another dozen places around this area to 'melt' our way through. Some coolant leak (poisonous) in that one spot, which we would have to reverse/stop in the Operations Control Room might have been a better story ( More than a few 'Audio Diaries' (and such) evidencing the Minervas Den events might have to be "remade" for the MMORPG to form a better story ).
The bulky pipe tubes ( we see in places ) which seem to have smaller colored tubes within them would/should be for data wire lines/cable. These would be continuous sealed hollow tubes in which wires were strung, with the ability to remove or insert new wires as needed from either end. At various points there would be 'patch panels' where multiple wire/cables are spliced and routed in different directions. The see-through attribute of those data bundles wouldn't be needed ( you really want to armor them like a water pipe to protect them Someone should write a book : "Things Gamewriters Do Not Understand" ... ).
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The metal plate surfacing (walls/ceilings) we see used in places as a common terrain decorative 'motif' would be useful because they could be removable, so as to quickly access various pipes/conduits/cables/equipment embedded in the walls for maintenance or additions/modifications ( rather than embedded in cement, which would have to be dug out ). There are also false ceilings hiding the same kind of thing, along with many air vents/ducts, power wiring, pipes, etc...
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I noticed the fan blades in the glass-lined water tubes near the Climate Control entry are the wrong kind ( a type applicable to air ). For fluids, you make them more like propellers, with thicker/heavier construction and spaced and set at a more oblique angle. Just Details ...
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Seriously not sure why turbine blades should be exposed in that lower level in Climate Control ( near the switch you need to (de)activate to defrost the exit path -- perfectly placed to take your head off, or for its (removed) proper enclosure to needlessly block that passage ). They start spinning fast, they are perfectly capable of taking off parts of your body faster than you can say "Mr Bubbles". I don't think I want to be in any real world place designed by people like these game level designers.
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Computer rooms - too bad they could not do the common (real world) computer sub-flooring (raised floor with 2x2 tiles), where you (Player) would have to crawl around under the floors in a space little more than 2 foot high, amongst the pipes and wires -- We would need 'Crawl' movement actions to be added to the game. ( Definitely will have that in the MMORPG, as nothing is more fun than crawling around in a restricted space, amongst a maze of wires, and coming face to face with a deranged Splicer, who has a pointy/pointed stick ... )
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We see many personnel still walking about the complex, so they must have gotten supplies somehow to survive. Likely Wahl had a deal with Neptune's Bounty and other food producing sections of the City ( like the farms near 'Ceres Green' ) as had other Factions. Rapture Central Computing had served to coordinated Rapture's Maintenance Cyborgs repair services, and had likely continued in this function. So they could provide such Services in trade for supplies. It is possible that they even had their own sets of Little Sisters ( awful lot of those wandering around in supposedly "Cut-Off" Minervas Den ... ) - they certainly had a number of their own Sea Slugs. Again, like other Factions, they would have prevented access from Sofia Lamb's crazy kingdom which the rest of the city had closed-off/blocked. Minervas Den's Advanced Security Bots/Alphas would help that ( another thing they could offer in trade to other Factions ).
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The usual issue with a Bathysphere Dock of the kind we are shown in the BioShock games ( and the one here on this map ), is that the 'sphere has to first descend in the water, then move sideways/rise back up, to then emerge to travel in the Ocean. Having the Dock ( which HAS to have an Airlock to handle the water pressure differential ) on the lowest level of the map means that the Bathysphere's path has to go yet further downwards ( and then somehow come up again, unless it can emerge out the side of a slope of the seabed ). Porter's Bat Cave is embedded in the sea floor - not some nice tall building to have a simple path for the Bathyspheres to get OUT through. It is a pretty deep hole which that dock has been placed in.
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Amusing, that they would have those huge "OVERDRIVE" Warning Indicators everywhere in Climate Control, like that's the only thing that usually goes wrong in the system. Manual cutoff systems are always paired with automatic controls ( but not in this quicky-back-of-a-napkin contrived plot ).
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I noticed that more than a few of the level's windows have big rocks immediately outside them, blocking any significant further out view. What is the real point then of going to the trouble of having such a window ? The developers may have just done it to avoid having to provide a more detailed outside area to be seen ( allowing (cheap) reuse of the same old Skybox textures ).
Some of the connecting Viaduct tubes ( like between Programming and Engineering/Ventilation Control ) have odd piles of rounded rocks stacked around and even above the Viaduct -- with NO good reason ( They're not even really decorative ). Rapture had to move ALOT of rocks during its construction, and these can't be just ones they "worked around", as they would get in the way of construction and potentially menace important structures (Viaducts and pipes) they are near. Again, this was probably just thrown together to avoid a plain cityscape view, or needing new extended outside views, and to attempt to 'dress up' the level (reusing many assets from BS2).
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Tenenbaum says 'IF' they (she and Porter) can get to the Surface, and IF they can rebuild The Thinker, then a Cure for ADAM Sickness is "just a matter of time". Those are rather big "IF"s :
1) Building such a Super Computer with little resources ( ordinary mainframes cost millions of dollars in those days )
2) They likely are missing all the knowhow to create the technology The Thinker used ( which was certainly not transistors or other computer technology that exists in the world around 1969 ). Having just "the program" is NOT enough.
3) With governments wondering where they have been for decades -- there may be some difficulties.
4) If The Thinker's primary circuits are based on use of advanced ADAM-based Bio-Electronics, then there IS a general lack of that necessary resource on The Surface.
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I noticed some large transparent pipes containing bundles of wires ( first seen outside the window just before the Safety Airlock going to The Core level map ). Large numbers of wires did come in to Minervas Den from all over Rapture, but having them in closed tight tubes out in the sea water where they couldn't easily be maintained would NOT be the preferred method. Wires running through the Utility level under the Trolley routes and the cables following the AE trainlines would be common/logical. Best construction would have these large bundles being structured/subdivided to allow pulling removable cables (wires) thru when required ( still no reason to NOT have them mostly kept inside the buildings ).
Main data cables go into/thru the Operations hall which looks appropriate ( with all the equipment on the walls and control consoles and such ) for a control center used to manage that system, and feed it into The Thinker further along ( in the next wing ).
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Gravity Well - you "throw a super-dense polyp" ( seen in load-screen instruction blurbs ) -- Oh really ? When that 'gravity' is closest first of all to your hand, it should be affecting you 10 X as much while you throw it. Or does this 'super-dense polyp' just 'turn on' at a safe distance ??? - This of course assumes there is some kind of biological way to create "super dense matter" with that kind of gravity effect (or any OTHER way really - it probably would take 5000 tons of matter the size of a marble or somesuch to have that strong a gravitational pull. Again, them ( the DLL game's third-string designers/writers ) going for the "Hey wouldn't that be neat" quickly decided special effects, instead of sticking to the Game Genre ( They might as well have given us "Giant Swords" and "Phartguns". ).
I think I can transition/rationalize this strange thing into some kind of biological hypnotic signal producer which attracts NPCs : "Oh look, a puppy or a tastey ADAM-soaked rum-cake !!!" Maybe it also transmits something which electro-magnetic Bots find irresistable, -OR- make it a 'spidey silk bomb' that pulls/yanks things nearer to itself ( bit of a stretch ... ) - or some big sticky explodey weather balloony air-bag thingee ...
((( It is getting harder and harder to keep these dimbulb devs' gimmicky stuff within the realm of Science Fiction and the original Canon. ))) And THEN : Phase 3 version of Gravity Well splashes things with ACID !!! -- Now THAT is pretty lame (WTF does THAT have to do with 'gravity' ????? SERIOUSLY That's the best they could come up with ?? They really ran out of good ideas didn't they. Or did they even care anymore ? Orth that awas another effect that they had already created for another Plasmid and just 'tacked it on' this one ...)
How about instead : start fusing matter - tiny H-bomb ... ( It took me 10 seconds to think up that ... not really any better physics-wise but would have been "MORE AWESOME" ........) OR Stronger gravity which crushes things like they were made of tin foil ... OR Pulsing gravity which uses shear forces to shred the nearby objects .... ANY of those things sound a bit more interesting/appropriate and gravity-licious than 'Acid' ???? ( Lets add a Fart Bomb ?? Nah, that's just plain stooopid ... )
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Climate Control ? Not sure why it would be named this. Climatic Monitoring and Control for Rapture ?? No, the place 'freezes up' in the plot ( so much for Failure-Resistant Systems ) and has alot of some kind of massive equipment/machinery and pipes. Is it used to handle the heat generated by large computers? For the extended computer complex ? Yes. "Cooling Systems" 'chillers' would be more appropriate, as those big computers in the old days used forced cooling, including water-cooling equipment with chiller pipes running thru the computer machinery. Air condition of the 'climate' ambient air wasn't enough for those old computers ( nor generally for 'Servers' today ).
Of course, all you have to do is run a radiator pipe loop out into the near-freezing ocean at any point to get all the cooling you might possibly need. Just use a cooling liquid like liquid ammonia and Viola ... a cheap/simple cooling mechanism.
A more reasonable 'Climate Control' would be on that controls humidity in the air around the computers. Too-dry and static electricity forms and can have detrimental effects on electronics ( less effect on tubes, but Minervas Den was switching over to transistors and the Bio-Electronics which would be much more affected ). Too-high a humidity and you reach the dew point ( especially on water cooled equipment ) which causes electrical shorts from the water condensation. So this facility would be better called 'Air Conditioning', controlling/maintaining humidity for the computer systems air environment.
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( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ENIAC_Penn2.jpg )
A common piece of 'computer' equipment you see in Minerva's Den is a wall of what looks like vacuum tubes. Tubes use high voltage/power and require alot of cooling ( and don't like humidity ) and tended to fail frequently. By the time of the start of The Chaos, Rapture's computers would have long been using Transistors and the Bio-Electronics made possible by ADAM ( both for the bio-circuits and the Brain Boost improved R&D ). After that time, in the disorder, there would be little commercial demand for any new computers ( and the City's population would be closer to being in Survival mode ).
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Another overused retro computery mechanisms we see are gang printers (walls of them), which might be used as paper recorders for City monitoring systems. They would need a warehouse full of large paper rolls or boxed fanfold format somewhere in this facility for these things the way they are printing continuously. They are shown still operating, so it is a question ( besides are insane Splicers capable of reloading paper rolls and do they sell the used paper to other Splicers as TP ... ) after 10 years, where do they keep getting more paper from ( after the Chaos started, things got a bit disrupted in the supply chains ). Are there countless Splicers, we don't see, at work with pencil erasers, cleaning used printer paper ? Or maybe they just reuse the same paper, feeding it over and over again through the printer, not really caring whether the print was legible any more ?
It was funny seeing a number of the big multi-printers way up on the wall in the main programming hall ( the one where you descend the fancy curved staircases ), being used generically along with those much-repeated racks of tube 'computer banks'. I could expect paper Audits to be used for various things the RCC computers controlled/tracked/monitored/adjusted in Rapture, but they should all be down where you can look at them without requiring a tall ladder ( and accessible for paper refills ).
An advance mechanism for paper-copy monitoring units might have had 'auto-erasible' paper running in a long loop for some monitoring type data output which had short-lived importance ( the data could always be written to magnetic tape for on-demand hardcopy if required later ).
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Porter: "Wahl's Splicers haven't gotten into my office thanks to the Thinker's security"...
Really ? After 7 years ? When Wahl runs the place ?? When just one Splicer put to work with a hammer and chisel could have got in through that door within a week or even days ( even faster with the selection of tools you see strewn throughout the place ) ???
Strange, elsewhere Wahl says the Thinker is on his side. Shouldn't it then have obediently opened THAT door for him ??? Consistency and cohesion is the trademark of great fiction ( this ain't it ). They should have had Porter's office ransacked years before, but with some well-hidden compartment/closet or somesuch -- THAT would have been more logical ( The "Operations Access Punchcard" being hidden in plain sight taped behind a picture in the hallway that leads to the office ... Or a puzzle with a clever 'Pearl-y' keyword which causes The Thinker to disclose the needed access codes ).
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Some of these pipes on the level look rather large. But consider : 
: 1) There is a water pressure around 280 lb/in^2 in the water Outside, which needs to be controlled from effecting the fluids/gases traveling through the pipes ( thus fairly thick metal desired to perform its function, including the potential corrosion over time ).
: 2) A thick layer of insulation against the cold ocean water, an outer pipe maintained around the actual pipe, whether it is a heating pipe or a cooling pipe.
: 3) The usual structural requirements for these pipes to span unsupported distances, and to resist the forces of ocean currents ( or the odd collision by a foreign body ).
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In many of the places we see pipes going into the seabed - which actually should be a bed of gravel filled into the space which needed to be excavated to originally install the pipe. That way, if maintenance is needed, it is much simpler to dig out the section. Of course silt and Sea_Life can accumulate ontop of the gravel, obscuring the fact that the gravel is there.
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The Large X shaped pillars (metal?) out in the water which we see while going through the Viaduct to get to the entrance to Climate Control ( signs say Ventilation Control/Core Access ). In Paupers Drop, similar ones were used to hold up the wide span of ceiling, but it is not apparent why these are there ( Maybe something (was) ontop of them - Just because the level developer was dressing up the spot using preexisting terrain Assets does not mean we can't use it to have something purposeful there. ie- A really big RCC sign ... )
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