settled-reach/docs/design/spatial-layout-terminal-v01.md

title, description, type, status, ticket, decision_refs, author, created, updated, superseded_by

title	description	type	status	ticket	decision_refs	author	created	updated	superseded_by
Spatial Layout: The Terminal (Sova Logistics Hub)	Tile-level floor plan, sightline analysis, and zone breakdown for the logistics hub with narrative triangle notes	design	superseded	#311		Araminta	2026-02-19	2026-02-19	D-166

SUPERSEDED (2026-06-12, cascade-refocus sweep): superseded by D-166 (generated building templates replace hand-built layouts). Kept as historical record; do not build against it.

Spatial Layout: The Terminal (Sova Logistics Hub)

Ticket: #311 Date: 2026-02-19 Author: Araminta (Visual Designer) Status: v0.1 — wireframe quality, unblocks copy #190

Grid: 1 cell = 1m visual tile (visual grammar §2.1). Simulation operates at 0.5m; each visual tile = 2×2 sim tiles. Map area: 44m wide × 28m deep (44×28 visual tiles) Zone palette: Cool grey-navy institutional (visual grammar §1.2)

---

Floor Plan

         N (district entry — public side)
         |
         1111111111222222222233333333334444444
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456

#############[D]##########[D]#############   row 01  <- entry facade
#                                        #   row 02
#              ENTRY LOBBY               #   row 03  ACCESS: PUBLIC
#         . . . . . . . . . . .          #   row 04
####[D]########[D]########[D]#############   row 05  <- scanner bay entry doors
# SB-A   #    SB-B   #      SB-C        #   row 06
# [T]  . #   [T]  .  #    [T]  . . . . #   row 07  ACCESS: PUBLIC (monitored)
# . . . . # . . . .  #   . . . . . . . #   row 08
####[D]####[D]########[D]####[D]###########   row 09  <- into main corridor
# . . . . . . . . MAIN CORRIDOR . . . .#   row 10  CHOKEPOINT (see §5)
# . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .#   row 11
####[D]############[D]#########[D]#########   row 12  <- into work zones
# MANIFEST  #    CARGO FLOOR     # SUPVR  #   row 13
# PROC.     #                    # OFFICE #   row 14  ACCESS: SEMI-PRIVATE / PRIVATE
# [T][T][T] #  [C][C]   [C][C]  # [=][=]=#   row 15  <- SO window onto cargo floor
# [T][T][T] #                   # [=][=]=#   row 16
# [T]       #  [C][C]   [C][C]  # [T]   #   row 17
#           #                   # [DESK] #   row 18
# [T]       #  [C][C]   [C][C]  # . [D] #   row 19  <- SO door to cargo floor
# . . . . . #                   ######## #   row 20
########[D]##  . . . . . . . .           #   row 21  <- break room door
# BREAK RM #   [C][C]   [C][C]           #   row 22  ACCESS: SEMI-PRIVATE
# [T][  ]  #                             #   row 23
# [  ][  ] #   [C][C]   [C][C]           #   row 24
# [  ]     #          ^                  #   row 25  <- ^ = restricted storage door (locked)
# . . . .  #  #########[D]###########    #   row 26
########### #  # RESTRICTED STORAGE #    #   row 27  ACCESS: PRIVATE
           #   # [RS][RS][RS][RS]   #    #   row 28
           #   # [RS][RS][RS][RS]   #    #   row 29
           #   ######################    #   row 30
           ##############################   row 31
         |
         S (maintenance access, back-of-station)

Legend:

#       Wall (solid, blocks LOS and movement)
.       Open walkable floor
[D]     Doorway (traversable, no door sprite in v0.1)
[=]=    Window (transparent wall — LOS passes through, movement blocked)
[T]     Terminal / workstation
[C]     Cargo container (furniture-scale object, blocks LOS at z-layer 2)
[  ]    Table / chair / seating
SB-x    Scanner bay x (inbound/outbound cargo scanning station)
SUPVR   Supervisor office
MFST    Manifest processing
RS      Restricted storage rack

---

Zone Breakdown

Zone 1 — Entry Lobby (rows 01–05)

Access tier: Public Purpose: The public-facing entry into the logistics hub. Anyone with business on Sova Transit can enter here. Cargo and workers flow through the scanner bays; visitors wait or pass through. NPC traffic: Busy on shift change (morning, evening), moderate midday, sparse nights. LOS notes: Open area. Full LOS across lobby. No cover. Key feature: From the entry lobby you can observe which scanner bay is active and who is being scanned. But you can't see the main corridor from here — the scanner bays break sightlines.

Zone 2 — Scanner Bays (SB-A, SB-B, SB-C) (rows 06–09)

Access tier: Public (monitored) Purpose: All cargo entering or leaving the hub passes through a scanner bay. Kael is stationed at SB-B (primary inbound cargo, the busiest channel). SB-A and SB-C handle outbound and overflow. NPC traffic: Continuous flow during work hours; Kael has no reason to leave the bay unless break or errand. LOS notes: Each bay is separated by wall partitions. From SB-B you can see into SB-A and SB-C only through the shared doorway at row 09 into the main corridor. Workers in scanner bays have NO LOS to the cargo floor or supervisor office. Key feature: The scan terminals have records of all cargo passing through (manifest discrepancies are visible here). Investigation entry point.

Zone 3 — Main Corridor (rows 10–12) — THE CHOKEPOINT

Access tier: Semi-public (worker access expected, visitors uncommon) Purpose: The east-west throughway connecting scanner bays (north) to all back-of-house zones (south). Every worker moving between entry and the work area passes through this corridor. Every NPC going to the break room, manifest processing, cargo floor, or supervisor office crosses here. NPC traffic: Moderate-busy during work hours; near-zero during nights or off-shift periods. LOS notes: FULL EAST-WEST LOS. From any position in the corridor you can observe all four south-facing doorways (manifest processing, cargo floor west, cargo floor east, supervisor's corridor). You can ALSO see through the supervisor's windows [=] into the office if positioned in the east section of the corridor. This is the single highest-information position in The Terminal. Investigation note: Standing in the main corridor and doing nothing is suspicious. The player needs a cover reason (idle near a crate, appear to be consulting an insert map, Sneak stance). Voss's office window faces south into the cargo floor, not north — he cannot see the main corridor. This gives the corridor a surveillance gap relative to authority.

Zone 4 — Manifest Processing (rows 13–26, west side)

Access tier: Semi-private (workers only, no public reason to enter) Purpose: Where manifests are processed, discrepancies flagged, and cargo logs maintained. Maret works here. Drin passes through occasionally (their role puts them in contact with Maret — Triangle 2 tension originates in their shared knowledge of a manifest irregularity). NPC traffic: Low foot traffic. Maret is usually here during work hours. Drin visits intermittently. Rare for floor workers to enter. LOS notes: Door at row 12 opens onto the main corridor. From the manifest processing area, you can see into the main corridor when the door is open, but NOT into the cargo floor (solid wall partition). The [T] terminals along the east wall face the partition — Maret works with her back to the corridor, visible from the door, unaware of who's watching from the corridor. Key feature: Manifest processing has access to the full cargo database. A player who reaches a terminal here can surface manifest discrepancies that are invisible from the scanner bays.

Zone 5 — Cargo Floor (rows 13–30, center)

Access tier: Semi-private (workers only) Purpose: Where freight is staged, sorted, and held before redistribution. Kael, Nils, and other floor workers spend most of their shift here. [C] blocks represent standard cargo container staging racks. NPC traffic: Busy during work hours. Workers move between container rows. Moderate on breaks. Supervisor spot-checks from the door or window (rows 19 and 15-16). LOS notes: The cargo containers [C] create partial cover. A player or NPC crouching behind a container stack has concealment from the supervisor's window. However, the container layout leaves clear aisles — movement through the floor is visible if Voss is watching. The restricted storage door (row 26, center) is visible from the cargo floor and from the supervisor's window. Key feature: The restricted storage entrance is at the back of the cargo floor. Reaching it from the cargo floor is observable from the supervisor's window. Any unauthorized access attempt is visible to Voss unless the player ensures Voss is away from his desk (or the player uses the break room timing window, during which floor traffic decreases).

Zone 6 — Supervisor's Office (rows 13–20, east side)

Access tier: Private (Voss only, or by invitation/authority) Purpose: Voss manages the hub from here. The [=] windows (rows 15-16) give him a direct visual line across the cargo floor. His desk faces the window — he works while watching. NPC traffic: Voss is here most of the shift. He exits occasionally to walk the floor (social/authority move) or to attend to something in manifest processing. The door at row 19 opens directly to the cargo floor. LOS notes: From the supervisor's window, Voss has LOS across the entire cargo floor including the restricted storage door. He CANNOT see: the main corridor (windows face south/west into cargo floor only), the break room, or the manifest processing interior. His blind spots are deliberate — the floor is his domain, administration is not. Key feature: The supervisor's window is two-way. Voss can see the cargo floor; cargo floor workers can see whether Voss is at his desk. This creates behavioral signals: workers (including Kael) act differently when the office light is on. Insert observation from the main corridor can detect whether Voss is watching.

Zone 7 — Break Room (rows 22–26, west side)

Access tier: Semi-private (workers only; informal, unwatched) Purpose: The off-shift space. Workers eat here, complain here, and sometimes say things they wouldn't say on the floor. Informal social hub. No surveillance. Voss never enters (it would kill the informal atmosphere he relies on — floor workers stop talking candidly when management appears). NPC traffic: High during break periods, near-zero during work hours. Key NPC conversations happen here. LOS notes: No windows. Solid walls on all sides. Completely visually isolated from cargo floor and corridor. A player inside the break room knows nothing about what's happening on the floor. This is the only space in The Terminal where NPCs will say things they wouldn't say anywhere else. Dead-drop location: See §313 spatial layout.

Zone 8 — Restricted Storage (rows 27–30, center-south)

Access tier: Private (access-coded, ring members only) Purpose: Officially: overflow storage for high-value or flagged cargo. In practice: the staging point for contraband (unlicensed lattice components, D-037). Access requires a code that only certain personnel have. NPC traffic: Very sparse. A legitimate visit from Voss is possible but rare. Ring members visit in small windows of low supervisor attention. LOS notes: The single access door is visible from the cargo floor and from the supervisor's window. There is no back exit. Anyone entering restricted storage can be observed doing so. Key feature: The chokepoint for the smuggling arc. The ring has to move cargo through this room at some point. The detect/observe/intervene loop for the detective character runs through this door.

---

Key Observation Positions

Position	Code	LOS coverage	Why it matters
Main corridor (center)	POS-1	All four south-facing doors; SO windows [=]	Highest-information position. Every NPC in the Terminal passes here.
Scanner bay B door (row 09, center)	POS-2	Main corridor + partial SB-A and SB-C	Kael's natural position. He can observe corridor traffic while appearing to work.
Behind cargo containers (row 20-21, center)	POS-3	Restricted storage door; SO window side	Concealed position. Can observe restricted storage access without being in open floor.
Break room door (row 21, west)	POS-4	Main corridor through door; break room interior	Transitional. Can eavesdrop without fully entering.
Manifest processing door (row 12, west)	POS-5	Main corridor; manifest processing interior	Observe Maret's terminal activity from corridor without entering.

---

Sightline Analysis

FROM →        Corridor  Cargo Fl.  Supvr Off.  Manifest  Break Rm  Restr.Stor.
TO ↓
Main corridor    SELF      via door   NO (SO→S)  via door   via door   NO
Cargo floor     via door    SELF     [=] window  NO wall    NO wall   via door
Supervisor off. NO (faces S)  [=]      SELF       NO         NO        [=] partial
Manifest proc.  via door    NO wall    NO         SELF       NO        NO
Break room      via door    NO wall    NO         NO         SELF      NO
Restr. storage  NO         via door    [=] partial  NO         NO       SELF

[=] = line of sight through window (one-way for gameplay unless player enters SO)
"NO wall" = wall blocks LOS
"via door" = LOS exists when door is open (all doors open in v0.1)

Critical sightline: Supervisor window → restricted storage door Voss can see every approach to restricted storage from his desk. This is the core spatial tension of the smuggling arc. The ring must work around this observation.

---

Access Tier Map

    PUBLIC         SEMI-PUBLIC     SEMI-PRIVATE    PRIVATE
    ──────         ───────────     ────────────    ───────
    Entry lobby    Main corridor   Cargo floor     Supervisor office
    Scanner bays   (anyone with    Manifest proc.  Restricted storage
    (monitored)     worker reason   Break room
                    to be there)

Movement between tiers is possible but increasingly flagged:

• Public → semi-public: unremarkable
• Semi-public → semi-private: player needs walk reason (worker NPC → trivial, detective with badge → possible, smuggler → requires familiarity with someone inside)
• Semi-private → private: requires access code or authority (Voss's invitation)

---

NPC Traffic Density Annotations

Time	Entry Lobby	Scanner Bays	Main Corridor	Cargo Floor	Break Room	Restricted
Dawn (05-07)	sparse	sparse	sparse	sparse	sparse	very sparse
Morning shift change (07-09)	busy	busy	busy	busy	sparse	very sparse
Mid-morning (09-12)	moderate	moderate	moderate	busy	sparse	very sparse
Lunch break (12-13)	sparse	sparse	sparse	sparse	busy	very sparse
Afternoon (13-17)	moderate	moderate	moderate	busy	sparse	very sparse
Evening shift change (17-19)	busy	moderate	busy	moderate	moderate	sparse
Night (19-23)	sparse	sparse	sparse	sparse	sparse	sparse
Deep night (23-05)	very sparse	very sparse	very sparse	very sparse	very sparse	rare

Ring window: Deep night (23-02). Traffic on the cargo floor is very sparse. Restricted storage access is least likely to be observed by non-ring personnel. Voss is off-shift (office dark). The main corridor is nearly empty.

---

Narrative Triangle Service Notes

Triangle 1 — Hub Power (Voss – Kael – Nils)

• Spatial expression: Voss watches from his window; Kael and Nils work the cargo floor below. The observation geometry makes the power relationship spatial: Voss is elevated and apart, workers are on the floor in his line of sight.
• Tension locations: Main corridor (where Voss gives directives), cargo floor (where Kael works under observation), supervisor's office door (the private conversation space for Triangle 1 escalation).
• Sightline implications: Nils can see Kael talking to Voss at the SO door. Kael can see Nils noticing. Everything on the cargo floor is visible to multiple parties.

Triangle 2 — Worried Knowledge (Maret – Drin – Voss)

• Spatial expression: Maret in manifest processing sees the discrepancies. Drin has access to Maret's area (reason to visit). Voss's office is a floor away — Maret can't easily speak to him without being observed crossing the main corridor.
• Tension locations: Manifest processing (where Maret's knowledge lives), main corridor (the watched crossing between Maret and Voss), supervisor's office (the destination Maret fears and needs).
• Sightline implications: Maret going to the SO door is visible from the corridor and from the cargo floor. It's a public act. This is the spatial cost of Maret choosing to act.

---

Notes for Copy Team (#190 — Workplace Content Pack)

1. Scanner bay is Kael's home base. Dialogue lines set "at the scanner" should describe the ambient of machinery hum, cargo transport belts, distant supervisor's window (is the light on?).
2. Main corridor is the natural meeting-in-passing location. NPCs cross here with purpose; lingering draws attention. Lines set "in the corridor" are brief, can-be-overheard exchanges.
3. Break room is the candid space. This is where workers say things they'd never say on the floor. Lena's worry about Kael can be voiced here (but Lena isn't a Terminal character — this is for floor workers, Nils especially).
4. Supervisor's office conversations are formal and asymmetric. Voss speaks from the window-side, which puts him with light behind him. Workers face into the light. Staging for any SO dialogue should use this power geometry.
5. Restricted storage is never described directly in overheard NPC dialogue. NPCs refer to it obliquely: "the back," "the overflow section," "the access." The player learns the word "restricted storage" from signs and the insert, not from NPC speech.
6. Time of day matters. Cargo floor is empty enough at deep night that footsteps echo. This is qualitatively different from midday. Mellanie's monologue lines for Terminal exploration should have time-tagged variants.