Nov/Dec '18 Lite Challenge: Artifact Site 17

[bkh1914]

I adjusted the vegetation. It was way too green for a semi-arid plateau setting.

The story line for this map is:

The Exploration Service today released preliminary information about the mostly recently discovered artifact site, Site 17. This is the second artifact site that has been discovered with intact structures. The government immediately moved to seal off the site pending investigation by qualified personnel.

"We don't want a repeat of the disaster at Artifact Site 9," said Chief Liaison Officer O'Matt. "As you might remember, Site 9 was discovered by Captain Kyme and her band of Adventurers. They immediately started exploring the intact structure and on the third day... Eye-witness reports state that the ground gently shuddered, making a sound like a soft sigh, and the entire artifact site turned to dust that slowly rose and was carried away by the breeze. After the dust had cleared, all that remained at Artifact Site 9 was a perfectly hemispherical hole 2.16 kilometers in diameter."

Like several previous Artifact Sites, this site appears to have been the scene of a major battle and much of the land is still barren after who-knows how many centuries. But whatever was protecting the core structure seems to have withstood the onslaught – the structure appears intact and vegetation is growing around it. The current consensus is that the attackers disengaged before completely destroying the site and that the site was subsequently abandoned.

This is a science fiction setting: A ground installation on a large plateau that was attacked by a hostile group of space ships.
The map covers an area about 2½ km (1½ miles) wide.

### Latest WIP ###
Artifact Site 17h.jpg

I developed a fair amount of backstory as I worked on the map.
The base was protected by three independent layers of force field. The field generators are the objects with a dirty gold globe on top and they are arranged in a concentric pentagons. The outer ring failed and all but one of the generators were destroyed. The middle ring seems to have held. The inner ring is mounted on the corners of the central building.
The main energy beam weapons were positioned between the force field generators. They were rather powerful and could easily take out a cruiser if they caught it with its shields down. All of these weapons were destroyed.
Additional offensive and defensive weapon systems were distributed in the surrounding area in hardened and semi-hardened locations and they don't appear on this map.

Basically, this installation could hold it's own against a task force,
but it would be in deep do-do if a hostile fleet paid it a visit.