In contrast to other shipyards where ships are assembled out of sub-assemblies in vacuum, Elysian ships are built in large pressurized slipways. While more mechanically complicated due to the challenge pressurizing and depressurizing so large a space on a regular basis, the freedom from work pods or hardsuits compensates for these challenges. At least in Elysian experience. The top part of the station is a large habitation complex for workers, as well as some office and management space for on-site work, with a column of docking slips extending below.
The original station found itself on the receiving end of a hail of deWulf torpedoes, blowing it into a wrecked hulk during the 1st Battle of Elysium. The wreckage orbited for almost two years until after the 2nd battle, where it was recovered and parts of it were used to build a replacement station. While it had fewer slips than the original, the replacement had the same layout and engineering, giving it a very familiar feel.
Shipyards are a bit of an interesting challenge on how to lay out. They’re a complex, massive collection of interconnected parts and processes that all eventually have to meet somewhere to output a completed object. For the most part, shipyards in the deWulf universe have followed the same broad paradigm: An open gantry for assembly, with various supporting structures arrayed nearby to provide the required materials and parts. This style is very common in real life (examples include Newport News and Jiangnan Shipyard), but it is not the only kind. Other yards are instead covered or entirely enclosed, and these are done either for security reasons (so orbital assets cannot ID internals) or because it allows for protection from the elements and more around the clock construction. This latter type of yard hasn’t been seen much in science fiction, or in the deWulf universe, and this yard is the first in deWulf space to reflect this second engineering concept.
Dollarton Proxima Shipyards 