Inspirational Artwork for Sci-Fi

Check out this picture from the CGSociety.  Their site had several pictures which could serve as inspiration for sci-fi world buildling and gaming.  

www.scifiideas.com/inspiration/inspiration-gallery/inspiration-gallery-jw-bubb

I've got two questions - why are only some of them mushroom shaped, and why are they so high off the ground?  You can see that they are in mountains, but behind the mushroom things it looks like a valley, perhaps a lake. Why are they not instead more conventional buildings on the lake shore?

So, having asked the questions. I will now answer them.Welcome to Shetland, in the Corellian League.

1  The mushroom shaped ones are the residential areas. The sky-scraper building in the background is a business/industrial building which is sealed at least at the lower levels. See question 2.
2 The planet's atmosphere has an odd component that at ground level is harmful/toxic to humans. At altitudes, it is dispersed enough to not be a problem. Maybe that's what the mist over the lake is. By hoisting their habitations up on stilts like this, they avoid having to seal them, thereby saving themselves a lot of bother with environmental control. 

Where is this city?  This is the capital city of Orpha, in the Lycosky Trade Protectorate, an industrialized High-population world.

What makes this place unique?  The planet's atmosphere is 5.2 times standard Earth atmosphere, which among other effects causes the reddish 'sunset' appearance of the system's sun, even at mid-day in clear skies. The high air density makes air travel more difficult; as drag is orders of magnitude worse than on Earth. Despite being TL-15, ground vehicles are very common.


Speaking of which, I really like this high-tech Wheeled Vehicle. Very Traveller.

This is a Sternmetal Horizons Model F-27J 'Super-Reliance' tractor, part of the F-20 series of exploration vehicles. It is capable of hauling 15 C-94 series transport wagons a distance of 2500 km (under 1G gravity) and a maximum hauling weight of 27 metric tons (at 1G). Base TL is 9 (fusion power plant) and is available through TL 13, the model F-27R. The model pictured is currently operating on Cadawala, in Holtzmann's Corridor.

Has this ship landed, or crashed?  Maybe it landed, but remained in place because of a system failure, so it has become overgrown in the local vegetation. What's s Scout Survey crew to do?

Have a look at this page of planetscapes:
www.pxleyes.com/blog/2010/01/40-out-of-this-world-cg-space-scenes

 Here's some starship models:
webdesigncrowd.com/32-detailed-awe-inspiring-spaceship-concept-art

 Have you read my post The Drannixa Gambit, with these huge arcologies?  Here's the illustration I should have used:

Welcome to the future. It is very tall.

All images copyrighted to their creators or the CG Society. No infringement intended.