I am no engineer. I agree with what you said about the building pictures I have seen of 1950-1960 missle silos, bunkers and what have you.
The pyramid is VERY stable. Above ground where all of that weight can spread from narrow top to broad bottom. But I have no clue as to how that shape would handle stress from the sides as earth pressed inward.
Most of the "canon" bunkers I have read about in TMP are some what small.
The average cache is mentioned as 3x3x3.
IIRC, you advocated using semi trailers as a base form for caches. THat is an object approx 48' x 14' x 8.5'
There are no size or shape mentioned about the 'Bolt Hole." It has got to be fairly large. V-150 plus, say, 6 sleepers, plus supplies, plus small to medium meeting area while the CO uses the V-150 to commo with BP, sample atmosphere, take a look around with sensor array.
Delta base is not all that big. At least the "livable" part. And IIRC, the different parts of Delta are described as dome structures. THe real "guts" of Delta are far underground and out of reach of our adventure seeking heros.
Prime, of course, is HUGE. But it was built in a hourglass shape inside of a natural cave.
Damocles base is fairly large, area for 8 people plus supplies, plus vehicles, plus parts, plus Damocles. IIRC, built as a cylinder.
Just some random thoughts from a wandering mind.
My $0.02
Mike
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