I know, I know! 1950's supersweet colors, way too Kindergarten to be used on the Aventine's Bridge. MUST BE MORE SERIOUS!!! Where is that Joker smiley when you need it. I can design a bridge according to your specifications, would be rather nice to do a panorama shot of that too. We needs it....my preciou... I mean: your specifications.
It would be fantastic to see you do a design of the Vesta-class bridge, but first.... we want to see your new Voyager!! I've been checking out your blog just about every day to see something new.
Yes, sorry about a lack of updates on Voyager, a lot is going on. For now I moved Voyager (ouch ouch ) lower on the list, to work on Demeter first. I find some features on Voyager to be challenging in terms of Quantum Slipstream. I want to improve these sections (for QS) but I'm still thinking about solutions. Before I do any more modeling, I want to solve that first. So for now it's Demeter, working on this ship helps me understand curvature a bit better and might give me some insight that I can later apply to Voyager. Anyway Vesta Bridge: I always imagined the most important stations in a circle around the captain & commander. Another station set would be at the rear, just liked on the D and almost as traditional as on the D (Black LCARS.) However less prominent and more like a backup system. Station information can be displayed in a form of eye tracking projection. I'm avoiding direct brain in/output as it would be rather boring for the tv show viewer, even if it will be common practice sooner than later. Anyway this eye tracking projection system would avoid sparking/exploding displays and give the bridge a less cluttered appearance. Important information for all bridge crew can be projected on the main viewscreen, that is about 10 times wider and 3 times less high then it used to be. (It runs across a large part of the bridge) It can be divided into "lcar" zones for specific information during busy situations, or just give a huge starry background panorama. I still think a screen is a very efficient way to get information accross. 2 other great ways are speech and a smooth running team. The MSD (if any) should be holographic and 3 dimensional, way easier to pinpoint damage or problems that way. Does not have to be on all the time and should not be in the command circle's view. Nothing as distracting as something spinning around or blinking. You wont see transparent glass panels with projected info. I think they would be outdated. (That technology is already available.) The colors are flat neutral greys that wont age quickly. "Soft/Smart" walls will avoid injury. Lights will still state the alert level. The overhead structure is X shaped and walks down to support 4 doors. 2 in the rear for the turbo lifts and 2 in the front that lead to the ready and briefing room. The blob above is still forming in my mind, it's kind of curious. These textual "tours" do help a lot. I never described but always sketched what I meant, that kind of confined my initial ideas. With text it's different, the mental image is not replaced by a sketch, but remains untouched until I can fully put it in 3D. Never thought about it that way. Very cool.
For fun, I quickly sketched an overhead view based on this... Two questions arose: 1) Two stations up front for con/ops, or one? A single station seems to be more popular toward the end of the TNG era (Nova, Intrepid, Defiant..) and though Vesta is a "larger" ship, its advanced technology suggests less people in charge of driving it. 2) Assuming a holographic MSD, would it simply be free-floating and projected as needed, or atop an MSD table as we had on Defiant, NX class, etc.? Mark
Mark, Before I move on further: my entire bridge layout is a personal idea, does not reflect the writers opinion. 1: I would go for 2, too much "specials " going on for 1 person. 2: I think that placement is important to humans, you keep an object stored on a certain location where you can find it back. The MSD probably has a standard position even if it might be able to float freely. To me that standard position would be at the rear backup lcar panels. (Centered on a 40cm high mid console)
The Defiant had a combined con/ops console, but on the Intrepid bridge, ops is the port aft station, opposite tactical at starboard aft. (Harry Kim was Voyager's ops officer.)
Yes of course. What I meant is the placement of one or two stations at the fore of the bridge regardless of function. There seemed to be a move to a single fore station in later ship designs as mentioned, with a couple exceptions (Sovereign, Prometheus) bucking the trend. Having Ops up front never made too much sense to me... Ops is meant to feed data about the ship and sensors to the CO and other officers, they shouldn't need a prime slot to look out the window IMO. Also, 40cm? I trip over toys that big when cleaning up after my daughter. Mark
This is the kinda stuff about the books that sometimes gets to me. Its easy to imagine the sets on the Defiant, Voyager, DS9 , D cos we saw them on screen But they were so LAZY with the enterprise E sets, the half assed engineering, half assed quarters, voyager sickback in FC then later a sickbay that looked so thrown together ...that I find it hard to imagine the E Ive been picturing the Aventine bridge as more like the first Excelsior bridge modernised: http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/gallery/bridges/excelsior-nx2000-bridge.jpg with a stand up panel for security and tactical behind the captain like they had on the enterprise b
Ok, this is my 'reimagining' of the Aventine Bridge... taking cues from what people have suggested and discussed here... Taking a lot of cues from both the Prometheus and Sovereign class ships... as we know those two were around and designed approximately the same time as the Vesta class, so it makes sense there would be similarities between them... More elongated design is one thing we all seem to agree on, so that what i reflected here... with a 4 tier system basically, allowing The Captain clean line of sight around the bridge and to the view screen at the very front... To in order, from the top left to start with... Science console far left... with Slipstream Drive Operations opposite it (Far top console)... i kept the Slipstream Drive seperate from the standard helm, as it made sense that it was a seperate engine, with different principals, it would have its own control area to bring the drive online and control it from there... destinations would still be controlled from the helm, but the operations of the slipstream drive i think would definitely need its own console... Captain's Chair center, same level as the 'main' bridge, console to the Captain's right for access to multiple systems and control of holocommunication, with stations in front of it dropped down to allow line of sight around the entire bridge area... In front of the Captain's chair, lower level, we have the holocommunicator... I know the Prometheus or Sovereign class didn't have one, but there was at least one installed in Deep Space Nine and The Defiant refit, so i believe it was something that Starfleet would be rolling out in their newer ships... Level down from the holocommunication station we have Tactical (Top) and Communications (Bottom)... i always thought Tactical needed to be closer to the Captain than on the far side of the Bridge where it was in the Sovereign class, and behind the Captain in the Galaxy class, so placing it in front of the Captain's area on a lower level gives the Tactical station a direct line of sight to the view screen and a prominent station on the bridge... On the next level down with have Conn and Ops... at the very front of the bridge in front of the main dropdown Technical and Environmental, master systems display and stuff like that, would be along the wall (bottom wall) within easy view of The Captain... Turbolift on the bottom left area, with doors to the Captain's Ready Room (Top left) and conference room (Top right) This is still a work in progress for my imagination though... ideally i'm also thinking there should be steps down to the 3rd level (Where tactical and communications are) on either side... so people don't have to move past The Captain constantly to get in and out of the lower bridge area... with possible another console at the top middle (Between the two doors) for sensors and astrometrics... Well, that's my design anyway... anyone like or dislike it? Comments are definitely welcome lol M
I like the general layout, and I really like the idea of the placement of the tactical station. I think I might upsize the entire bridge by about 20%, though, as it seems like there isn't much space to move around. If you look at the floorplans for the other bridges, especially TNG's, there's a lot of space. I'm also not sure what's going on in the front...maybe it's just the perspective, but it looks like there's a support brace coming right up through the middle of the viewscreen, or something. And where does Sam go? But that's a really solid first draft - aesthetically looks like the Aventine, some new ideas but still very Starfleet, etc. Nice work.
thanks... i wasn't overly sure about the size, but i put it at about twice the length of the Sovereign class.. enough room to menouver around... you may be right though, it might need some more 'width' to it, a bit more space between the side consoles and the barriers for the lower bridge area... no there's not a support brace there lol... i'll edit that out... the view screen would stretch around on a 'curve' so to speak, not the basic 'flat' ones the Enterprise D and E have, giving a more 'panoramic' view around the front of the ship for both the captain and the tactical... Sam? Remind me, only been awake an hour or so lol thaks, glad you like it M
I like it - although I'd reduce the size of the "pit" in the centre, or move those steps in front of the command chair further forward - if Ezri's knocked out of her chair, and down those stairs, she might break her neck! I'd also put something on the side walls, either more consoles or TNG-style lockers (were those lockers on the TNG bridge??)
yeah... thinking the steps do need to come forward a bit... or maybe moved into a soft ramp instead... that way if Ezri falls she won't be unconscious by the time she lands lol You mean the side walls of the 'pit' area? I was actually thinking of those as lighting basically, so when alert status changed, the interior of the 'pit' changed as well... so with Red Alert, the entire pit would be lit up red from the walls around, if that makes sense... glad you like it though M
ok, bit easier to do soft blueprints than a fancy 3D thingie lol In order... 1. Captains Chair 2. Communications 3. Tactical 4. Panoramic viewscreen (Curved) 5. Operations 6. Helm / Conn 7. Engineering 8. Turbolift 9. Science 10. Astrometrics / Sensors 11. Master systems display 12. Slipstream Control 13. Security 14. Dedication Plaque 15. Captains Ready Room 16. Conference Room 17. Holocommunications Think that's everything... note the stairs in and out of the 'pit' on either side now, so people don't have to walk past the Captain every time to get to their station M
^ This is all very interesting. I'd definitely suggest the steps in front of the captain's chair shift forward, and be changed to a ramp. Never know when one will need to move something large and heavy without the aid of antigrav tech. Also not sure about the slipstream being controlled apart from the helm; monitored, yes, but the flight controller should have hands-on control for that.
ok how about this... a slightly elongated bridge from before, giving more room for tactical and communications by the steps leading out of the 'pit', and a curved sloping section from the Captain's chair down instead of the sharp steps previously used... I think the slipstream drive definitely has it's own console on the bridge if i remember from the books, i'll have to doublecheck the exact details... M