Ship Interior Space

[Bry_Sinclair]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of developing a small civilian ship for a story and wanting to help make it fully realised, so want to make sure I fill it up with appropriate rooms, facilities, equipment and systems, so that I know where all those onboard are in relation to everything else (to help give it a "lived in" feel).

The ship itself is about forty years old, but been looked after over that time, upgraded by several owners. She is essentially a freelance 'courier' so can end up going anywhere for any sort of work, though would need a good amount of cargo space and a few spare passenger cabins. She has shields and a couple of phaser banks for defence, as well as a probe launcher that was installed recently (just probes, no missiles/torpedoes). Also she's too small (yet to work out full dimensions but only three decks) and old to have any sort of holodecks/suites, so the crew have to make do with more wholesome entertainments (we all know what holosuites are actually used for, hehe).

Below is a list of everything I've either got so far, or have in mind to include, but I'm just wondering if there is anything more that I'd need to include, to help fill her out (especially with the likes of shipboard systems):

• Airlocks/Docking Ports
• Antimatter Containment Pods, Generator & Injector
• Armoury
• Bridge
• Captain’s Office
• Cargo Holds
• Communications/Sensor Suite
• Computer Core
• Crew Cabins
• Deflector Array
• Deuterium Injector & Storage Tanks
• Engine Room
• Environmental Systems
• Gravity Generator
• Head/Showers
• Laboratory (former Storage Room, temporary addition)
• Mess Hall
• Passenger Cabins
• Probe Launcher & Magazine
• Sensor Arrays
• Shield Generator
• Sickbay
• Storage Rooms
• Transporter Room
• Waste Management
• Workshop

 

[Unicron]

What era is the ship active in? Just curious.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Story starts just after the Dominion War, so the ship was commissioned around 2340.

 

[Timo]

...Probably in the vein of the big Maquis ships of DS9/VOY, then.

Keep the general aesthetic and rearrange the parts a bit, and Admiral Bennett is your close relative.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sgt_G]

Bry: See this PDF == http://www.starfleetgames.com/documents/deckplan/PROTOCOLS_FOR_DECK_PLANS.pdf

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

@Sgt_G looks very useful, I'll give it a thorough peruse this evening.

Many thanks

 

[Matthew Raymond]

You may want to keep in mind the standard sizes for television and Hollywood flats, in case someone wants to eventually build a set from your blueprints. So, whenever possible, keep the height around 8, 10 or 12 feet and the length of all the walls on increments of 4 feet. The PDF says 2 meters is plenty, but 8 feet is more like 2.43 meters, so I'd go with that, especially if you're going to have maintenance areas under some of the floor panels like in the Millennium Falcon.

Wait, does Starfleet have standard corridor sizes?

 

[Sgt_G]

So, whenever possible, keep the height around 8, 10 or 12 feet and the length of all the walls on increments of 4 feet. The PDF says 2 meters is plenty

Ceiling heights are easy to keep at 8 or 10 feet. No reason to make them 12 feet, but it would give you plenty of crawl space between decks. By the way, the "2 meters is plenty" quoted from the PDF was for corridor width, not ceiling height.

As to making rooms in multiples of 4-foot wall segments, that's easier said than done, especially if you're working from an outside schematics. I've drafted a full set of deck plans based on clip-art / miniature from a game. Trust me when I say it's a study in compromise.

 

[Tenacity]

developing a small civilian ship

How small is small, Firefly?

No separate captain’s office, they work out of a desk in their cabin, it worked for Kirk.

The armory might be just a secure wall locker somewhere, maybe in the captain's cabin or directly on the bridge.

Sensor arrays, might not be too elaborate on a small civilian vessel. Enough for navigation yes, but not for science, search and rescue, or combat.

Sickbay could be a single room.

 

[The Librarian]

You may want to look around for some Traveller deck plans. The Type-A merchant in particular looks like a smaller Defiant and can give you the idea of how much room a ship this size might have.

ETA: Actually, here's one I've been working on but Star Wars-ified. Rob Caswell has some on Deviantart, I think.

Another ship to look at from media might be the Rocinante, which is about the size you're looking for.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I settled on a Ju'day-Class (aka Maquis Raider) as my civvie ship and managed to work out a series of deck plans and specs that work for the story I'm telling. I don't have them right on front of me at the moment but will try to remember the highlights:

A Deck:
Bridge, Captain's Office (an addition by a previous owner that hasn't been replaced as yet), Communications/Sensor Room, Briefing Room, Head, Airlocks/Docking Ports, Emergency Battery Compartments, Engineering Support (Matter Injector Assembly)

B Deck:
Probe Launcher, Replicator Matter (both Organic and Inorganic), Transporter Room, Head, Armoury/Secure Storage, Sickbay, Life Support, Computer Core (upper level), Workshop, Laboratory (temporary), Engine Room, Shield Generators, Structural Integrity Field Generator, Cargo Holds 1 & 2

C Deck:
Deflector Array, Lounge, Crew/Passenger Cabins (2 x Executive, 8 x Single, 4 x Double), Head/Shower Rooms, Mess Hall (includes Galley), Gym, Ship Stores, Laundry, Hydroponics, Gravity Generator, Computer Core (lower level), Ventral Airlock, Replicator Matter (both Organic and Inorganic), Waste Management, Fabrication Bay, Forcefield Generator, Engineering Support (Antimatter Injector Assembly), Antimatter Containment Pods, Emergency Battery Compartments, Main Cargo Bay, Entry Ramp

Not knowing the actual size of equipment I've tried to be fairly conservative with shipboard systems, in my fanon the Ju'day-Class was designed for civilian use as a courier, often used for supporting colonies as such she would be fairly simple and straight forward to maintain and operate. This ship was never a part of the Maquis fleet, as such wasn't fitted with torpedoes, whilst some aspects are the result of either the crew modifying interior space for other purposes (the medic turned an old storage room into a small hydroponics bay), or were added/augmented for pervious work they were hired to undertake (the probe bay was installed by the Daystrom Institute).

She may be a small ship, but her was intended to be a versatile craft, which the current crew use to their full advantage branding themselves as "freelancers" able to turn their hand to many different kinds of work.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

Please keep in mind that everything I'm about to say is in the context of making a deck plan loosely "set-ready".

Ceiling heights are easy to keep at 8 or 10 feet.

True enough if your set is going to have an in-shot ceiling. Otherwise, you want those walls to be as high up as possible so you can do wider shots without exposing the non-existent ceiling.

No reason to make them 12 feet, but it would give you plenty of crawl space between decks.

Well, I was thinking cargo bays, but I see what you're getting at. The plans don't have to be as high as they'd need to be in an actual set. Very true.

By the way, the "2 meters is plenty" quoted from the PDF was for corridor width, not ceiling height.

Set sizing is based on the size of available construction material, not on an arbitrary axis. If you're putting carpet over concrete as your corridor floor, then you may not need to worry, but if you're building your own floor on a platform, you'll still be construction from 8'x4' panels. It depends on the situation.

As to making rooms in multiples of 4-foot wall segments, that's easier said than done, especially if you're working from an outside schematics. I've drafted a full set of deck plans based on clip-art / miniature from a game. Trust me when I say it's a study in compromise.

My understanding was that the originator of the thread wanted to draw up their own deck plans. While I would expect it's not always easy to make thing always fit a certain grid size, keeping a certain scale and grid size in mind can help avoid unfortunate compromises later.

 

[Darkwing]

Traveller deck plans are pretty useful for ideas, and the FASA ship construction manual also describes the equipment that fills various spaces in the ships for deck plan purposes, with some examples.
I'd also suggest touring some real-world ships to see how some of these things are really done to get a different take on it.

 

[Almael]

Deck height is only important if there are more than one deck and you need stuff up or down there. Otherwise civilian ships don't need anything extra or multi-mission purposes just shipping people or stuff is enough. The civilian sector has virtually no requirement other than immediate safety and economic ones. That's the reason why Airbus has so much trouble making the A400M Atlas right with all the complicated military requirements in play.
A sample of my own deckplans.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

I'm working on a starship corridor set design with the base walls being 10' wide by 10' high and a two-foot space under the floor grates for pipes and equipment. That makes each floor about 12'. Does that make sense, or is that too tall?

 

[Mytran]

It's the same height as the Engine Room set in TMP, TNG and VOY.

By comparison, the corridor ceiling height as depicted in TNG and VOY was around 8 feet

 

[Richard Baker]

Deck height is only important if there are more than one deck and you need stuff up or down there. Otherwise civilian ships don't need anything extra or multi-mission purposes just shipping people or stuff is enough. The civilian sector has virtually no requirement other than immediate safety and economic ones. That's the reason why Airbus has so much trouble making the A400M Atlas right with all the complicated military requirements in play.
A sample of my own deckplans.

'You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post."

 

[Mytran]

Deck height is only important if there are more than one deck and you need stuff up or down there. Otherwise civilian ships don't need anything extra or multi-mission purposes just shipping people or stuff is enough. The civilian sector has virtually no requirement other than immediate safety and economic ones. That's the reason why Airbus has so much trouble making the A400M Atlas right with all the complicated military requirements in play.
A sample of my own deckplans.

I got that as well - I thought it was just my work IT blocking the links!

 

[Matthew Raymond]

By comparison, the corridor ceiling height as depicted in TNG and VOY was around 8 feet

Well, now that I think of it, what I said was kinda misleading. I should have mentioned that 10' x 10' is the maximum width and height. Effective space is probably closer to 8' x 8', because the walls and ceiling are lined with conduits and equipment in standardized access enclosures with removable panels. However, what that means is that you also have no Jefferies Tubes, because all access is in main corridors. Hence, no crawling around on your hands and knees.

 

[sojourner]

For a real world example, cruise ships have a main working deck with a corridor running the length of the ship that is 12' wide by 10'. This is at the same level that everything gets loaded on the ship from the pier. All other corridors leading off of it are smaller and no other deck below the passenger areas has a hall as big as this one. On Royal Caribbean ships this main thoroughfare has the nick name of "I-95" after the main highway in Miami where the majority of the ships sail from.