USS Da Vinci bridge layout?

[F. King Daniel]

I'm up to Interphase in my SCE reading, and I was wondering what the USS Da Vinci's bridge would look like. Everything I've read so far in SCE screams "generic Starfleet bridge", but did any of the authors have one specifically in mind? I would guess either the Enterprise-E, the USS Equinox or the DS9 Defiant (more likely the latter two considering to the Da Vinci's size), with the standard "guest ship" modfifications (i.e. slightly different panel layout and colour scheme).

Any thoughts?

 

[Christopher]

I'd expect something more compact than the E-E bridge, but not as stripped-down as Defiant.

 

[aaon80]

I am currently in "Ambush," as I too am reading the books for the first time. In my mind I have pictured the bridge as something of a Defiant-style bridge, but more gray and spotlit, almost NX01-esque with LCARS.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

I tend to picture it as the Enterprise-D's Battle Bridge, but I'm willing to bet that's a bit small.

 

[captcalhoun]

it's described as being small, conn and ops are forward of the Big Chair, between it and the viewscreen. Tactical is directly behind the BC (so that heroic tac officers can

Spoiler: Wildfire

hurl themselves over the rail to save their captains

) with science and engineering consoles to the rear. there's no seats for the first or other officers - Gomez is frequently said to be standing at Gold's side or wandering. Duffy, Stevens or Bart seem to co-opt which ever rear stations they need as they need to.

i don't think it was changed overmuch after Wildfire.

 

[F. King Daniel]

^That description (thanks, by the way!) makes me think of the TNG generic "back wall of consoles" guest ship, used for the Enterprise-C, the Hathaway, the Bozeman, Picard's pirate ship and the Pasteur.

Or maybe that set from early DS9, that was used as an Antares-class freighter and a Nebula-class starship.

 

[regemet]

Iwould speculate that the U S S DaVinci's bridge to be like that of the U S S Equinoix's

 

[Cybersnark]

I can't help but think the Equinox bridge is too "fancy." I picture the Saber-class as more of a workhorse than an explorer --dimmer (movie-era) lighting, more cramped, fewer raised/lowered cutouts on the floor. This isn't the ship that has to impress visiting dignitaries; it works for a living.

I picture something more like a cross between the Excelsior-class and the Nebula-class (or whatever-we-need-this-week-class) bridge:

Captain's seat in the middle, side-by-side conn/ops, pedestal-like tactical station behind the captain, consoles around the periphery, beyond a railing and a step --but with an alcove behind tactcal, with doors to the conference room and turbolift (so no one can enter or leave without passing by Shabalala [which would make his "Captain on the bridge" moments funnier if he can do it without turning around]). Maybe a forward door to the Captain's office, and maybe an extra turbolift (meaning that most of the console-space ends up "in the back" just due to space).

 

[Timo]

One thing worth considering is that the bridge of a standard Saber class starship is shaped rather curiously: it's a very narrow triangle, with a small ovoid on top.

http://www.shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/scout_sabre.jpg

Since the Da Vinci is supposed to be a small ship even for a crew of 40, we're best off using the very lowest-end estimates for the size of a Saber, which makes the bridge really small, too. Too small to have a "generic" layout based on the standard "guest sets" of the TV shows, all jammed inside that triangle...

Also, we have a round feature at the aft portside corner, quite possibly indicating turbolift placement.

The conference room and Captain's office would probably have to lie on a somewhat lower deck, with a few steps of stairs going down from the bridge. Unless we assume that the bridge is sunken on that deck as well, and the triangular feature is just extra headroom or sensors or top armor or whatnot.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Leathco]

This may be odd, but what if the bridge on the Saber class wasn't facing forward, but facing backward? That would mean that the bridge, while small, would still be set up with captain in the center seat, with helm and conn up front left and right, with tactical behind the center seat (possibly in the forward tip?)

 

[Timo]

I guess the 30 Degree League will be receptive to that idea...

There are other possibilities. Perhaps the Da Vinci isn't a completely standard-abiding Saber? Perhaps her bridge is an enlarged one, whereas the standard corvettes (or whatnot) only have a single pilot up front or something?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Oerdin]

I'd like to see what it looks like when pictures have been leaked.

 

[elaithin]

Uh.. leaked from what?

 

[KRAD]

I always envisioned the bridge as a mix of the Enterprise-D battle bridge in terms of arrangement of consoles (but smaller even than that) with lighting closer to the TOS era.

It looks nothing like the Defiant bridge, which I always hated. (Love the ship, hate the bridge layout....)

There's a command well, a la TOS, with the command chair in the center and conn and ops in front of the chair. Tactical is along the railing behind the command chair, and the aft consoles are multipurpose, broken up by various doors (turbolifts, meeting room, ready room).

 

[ares93]

Uh.. leaked from what?

have you been living under a rock or something? the us government has been building these things for years to battle the klingons.

(jokes aside, i have no bloody clue what the chap means.)

 

[Timo]

To be sure, the sets used for the TV and especially movie bridges are "needlessly" spacious, in terms of distance between consoles and so forth. It wouldn't be difficult to imagine the indicated, "traditional" layout but with significantly less elbow room. Although the novelettes don't mention elbow contact as such...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

I always envisioned the bridge as a mix of the Enterprise-D battle bridge in terms of arrangement of consoles (but smaller even than that) with lighting closer to the TOS era.

It looks nothing like the Defiant bridge, which I always hated. (Love the ship, hate the bridge layout....)

There's a command well, a la TOS, with the command chair in the center and conn and ops in front of the chair. Tactical is along the railing behind the command chair, and the aft consoles are multipurpose, broken up by various doors (turbolifts, meeting room, ready room).

That's exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks, kind sir.

 

[elaithin]

Just out of curiosity, KRAD, what do you dislike about Defiant's bridge? I thought it was the most practical one we'd ever seen.

 

[KRAD]

Just out of curiosity, KRAD, what do you dislike about Defiant's bridge? I thought it was the most practical one we'd ever seen.

Too elongated and aesthetically unpleasing to me. A purely subjective judgment--in practical terms, it actually makes quite a bit of sense.....