So, I've spent a while looking at the newly posted renderings of the Aurora's bridge and I've been struck my two thoughts.
1) The bridge has a lot more open space than I would have expected. I've always thought of the Aurora being built more on a submarine model with cramped interiors.
2) The design and look of the bridge appears crude and unsophisticated. But, you would expect that one of the earliest starships built by a society that has only begun building starships again within the past thirty years.
Anyone else have similar thoughts?
I like the Art styling but its very clean and uniform for a ship that has had many hands making adjustments to it along the way.
At first glance there is to much room in there, it looks like the Captain would have to shout orders in normal conditions not to mind when alarms are going off. But the more I look at it, I can see how it matches the schematics (It just looks too wide and too long).
I would like to point out that the steps look to be in the most inconvenient lay out possible for people walking toward the front of the Bridge. going to the helm you either have to walk along a step or veer closer to the captain or to the side stations. Was that intentional to mess with the minds of the flight crew? or a subtle test of they're navigational ability?
Also looking at the dept of the room from the doors to the main screen, the screen is meant to reached half way into the bridge and it seems to end much further forward then that. I like the ceiling art too but it might be two low in front of the main view screen.
I thought that the Tactical Station was a standing station, so I'm surprised to see it so low (I can understand the Chair being there all the same)
All in all I like it, it just seems very roomy in the areas without massive consoles.
Hope my insights helped.
@four-islands I believe the most recent refit of the bridge was when the Aurora was in the Pallax shipyards in the Takar system before it headed back to Earth. The bridge probably looks clean and uniform because the shipyard technicians probably took the time to clean it up too once they had upgraded the systems.
As I said, there does look like there is an excessive amount of empty space. Looking at the schematics I expected it to be much narrower than it looks with the side consoles closer to the captain.
I couldn't say about the steps, but I would think would step down probably somewhere halfway between the side consoles and the captain to reach the flight consoles.
If you look at the schematic, the tactical station has always been a seated console. I'm curious about the flight console myself. I would have expected the touch screen panels to have been much bigger than they're depicted.
There are still some adjustments to be made, however I asked them to post what they had for now.
Yes, the tactical station should be a little taller, like kitchen counter height. The chair is supposed to be a high-backed bar-stool height as well
There should be more touch screen width on the helm/navigation stations. They should fill up the console to either side.
The appearance of roominess is a deception of the 3D software. Once we put people in there it will look "tighter". It is rendered from the original floor plans, and if you look at them you will see that it is not as roomy as it appears in the rendering. If you look at the floor plan, you'll realize that everyone in the room is within 4-5 meters (13.1 - 16.4 ft) from the captain. Not exactly shouting distance, but definitely roomer than a submarine.
FYI: This rendering is of the bridge AFTER the refits in the Karuzara dry dock in books 14 & 15. A lot of the consoles were changed (in favor of Takaran tech/computers) and the vertical glass display panels on the consoles, and the two large ones on the floor on either side of the main view screen were added as well, all to supply more information to the operator and better situational awareness for the captain. (Without having to call up additional data windows on the main view screen. The ORIGINAL Aurora/Celestia bridge was even more basic than these renderings.
It would appear that the rendering also depicts the bridge at General Quarters. Unless the red lighting along the steps and console bases has become standard since the refit. I would assume that during normal operations that lighting would be white. And I like the vertical display panels. Their transparent nature allows the operators of the console to access additional information while still being visible to the other officers and technicians manning the bridge. I could see them being used elsewhere like the Porto Santo Spaceport as arrival and departure boards for inbound and outbound shuttles, kind of like the way banks of monitors are used today in the concourses of airports. Another thing I like it the model of the Aurora in front of the viewscreen in the ready room. It's a nice touch. But, I don't know about the floor. It kind of looks like polished marble and I know that has no place on a starship unless its of an opulent Takaran design. Whenever I thought of Nathan's ready room I pictured Jonathan Archer's ready from the NX-01. Low ceilings, metal deck plates, and simple furnishings.
I find the Displays round the Tactical Station and the Communication Station to tall it blocks the view from the mina display and the captain as a captain I would get annoyed at having to look from a display to see my bridge staff.
Also who've talk and tablets before and person communicates I would like to see some where for personal to place there devices as, perhaps as a way to log in to the station but also for the captain as a screen for him to pull up is own displays.
