"Horizon Retrofit" alternative bridge layout suggestion

[Dreamix]

Disclaimer: This is just mockups and experimentation of different possible layouts for the bridge, to eventually maybe find one that could potentially actually be good. There are many layouts in the spoilers below, some are better, some worse.

 

1. proposed bridge layout, but bad, capt office with no windows:

Spoiler

 

2. proposed bridge layout, but also bad, capt with very little windows:

Spoiler

 

3. consul/liaison proposed layout, with two offices for each:

Spoiler

 

4. consul/liaison proposed layout, slightly bigger offices for liaisons:

Spoiler

 

5. proposed bridge layout, with 2 offices for consuls and liasions each, and capt office as it is currently:

Spoiler

 

6. another layout, with a bridge teleporter, and no hallway between helm and meeting room:

Spoiler

 

Ehh. This is in response to the proposed bridge layout from the above. Separate thread, to not hijack that one. 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by Dreamix

[Zelmana]

What I hate about both of these designs is that both Captain's Quarters and Captain's Office both lack windows and any good design.

Why is it that the meeting room has a more prime location than the Captain's office? I main Captain and I feel like this would stuff what I perceive to be some of the most round-influential characters into a closet on the other plan, or here less prominently.

[Zelmana]

I completely agree that Consul has no place in the bridge.

[Carver]

Only one Liaison Office?

[Dreamix]

2 hours ago, Zelmana said:

What I hate about both of these designs is that both Captain's Quarters and Captain's Office both lack windows and any good design.

Why is it that the meeting room has a more prime location than the Captain's office? I main Captain and I feel like this would stuff what I perceive to be some of the most round-influential characters into a closet on the other plan, or here less prominently.

I've put up a second, different proposed layout, that slightly rearranges stuff to give the captain some more window space. On the first layout I was primarily reiterating on the layout from the original thread, so like, yeah. I'll put up a third proposed layout maybe tomorrow, with the captain's office/quarters just not being changed from as it is currently.

 

2 hours ago, Carver said:

Only one Liaison Office?

Yes. Honestly, I do not think two liason slots would be a whole lot better than just one.
Liasions represent the corporations, of which we have seven, and I don't think they have a whole ton of interesting interactions between them. At best, it's just some rivalry, but even then they all have different niches. For example, Idris security does take different jobs than Zavod or PMCG.
Compared to consuls, who represent our nations/factions, and also their sub-factions/planets/etc (like Coalition consul can be from Himeo, or also from Konyang, and they'll both be very different from each other. I think there's like infinitely more interesting interactions between different consular officers, than it is between any two liaisons.
There's also the issue that I do not see any nice way to fit two liaison offices there.

[Carver]

There's plenty of interaction available - corporate competition is a woefully underutilized theme that multiple liaisons are perfect for, and to plan around just one when the entire suggestion for that was to double up on both parties is simply rude. If Liaisons are neglected then I'll push suggestions to double them up until the day I die, because they have equal RP opportunities if not vastly more than most Consulars - who tend to depend on citizens of their factions (or enemies of their factions) existing in a round to get any meaningful interaction. There are plenty of archetypes for the Megacorporations that are further supported by the role's alt-titles as well if you choose, for example; a Hephaestus Workplace Liaison from Burzsia, a Corporate Executive of Idris, a PMCG Representative from one of it's own myriad of sub-factions (NCS, XDS, the EPMCs, etc.). Furthermore, every round with a meaningful manifest will have members of each corp for Liaisons to engage with in some interesting fashion, as even the more specialized Liaisons still represent their greater megacorp - but not every round is going to have a citizen of the Nralakk Federation or the PRA.

As for space, you could simply shrink the office design and find it easier to mirror it elsewhere in the bridge. There's an unused little room beneath it that offers plenty of space if the design above is shrunk, meanwhile the BCs don't need anywhere near that much space for their table with a few knick-knacks and 3 lockers - and the Captain's misusing space immensely with how strangely protected his oversized office now is.

Putting aside the Liaison topic for the moment, instead toward the thought of the Captain; I'd really prefer the Captain's Office and Quarters to have windows to space. There's nothing special about this new location, feeling more like the Captain was just sort of shoved into the leftover space from Telecommunications. The Captain not having a good view of space from his quarters is absolutely criminal.

[Dreamix]

8 hours ago, Carver said:

There's plenty of interaction available - corporate competition is a woefully underutilized theme that multiple liaisons are perfect for, and to plan around just one when the entire suggestion for that was to double up on both parties is simply rude.

No it's not rude, lol. Just because it was suggested and a few people liked it, doesn't mean everyone needs to follow that suggestion. IMO consuls have much bigger potential for fun stuff than liaisions, but that's just my opinion, and nothing more than that.

Ultimately I am here only just mocking stuff up to experiment with different layouts. I've put up some more proposed layouts in the first post, with two offices for consuls and liaisons each.

[Carver]

13 hours ago, Dreamix said:

Ultimately I am here only just mocking stuff up to experiment with different layouts. I've put up some more proposed layouts in the first post, with two offices for consuls and liaisons each.

I like the both of them, though I do prefer the more compact layouts overall.

If space is a greater concern in the long-term I'd potentially suggest moving the Consular Offices across the third deck ring to where the crew armoury is, shoving the Liaisons where the Consular Offices are, and shoving the crew armoury into some other less-used corner - since thematically the Consulars aren't really married to the SCC Bridge and that ring could use a greater spread of foot traffic. This would open up a lot of free bridge space to use however someone would like.

A further spicy suggestion may be a return to traditional mapping habits: Having the teleporter in that unused space on the bridge, opening up the space it uses on Deck 1 to be used for something else (Crew armoury in a weird location?). But this is more of an idle thought on how to use that foam-area than a serious suggestion.

[Dreamix]

I'd really prefer if consulars and liaisons both were in roughly the same place, near the bridge. It's nice and centralized that way, and they're both welcome in the bridge (until they are eventually kicked out). Putting the consular office somewhere else, I feel would only communicate that they are not welcome in the bridge.

I've put up yet another layout (6). Mainly eliminating the hallway between the big meeting room and the helm. Which also makes it so the captain can have a peek into the meeting room. Also there's a bridge teleporter, but like, I'm not sure I'm feeling it tbh. 

[Zelmana]

Something to keep in mind is the emergency escape for Captain's quarters.

[Carver]

On 26/04/2023 at 10:10, Dreamix said:

I'd really prefer if consulars and liaisons both were in roughly the same place, near the bridge. It's nice and centralized that way, and they're both welcome in the bridge (until they are eventually kicked out). Putting the consular office somewhere else, I feel would only communicate that they are not welcome in the bridge.

I'm not sure it's r e a l l y needed to have them near the bridge, particularly the Consulars - I'm unfamiliar with Liaison access as I'm still working on a character for the role, but Consulars do not have access to the Bridge directly - only the hallway toward it and the conference room. Apparently a couple of Bridge Crew have gotten bonked for letting my Consular on the bridge now and then without directly asking Command first, even with very fair reasoning (which is perhaps why I never heard about the bonks until the BC players mentioned it themselves) - which leads me to reason that perhaps having the Consular Offices not directly adjacent to the bridge might be something 'culturally' beneficial beyond merely my prior desire to encourage a better spread of traffic around the Deck 3 ring.