Panel 2 was the first good look at the cockpit of the Khoruysa Brimia, and it was something I wanted to draw so that I could personally get a better feel for the details of the four stations and the different consoles beyond just the rough sketches I had done for myself at the concepting stage.
As for the layout itself, I wanted the cockpit to be tight but not cramped, and I wanted the front stations to have consoles that wrapped around the pilot and co-pilot seats, so that characters could swivel around to work various consoles behind them and to their sides. Not I that I actually ever draw them doing that. 🙂
actually, I’ve always had an issue with Star Trek bridges. Space in.. space.. is at a premium. Having thousands of cubic feet just sitting there is stupid. Among other things, you have to fill it with air.
Further – in an emergency, it takes TIME to move from one station to another. Even a half-second can be important – so space between stations will be kept to a minimum.
All in all, I think you’ve done an excellent job with the bridge.
Further still, any station should be capable of performing the job of any other station. It may not be as effecient or effective as the station which is *designed* for whatever it does (say, gunnery), but any station SHOULD be able to fill in, in an emergency.
Ah, but without the huge open bridges in Star Trek, how would the crew throw itself around whenever they’re fired upon or hit some sort of rough patch. You need a lot of room for that kind of physical flailing. 🙂
Seriously though, thanks for nice words about my bridge design. And yes, I actually conceived it so that any station could handle any other station. Maybe not with the same precision as the intended station, but certainly well enough to be a back-up.
This bridge design is truckloads of awesome and more or less what I have in mind whenever I think of the cockpit of a starship about this size.
Actually, what it really reminds me of is the cockpit of the Ebon Hawk from the KOTOR games: http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/c/c5/Ehawkcp.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20071006173443
Interesting. I was not familiar with that design. My jumping-off point was more the Millennium Falcon, but with 4 stations instead of 2 (with 2 backseat drivers!). And I wanted it to have a little more pizzazz to the layout.