Bridges/Cockpits need a serious overhaul

[dayang]

So a couple of things don't add up for me in the cockpits/bridges of various ships. They honestly look like they've been designed by someone who looked at LCARS from Star Trek and though: "That looks wonderful lets do that". LCARS looks very pretty, but ergonomically, it's atrocious.

Lets take the Behemoth Vanguard. We know that inertia exists in X4. However on deck, the Captain and everyone else, is standing at their stations with very little to brace themselves. One serious blam from the side and there's gonna be concussions and jelly splatters across the ceiling galore. This is before we get to the ergonomics of 'standing' on a moving vessel trying to do your work. Anyone who has stood on a bus going into the city knows full well how tricky it can be navigating their mobile phone depending on how well the bus driver drives. In space especially around asteroids... that's gonna be amplified from all different angles (especially with how the AI drives!)

But lets take a look at the actual consoles themselves for a second.

Flight control is off to the right... personally I would opt for a redesign of the whole layout but lets put that aside for the moment and take a look at the controls. This guy is in charge of flying the ship, yet half the switches are off to one side, or screens hidden where he'd basically have to duck to get a good look at the display of whatever it is. This is not to mention the slightly silly notion of a flat screen interface. Imagine driving your car, but your only way to steer is to tap the touch screen. It's also not possible for navigation and flight to eyeball each other this is uh... not great. If anyone has ever played Empty Epsilon, the Pilot liaising with Navigation is a must.

Speaking of navigation... the navigation console is exactly the same as the flight console... exactly the same, which breaks some realism. I'm not expecting it to show real information, but looking like it has some form of 'map' or 'radar' would be a vast improvement. I would also expect navigation to have less visibility and their screens being more 'vertical' so that they can see the bigger picture as it were.

There are a number of devices that are next to impossible to reach (either side of the command deck at the end).

Now I dunno about you but when I'm on shift, I expect to have some water (coffee) nearby, but there is basically nowhere to put anything like that. No vending machine, no drinks holder.

Last thing before I stop my hopefully constructive critique.

Why are all the cockpits exposed Startrek style? I understand it somewhat from the fighter perspective, but for the bridge of a destroyer? :grimace: We've more or less learned from this lesson ourselves, most command centers are rarely placed in exposed areas. If I were a fighter pilot, the first place I'd be aiming for with a torpedo, would be the bridge.

In the grand scheme of things this is not going to be Egosoft's biggest priority in the world. It's just something I've noted and has been niggling at me and if your modelling and animation team are feeling a little bored, this would be an excellent place to review. I'm not calling for higher quality textures or more polygons here, just some consideration for a believable working environment.

Oh and can we give the NPCs something else to say that "Hello!" "Goodbye!"??

[Alan Phipps]

Maybe the Teladi have it right then with a virtual bridge hidden away somewhere in the depths of the capital and with screens showing the outside views. The bridge virtual view is actually of that from the big front central hole that the cargodrones go in and out of (but with cargodrone images artificially displaced lower and out of the way).

[Calgor Grim]

I think at this point I'd settle for a few extra places to sit down on these bridges. I'll take being perched on the edge of a console or table if I have to!

Give our bridge crew and officers some proper captains and staff chairs with buttons and at least some optional seatbelts for when you do take that "blam" from the side you might actually be secured somewhere. Nobody likes being stood up at a post for long periods and it's good to take the weight off from time to time.

[gbjbaanb]

Its space magic.

In space, they all stand on the bridge.. and yet, its in space. ie no gravity.

So its not like standing on the bus at all. Inertia might not be a thing at all depending on whatever spacemagic artificial gravity doodad is being used.

I would like to see the marines at least trying to stand to attention when they're on deck, they seem to lurk right now. But then, I'd rather they spent the time fixing bugs and making the gameplay better rather than the cosmetics.