I got another question to you kind people!

As my voidmistress is also master(mistress) helsman it would be nice to know how bridge looks. At least a little. There are some pictures of it, but never showing pilot at work... What more this topic seems to be avoided. It is not know if helsman use something like steering wheel or cockpit or something else. In the "Into the storm" where oficer ranks are introduced, is write that helsman give orders to several kind of crew members.

We can read in the book: "A helmsman risen to be master of his profession must have a sixth sense for the dangers that can confound auspex and lead void-ships to ruin, and know how best to make use of his helm crew and their familiarity with a vessel’s character. The Master Helmsman must pilot not just the voids, but also the competing fiefdoms of enginarium, auspex, and bridge crew to ensure that every manoeuvre is accomplished to the Lord-Captain’s exacting standards."

I guess ship is just too big for one person manually steer it but... why then Pilot (space craft) is from agility? My GM changed it to inteligence and my character have shivted stats costs. Therefore there is a question: how does master helsman work looks and how his/her workplace looks?

PS: there is also another funny thing in the "Into the storm" they didn't say command is important skill... an yet use of helm crew. So what MH stands in the middle of the bridge and give orders like what, where and who should do to make ship turn left or right? Or sits in a chair in front of cockpip and trought consose signals who whould do what? It is so confusing :/

It's a bit of a misrepresentation, to be honest.

Pilot uses Agility. This is a standard mechanic for the Rogue Trader game, but, as you say, there is no logical reason why it should be used for a kilometre-long, megatonne warship. It might still be relevant for a spacecraft of thunderhawk/shark size, though (but that's much more Master Of Small Craft).

As far as I'm concerned, I agree, 99.99% of the time, that should be using Navigation tests, off Intelligence. You could say exactly the same thing about warship macrobatteries - given that these are essentially plotted artillery barrages, 'aiming' is generally done with a cogitator, a pair of compasses and a plotting table than a laser sight and a keen eye. As a result, I would be more ready to accept Intelligence than Ballistic Skill; one's ability with a Bolt Pistol has next to no impact on one's ability as a gun-captain.

The master helmsman is going to be stood or sat at the helm, both issuing orders to his subordinate crew and using the controls himself.

The manouvring controls for a starship will be complex, and "turn left" can be achieved in several ways - firing the braking thrusters on the port nose, overpowering the starboard main drive, or firing the starboard fore and port aft manouvring thrusters.

Which one the helmsman will order will depend on precisely what level of pitch, roll, yaw and velocity gain/loss he is trying to achieve.

I would imagine something akin to a submarine's helmsman's station - one master helmsman who has a full set of displays for the ship's attitude and calls orders to two or three subordinate helmsmen/planesmen - one managing pitch (up/down), one yaw (port/starboard) and one thrust (speed up/down). In addition, you might have a fourth controlling roll (not something which occurs for naval ships).

Navigate is still correct rather than command. Command is for either (a) getting people to do what you want based on rough/brief instructions "take that hill!" or (b) persuading them to do something they don't want to do "charge that carnifex!".

A Master Helmsman will be looking at several hololithic displays showing overall information and issuing orders like "starboard twenty! Pitch plus five!" which don't leave any room for misunderstanding. The helm crew, in front of him (so he can step forward and see their consoles if need be) will have controls for the thrusters/drives which specifically turn the ship in one plane, and more detailled information on those thrusters. If there's a problem (the drive is damaged), then that would be flagged up to the Master Helmsman's 'board', but if it's not severe enough to affect performance (any ship designed with combat in mind will have a reserve of performance) then the junior helmsmen will be expected to compensate themselves.

Thank you! This is a BIG help

Remember that command deck you see in the Starwars flicks when Vader is choking people, with the pits of people all pressing buttons and doing things? I imagine it a bit like that, probably about 10x as large though.

There are also several mentions in the fluff of the "Command Throne" Sometimes this is a required for someone to be sitting in it, plugged in etc, sometimes it appears to just be a place for the Lord Captain to sit and yell at people.

We fought a chaos pirate in a game and when we stormed the bridge of his ship we found he had a "Command Hot Tub" (Slaanesh worshiper) instead. Also chandeliers. (My RT needed something to swing from)

That's how I thought of them too. You can also picture Servitors (possibly from the waste up) at about half of the consoles (or more) with a human counterpart over seeing them. The size and layout of your bridge comes from various sources, notably being

1) Size of your ship

2) What bridge type you have installed (Invasion vs. Trade) to include Quality

3) Who your crew is (regular, all servitors, vagabonds and pirates, Orks [hehehe] etc etc)

3) What you want as a player/group

4) Agreement with the GM

Ultimately it comes down to what you and your fellow players want (within reason).

I'm not editing that. I think the black makes it look cool.

Remember that command deck you see in the Starwars flicks when Vader is choking people, with the pits of people all pressing buttons and doing things? I imagine it a bit like that, probably about 10x as large though.

That's how I picture it, too. The Helmsman would have an elevated chair facing a large bank of monitors, and flanked by recessed pits full of crewmen and servitors. Each of the crewmen is implementing the Helmsman's orders regarding a single ship component (one thruster, one power coupling, etc), and only the Helmsman sees the Big Picture of what's going on.

Why that would require Agility on the Helmsman's part is anybody's guess...

Why that would require Agility on the Helmsman's part is anybody's guess...

Probably so other characters won't be overshadowed by tech-priests in yet another area of life.

I always assumed the agility came from having to be able to perform very complex controls quickly. Not only that, but having to coordinate several complex equations and give the correct orders at the same time. Think of it more as mental agility more than physical.

while I like the sub analogy ( and will probably use it) a more fitting view of what it would look like if one person were piloting a ship might be from DS9( or voyager if you must). having one helmsman sitting dead center of the bridge controlling the ship in all three dimensions.

You know that I've been looking for an overview of a rogue trader ship bridge for a long time and found out that there simply is none. There is one to be found in into the storm IRC, but that one is very small and does in no way do right to any of the fluff.

fortunately I've been working together with an cartographer artist (Recklessenthusiasm) who usually does paid commission, but also has a couple of map on drivethrough and as a return favour he is currently working on a ship bridge for me and my group. Its build based on my instructions but I have to say it starts looking awesome. This is an 'on the side' job for him so I think a year has passed since we started this and I'm expecting at least another 6 months before its ready for use. But ill ask him what he wants to do with it, sell, share? and when thats clear ill make sure to promote it here as well.

Its a petty though that there is so little imagary to be found on this topic.