Build:Auxiliary Control Room/Battle Bridge
8.2 Auxiliary Control Room/Battle Bridge
Cost: 2 x Size (22nd & 23rd century); 3 x Size (24th+ century)
Power Requirement: none
Ships which have saucer separation or multivector attack mode capabilities need one or more secondary bridges so that the captain (or other officer) can operate the engineering section of the ship effectively. These are known as auxiliary control rooms or battle bridges. Although smaller than a standard bridge, an auxiliary control room has standard Engineering, Flight Control, and Ops stations, and an enhanced Tactical station. In some cases, it also has several unique stations, including Defense Communications, Defense Systems Engineering, Technology Assessment, Computer Systems, and Engagement Damage Intelligence. An auxiliary control room serves as a secondary control center in the event the main bridge is damaged or incapacitated.
Each auxiliary control room costs 3 x Size in SUs. This cost includes a dedicated turbolift running from the main bridge to each auxiliary control room (it typically takes 2-4 rounds to reach the auxiliary control room via this turbolift). Crewmembers can also access auxiliary control rooms through the standard turbolift system. Like the main bridge, an auxiliary control room is a discrete unit which engineers can wholly replace at a starbase.
Of course, even if they haven’t paid SUs for it, most ships have some sort of auxiliary control center. Such control centers are never very elaborate; their only purpose is to get the ship to safety in the event of an emergency which destroys the main bridge. An auxiliary control room paid for in SUs represents a second control center which can control all or nearly all of a ship’s functions.
Auxiliary control rooms on 22nd and 23rd century ships function similarly to those of the 24th century, but are somewhat more fragile, and thus have a slightly lower SU cost. Ships designed and refitted after 2300 begin to use the 24th century version.