Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I am not very well versed on how starships work in 40K. Could someone give me a rundown of how an Imperial ship operates? Do Navigators have their own chamber, or are they present on the bridge? Are captains like Picard and all "Warp 8 Number One!", or are they plugged into the ships like a Princeps in a Titan? Or are they interchangeable, where one ship will have a Captain physically interact with his subordinates, and the ship next to him will have the Captain swimming in a fluid tank with cables sticking out of his head like its the Matrix?

The captain usually sits in a star trek-esk chair/throne in the middle. usually plugged in to the ship's systems via neural link. He's surrounded by a bunch of people/servitors hooked into various systems. From descriptions the bridges are quite big usually, 50+ people/servitors.

The Navigator's chamber is on the bridge too. It raises into the exterior of the ship when the ship is in warp transit. And when he's done it lowers back into the bridge and he gets out.


The degree to which the captain is plugged into the ship seems to vary from ship to ship and captain to captain. Some are almost totally hardwired in, others just plug in while needed.

Captains seem to be plugged in to receive information, but still verbally give out commands.

Remember, you can't swing your powersword dramatically while giving orders if you're completely entombed in the machinery!

It varies a great deal.

Some Captains are completely unplugged and address their bridge crew verbally such as Leoten Semper from Execution Hour and Shadow Point. Others are plugged into their thrones to varying degrees. Another Captain in Execution Hour was even entirely and permanently connected to the ship and inside an armoured capsule in it's depths.

The Navigator is in how own specially warded capsule with permanent guards. It seems they generally do not associate with the rest of the crew (nor would the crew want to, Navigators being freak psychers after all).

The Bridge crews themselves are large with men and/or servitors manning various stations and screens. They may or may not be plugged in. There's also the Naval Commissars on the bridge.

 rems01 wrote:
It varies a great deal.

Some Captains are completely unplugged and address their bridge crew verbally such as Leoten Semper from Execution Hour and Shadow Point. Others are plugged into their thrones to varying degrees. Another Captain in Execution Hour was even entirely and permanently connected to the ship and inside an armoured capsule in it's depths.

The Navigator is in how own specially warded capsule with permanent guards. It seems they generally do not associate with the rest of the crew (nor would the crew want to, Navigators being freak psychers after all).

The Bridge crews themselves are large with men and/or servitors manning various stations and screens. They may or may not be plugged in. There's also the Naval Commissars on the bridge.

But Navigators aren't psykers, from all the fluff they're highly respected and valuable mutants who just happen to be able to store warp energy.

As the above have mentioned. In one book the captain is a part of the ship. Not sure the exact book, but I seem to remember it being in the HH series.

Huh. I always imagined Imperial ships having a bridge more like the Star Destroyers in Star Wars. Just a whole bunch of nameless peons pressing buttons while the captain strides around, literally above them, giving orders and berating them.

 Bludbaff wrote:
Huh. I always imagined Imperial ships having a bridge more like the Star Destroyers in Star Wars. Just a whole bunch of nameless peons pressing buttons while the captain strides around, literally above them, giving orders and berating them.

Well he wouldn't necessarily be walking around, but the verbal abuse would be almost a surety.

shivman wrote:

 rems01 wrote:
It varies a great deal.

Some Captains are completely unplugged and address their bridge crew verbally such as Leoten Semper from Execution Hour and Shadow Point. Others are plugged into their thrones to varying degrees. Another Captain in Execution Hour was even entirely and permanently connected to the ship and inside an armoured capsule in it's depths.

The Navigator is in how own specially warded capsule with permanent guards. It seems they generally do not associate with the rest of the crew (nor would the crew want to, Navigators being freak psychers after all).

The Bridge crews themselves are large with men and/or servitors manning various stations and screens. They may or may not be plugged in. There's also the Naval Commissars on the bridge.

But Navigators aren't psykers, from all the fluff they're highly respected and valuable mutants who just happen to be able to store warp energy.

They can see the warp and suck your soul out with their 3rd eye... they are psychic mutant freaks, but necessary psychic mutant freaks. They may be respected, but few people actually like them.

Also you also get some fully automated ships, usually reserved for inquisitors, allowing select groups of people to flit around the galaxy withoutthe author needing to elaborate much on crew needs.

Basically it all depends on how the author feels.

In Gaunt's Ghost's there was a captain fully engrained into his ship.
Some have the ship wired into their nervous system so its like an extention of their body. Depends on what level of grimdark you want.

Basically, anything you can imagine can be found on the bridge of an Imperial vessel.

If you like the Star Destroyer model, with the captain on his "plank" above the heads of his underlings, you can have that.

If you like the Star Trek model with the captain seated at the "command pulpit" you can.

If you like your captains plugged into the ship via MIU, you can.

If you like your captains entirely one with the vessel via cybernetic interface, to the point that he's an immobile and irreplaceable part of the vessel... you can.

It's a situation that's been presented in fluff six ways to Sunday, and no one way is more or less correct than any other.

In a Black Library book (I forgot which one unfortunately), the captain of the ship is apparently a servitor and he is glued to a spot in the bridge and he can only move his arms and head.

Mechanicus ship most likely.