Design Thread: Nostromo interiors and deck configurations

[FenGiddel]

[joberg]

Glad you're back at it. Right you are, most of the ship is for the raw, technical/mechanical/orbital stuff. Crew is really occupying very little space inside it.

[Starrigger]

I agree with this assessment as well, and dare we say that the majority of the habitable space would be in the "nose" area of the ship.
_________________
Come on over to my place - CGiWorlds.com

[joberg]

Yep, really looking like those huge boats (container transporter). Command deck and living space kept to a minimum for sure

[Space Jockey]

The back third of the ship at least would probably be taken up by the big chamber the Engine Room looks out on too.

[FenGiddel]

Well thought and expressed, guys.

What always puzzled me about the ship was how her landing gear didn't seem in the correct place - given the visual weight of the ship - to support the ship.

I've had the Halcyon kit and the MicroMiniatures toy model of the Nostromo, and both fall on their sterns since their respective centers of mass reside somewhere too far aft for the landing gear tripod to provide stable support. (Even the Halcyon kit required a weight in the nose to keep it upright.) Of course these are just replicas, but I found the physical properties interesting.

My thinking in this vein was spurred by a chance visit to Kerbal Space Program's website and this thread.

The diagram I'm looking at is this one (from the Kerbal site):


Taking that into account, the center of mass would seem to be at least in an imaginary line drawn between the front and rear landing gear, when viewing the ship laterally from portside, a little further forward than this graphic depicts.

When I drew my deck plans and cutaway back in the 90s, I placed the 'drive core' too far back, but was thinking in terms of a heavy 'anchor', probably the densest piece of machinery on the ship.



In hindsight, I would probably move it forward and center it between the landing gear instead.

I know, we didn't actually see something like that in the film. Behind the scenes photos show other pylons, dressed wtih Space Shuttle tank kit parts





Without getting lost down a rabbit hole of imagining how the hyperdrive worked and why the engine room was an empty cavern instead of crammed with tech, I offer two options:

1. The engine room does not have a central heavy drive core, but instead has several smaller (Space-Shuttle-decorated) towers that comprise major components of the drive. The composition of these towers could be dense enough to account for the mass needed to keep Nostromo from sitting back on her engine baffles.

2. The engine room does contain the aforesaid main core and the assumption is we just didn't get to see it in the movie.

I like Option #1 now I think about it. It's more interesting, less "Trekkian", and more mysterious. (aka, "Who knows what massive energies interact in the cavern, dancing between the towers while the ship and its gargantuan cargo slip through space in a bubble of hyperspace as the crew sleep their cold sleep.")

Thoughts?

[joberg]

I like the first option. Big towers giving energy to the whole. Makes sense, since if the whole core blows, you'll have total failure!
If, as in the movie, one tower blows, others can sustain the ship in space long enough/ or dry-dock it for repair without jeopardizing the crew and critical tech/life stuff

[FenGiddel]

Yes, yes! I like that train of thought.

[Starrigger]

Thirded! No. 1 seems the best option

Although maybe it's like a series of capacitors with each tower ramping up the power as it goes...
_________________
Come on over to my place - CGiWorlds.com

[joberg]

^^
Excellent thoughts you guys. Makes it more real

[FenGiddel]

A couple of things:

1) I remain frustrated, after switching to a Mac, that I have not found something as easy to use as MS Paint! I have SketchUp, which I'll take a while to master, and SketchBook Express, which I'm not sure is best for editing pictures like my old Nostromo jpegs! The search goes on and I'll gladly take suggestions...

2.) In the meantime, I FINALLY found deck plans for a container ship.. ULCCs and VLCCs (Ultra Large and Very Large Cargo Carriers) are often my jumping off points for Nostromo blueprinting ideas.


And then there's a sister ship, the Triple-E class. Maersk has a cool video to show how big she is below decks...

Enjoy!

[Starrigger]

Awesome find Fengeddel

here are some free alternatives for paint programs on the mac:

http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/

http://seashore.sourceforge.net/The_Seashore_Project/About.html

http://www.frykholm.se/rita.html - Shareware

and of course the over the top GIMP

http://www.gimp.org/
_________________
Come on over to my place - CGiWorlds.com

[FenGiddel]

Much obliged, 'rigger! One of these oughta get me back in business.

[joberg]

TFS with us...indeed, the Nostromo is big!

[FenGiddel]

Greetings friends of the Nostromo! from FenGiddel 86 (aka Darrell Curtis of the old 'The Nostromo Files" site back in the 90s.)

I've started a Nostromo blog at Wordpress and because you were so active in the Nostrtomo blueprinting and deck plans boards on Propsummit, I wanted to invite you to follow the blog...and also to invite you to provide content as a Contributor.

Nothing high stress or deadline driven, but another perspective on the ship would be very helpful and give depth to the project.

Here is the link:
http://thenostromofiles.wordpress.com

I have mostly placeholders on the blog site now, but plan to flesh it out much as I did with the old site.

I'll exercise editorial rights, but doubt there'll be much problem on that end, what with the critical thinking and creative minds on this thread.

Here's the URL. Take a peek and let me know if you want to follow/contribute. You can follow on your own, but if you wish to contribute, let me know.

Plus: if you are on Facebook, I've started a Nostromo fan page called "Crew of the CTV Nostromo Reg. No. 180924609". The URL is : https://www.facebook.com/groups/1493263250886622/

The work done here, is quite frankly, very valuable and should be preserved and catalogued so it is not lost. I volunteer to do that, "with a little help from my friends" as the Beatles so aptly put it. I mean, look at what our work together resulted in: Inspiring SpaceJockey to create the masterful Nostromo blueprints that made it into a mass-produced publication that is valued for their inclusion alone.

Cheers,
Darrell Curtis
Gonzales, Louisiana
USA

P.S. Before I realized the number of people who contributed to this thread, I was sending the invitations one-by-one. Whew! This is faster. You can respond to the PM to let me know if you want to be a Contributor.

[Space Jockey]

Today marks the global release of Alien: Isolation, a video game made by Creative Assembly and published by Sega.

Also released, are two 'add-on' DLC packs that were available if you pre-ordered the game (the second if you pre-ordered in the US with Gamestop).

Why am I posting about it here? Well, these two packs are prequels to the game, and are set aboard the Nostromo. Here are the YouTube links; if you don't like spoilers, don't watch; there isn't anything that spoils the main game however.


DLC #1: Crew Expendable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxdPNmnFe9Y

DLC #2: Last Survivor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ed10iBy0U

It's really excellent to see the Nostromo depicted in a videogame in this way; the detail and general aesthetic of the corridors and rooms are superb. The Ash 'voice-alike' is really good and sounds a lot like Ian Holm.

I haven't played the DLC yet, so I'm going from Youtube videos, but it's great to see the A-Deck following the set plan for the movie. They have made changes to the layout as others have commented on, such as the ladders not touching the ceiling; an extra suit locker and corridors being longer.

I will be going full speed now on developing some internal Nostromo blueprints. I don't know if I will follow B-Deck or C-Decks; the way things look on plan seem to have been done specifically for the game rather than how ladders line up level-to-level etc.

There seem to be two Engine Rooms; there's a strange walkway that goes around the top of the Undercarriage / Claw Room. But I'm nitpicking. It is a game, it looks absolutely superb and I can't wait to play it. Certainly lots of great ideas from a blueprint perspective and I'm pleased to see that.
The garage and claw room look terrific, I can actually see what the helijet thing parked in the garage looks like now

[joberg]

TFS Space Jockey...eager to see those blueprints

[FenGiddel]

THOSE ARE AWESOME!

Cheers, Space Jockey!

[8th_Passenger]

While the look of the environments in Alien Isolation look like the interior of Nostromo for me it falls slightly short of what I'd like to see.

But I think as Space Jockey has said in the context of a game it's pretty good. I understand that they have to use artistic licence. As we know there are a lot of holes in the Layout of the Nostromo! And why wouldn't there be... It's a film set and not real!

I would very much like to see plans of the Nostromo interior's which are a lot more accurate.

Colin
_________________
Ripley: What's it key on?

Ash: Micro changes in air density.

[Space Jockey]

Well, in the middle of some very basic sketches and thoughts right now.
Darrell: How up-to-date is the pdf you set up a while back which summarized all the thoughts on this so far? I might print of a copy if I may; give me something to think about when on lunchbreaks at work