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Regarding the role of the Imperial Stormtroopers technicians in the bridge of a Star Destroyer, it's obvious that they are in charge of navigation and weapons. But what are the technical aspects of their job? What are some of the systems that they work with within the ship?

Any clarification will be great!

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    I keep seeing this diagram whenever I search. I've no idea how canonical it is, but it seems quite plausible; insd.swcombine.com/insd/isd/BLUE1.JPG
    – Valorum
    Aug 27, 2014 at 23:18
  • @Richard, awesome visualization, thank you!
    – Carpetfizz
    Aug 28, 2014 at 1:41
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    You may want to check out the game Artemis. It is a bridge simulator with 6 player stations, each managing a different aspect of the ship. It is very simplified, the ship lacks the size and complexity of a Star Destroyer, but it gives you a feel for how a starship would be organized. And as you add capabilities and complexities to the ship where managing them would become overwhelming for one person to manage.
    – Tyson of the Northwest
    Aug 28, 2014 at 5:52
  • @Richard Not seeing any refresher facilities made me think of Skroob running all the way down the ship into the bridge.
    – Michael Itzoe
    Aug 28, 2014 at 13:47
  • @TysonoftheNorthwest, Artemis!! My friends and I were coming up with a game similar to it since we didn't know it existed at the time. It looks really cool, and I hope to play it some time. We're now trying to make something similar for Star Wars - just for fun.
    – Carpetfizz
    Aug 28, 2014 at 14:28

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I don't think we see any actual Stormtroopers operating the controls on the bridge of a Star Destroyer. There are plenty of officers and technicians operating controls, but what Stormtroopers (white armor) we do see seem to be guarding halls and doors.

As for what the bridge officers and technicians are doing, they do what bridge officers for any large vehicle do:

  • Interpreting instrumentation for commanders as a commander can't look at all the screens.
  • Expanding on commanders orders and relaying them to appropriate departments or sections of the ship.
  • Managing departments or sections of the ship.
  • Coordinating Stormtrooper movements within the ship and on the ground (in event of ground action).
  • Managing fighter readiness and tracking friendly fighters.
  • Direct weapons fire from the many weapons batteries, the more weapons stations the more independently each weapon can fire.

Ships are typically broken into departments: Engines, maneuvering, navigation, weapons, tractor control, flight deck, communications (long range, short range, ground forces), shields, life support, etc. The more fragmented the departments the more they can work independent of each other and be more specialized in their command.

In each "crew pit" we see 8 stations with an officer observing. Plus console alcoves flanking either side of the bridge as well as stations implied at the rear. From screenshots and gaming material places the bridge layout as 12-16 consoles in the "crew pits" plus 2-4 officers. Flanking bays have a total of 1 to 3 consoles each plus an officer for each bay. Then 2-6 consoles in the rear bay with corresponding officers. That would put the bridge crew around 14 to 30 technicians and 6 officers not including commander and second.

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  • This is fantastic, thank you so much! And sorry for the ambiguity on Stormtroopers vs. technicians.
    – Carpetfizz
    Aug 28, 2014 at 1:41
  • should also mention the tractor beam operators
    – IG_42
    Aug 28, 2014 at 14:40
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    @Carpetfizz: Take a scene from "Das Boot" (the German submarine movie). The captain-lieutenant orders "dive". The head engineer turns this into a string of commands (shutting down the diesel engines, opening the flooding valves, setting the dive planes, ...), which are then executed by other crewmen in the central room, or relayed to the station in question. Just extrapolate from there. The simple command "take us to Corruscant" means lots of work for navigation, engineering, and operations. It's the job of the bridge officers to "make it happen", and give feedback.
    – DevSolar
    Aug 28, 2014 at 14:50

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