Am I the only one who hates the look of most ships in this game?

[changtau2005]

ED ships look like they belong in the military and that they mean business. The fighting ships' shapes serve to minimize their head-on target profile and deflect mass driver hits, much like the sloped armor on tanks.

SC ships look like.. how to describe them.. they have pointy bits sticking out, which would be a serious detriment if the ship loses shields as these can be shot off easily. These pointy bits serve a purpose too - they allow the ship to mount smaller thrusters but then the pointy bits magnify their torque to improve maneuverability for the same thruster weight. Getting thrusters shot off is not a good idea, however. They're also meant to function as control surfaces for atmospheric flight.

Both games have ships with canopies which are horrifyingly exposed (Asp, the Lakons), but the ones in SC are actually dedicated fighter ships. Great vision, but pray you don't lose shields

 

[Dissentient]

Well, I think that ships in SC can generally be split into following categories:
1. Triangles - M50
2. Space sausages - Freelancer
2. Ugly ones - all of them.

Well, in terms of ugliness none of SC ships compare to ASP :^)
sincerely, an ASP owner

 

[Asp Explorer]

Well, in terms of ugliness none of SC ships compare to ASP :^)
sincerely, an ASP owner

Again - it's all entirely subjective and completely personal.

Personally I think my Asp is drop-dead gorgeous, and my Freelancer is a can of baked-beans.

 

[Sandmann]

They just seem dull imo. Some of them are good looking , like the luxury ships . But most of the ships are ugly. And not a GOOD ugly (industrial ships like in the alien universe)

It's legacy. Sidewinders etc in Elite Dangerous look like sidewinders etc in Elite, Elite II, and Elite III. Same as Battlestar Galacica in the 2005 series looked like the one from the 1980's, Picard's Enterprise D looks like the original ones of Archer and Kirk, the TARDIS is always a blue police box, and ScoobyDoo and the gang still drive around in a psychodelic 1960's minivan with flowers on the wheels called the Mystery Machine.

 

[Sagan Ross]

So only 14% actually like the ships in this game.. I imagine a single tear leaving DB's eye right now

Edit : Wow i really needed to read the poll again!

 

[Godart]

You need to read again.

 

[daan2002]

Picard's Enterprise D looks like the original ones of Archer

the NX-01 has more incoming with the Akira class than the Galaxy class

 

[Drunk Si]

They're not all ugly but they are all boring and utilitarian. None of them really have that PHWOAAAAR factor for me. I don't think it would take a particularly dramatic change in design language to tart the designs up a bit, at the moment all the soft roundness to them all just seems a bit 70s, just chisel off some of the soft edges and make them more angular and aggressive and boom, you've retained your old designs and made them relevant for a modern audience.

 

[Count Iblis]

I think the ships look robust and 'functional'. BUt I applaud the team for pursuing heritage. Am a little disappointed that the Adder doesn't look a little more like the older one. Herritage seems to be forgotten elsewhere- (i.e look at the hideous new pretentious Jaguars and Caddilacs and the BMWs (which looked so much better when they were shark nosed back in the 80s). The Imperial ships look inspirational and always have. In the same vein as the Liberator from Blakes 7

IMO the Star Citizen ships look weedy, and fragile, like souped up aircrafts- so unimaginative. Not somewhere I'd imagine living for a long haul space mission

 

[BigBadB]

I don't really see the problem with unaerodynamical ships for planetary flight. For reentry, sure, but for level flight? Ships in both Elite and SC have two-digit level main thruster acceleration, and the vertical thrusters are strong enough to atleast carry the ship at a few g's. It's not like we need wings to not crash or something like that. It could help for manuevering, but then, we have ridicilously powerful manuevering thrusters in both games too.

There's also the question of shields and how they interact with an atmosphere. If they keep gases out as well as lasers, cannon rounds and space dust, they could be adjusted to form an aerodynamic shape and then the ship's hull doesn't need one.

 

[vonvonbraun]

The asp is hideus shapeless porridge but the rest are all interesting and well fleshed out shapes

i like them

 

[Ozrix]

The asp is hideus shapeless porridge but the rest are all interesting and well fleshed out shapes

i like them

I think the Asp is as cute as a button

 

[vonvonbraun]

I think the Asp is as cute as a button

With tha deLacy avatar?

honestly the asp is as shapeless as a mushroom

 

[Zak Gordon]

As has already been mentioned, the ships in Elite have a history. The ships in Star Citizen do not. So it is much easier to just make something up that fits into whatever is supposedly 'cool' in the time frame of that process.

Many of Elite's ships were designed back in 1984 when computers could only handle simple geometric shapes. Then in the 1990's with the second and third Elite games we finally started to see some curves, but the original style was often used as a guide to give continuity for fans of the original game, and rightly so.

Now these designs the less knowledgeable of Elite would call 'ugly' are mostly considered 'classic' by the vast majority of Elite fans (as they know the series before Elite: Dangerous) and look what the poll is telling us

Edit: actually your forum question is confusing based on the Poll question, it might look like people are agreeing with you that you are not the only one that finds the ships ugly (as in 'no' you are not the only one, or 'yes' you are).

 

[torc]

Elite :



SC:



My 2 cents.... take your conclusions

 

[anikaiful]

Star citizen has the right Idea i think.

Who cares. E|D's not S.C. or vice versa.

 

[Asp Explorer]

Elite :

View attachment 10446

SC:

View attachment 10447

My 2 cents.... take your conclusions

That's a bit unfair though - guitars and basses are not exactly comparable from a players perspective

 

[Patrick_68000]

You find it beautiful ? Efficiency and robustness are the priorities in the space

 

[Drunk Si]

For me the ships in Elite are more reminiscent of this

 

[Blast Hardcheese]

Everyone on the forums is a 40+ yr old who played/loved the original so of course they would love the current ship designs no matter what they could be lol