Larger ship sizes?

Hadrian Bently

H
I'm starting to get the feeling that all ship sizes will be limited to whatever can fit inside that tiny "mail slot" on stations. I really wish that they would do away with that or otherwise make some sort of MOORING mechanic to allow really big ships to dock.

There was a ship called the Panther in earlier Elite games that was absolutely massive. Not capital ship size but pretty close. It looks like the Panther for E: D is going to be much smaller due to the mail slot limitation.

Now I'm worried that the upcoming Federal Corvette will be just be a glorified Anaconda. Not that the ship isn't already big but it does kill the sense of awe to realize that we will be forever limited in grandeur when it comes to ships.

So what will be done about this?
 
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AndyC77

A
Hadrian Bently said:
I'm starting to get the feeling that all ship sizes will be limited to whatever can fit inside that tiny "mail slot" on stations. I really wish that they would do away with that or otherwise make some sort of MOORING mechanic to allow really big ships to dock.

There was a ship called the Panther in earlier Elite games that was absolutely massive. Not capital ship size but pretty close. It looks like the Panther for E: D is going to be much smaller due to the mail slot limitation.

Now I'm worried that the upcoming Federal Corvette will be just be a glorified Anaconda. Not that the ship isn't already big but it does kill the sense of awe to realize that we will be forever limited in grandeur when it comes to ships.

So what will be done about this?
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I'm sure I saw some artwork somewhere of the panther clipper in elite dangerous. I thought it was going to be added. The scale should be roughly the same so the panther clipper would fit in the slot.
 

Hadrian Bently

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Brujah

Brujah
That was one of my favourite moments in Homeworld, when you start building ships so big they have to come out the side of the mothership instead of out the docking bay.

So agreed: They need to do something about the mail slots.

Whilst they're at it, they need to make the insides of stations match the outsides. It's a joke that they are all geometrically identical internally. I'd love to be the architect earning royalties for EVERY STATION in the galaxy.
 

AndyC77

A
Brujah said:
That was one of my favourite moments in Homeworld, when you start building ships so big they have to come out the side of the mothership instead of out the docking bay.

So agreed: They need to do something about the mail slots.

Whilst they're at it, they need to make the insides of stations match the outsides. It's a joke that they are all geometrically identical internally. I'd love to be the architect earning royalties for EVERY STATION in the galaxy.
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I don't think the mail slot will change. There is a big discussion deep down in these forums somewhere. My thoughts on it if we had larger ships would be to have docking arms on the outside but the won't happen either.
 

Brujah

Brujah
AndyC77 said:
I don't think the mail slot will change. There is a big discussion deep down in these forums somewhere. My thoughts on it if we had larger ships would be to have docking arms on the outside but the won't happen either.
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Honestly, it would be no big deal for the big ships just to chill outside whilst smaller ships (possibly normally docked within the larger one) ship passengers, cargo and so on to the station, then bring fuel back and refuel the big one using limpets.
 

AndyC77

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Brujah said:
Honestly, it would be no big deal for the big ships just to chill outside whilst smaller ships (possibly normally docked within the larger one) ship passengers, cargo and so on to the station, then bring fuel back and refuel the big one using limpets.
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I'm with you but I don't think it will happen.
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
Just as with ships at sea here on mundane earth, if it is too big to safely gain entry, it just moors up outside and ferries goods / passengers to and from the port. Used to be great fun watching all the tourists ferried ashore in St Thomas, throwing up all over the place if there was a little swell.
 

Vasious

Vasious
I didnt think the Pather Clipper was degrees larger than the Anaconda and the Boa, just that its Box shape had a greater internal space than the Pointy ships
The Pather was still dwarved by the Lynx Bulk Carriers and LRCs which are the ships that were usually moored up and sericed by Lifters.
 

AndyC77

A
MalcYorks said:
Just as with ships at sea here on mundane earth, if it is too big to safely gain entry, it just moors up outside and ferries goods / passengers to and from the port. Used to be great fun watching all the tourists ferried ashore in St Thomas, throwing up all over the place if there was a little swell.
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Imagine how much more interesting the stations would be with dozens of massive ships moored outside and shuttles ferrying people back and forth.
 

Hadrian Bently

H
AndyC77 said:
Imagine how much more interesting the stations would be with dozens of massive ships moored outside and shuttles ferrying people back and forth.
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oh man that would be cool! Of course they would need to have the smaller ships entering and exiting through separate openings or otherwise small enough to not inter fer with traffic through the mail slot.
 

Poseidal

Poseidal
AndyC77 said:
Ahh interesting. Half of a kilometre long. That's big.
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It wasn't that big. It was a bit longer than the Python, but much boxier and wider. The Python is roughly the same size it is now, maybe a bit bigger, compared with the Cobra in the same game.
 

Aleksej

Aleksej
Hadrian Bently said:
Yea it's the length of the Anaconda and the width of the Type 9. Not small by any means but the original Panther was supposed to be like 400-500 m long, not 140-180 m

http://s1305.photobucket.com/user/FrontierAshley/media/ShipsWithBigBen01_zps2cd2b130.jpg.html
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The image you have provided is pretty old and clearly demonstrates that a clipper is longer than Elizabeth's tower (96m) and shorter than Anaconda (152m).

Also according to the lore the size of the Panther Clipper just allows it to fit the entrance of the station (mail slot) with only a few centimeters left between the ship and the mail slot.
 

AndyC77

A
Poseidal said:
It wasn't that big. It was a bit longer than the Python, but much boxier and wider. The Python is roughly the same size it is now, maybe a bit bigger, compared with the Cobra in the same game.
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I always saved up for the panther in frontier. I didn't spend much time in the anaconda and I don't remeber ever getting the python. I don't know what I ever saw in the panther it was just a large box.you
 
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Iskariot

Iskariot
Hadrian Bently said:
I'm starting to get the feeling that all ship sizes will be limited to whatever can fit inside that tiny "mail slot" on stations. I really wish that they would do away with that or otherwise make some sort of MOORING mechanic to allow really big ships to dock.
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I do agree that it would be great to have alternative docking options.
I am a bit in doubt about the demand for bigger and bigger ships though.
I do feel it is not really necessary and it will not add anything radically different from what an Anaconda sized vessel can already give us.
On the other hand I would love to fly my Old Panther Clipper again. I don't need it to be 500 meters long, but I would like it to be the biggest vessel we can pilot. Just like in FE2.

We will get the Panther Clipper. That has been confirmed already. But the concept art did look nothing like the original.
 

Seonid

Seonid
Aleksej said:
Also according to the lore the size of the Panther Clipper just allows it to fit the entrance of the station (mail slot) with only a few centimeters left between the ship and the mail slot.
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Same principle as modern tankers that are built to the Suezmax size. Or, as my old sig used to say, In Panther Clipper, station docks you.
 
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CommieMittens

C
Unfortunately, with how ships and damage work right now, the biggest ships would just be insta-gibbed by shooting at the power plant.

I'd be happy to have some big ships, especially if it meant new station types and improvements to the ones we have now.
 
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