All aeroplanes look pretty much the same, why should space ships be any different?
No imagination from FD on new ship design!
- Thread starter kiario
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Corvette and Viper are the two ships that I have noticed immediately in the lot
Because spaceships are not planes?
Ahh, you are like "Biff" in back to the future?.........look, the Star Destroyer, is far away........the Corvette, is near.........Plus, it does not look like a Star Destroyer other than being a basic triangle shape......but I guess you think the Cobra looks like the Millennium Falcon because it is kind of flat, right? lol.......
Now, if you think this was not the inspiration for this ship, well, there is little else I can do to convince you
Da da da, da da da, da da, da, da da da da....
Face it, the Federation is an evil Emire in all but name... Fact
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Do not despair ! The Panther Clipper will come
I feel FD did nice job... except for 2 ships: Lakon Keelback and Asp Scout.
Lakon Keelback - Why? Just WHY? I still can't figure out where could i use this ship efficiently. 70 tons of cargo space? Forget, i'll better buy original T6 with 100 tons. 2 Medium + 2 Small Hardpoints? Nah, Viper is my choice. Maybe, if shields are good, this ship might be nice ship for pirating lone T9 NPCs at RES.
Asp Scout - Not the purpose, but the design is what makes me sad. This "wings" on sides look, sorry, stupid. Maybe it's internals/flight model/etc is what will make me fly it, but not exterior view.
Lakon Keelback - Why? Just WHY? I still can't figure out where could i use this ship efficiently. 70 tons of cargo space? Forget, i'll better buy original T6 with 100 tons. 2 Medium + 2 Small Hardpoints? Nah, Viper is my choice. Maybe, if shields are good, this ship might be nice ship for pirating lone T9 NPCs at RES.
Asp Scout - Not the purpose, but the design is what makes me sad. This "wings" on sides look, sorry, stupid. Maybe it's internals/flight model/etc is what will make me fly it, but not exterior view.
I prefer this Asp to the current one. It looks like the old Asp from the original game. I was a bit disapoited with the cockpit though. I wish they could have given it a cockpit more like the Cobra. It ruins it for me since then we would have actually had the old Asp back.
But ah well... I'll get over it, just like I did with the Adder.
These assets take a huge amount of development time to model, animate, sound scape and work functionally into the game. Its not simply a case of imagination like the designer is sitting there drawing pretty ships tongue hanging out, its also a case of what they can practically put into a game with the resources they have and the time available.
I really am not aware of another space game that has ships in this detail with working cockpits, internals and hard points. I know people will shout Star Citizen at me, but I think there is a point where you have to be realistic about a game that's being developed to work cohesively today.
If you want to walk around your ships one day in ED you'll be glad Frontier haven't made the task impossible for the resources they have.
Not sure why its such a big deal, variants of ship designs seem to be something that real ship manufacturers would do anyway.
I really am not aware of another space game that has ships in this detail with working cockpits, internals and hard points. I know people will shout Star Citizen at me, but I think there is a point where you have to be realistic about a game that's being developed to work cohesively today.
If you want to walk around your ships one day in ED you'll be glad Frontier haven't made the task impossible for the resources they have.
Not sure why its such a big deal, variants of ship designs seem to be something that real ship manufacturers would do anyway.
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In principle i don't have anything against ship variants.
Taking a known shape and exploring new possibilities while maintaining the original's identity and general design language can yield very interesting results.
Just like a remix can be a piece of art in itself and proudly stand beside the original.
But just slapping a beat underneath a ballad and upscaling the tempo a bit can be seen as extraordinarily lazy.
Cutter seems.... fine. Not great but i can see its pedigree and the difference in many small details. Although i was under the false impression it will be an original design.
Viper looks good.
But the Cobra, Asp and the Keelback?
Modders first try.
Asp: Slap some fins on it, remove some others in the process, erase some very minor details and be done with it, really?
From afar it just looks like an "Explorer without its two pointy bits at the back".
It even has the same paint pattern.
Cobra: Two little fins on the side, a few boxy things on the hull and two teeth up front.
"A thanks to our staunch supporters!"
Keelback:
I always liked the look of the T6 but regardless, two boxes on the side, say hello to a whole new ship class.
In short, none of these designs question or play with the principal shape of its original. It's just "are there any parts sticking out? If yes, remove them, if no, add a few boxes".
I get the feeling "ships" is a misnomer.
"Boxes, fins and a giant white whale" would have been a more apt name for 1.5
Edit: typos
Taking a known shape and exploring new possibilities while maintaining the original's identity and general design language can yield very interesting results.
Just like a remix can be a piece of art in itself and proudly stand beside the original.
But just slapping a beat underneath a ballad and upscaling the tempo a bit can be seen as extraordinarily lazy.
Cutter seems.... fine. Not great but i can see its pedigree and the difference in many small details. Although i was under the false impression it will be an original design.
Viper looks good.
But the Cobra, Asp and the Keelback?
Modders first try.
Asp: Slap some fins on it, remove some others in the process, erase some very minor details and be done with it, really?
From afar it just looks like an "Explorer without its two pointy bits at the back".
It even has the same paint pattern.
Cobra: Two little fins on the side, a few boxy things on the hull and two teeth up front.
"A thanks to our staunch supporters!"
Keelback:
I always liked the look of the T6 but regardless, two boxes on the side, say hello to a whole new ship class.
In short, none of these designs question or play with the principal shape of its original. It's just "are there any parts sticking out? If yes, remove them, if no, add a few boxes".
I get the feeling "ships" is a misnomer.
"Boxes, fins and a giant white whale" would have been a more apt name for 1.5
Edit: typos
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yee, yee... huge amount of time. so FD should better spent this time for something really unique and pretty then just reworking existing ships and calling it WHOLE NEW SHIPS. but oh wait. it is cheaper. This update 1.5 was named as "Ships" - but it turned out only one really new ship - others redegined old one.
I feel kinda dissapointed again with FD. same as with the Horizons DLC- when they call it a WHOLE NEW GAME - so thats why you have to pay full price for the game again. althought its just an expansion of the current game. somehow it becomes way to common for FD to give sounding promises which turn out to be way underimplemented.
That's totally subjective. They listed the ships ages ago which were obviously variants of existing ships for the most part. How long do you want them to put the game on hold while they make pretty new ships that look different? How much extra risk/time will it add to their ability to make moving around the ship internals a reality?
I am not aware of any game that comes at a cover price which has a community that expects completely new assets every few months. I know some free to play games that sort of manage it but not with very complete looking internal cockpits or sound design.
You must have been flying a different Asp then me. The Scout is similar to an Asp, yes. But they didn't just add some fins. The huge front thrusters are completely gone and replaced, the headlights are different, the hole ship is a lot flatter then the Asp Explorer. And although the video only briefly shows it, the back is a completely different configuration as well. The two Thrusters are different shape, position and layout, and are futher inset then the hull. Too bad the vid doesn't do a full 360, could get some better details on it. Oh and the cockpit is half the size of the Asp cockpit, it's missing the lower level seat.
And of course a vastly improved hardpoint layout with nothing on the wings so all your weapons will center properly, but hey, damn those wings.
The Keelback is my least favorite of the bunch, will have to see the changes when it's in the beta, because the video on that one was horrible.
That is a bit pessimistic, in general I am ok with the "new" ships. However now its time to make some different designs to inject into the game. Otherwise the universe will look very uniform.
I would be OK if FD stopped making "new" ships, and just gave us some "engineering sliders" so we could pick our own ship characteristics (within reason). And left the internal graphics unchanged for different types of ships so they wouldn't have to alter the designs or do any new work.
If I could make an FDL with the stats of an FAS or even just an Asp, then the dream would be realized. And the search for a ship to call my own would finally be over.
I like the idea behind the ship design in Elite Dangerous - or maybe the idea I think is behind the design.
Ships in Elite Dangerous look like they where designed with their in-game use in mind, how a spaceship designer would design that ship. The result are ships that look believable, maybe a bit boring, but that's the beauty of it.
The only real bad ship in ED is the Eagle because it tries to hard to look like a jet fighter. One of the best designs is the T-6 (and the Keelback) - it simply is what it is a box to carry small boxes.
Why would anybody want a highly asymmetrical design? Those designs usually don't make any sense at all and usually look like flying that ship would result in serious problems (centre of mass on a not ideal point, problems with flying through asteroids and spaceport entrances…).
Often spaceships in games and movies are designed with the sole purpose of looking cool or very different. I'm glad that ED is different in that aspect.
Ships in Elite Dangerous look like they where designed with their in-game use in mind, how a spaceship designer would design that ship. The result are ships that look believable, maybe a bit boring, but that's the beauty of it.
The only real bad ship in ED is the Eagle because it tries to hard to look like a jet fighter. One of the best designs is the T-6 (and the Keelback) - it simply is what it is a box to carry small boxes.
Why would anybody want a highly asymmetrical design? Those designs usually don't make any sense at all and usually look like flying that ship would result in serious problems (centre of mass on a not ideal point, problems with flying through asteroids and spaceport entrances…).
Often spaceships in games and movies are designed with the sole purpose of looking cool or very different. I'm glad that ED is different in that aspect.
I was strictly talking about visual design.
Yes, loadout and performance may be interesting for these ships even if some of them seem to suffer from severe cases of "2 small, 2 med" blandness.
But as much as i like to fly able and efficient ships, i want to enjoy their looks in equal amounts.
And considering the Asp Scout, yes i realised they removed the front thrusters.
That was covered under the "if something sticks out, just remove it" bit.
But true, the main thrusters seem different, will try to get a better look come the beta.
Same as me. The backside looked really interesting, but they really didn't show it off enough. I only saw that they went the DBX way, and put two of those round thrusters in. But I do have to agree that Ghetto Asp might be a fitting nickname xD It does look like the asp you pick up at a used car salesman at the wrong side of town. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
<3.
Ziljan, i always enjoy reading your posts.
Measured, reasonable opinions and creative approaches to problems.
Please stay with us for a long time :-D.
Why would you want that, just for the looks? Fly a FAS if you like the flight characteristics that much, and deal with the lesser looks. Whats wrong with a world of choices and their concequences?