Lore / story behind ship designs being centuries old?

Viking84

Viking84
Greetings commanders,

Can anyone explain to me the lore surrounding the age of the ship designs in Elite? The Sidewinder is comparatively new, being used since 2982, only 320 years ago. An Anaconda was first used in 2856, some 450 years before the current date of 3302. The Python is even older, first used in 2700, over 600 years ago!

I can't quite picture a society where no technological advances have been made in 600 years that wouldn't make any hull design entirely obsolete? It would be like us outfitting the Santa Maria with a nuclear powerplant, cruise missiles and a Bofors 120mm auto-cannon.
 
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Kitfox

Kitfox
Certification requirements and inertia against new things.

Much like how the flight training industry today still favours using ancient and knackered Cessnas. Just on a galactic scale.
 

Goose4291

Banned
Goose4291
Viking84 said:
Greetings commanders,

Can anyone explain to me the lore surrounding the age of the ship designs in Elite? The Sidewinder is comparatively new, being used since 2982, only 320 years ago. An Anaconda was first used in 2856, some 450 years before the current date of 3302. The Python is even older, first used in 2700, over 600 years ago!

I can't quite picture a society where no technological advances have been made in 600 years that wouldn't make any hull design entirely obsolete? It would be like us outfitting the Santa Maria with a nuclear powerplant, cruise missiles and a Bofors 120mm auto-cannon.
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Its a 'if it aint broke dont fix it' argument, as I recall.
 

Nova Hett

N
Since they figured out Jet engines and aluminum alloys, Airplanes haven't changes in like 60 years. The B-52 will be in service for like 90 years. Maybe the tech just reached it's ceiling, and developments went into other things like terraforming planets or whatever.
 

Deleted member 110222

D
The only advancement left in travel in the Milky-way is what new adult films should be watched when you take a break. We have a universe where the other side of the galaxy can be reached in a matter of hours. What new developments does transport need?
 

Deleted member 110222

D
Viking84 said:
Well, yes, but it seems odd to arbitrarily make the ships centuries old (which in current day terms is madness) without explaining it?
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To be fair, the individual ships themselves aren't ancient, just the designs.

Except the Eagle Mk II, which has been discontinued for who knows how long.
 

nanite2000

nanite2000
Viking84 said:
Well, yes, but it seems odd to arbitrarily make the ships centuries old (which in current day terms is madness) without explaining it?
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We have many vehicles (cars, planes, boats) whose basic designs haven't changed in centuries. Some cars, any many boats and planes are decades old, and may last decades longer to become over a century old.

Now, apply that same thinking to future engineering with non-corrosive materials, better technology, and the ability to replace any part to good-as-new...

Besides, I believe Gutamaya designs are very new.
 

krylite

krylite
The 747 line is almost 50 years old. it may last another 50. The ED ships probably have had internal changes. Ships passed down over generations such as a family line cobra mk. iii, probably had internals and upgrades over the centuries.

One major upgrade all ships probably had was the new supercruise and hyperspace drive since 3250. Also, crew requirements seem to have changed where there are less crew required probably thanks to the Turner class single pilot advancement..
 
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dm0815

dm0815
Viking84 said:
... It would be like us outfitting the Santa Maria with a nuclear powerplant, cruise missiles and a Bofors 120mm auto-cannon.
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So.... have you played Fallout 4? ;)

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/USS_Constitution?file=USS_Constitution.png

Good question though. We need more lore in this game. Mechwarrior has a quite reasonable explanation. (Century old wars over huge parts of the galaxy; Mechs are lost tech and the remaining units are actually precious war machines ... None of this is applicable to this game of course)
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
It's odd really.

I get the impression that somebody at FDev intends that the galaxy be a sort of "Mad Max", post-apocalyptic, fallout style environment and that would explain why ship design reached a pinnacle and then never progressed any further.
However, I also get the impression that this isn't an officially-endorsed paradigm and that's how come we've ended-up with superpowers and corporate entities co-existing with drug-empires and outright lawlessness.

I kind of wonder if nobody at FDev ever bothered to call a meeting and lay all this stuff out to ensure there was "clarity of vision" across the board.

Or, perhaps it's a case of the FDev developers wanting to quietly do something which might not exactly comply with David Braben's vision of what the game's supposed to be?
 

Vardaugas

Vardaugas
Or maybe all of the space tech is derived from Thargoid technology and that's why there isn't much progress in developing them further as the key principles aren't really understood, but only imitated. So the core design of an Anaconda is still the same as it was first created and only the utility and decoration changed a bit with the ebb and flow of fashion.
 

Aashenfox

Aashenfox
We will have plateaus of technological advancement, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume either due to lack of future discovery or inventing all the conveniences our race needs and therefore losing our 'will' to advance, thereby slowing down, that we couldn't have a 1000 year technological plateau. Rapid galactic expansion will do that. If all your resources are going to expanding out into the galaxy, you won't be doing a lot of research, and boy does it seem we expanded fast. See, not too much of a stretch is needed. :)
 

nanite2000

nanite2000
Stealthie said:
It's odd really.

I get the impression that somebody at FDev intends that the galaxy be a sort of "Mad Max", post-apocalyptic, fallout style environment and that would explain why ship design reached a pinnacle and then never progressed any further.
However, I also get the impression that this isn't an officially-endorsed paradigm and that's how come we've ended-up with superpowers and corporate entities co-existing with drug-empires and outright lawlessness.

I kind of wonder if nobody at FDev ever bothered to call a meeting and lay all this stuff out to ensure there was "clarity of vision" across the board.

Or, perhaps it's a case of the FDev developers wanting to quietly do something which might not exactly comply with David Braben's vision of what the game's supposed to be?
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Actually, I understand Frontier were very specific that each ship manufacturer follows a 'design philosophy', which is why they all have consistency of design within the same manufacturer.

Falcon DeLacy, and especially Lakon, follow a very industrial design philosophy - function over form.

It's not perfect (I don't understand why Taipans freshly manufactured by the Hangar Bay show signs of wear...), but there was certainly collaboration between the designers.
 

N3rd Murd3r3r

N3rd Murd3r3r
My take on it was always much like car manufacturers, so for example we’re on the millionth iteration of the Ford Fiesta which retains it’s distinctive look whilst being upgraded...but is still called the Ford Fiesta.

I see Cobra MkIII and assume it’s the third model based loosely on the MkI before continuing it’s own line heritage as the ‘MKIII range’
 

Vasious

Vasious
N3rd Murd3r3r said:
My take on it was always much like car manufacturers, so for example we’re on the millionth iteration of the Ford Fiesta which retains it’s distinctive look whilst being upgraded...but is still called the Ford Fiesta.

I see Cobra MkIII and assume it’s the third model based loosely on the MkI before continuing it’s own line heritage as the ‘MKIII range’
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I think that might be it

The Cobra Mk.III is a design and look, but we have the 3300 edition of the Cobra Mk.III

This is the 3300 Edition

latest

This is still a Cobra Mk.III but the 3100 Edition

nIwqwl4.png


Both Cobra Mk.IIIs both in universe, 200 years apart, the same but different
 
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