The Chieftan is annoying

Cmdr Bolamshea

C
I'm halfway through watching Thursdays live stream where they revealed the Chieftan.
It's a nice looking ship but there's only one part that I can't help but feel break the 'believability' of the ship...
The landing gear in the rear engine pods.
The engines being external like that are very cool, and I love the way they look.
I know I have to turn off the reasoning bit of my brain when playing a game that involved FTL travel, but that landing gear really grates on me, let me explaing my reasoning.

Those big bulky pods are very likely to be rammed full of engine; 3 thrusters on the back and a big one on the front; that should be taking a lot of space inside.
How the devil does the whole mechanism of the landing gear fit inside it as well? When the landing gear deploys it looks very much like the solid metal struts that connects to the 'foot' of the landing gear should be cutting straight through the internals of the thruster -
landinggear1.jpg

See those 2 big pieces of metal there? They look like they line up almost directly behind the bottom two thrusters.
Then from this view -
landinggear2_1.jpg

that massive chunk of metal looks like it would go nearly all the way through to the roof of the pod. leaving some very cramped space inside for all three of the rear thrusters.
I'm guessing that these engines should be the most powerful ones on the ship (along with the pods at the front) but when they only have this much space to fit in
landinggear3.jpg

the idea just doesn't work in my head.

This then raises the other question in my head 'Why did the only put landing gear in the rear pods when from a manufacturing point of view, it would have been cheaper to mass produce two versions of the pods left hand and right hand instead of 4 versions, left with gear, right with gear, front left and front right.'
(don't even get me started on the fact that whilst flying in space and deploying the gear should have resulted in the ship flying in vertical (relative to the ship) circles).

Yes, I know it's just a game, but all the ships so far have been at least a little bit believable. This ship, for the most part is but that rear gear. grr.

I'm really not complaining I'm just pointing out that the internal mechanics don't seem to work in the really cool looking ship and it annoys the logic in me :)
 

Cmdr Bolamshea

C
Dbrn47 said:
Can't things just be cool or fun sometimes? Does every little detail in a science fiction game need to be believable?
Click to expand...

Yes and yes, and somewhat yes.

The ship is cool looking I've admitted that. Fun - it probably is. Believable - FD have made efforts to try and be as scientifically accurate as possible in a space travel game so this small bit here just breaks that a little for me.
 

nosleepdemon

nosleepdemon
Hahah nicely done OP. I find the Chieftan to be an exceptional departure from Elite's other ship designs. Whereas the previous ships have an air of sensibility and function about them, the Chieftan seems like a rather obvious attempt to make something "cool". Specifically, it doesn't even look like it belongs in Elite, those engine pods are ridiculously vulnerable. That the internal arrangement of components isn't even remotely plausible is unsurprising imo.

I can only hope that this design is an abberation, that it is nerfed into the ground, and that the next ships released return to the sort of utilitarian yet sexy, or downright works of art (in the case of the imperial ships) that have so far defined Elite's ships.

I will give it one plus though: It could have a spoiler, two more engine pods and a bubble shaped cockpit, and still not be as ugly as the Asp.
 

Riverside

Riverside
I agree with the mechanical issue of it, but that's not what bothers me about the landing gear.

It's fairly clearly a copy & paste of the Diamondback rear gear, but imo it should do it on all four pontoons, or none. Having the rears with their beefy feet & the regular lakon bird-feet on the front looks odd to my eyes.

Hardly a dealbreaker, but a bit of a letdown.
 
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GunnerBill

GunnerBill
OP's right. Yes it's a game and yes it's the future but in order to carry off the important handwavium you gotta make the basic stuff plausible.

Although it won't stop me buying one.

-------------------------

Of course it depends how the thrusters work???

Are they long like jet engines or flat panels like Iron Man?

If the latter then what you are looking at is a landing gear pod with flat panel thrusters stuck on the end.

There I feel better now!
 
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Bryan K

Bryan K
Most fighter jets have their rear landing gear pretty much crammed in as close to the engine(s) as they can manage, so as far as I’m concerned, this is perfectly reasonable.
 

GraXXoR

GraXXoR
Dbrn47 said:
Only when it comes to the galaxy creation. Everything else is handwaving, creativity, fun and even down right silly.
Click to expand...

I don't know... The space stations look like they could be legit with their habitation wings and virtually 0G central chambers.
 

Faybs

Faybs
There's no reason for the most powerful thrusters to be at the back of the ship, in fact if you put them in line with the ship's center of mass (near the center of the ship, assuming mass is evenly distributed) it makes controlling the ship easier*. So having the smallest thrusters at the back, with the remaining space in their nacelles taken up by the rear landing gear, does make sense.

* For a demonstration of this, pick up a pencil, put it horizontally on your finger near the middle (its center of mass), and try and and balance it on your finger. This simulates a thruster on the pencil's center of mass, fighting gravity. It takes a bit of skill, but it's fairly easy. Now stand the pencil on its end on your finger, point up. That simulates the same thruster, but on the back of the pencil instead of its center of mass. Try to balance it - you'll notice it's harder than before.
 
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Monk

Monk
What is the thruster tech in ED?

Don't rule out the possibility that the propulsion agent could simply be generated by a plate of some exotic material placed at the base of a thruster nozzle. Another thing to note, the ship's engine isn't necessarily placed along with the exhausts providing propulsion like a 21st century jet plane. The ship's main engine is likely more centrally located and delivers energy to the thruster modules through some sort of conduit system.
 

Hooplah

Hooplah
I was hoping that all four of the engine nacelles rotated per the Panther Clipper or similar to the Serenity in Firefly. Only got one to move a little when landing.
 

Faybs

Faybs
Hooplah said:
I was hoping that all four of the engine nacelles rotated per the Panther Clipper or similar to the Serenity in Firefly. Only got one to move a little when landing.
Click to expand...

It makes sense when you consider that the Chieftain is a Diamondback on steroids.
 

Kaocraft

Kaocraft
Cmdr Bolamshea said:
I'm halfway through watching Thursdays live stream where they revealed the Chieftan.
It's a nice looking ship but there's only one part that I can't help but feel break the 'believability' of the ship...
The landing gear in the rear engine pods.
The engines being external like that are very cool, and I love the way they look.
I know I have to turn off the reasoning bit of my brain when playing a game that involved FTL travel, but that landing gear really grates on me, let me explaing my reasoning.

Those big bulky pods are very likely to be rammed full of engine; 3 thrusters on the back and a big one on the front; that should be taking a lot of space inside.
How the devil does the whole mechanism of the landing gear fit inside it as well? When the landing gear deploys it looks very much like the solid metal struts that connects to the 'foot' of the landing gear should be cutting straight through the internals of the thruster -
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd133/therealhozz/landinggear1.jpg
See those 2 big pieces of metal there? They look like they line up almost directly behind the bottom two thrusters.
Then from this view -
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd133/therealhozz/landinggear2_1.jpg
that massive chunk of metal looks like it would go nearly all the way through to the roof of the pod. leaving some very cramped space inside for all three of the rear thrusters.
I'm guessing that these engines should be the most powerful ones on the ship (along with the pods at the front) but when they only have this much space to fit in
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd133/therealhozz/landinggear3.jpg
the idea just doesn't work in my head.

This then raises the other question in my head 'Why did the only put landing gear in the rear pods when from a manufacturing point of view, it would have been cheaper to mass produce two versions of the pods left hand and right hand instead of 4 versions, left with gear, right with gear, front left and front right.'
(don't even get me started on the fact that whilst flying in space and deploying the gear should have resulted in the ship flying in vertical (relative to the ship) circles).

Yes, I know it's just a game, but all the ships so far have been at least a little bit believable. This ship, for the most part is but that rear gear. grr.

I'm really not complaining I'm just pointing out that the internal mechanics don't seem to work in the really cool looking ship and it annoys the logic in me :)
Click to expand...

Whelp. You're right. Thanks a LOT, man. Beta isn't even out but I can't *unsee* this.
 
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