100's of hours in ED and didnt realize something so obvious till now

Cynaqq

Cynaqq
Riedquat said:
Actually, this question was asked a while back in the forums, if I remember rightly Mr Brookes asked Mr Braben and he said that he named them after Snakes because he liked the idea, nothing about the looks.

How about that for a partystopper!? :p
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I think for the first iteration of the game, it is probably true. But then for further versions, they had different designers working on the ship designs. It's pretty logical the new artists took the ideas and added the details on the final designs. There really are some undeniable design elements. The canopy of the cobra has that mouth look with fangs at the top, the anaconda having that second set of protruding edges on the sides of its back, which is a feature actual anaconda heads have etc.

See an anaconda head here:
litle+anaconda+snakes+head+Wallpapers.jpg
 

orfeboy

orfeboy
Cynaqq said:
To the people who don't agree the cobra resembles the snake;

Have you seen the ship from the top/front? It has teeth on the canopy for DB's sake and glowing radiators for eyes. Also its sensor panel is shaped like an open cobra mouth with the throttle and heat meters making up the flaring hood. I'd say the entire sensor display holographics were designed around the cobra cockpit.

Asp is commonly used to refer to the Egyptian Asp or Cobra, famous suicide device of choice of Cleopatra. The Lakon Asp models clearly resemble an African cobra head with its hood flared out. Perhaps because the game already had cobra class ships and it would be weird to call the other class 'Lakon Cobra' or 'Lakon Egyptian Asp' they went with Lakon Asp.

There are more than one type of snake called diamondback. The most common type has a really wide head with pointy brows over it's eyes. While not immediately resembling a snake head as the other ships do, it you describe the shape of a diamondback model ship from the front, you'll see it will be similar to how you would describe the snake's head from the front also.

Almost everyone agrees on the shapes of python, anaconda and fdl resembling their respective snake counterparts but I would say the Adder resembles a space shuttle and even more (to me) a panel van while retaining vaguely the general contours of a generic snake head.

http://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/elite-dangerous-5.pnghttp://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net...ra_logo.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100403201428
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The diamondback looks nothing like a snake. It looks like a locust and the name 'Locust' would have suited it better too...
 

mossfoot

mossfoot
Riedquat said:
Actually, this question was asked a while back in the forums, if I remember rightly Mr Brookes asked Mr Braben and he said that he named them after Snakes because he liked the idea, nothing about the looks.

How about that for a partystopper!? :p
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And the thing is, making them (almost) consistently snakes (Gecko after all...) was a way of establishing a sense of "reality" to the world in that early 84 game. Like how for American fighter jets you have Eagle, Falcon, Hornet, (and outliers like Tomcat ;) ). Or how NATO designations of Russian jets all start with F (Foxhound, Flogger, Foxbat). Or how by Return of the Jedi you had a bunch of different TIE fighter designs, but they all kept distinctive elements of them that made them uniquely TIE. Themes and familiarity help root a mythos together.
 

Cynaqq

Cynaqq
orfeboy said:
The diamondback looks nothing like a snake. It looks like a locust and the name 'Locust' would have suited it better too...
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To this, I fully agree. Lakon Locust. Has a certain ring to it too. They could have gone for something else for the asp too actually. Maybe another kind of insect.

Hahah, I actually now think the asp kinda look like the common stink bug. I think it would be an unfortunate name for the ship though :D
 
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NeilUK02

N
Slack said:
I will admit im not a snake expert and couldnt tell one from another in real life, unless maybe if it was rattle snake, but after looking at a few pics, it just dawned on me that all the ships named after a snake look like the actual snakes head. I love you FD..

Ok its time to point and laugh at me XD
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I wouldn't feel too bad, I played the original Elite for a year before I made the connection that the ship names were snakes ;-) I never got as far as they look like them !
 

Koen

Koen
Zeeman said:
I am ashamed to say, I have read none of the ELite fiction stuff (except the novella that came with the ST version I bought back in '86 or '87). Something I plan to correct shortly. I'm hoping I can purchase digital versions, I do hate paying for shipping for books...
Z...
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No need to buy them, the old Elite stories are available on the web:


 
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Slack

Slack
Zplintz said:
If you believe in God then you are never alone right? :/
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I suppose it depends on your definition of God. If its the one from the best selling fiction novel, the"Bible" then you are alone as no such God exists and can be proven using common sense.

If however you believe there is a power or a first cause, or an Intelligence, which permeates every atom of matter, and embraces every unit of energy. And that this infinite intelligence converts acorns to oak trees, causes water to flow down hill in response to the law of gravity, and has created that very law. Then yes you are not alone, as this intelligence is in everything and everyone. This can also be proven using common sense.
 

Koen

Koen
Slack said:
If however you believe there is a power or a first cause, or an Intelligence, which permeates every atom of matter, and embraces every unit of energy. And that this infinite intelligence converts acorns to oak trees, causes water to flow down hill in response to the law of gravity, and has created that very law. Then yes you are not alone, as this intelligence is in everything and everyone. This can also be proven using common sense.
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Wow, I'd like to see that proof, as this intelligence does not seem to be in me.

I would in fact already be most satisfied with just the proof that something is actual infinite.
 

OldSchoolPlayer

OldSchoolPlayer
Dance of Animals - Snakes, Birds, and Sea Animals.

I have mentioned it previously. I refer the ships fighting as a poetic "Dance of animals" ! :)
 
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Slack

Slack
Koen said:
Wow, I'd like to see that proof, as this intelligence does not seem to be in me.

I would in fact already be most satisfied with just the proof that something is actual infinite.
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I agree with Caramel Clown that this isnt an appropriate conversation for an ED forum, but since it was a Mod that continued the conversation I thought I would enlighten you on the subject.

Look around your room, anything you see that is made by a human, first had to be thought of. The thought/intelligence comes first, then the material thing can exist. Even when you go and make yourself a sandwich you first have to think about it. The chair your sitting in had to either first be thought of, or an automatic system (factory) which creates that chair had to be first designed and thought of.

We are all made out of atoms. Billions of these atoms then intelligently group up in certain patterns to create larger things such as cells which then make up even larger things such as organs, bones ect and ultimately an intelligent life form that then becomes smart enough to ask the question "what is an atom?" This doesnt seem random to me, but rather that there is a great deal of intelligence behind it all. What do you think the genetic code is? Its a code! A program! that holds all the information needed for your creation and existence. What created this program? Even if you look at something seemingly simple as a mosquito, todays modern technology with billions of minds connected through the internet, we still cant reproduce its intricacies. Obviously something much more intelligent than a human designed it, or designed the system (nature) that creates it. If you ask any scientist today of what actually exists, they will tell you its Energy and an unseen field of information that tells that energy what patterns to form. Nothing physical actually exists. We are 99% empty space. Or as Einstein put it "Reality is just an illusion, albeit a very persistent one"

So if common sense tells you that anything made by a human first had to be thought of, wouldnt you also think that an intelligence first had to think about and design all the things not created by humans and humans themselves? This intelligence isnt just inside you Koen, its inside everything and everyone, even a rock. As for my definition for "infinity" it would be an inteligence that has always existed before everything else no matter how far you go back in the timeline.

Mods notice i avoided biblical talk? XD
 

Riedquat

Riedquat
Draxxen said:
Actually I have a Royal Python pet, and I recognized the significance the first time I saw my Python - named after my snake - from the side. :)
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Cool, I used to have a couple of corn snakes many years ago, I love Royal's though, beautiful snakes, you should post a pic.
 
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