asymmetrical ships?

sinkarma

S
Was wondering if anyone would like the idea of an asymmetrical ship in elite?
And I don't just mean putting a pulse laser in your left medium slot then a multi in the right slot.
I mean really asymmetrical!

Imagine a ship that has its trusters in the middle (cause propulsion and center of mass stuff)
But on the right has a short fat wing carrying a huge hardpoint
And on the left a thinner and longer wing holding a large and a medium hardpoint.

I'm going to try make a 3d model to show off what I mean later after work and visiting the doctor
 

Watcher

W
They look nice but from a mass balance point of view it probably doesn't make a huge amount of sense.
Then again lots of things don't so, maybe?

I don't mind symmetric ships myself...
 

Requiem Mortis

Requiem Mortis
It would be good if they modified the flight models on ships with widely separated main engines such that when damaged it induces a yaw, which could be correctable by manouvering thrusters but would mean docking for repair and continued combat would be much more problematic.
 
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ilo

ilo
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Looks quite asymmetrical to me! :p
 

CptXabaras

CptXabaras
sinkarma said:
Was wondering if anyone would like the idea of an asymmetrical ship in elite?
And I don't just mean putting a pulse laser in your left medium slot then a multi in the right slot.
I mean really asymmetrical!

Imagine a ship that has its trusters in the middle (cause propulsion and center of mass stuff)
But on the right has a short fat wing carrying a huge hardpoint
And on the left a thinner and longer wing holding a large and a medium hardpoint.

I'm going to try make a 3d model to show off what I mean later after work and visiting the doctor
Click to expand...

Check Star wars B wing. would really love to see something like that
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
I hate to point out the mundane but, in practical terms, odd shaped ships are likely to do strange things things to your ability to aim.

Regardless of whether the cockpit is off-centre or whether the ship is asymmetrical around a centrally-placed cockpit, the result is likely to be a targeting reticle way off to one side.
The only way FDev could (probably) get around this would be to position the hardpoints equidistantly around the cockpit, regardless of the shape of the ship, but that's probably going to end up looking a bit odd.
 

Dietger

Dietger
Would love that. Asymmetrical like the Blohm&Voss 141, kind of ....
Perhaps the Imperial Explorer? wasn't it an odd looking thing in First Encounters?
 

Ceekay

Ceekay
This one actually flew https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blohm_&_Voss_BV_141

I reckon it'd be easier to achieve stability with asymmetrical ships in space as you don't have aerodynamic lift and drag to contend with, essentially get the main thrust axis acting through the CoG and position the directional thrusters to compensate for unbalanced moments of inertia, easy! ;)

Damn Ninja'd LOL
 

Iskariot

Iskariot
sinkarma said:
Was wondering if anyone would like the idea of an asymmetrical ship in elite?
Click to expand...

If done well I am all for it.
I think one of the most interesting asymmetrical scifi spaceships is the B-Wing bomber. It is actually symmetrical too, but only when it is in attack position.

To be honest I think it will be hard to come up with something equally cool for the ED universe that makes sense.
In EVE we see a lot of completely nonsensical ship designs of the sort I hope they will avoid in ED.
Their best designs are symmetrical.
 
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Stealthie

Stealthie
Ceekay said:
I reckon it'd be easier to achieve stability with asymmetrical ships in space as you don't have aerodynamic lift and drag to contend with, essentially get the main thrust axis acting through the CoG and position the directional thrusters to compensate for unbalanced moments of inertia, easy! ;)
Click to expand...

It occurred to me that a ship's shields might be able to generate whatever shape is aerodynamically required - so, even if your ship is physically shaped like a T7 breezeblock, it's "aerodynamic shape" could be a teardrop or wing-form, or whatever is required.
Hell, hook a sci-fi shield up to a computer and it should be able to modify it's shape dynamically to stabilise the ship or optimise control inputs.

For maximum cool-factor, when/if we get atmo' landings it might be nice if FDev set it up so landing a shielded ship was easy - cos the shield deals with the aero' issues - whereas landing an un-shielded ship was much harder, required more powerful thrusters and generated much more heat.
 

ilo

ilo
Stealthie said:
For maximum cool-factor, when/if we get atmo' landings it might be nice if FDev set it up so landing a shielded ship was easy - cos the shield deals with the aero' issues - whereas landing an un-shielded ship was much harder, required more powerful thrusters and generated much more heat.
Click to expand...

Hold on a sec there.. if the shield affects the aero, how do your thrusters (inside the shield) push your ship??

A shieldless ship generating more heat than a shielded ship.. That's just.. I don't understand it, stealthie
 
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Stealthie

Stealthie
ilo said:
Hold on a sec there.. if the shield affects the aero, how do your thrusters (inside the shield) push your ship??

A shieldless ship generating more heat than a shielded ship.. That's just.. I don't understand it, stealthie
Click to expand...

See, what you're doing there is happily accepting one kind of "magic" while, at the same time, being skeptical about the plausibility of another kind of "magic".

We know shields can deflect kinetic energy cos they, y'know, stop bullets from damaging our ships.
That being the case, there's no reason why a shield shouldn't have some effect on any air molecules (other gases are available) that whizz past your ship as you fly through an atmosphere too.
It's all just kinetic energy being transferred via some medium or another, bullets or air molecules.

We also know that even though our shields stop bullets hitting our hulls, our thrusters and weapons (including our own kinetic weapons) can happily operate correctly so it would shields already provide "one way traffic".


As for additional heat, that'd simply be a function of the additional thrust required to stabilise and control an unshielded ship.
If your shields can create an aerodynamic shape then your thrusters don't need to do as much to stabilise or control your ship.
Without shields, all that work would have to be done by thrusters.
 

ilo

ilo
Stealthie said:
See, what you're doing there is happily accepting one kind of "magic" while, at the same time, being skeptical about the plausibility of another kind of "magic".

We know shields can deflect kinetic energy cos they, y'know, stop bullets from damaging our ships.
That being the case, there's no reason why a shield shouldn't have some effect on any air molecules (other gases are available) that whizz past your ship as you fly through an atmosphere too.
It's all just kinetic energy being transferred via some medium or another, bullets or air molecules.

We also know that even though our shields stop bullets hitting our hulls, our thrusters and weapons (including our own kinetic weapons) can happily operate correctly so it would shields already provide "one way traffic".


As for additional heat, that'd simply be a function of the additional thrust required to stabilise and control an unshielded ship.
If your shields can create an aerodynamic shape then your thrusters don't need to do as much to stabilise or control your ship.
Without shields, all that work would have to be done by thrusters.
Click to expand...

Yeah, of course, because one magic is enough, two is too much!

so you mean, that this one-way-magic is also one-depending-way magic, that does not work with aero forces from thrusters from other ships but is affected by or does affect aero forces from atmos? interesting
 
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