Elite / Frontier Elite Ship Chart

[Steve O B Have]

Now this is by no means accurate - I have based the chart on the listed masses found at http://sharoma.com/frontierverse/ship_specs.htm

Seeing as there are no dimentions I have scaled relative to mass. i.e. the Panther Clipper is 2000 Tonnes, the Anaconda 800 Tonnes and the Cobra MKIII 100 Tonnes so I have scaled based on that ratio. It was just a fun exercise and were I to actually spend some more time on it I could get it a little more accurate but since there are no dimentions it's nigh on impossible to calculate volume. Still it feels kinda right.

 

[DraQ]

Top-down chart based on in game size comparisons would rock. Speaking of which, there seems to be some (unlabeled) ruler in Frontier's ship purchase menu.

 

[Steve O B Have]

Top down? As in the top of the ships? I'm sure that wouldn't be too hard. Where abouts is this ruler?

Edit: I see what you mean now... Interesting...

 

[Steve O B Have]

I wonder how safe an assumption 10m would be on that scale? What I need to be able to do is control the rotation on the ships so that I can orient them properly. At them moment I couldn't get Proper top down images from GLFE2.

 

[DraQ]

I have an idea:

Some tiny fighters, like Osprey and Eagle allow you to see their pilot through cockpit's canopy.

That should be sufficient to calibrate the scale.

Edit:
Hawk and Kestrel also allow that.

 

[Steve O B Have]

Yes this is very true... will see if I can find one...

 

[Steve]

I wonder how safe an assumption 10m would be on that scale? What I need to be able to do is control the rotation on the ships so that I can orient them properly. At them moment I couldn't get Proper top down images from GLFE2.

I would say the ruler represents something closer to 20m. My calculations, based on the picture of the Krait, are as follows...

• In the Elite manual, the Krait has a given length of 80ft
• This equates to 24.3m
• On my monitor the Krait is 5cm from tip to tail
• The ruler is 4cm long ie. 4/5ths the length of the Krait
• The ruler is then roughly 20m long

This should help with all the "classic" ships. The ones that first appeared in Frontier may be a bit trickier

Alas, using the same system, the Python works out at 460ft long, rather than the 130ft given in the Elite manual. Either the ships changed size between Elite and Frontier or there's no consistency. Bah

 

[Steve O B Have]

There is very little consistency in the ship sizes, and quite a number of liberties taken with masses and the relative sizes of ships. If my chart is right from a mass perspective then there is no way in hell that the Panther clipper is getting in a docking bay. Remebering that the bay was just big enough to fit 4 Vipers in it when they were launching at you.

 

[DraQ]

If both ships were uniform 'bricks' of equal density and proportions, Viper (65t) should only be 3.13 times smaller in linear dimensions (length, width, etc.) than Panther (I assume 2000t). Now take into account that Panther *is* approximately brick shaped, while triangular Viper takes up space much less effectively, so that the effective ratio should be even less.

(cube root of 2000/65 = 3.13)

Edit:
And, at least for Viper and Panther, the ratio seems 'about right' in FE2.

Second edit:
It also means that the first chart is dead wrong, at least when it comes to larger freighters.

 

[Steve O B Have]

If both ships were uniform 'bricks' of equal density and proportions, Viper (65t) should only be 3.13 times smaller in linear dimensions (length, width, etc.) than Panther (I assume 2000t). Now take into account that Panther *is* approximately brick shaped, while triangular Viper takes up space much less effectively, so that the effective ratio should be even less.

(cube root of 2000/65 = 3.13)

Edit:
And, at least for Viper and Panther, the ratio seems 'about right' in FE2.

Second edit:
It also means that the first chart is dead wrong, at least when it comes to larger freighters.

I'm not sure I understand the math. Am I wrong in thinking that a viper should fit into a Panther 30 times? Of course that makes the ratios horribly wrong in the chart It was just a fun project - will have a re-think and a remake if you can be bothered helping with the approximate scales?

 

[DraQ]

I'm not sure I understand the math. Am I wrong in thinking that a viper should fit into a Panther 30 times?

You're right. But since the ships are 3D it means that Viper should be on average 3 times lower, 3 times narrower and 3 times shorter.


Volume is cube of linear dimensions.
The Panher on your chart is about 20 times longer and higher than Viper which means it would have 8000 times larger volume and mass of about half a million tons which is about the mass of a Carrier in Homeworld .

 

[Grimble]

This is interesting!
You don't need to know actual dimensions, just expand/contract each image so that the rulers match in length that way you have a visual indication of size which for most cases will do, will it not?

Edit 1: I have done this for 18 ships... but I don't know how to get the image onto here, I have adjusted each image so that the ruler is 1cm long using 'Paint', then put them all on one A4 sheet.

 

[DraQ]

I have done this for 18 ships... but I don't know how to get the image onto here, I have adjusted each image so that the ruler is 1cm long using 'Paint', then put them all on one A4 sheet.

You can save it in a compressed fromat, for example .jpg, and put it on some image-hosting server.

 

[Steve O B Have]

I've sent you a private message with my e-mail address on it - I'll be happy to sort it for you. I'm really quite interested to see what the scaling is like.

 

[Grimble]

Thanks Steve, I have access to my own web space via my isp but I hav'nt worked out how to use it yet. I've emailed the image, see what you can do with it.
Edit 1 Hm, I suppose I could have used Flickr??

 

[Steve O B Have]

Here it is - Awesome work too! Really nice work! - Full updated version page 3

 

[Steve O B Have]

Just looking at it - the Panther and the Anaconda really are quite big ships.

I wonder if anyone from Frontier would be interested in dropping a few hints about what we might expect from the ships in E4 and what sort of size differential we might have.

I know unlikely but it'd still be kinda cool to see some concept art and the like.

 

[Grimble]

Thanks Steve, I shall keep looking for other ships and add them as and when I find them.

 

[Steve O B Have]

Is that Constricter scale right? I thought the Constricter and Cobra were comporable sizes.

 

[Grimble]

Yes, rulers of both my saved adapted images for Cobra Mk III & Constrictor measure exactly 1cm on screen. Maybe one ship uses its available space better, i.e. ship size to cargo bay ratio. The Constrictor looks a lot more ship for a mere 20 extra tons though.