Sure, enjoy.
Glass Canopies Are Ridiculous
- Thread starter King 58th
- Start date
Definitely not glass. Definitely not Scottie's time-paradoxical Transparent Aluminum either. Srsly, they couldn't even say the element name properly?
It's not glass. Being 0.1ls away from the darkest brown-dwarf star, you wouldn't be able to look through glass - it would immediately blind you and melt your eyeballs. Based on how the stations light and the stars light, it has a huge range of photosensitivity, far more than you can get out of glass or even the stuff you make the special cardboard solar-eclipse-glasses out of.
It's clearly unobtanium.
It's not glass. Being 0.1ls away from the darkest brown-dwarf star, you wouldn't be able to look through glass - it would immediately blind you and melt your eyeballs. Based on how the stations light and the stars light, it has a huge range of photosensitivity, far more than you can get out of glass or even the stuff you make the special cardboard solar-eclipse-glasses out of.
It's clearly unobtanium.
But... if they have it... doesn't that make it Obtainium?
/thoughtful raptor picture here
No glass here ... 
HAHA dont get mad, get GLAD!
Totally agree! I wouldn't bring any of it up if it were just a few hundred years in the future... I agree with everyone who has made the point that familiarity is important to reaching a broad audience. It has to be a balance between what would be a totally alien and incomprehensible future vs what we know right now. It is a game and we can all suspend our disbelief to an extent. However, a large contingent of the audience are sci-fi fans and types who may appreciate a few more nuggets of reality-inspired futurism
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haha no, I've only suffered a crack. But, it does appear I started a decent conversation, so mission accomplished I suppose.
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haha I can only touch on one "ridiculous" thing at a time, man
Theres a reallllllly simple solution to this... Just change the DTG in the game so it's not 1200 years in the future.haha I can only touch on one "ridiculous" thing at a time, man
Crossbows, Concrete, and Cars: Why Dark Helmet Was Right
It's the same critique that happens to everything based on some version of the future. There's this belief that our current technologies will just grow and improve forever, and nothing will ever stop that progression.
Meanwhile the Japanese got rid of crossbow technology for being a dirty no-skill commoner's weapon based on some foreign nation's ideas. Our current concrete isn't as good as the stuff the Romans made. Combustion engines are complete garbage at fuel input vs energy output even at the highest pinnacles of their development, but the guys that sell them aren't going to push for efficient powercell cars till they can squeeze the same profitability out of that as they do now.
Tons of plausible reasons why the 3300s could be just as stupid as now. To quote Dark Helmet: "Even in the future, nuthin' works!"
Love it - and yeah, there's always reason for an event in history to set things back, even as other things move forward.
Where does it say anywhere that it's glass?
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Seeing as it can be hit by missiles and even plasma accelarators without always breaking we can assume it's made of some ultra high tech resistant material similar to the ships armour but just transparent
That's a viewscreen on the bridge, not a window.
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Kill the chicken, get an arrow to the head.
I like our windscreen just the way it is. Frozen, cracks and splintering. Nothing beats the feeling of docking with 5 seconds of air left.
Thank you for the pic! You made an old geezer grin for the first time in months.
Can't Rep you on mobile, but I will when I get the chance CMDR
o7
That's a viewscreen on the bridge, not a window.
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We like our windscreens just the way it is.
Frozen, cracks and splintering.
Nothing beats the feeling of docking with 5 seconds of air left.
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So in conclusion from this thread - there is no reason for elite ships to exist, other for human s and giggles for flying 200 tons of...contracts? what made of stone? Oh yeah 200 tons of food is really going to help a massive space colony...
So say David Braben was actually given a magical manipulation cube from aliens and created this universe. In this universe we find out David Braben hates everything invented after the 80s.
By the way how do we know if the computers in Elite are not fallout like mainframes powered by bulb sized transistors...it would explain ALOT.
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Yeah, i'll take game-play over realism any day. A realistic spacecraft sim would involve years of political shenanigans to get funding, followed by a 2 week launch window to get to mars in only 162 days (based on the speed of the fastest spacecraft yet built and average distance).
In my opinion, Rogue System has got it almost right, but not quite either. The cockpit is actually the little sphere in front of the craft, and from the looks of the video, it's like 60%-70% exposed. Not sure if in that video or another, it's mentioned, you can actually decouple that little sphere thing, it's itself an autonomous craft. So that makes at least a bit more sense than the glass canopies, but you still might as well paint a bullseye on your ship :/
Back on topic, in my opinion, the glass canopies add drama-for-drama-sake. It's an intentional structural weak point, and in many ways defies engineering logic only to cater to rule-of-cool. It needs to be destructible, because otherwise there's no point to the life support module. Same for the HUD failing once the canopy is gone, that's drama-for-drama-sake as well. Again, from an engineering point-of-view, it makes no sense to add HUD projection tech to every ship when pilots do wear a suit and helmet all the time anyway. You could much more effectively add a suit-ship-interface, most probably wireless too, and have the HUD be displayed on the helmet's visor.
But what do you except from a game where a dedicated drone controller weighs tonnes, while today we build drones and controllers weighing grams and at most kilograms.
Nah! That's a different Frank. You're thinking of Frank Lee.
Whilst I see your point, it is somewhat invalid. A breakable canopy is a game play mechanic. If you are questioning the realism of the canopy then why not question the realism of faster than light travel, particle weapons and giant floating space ports while you're at it.
Its scifi - anything's allowed.
Its scifi - anything's allowed.