Of course you have. Right?
But are these ships really as big as we think they are? Do they need to be?
I've had a tough time with this, quite frankly. I'd like some actual real feedback, so please let me know your thoughts.
The primary reason why I struggle with this is because of my Vulture. More on that in a bit...
Cargo Racks
This seems a useful baseline to determine the size of components, so let's start here:
If we compare them to an SRV, which can hold two, they look to be maybe 2m long by 1m diameter - and I think that's on the large side. If so, this gives each cylinder a volume of 1.57 cubic meters, not including the walls of the cylinder.
1.57 cubic meters of gold weighs 30.3T
1.57 cubic meters of water weighs 1.57T
1.57 cubic meters of coffee weighs 0.68T
So, we are already running into problems here, as I'll need larger cylinders for coffee. And, if I want 1T of hydrogen, assuming liquid, I'll need 16 cubic meters, or about 10 of these cylinders.
Glossing over that, here's the graphic from in-game when it comes to cargo space:
That's a 4E cargo space, and based on the cylinder sizes the dimensions are approximately 4m x 4m x 2m. A 2E cargo space would be 2m x 2m x 2m. A 1E would be 1m x 1m x 2m. So, I'm going to use the formula (2^x) x 2m for all class sizes where x is the class designation.
Here are a couple of issues I have:
This is where my Eagle and my Vulture come into play. When I sit in those things and look around, they feel like fighter jets. However, looking at the artwork or looking at it in hangar, the scale seems off. (Also, why in the hell would we need multi-crew in a Vulture?)
Anyway, I'm a bajillion light years from where my Vulture is, so I'm going to use my Asp Ex as an example.
Here are pictures of the inside of the cockpit:
When looking down, it is clear my feet are under or touching the base of the dash and the dash is less than a meter from me:
When looking straight ahead, the dashboard is about a 1.5m wide. Looking at each side, the edge of the dash is about a foot or so away from the canopy. Now, take a look at this external shot (I've added white lines to try to make the dash easier to see):
Internationally, the average male is 175cm tall and I'll use that since the math is easy. The ratio of leg to torso would put torso height at 75cm and leg length at 1m (again, just making the math easy). Then, those dimensions would be:
A - 1.5m (figuring in that area above the top of the head rest and the seat is on a pedestal base)
B - 1m (adding in headrest)
C - 50cm
D - 50cm
Figuring the base of the seat as about the same as the height (since it looks about that way), dimension E is something like 2.25-2.5m. This would mean in order to have a pilot's feet where they appear to be when looking down, the pilot's shins would have to be about 2m long. Also, the dashboard would be about 3m wide.
To make the external shot look more like what we see from the inside, I think it would have to be more like this:
Yes... I know. It's called "art".
I've put a 2E cargo space for scale, too.
Weapons
This idea of scale holds up with weapons, too - as far as I can tell. We have no idea how big a burst laser would be, or whatever, but take a look at the A-10's GAU-8 which has a max range of 3.6km, a barrel length of 2.3m, total length of 5.9m and weighs 1.8T fully loaded. It shoots 70 rounds per second and holds 1174 rounds. A 1F multi-cannon has a range of 4km, weighs 2T, shoots 7.7rps and holds 2100 rounds. I think it's a reasonable comparison. If you look at the Asp Explorer with the weapons deployed, it looks to be about the right size, if the cockpit scale was adjusted as above.
Anyway, it just seems to me the ships aren't nearly as big as published. Either that, or the cockpits are just WAY off on what size they actually are based on what you see from the inside as the pilot.
Thoughts, anyone?
But are these ships really as big as we think they are? Do they need to be?
I've had a tough time with this, quite frankly. I'd like some actual real feedback, so please let me know your thoughts.
The primary reason why I struggle with this is because of my Vulture. More on that in a bit...
Cargo Racks
This seems a useful baseline to determine the size of components, so let's start here:
- Every item placed in cargo comes in a cylinder of uniform size
- Every cylinder is a uniform weight - 1 metric ton (I assume metric, since the abbreviation is a 'T' an not a 't')
- Each cargo rack can hold 2^x tons of cargo where x = the size of the compartment. So, a size 3 compartment can hold 2^3 tons of cargo, or 8 tons.
If we compare them to an SRV, which can hold two, they look to be maybe 2m long by 1m diameter - and I think that's on the large side. If so, this gives each cylinder a volume of 1.57 cubic meters, not including the walls of the cylinder.
1.57 cubic meters of gold weighs 30.3T
1.57 cubic meters of water weighs 1.57T
1.57 cubic meters of coffee weighs 0.68T
So, we are already running into problems here, as I'll need larger cylinders for coffee. And, if I want 1T of hydrogen, assuming liquid, I'll need 16 cubic meters, or about 10 of these cylinders.
Glossing over that, here's the graphic from in-game when it comes to cargo space:
That's a 4E cargo space, and based on the cylinder sizes the dimensions are approximately 4m x 4m x 2m. A 2E cargo space would be 2m x 2m x 2m. A 1E would be 1m x 1m x 2m. So, I'm going to use the formula (2^x) x 2m for all class sizes where x is the class designation.
Here are a couple of issues I have:
- Why does a Supercruise Assist or Advanced Docking Computer take up 2 cubic meters of space? I can go buy a car today that will automagically maintain space between me and the car in front of me, put me back in my correct lane and parallel park. My phone has more computing power than the computer in the Space Shuttles. The ships have Flight Assist, which takes up zero space and the ability to compute FTL travel. Shouldn't these other things just be computer upgrades?
- What is up with sensors taking up so much space? A 1A sensor weighs 1.3T and takes up 2 cubic meters of space with range of 6km. An 8C sensor weighs 160T and takes up 512 cubic meters with a range of 6.4 km. Sure, the integrity is 150 vs 44... but, still... an additional 158.7T and 510 cubic meters seems like an awful lot. Given the math, it'd be more reasonable for 3x the integrity to take up an additional 3T and 4 cubic meters.
- Why does life support take up so much space? Think about the International Space Station. It's about the size of the Type-9 Heavy. For the entire crew of six, the life support system takes up three racks which are each about 2m x 1m x 1m. (See the Wikipedia article, which has a picture). On the Type-9, it's a size 5 compartment, or 64 cubic meters. Of course, the inhabited space of the ISS is much smaller, but that doesn't really matter that much... 2/3 of the system is for water reclamation for six people. Type-9 has one pilot and (optionally) another pilot for the fighter bay.
- Fuel makes no sense. An F-22 raptor holds 8T of fuel, which is about 2 cubic meters. An Eagle holds 4T of fuel in a class 2 compartment, which is 8 cubic meters. The problem is, 1L of liquid hydrogen weighs .07kg. 1 cubic meter is 1000L. 8 cubic meters of liquid hydrogen would weigh 56okg. To get 4T of fuel, you'd need 64 cubic meters. Looking at the class 7 compartment, which would be 256 cubic meters. It holds 128T of fuel. That would require 8960 cubic meters.
This is where my Eagle and my Vulture come into play. When I sit in those things and look around, they feel like fighter jets. However, looking at the artwork or looking at it in hangar, the scale seems off. (Also, why in the hell would we need multi-crew in a Vulture?)
Anyway, I'm a bajillion light years from where my Vulture is, so I'm going to use my Asp Ex as an example.
Here are pictures of the inside of the cockpit:
When looking down, it is clear my feet are under or touching the base of the dash and the dash is less than a meter from me:
When looking straight ahead, the dashboard is about a 1.5m wide. Looking at each side, the edge of the dash is about a foot or so away from the canopy. Now, take a look at this external shot (I've added white lines to try to make the dash easier to see):
Internationally, the average male is 175cm tall and I'll use that since the math is easy. The ratio of leg to torso would put torso height at 75cm and leg length at 1m (again, just making the math easy). Then, those dimensions would be:
A - 1.5m (figuring in that area above the top of the head rest and the seat is on a pedestal base)
B - 1m (adding in headrest)
C - 50cm
D - 50cm
Figuring the base of the seat as about the same as the height (since it looks about that way), dimension E is something like 2.25-2.5m. This would mean in order to have a pilot's feet where they appear to be when looking down, the pilot's shins would have to be about 2m long. Also, the dashboard would be about 3m wide.
To make the external shot look more like what we see from the inside, I think it would have to be more like this:
Yes... I know. It's called "art".
I've put a 2E cargo space for scale, too.
Weapons
This idea of scale holds up with weapons, too - as far as I can tell. We have no idea how big a burst laser would be, or whatever, but take a look at the A-10's GAU-8 which has a max range of 3.6km, a barrel length of 2.3m, total length of 5.9m and weighs 1.8T fully loaded. It shoots 70 rounds per second and holds 1174 rounds. A 1F multi-cannon has a range of 4km, weighs 2T, shoots 7.7rps and holds 2100 rounds. I think it's a reasonable comparison. If you look at the Asp Explorer with the weapons deployed, it looks to be about the right size, if the cockpit scale was adjusted as above.
Anyway, it just seems to me the ships aren't nearly as big as published. Either that, or the cockpits are just WAY off on what size they actually are based on what you see from the inside as the pilot.
Thoughts, anyone?