Hey Frontier, Where Are The Doors/Ramps Into Our Ships?
- Thread starter Leadfoot
- Start date
Of course, I left my space phone in the ship that's locked.....
This, unfortunately.I don't think we're coming out of the doors/airlock.
In ship.>
Fade to black.>
On foot.
Particularly for the smaller ships, many of which have other entrances besides the landing gear.
The Adder, for example, has four entrances: the ladder on front landing gear, a drop down ramp ahead of the Cargo Bay Door, the Cargo Bay, and its rear entry door (that may or may not have elevator, as demonstrated with Krait Mk. II in FDev trailer).
Not walking off the ship is a huge misstep. Pun intended. Never should have said they want the Neil Armstrong moment when they never planned to deliver the literal mechanics that make that moment meaningful. Ship interiors or not, the least they could have done was develop an airlock entry/exit for each ship - even if there was only one, large ships included - so that the immersion would be meaningful. The added four seconds of in and out might seem silly, and many would claim it a waste of development resources.
Those same four seconds buy the immersion of:
- Landing Gear Deployed and Retracted (Why don't ships just automatically dock? What a waste of time.)
- Hardpoints Deployed and Retracted (Why don't weapons just automatically shoot? What a waste of time.)
- Frameshift Drive 4-3-2-1 Countdown (Why don't we just jump on charge up? What a waste of time.)
- Cockpit glass fracturing animation before shatter (Why doesn't it just shatter instantly? What a waste of time.)
And many, many other silly features that 'waste time' yet make Elite the thriving game we all know and love.
On Foot Deployment should, at minimum, include the departure from and return to an airlock within the ship, providing actual footfall from the ship to the alien surface.
exactly.. some Neil Armstrong moment when its fade to black
The diamondbacks are the primary reason (after my beloved Adder) why I want proper ramps and airlocks. Both the DBS and DBX have clearly marked cargo hold doors in their rear that scream campy sci-fi ships. If SRVs were reworked, it would make more sense for them to deploy via this hatch in the rear rather than from the small slot that is the cargo scoop.
Other ships, particularly the large variants, would likely use large cargo bay elevators to vertically ascend into the ship - not necessarily through the cargo scoop, but a dedicated, larger hatch similar to an SLF hatch. Some larger ships, like the Krait, have the lovely ladders and elevators in the landing gear, but others like the Beluga Liner have no obvious exit save the passenger egress doors that clearly require docking to be used (or rubber slides in space? That'd be a way to get down!)
The Hauler is another fascinating ship for egress: it has numerous 'access hatches' all around its chassis, and its iconic steps and grips imply multiple entries (though most are probably for service or away-from-station repairs and maintenance). The smaller ships generally have more character in this regard, and that makes sense. On-foot exploration (and mission work) would understandably utilize smaller vessels, or the smaller 'medium' classes, due to their agility in atmosphere and gravity. Not to mention large ships (again, understandably) have more difficulty landing without docking support.