Newcomer / Intro I love the game BUT...............

Brian lion · Feb 5, 2015

I have the game and have been playing for 3 days now say 15 to 20 hours.

Look I like the game. It has a steep learning curve and you have very low user or new user instructions on how to carry out simple bulletin board task. No simple markers to show where obj are where you can get obj and once you get there (to a star system) then what to actually do. BUT that is not my biggest grip!!!!!

THIS IS.... I am sorry but your ships look like *. They really do. They look like a 7 year old designed them. Here you go fly a BLOCK around. WOW I am in my amazing (sidewinder) block. Oh and now that you have spent 20 hours doing missions for 407 cr yes one mission was for a huge 407 cr. (ARE YOU SERIOUS????) Who is doing that mission? WHO? Back to my rant. .... now that you have done a few BLACK BOX mission for 14,000 cr and you figured out how to find the black boxes and then you found out how to scoop it up. Once you trade for say 100,000 credits then you get to move up to the next level of yes new and exciting.....

the BLOCK 2... these blocks are not your originally blocks no they can Haul more and have more hard points and internal hard points... and they LOOk amazing in block form.

And now you do some trading and get 400,000 cr for the basic COBRA MK III wow I can not wait for the COBRA MK III like the mustage cobra soo freaking cool, blue with white stripe down the middle so nice.... YES lets go look at the COBRA..... ???

It is just another BIG * BLOCK!!!!! WOW the imagination that went into designing the BLOCK was amazing you can see they paid attention to details....... and to top it all off... the best most high end space ship is an ORCA???? a stupid transport for the rich? REally not a cool fighter not a slick super cool trader ship that has 2 escort vessels for support in a cool (do it your self paint job, no we can't possible put some personal touches on our own space ships like maybe just a racing strip where we can pick the color? no? maybe let us put our names under the window??? how about a pinup girl on the outside of our ship like they did in WW2).......

Look don't get me wrong this is the best space game in the market right now. However, Star Citizen is kicking your in ship design. Those ships make me excited to play that game and it will not be out for another year. Please, Please put some ships in the game with some "sporty" looks. Yes a YUGO is a car that can get you from point A to B but its a * of a lot funner to drive a BMW to do it.

I think you get my point. (the new ships that are coming out all look like blocks to me as well. Okay you got me some of them are WEDGES and BLOCK / WEDGES combo... amazing concepts here. If I was in charge those ship would not of come off the first draft sketches let alone make it to final productions and anyone that thought those ship designs are cool would all be fired on the spot.) (I think what really happen was they spent a huge amount of time getting 1 billion stars that they forgot about the ships that will get you there. Out of time and out of money BLOCKs are fast and cheap to make happen.)

Brian the LION .... coming at you in this kick block... going to knock your BLOCK off.

carlisle · Feb 5, 2015

I don't know, ship design is a subjective thing... I personally think the Star-Citizen designs look too generic-Hollywood with all the fins and other unnecessary bits sticking out, waiting to be shot off; while I like Elite's geometric designs, robust yet elegant in their simplicity they are modernist ships and somehow seem like something actually designed in a future where spaceflight has become commonplace and spaceships aren't seen as being like aeroplanes.

Although having said that, the main reason the classic ships like the Sidewinder and Cobra are the shapes they are is pure nostalgia. The original Elite was made in the 80's using vector graphics that limited designs to simple blocky shapes, and Frontier have recreated these for the new Elite. There are other ships already available and coming with different, curvier designs but for ships that were classics in the old games they pretty much had to make them strongly resemble the 80's designs, just as another famous ship, the USS Enterprise has to resemble the original design.

ewar · Feb 5, 2015

I don't really like the style you expressed yourself with but I kind of agree with the sentiment.

Look at some of the epic ship design in EVE, would have been great to have something like that. Asymmetry FTW.

Dommarraa · Feb 5, 2015

The thing that bugged me was when I spent an absolute fortune on a new cobra, they haven't even cleaned the windows! How much for a valet?

Brian lion · Feb 5, 2015

carlisle said:
I don't know, ship design is a subjective thing... I personally think the Star-Citizen designs look too generic-Hollywood with all the fins and other unnecessary bits sticking out, waiting to be shot off; while I like Elite's geometric designs, robust yet elegant in their simplicity they are modernist ships and somehow seem like something actually designed in a future where spaceflight has become commonplace and spaceships aren't seen as being like aeroplanes.

Although having said that, the main reason the classic ships like the Sidewinder and Cobra are the shapes they are is pure nostalgia. The original Elite was made in the 80's using vector graphics that limited designs to simple blocky shapes, and Frontier have recreated these for the new Elite. There are other ships already available and coming with different, curvier designs but for ships that were classics in the old games they pretty much had to make them strongly resemble the 80's designs, just as another famous ship, the USS Enterprise has to resemble the original design.

Do you drive this by chance?

carlisle · Feb 5, 2015

Brian lion said:
Do you drive this by chance?

No of course I don't but I presume you drive this

Malfahri · Feb 5, 2015

I only have a few hours logged and haven't played any other modern Space Flight sims, but I think the designs are fine; especially for a beta. What sold me on the game was the gorgeous cockpit.

Ferris · Feb 5, 2015

Remember that a lot of these ships were originally featured in a game that came out 30 years ago. So the original designs were simple geometric shapes due to the limitations on computing power back then.
A lot of the ships in ED are simply updated versions of the same in order to maintain a faithful reproduction of the ships from the original Elite.
So yes the Cobra does look like a nicely textured wedge, but that is not due to a lack of imagination/skill on the part of the designers/devs.

ReaperAlex · Feb 5, 2015

elite 1 was the first ever 3d game at a time where the hardware manufactures thought 3d was impossible. the cobra was in that game, so the fans of the game want to see it in this game. that is where the cheese blocks come from, a long heritage of gaming. most of the ships are from the original games and are also very blocky

for a new look ship check out the clipper:

http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/File:Imperial_Clipper_docked.jpg

cmdr lowest · Feb 5, 2015

Brian lion said:
...snip

I think you get my point. (the new ships that are coming out all look like blocks to me as well. Okay you got me some of them are WEDGES and BLOCK / WEDGES combo... amazing concepts here. If I was in charge those ship would not of come off the first draft sketches let alone make it to final productions and anyone that thought those ship designs are cool would all be fired on the spot.) (I think what really happen was they spent a huge amount of time getting 1 billion stars that they forgot about the ships that will get you there. Out of time and out of money BLOCKs are fast and cheap to make happen.)

Brian the LION .... coming at you in this kick block... going to knock your BLOCK off.

This OP has put me off Star Citizen for life. You don't need "sporty" looks when you hauling 100T of Palladium.

Midtskogen · Feb 5, 2015

The block shape is inherited from the original Elite game. Back then there was no depth sorting of polygons of any kind because of the limited processing power. The trick was to draw the polygons only when they were facing you to make the object look solid. In order for that to work, the curvature of the objects has to go the same way all around. Convex objects, we called them. And that makes them look like blocks, or rounded blocks. These days this is irrelevant, but this game has history. Enjoy the scenery instead.

Flappers · Feb 5, 2015

Am I the only one who actually doesn't like Star Citizen models? They are way to flashy to be even considered remotely flyable.

As a space pilot, I would much rather have a solid structure, that doesn't look like it's going to fall apart when I turn on the engines

ScottGust · Feb 5, 2015

Dommarraa said:
The thing that bugged me was when I spent an absolute fortune on a new cobra, they haven't even cleaned the windows! How much for a valet?

Wow, i luv the dirty window effect, very realistic and great for immersion...prestine windows after launching from a planet surface thru atmosphere and dust into space..em..no.

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To the op whining about ship design...(1stly ur thread should b merged with the coupl others out ther) n 2ndly, THIS IS ELITE, that means in ED the ships are to be identical in the tradition of the original designs...ther will b other ships too but the originals have to make an appearance 1st..once again..bcuz its ELITE.

Kayin · Feb 5, 2015

OPs complaints really only apply to the Sidewinder and Cobra. Obviously haven't seen a Viper, Python, Clipper, or Anaconda - all very cool ships. Let's not even mention the capital ships you encounter.

I just wish Elite had more variety so the ship progression wasn't so linear. In particular a cobra alternative. That will come with time.

Seriously though OP - you should go post on star wars forums about their ship designs:
- A wing, X wing, Y wing, and the completely nonsensical B wing...

-K

SpydersByte · Feb 5, 2015

Wow... a giant wall of text exists up there where you could've easily just said "I don't like the ship designs"... because that's all you really said. Yes, SC ships have a different design philosophy than ED ships. Considering we (sadly) don't even have a 3rd person camera, why is it bugging you so much? You were able to look at the website and view all the ships before buying the game, so you knew what you were getting into. I think some of SC's ships are beautiful, and I think some of EDs are dull, but there's really no need to make yet another thread about it. Accept that ED is what it is, and if you want SC's ships you're gonna have to play SC :/

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Kayin said:
OPs complaints really only apply to the Sidewinder and Cobra. Obviously haven't seen a Viper, Python, Clipper, or Anaconda

Agreed.

Midgardsormr · Feb 6, 2015

The thing that kind of bugs me about space ship design in every game and movie is that you seldom see the most rational shape for a ship: a plain sphere. You'll get the most volume for your materials that way. Failing that, a squat cylinder is pretty efficient, too. Obviously, that applies only to ships that never need to enter an atmosphere, which our ships eventually will.

A wedge shape like a Star Destroyer is pretty rational, too, since if your ship is covered in guns it allows you to point almost all of them at a single target.

Anyway, I rather like the Cobra's look, and I never played the older games. It reminds me of the B-2.

Agony_Aunt · Feb 6, 2015

I shudder to think of the forum outrage there would have been if the majority of ships didn't follow the old classic designs.

What they have done which is pretty nice is to separate ships by manufactuters and make it quite clear. And then if you look at the ships by manufacturer you note the different design patterns between most.

Its like going onto the street and seeing a car and without noticing a badge or name you can go "Hmmm, not sure, but looks like a Ford or a Vauxhall", but in this case its more like "Well, its either a Zorgon Peterson or a Faulcon de Lacy"

Mad Pete Trollo · Feb 6, 2015

Perhaps a new graphics card?

xondk · Feb 6, 2015

Brian lion said:
BLOCK

Well I'm clearly not playing the same game that you are playing, because I like the designs and don't see this whole 'block' thing that you are talking about.
You want spaceships with a lot of fins and spindly thin parts, designed to look cool? I don't think you'd find that here, since that would make absolutely 0 sense in a spaceship, in spaceships you want the strongest structure possible, that is why the ISS and such things are basically just tubes connected to tubes.

Does star citizen ships look better, dunno, I like both ways it is done, but the only real major difference is that they have wings and pontoons of sorts (you know engine blocks at end of wings) and that's a design choice, but if we are looking at it realistically then it might not be the smartest, since if it was even mostly realistic those wings would be the first target, and would be substantially weaker then the rest of the ship, and destroying them would cripple the ship.

Elite favors the more internal designs, and I like that, I like the sense of scale and realism in Elite.
Where Star citizen is going to have less realism compared to Elite, but that is also fine, since it is an entirely separate and different game.

lolanon · Feb 6, 2015

Midgardsormr said:
The thing that kind of bugs me about space ship design in every game and movie is that you seldom see the most rational shape for a ship: a plain sphere. You'll get the most volume for your materials that way. Failing that, a squat cylinder is pretty efficient, too. Obviously, that applies only to ships that never need to enter an atmosphere, which our ships eventually will.

A wedge shape like a Star Destroyer is pretty rational, too, since if your ship is covered in guns it allows you to point almost all of them at a single target.

Anyway, I rather like the Cobra's look, and I never played the older games. It reminds me of the B-2.

Yeah because the space shuttle is a sphere.