Ship Design - Safety concern

domel

domel
Hi,

I was always wondering why all the ships in Elite: Dangerous have translucent cupolas on the edge of the ship. This is (even having shields on) the most vulnerable place on the hull and still, a Commander sits just underneath. Why don't make a comannder's cabin in the center of the hull, shielded with inches of steel, with easy access to escape pod? Why don't allow him to look all around using a few outside cameras and a few displays? Of course, the room with cupola would be accessible but I wouldn't feel safe there during the combat...

Such a commander module could be purchased as an internal module, with a possibility to transfer between it and the regular bridge.
 

egotronic

E
I would also like an all round view, the original Elite (as I remember playing the original game with see-through vortex graphics on my Spectrum 48, had it...hahahaha wow so long ago). Plus I would love a few cameras for internal bays like showing your cargo hold with cannisters, just for immersion sake.
 

domel

domel
Being shielded against my enemies by milimeters of anything vs sitting safely inside ship's bellows? nay, I'm not convinced at all ;)

backwards camera useful anyway and invented already in 20th century ;-)

EDIT: There are countless sci-fi movies when ships are put down by shooting a bridge which is perfectly exposed on EVERY ship that I can think of...
 
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Nimitz

N
Maybe because they felt other little items were more important to protect than a person who is sitting inside a suit that protects them with effectively an emergency pod that will eject them to safety no matter where they are in the universe?

Like Maybe....
Fuel Tank
Power Plant
 

Erasmus Dynamo

E
The glass is presumably extremely tough, think transparisteel.

The pilot needs to be kept near the surface of the ship due to heat buildup.

The field generation mechanisms that keep the pilot from turning into chunky salsa during manuevers must be kept a distance from the frameshift drive due to interference issues.

In heated combat situations pilots don't have time to run to a surface escape pod, and the machinery involved in a deep escape pod adds too much weight.

Pilots are naturally superstitious about relying on screens.


...Take your pick.
 

Speculative

Speculative
Monitors don't let you change your viewpoint. When next in your car, especially if looking for an address or at a junction, try not to move. You won't be able to, we all lean yo make sure there is nothing hidden behind the pillars (ie we move to get the best view) monitors can't do that.

Or as someone else on here said

"If it is good enough for Luke Skywalker, it's good enough for me!" :D
 

Bambi

Bambi
The gameplay gives the answer. I want you to go out and intentionally shoot out the cockpit of the first ship you see.

Not so easy eh?
 

Neofactor

Neofactor
Though the number of times my cockpit was blown out before I became decent at dog-fighting does seem to suggest it is a structural weakness. I always wondered the same thing.... Or why I have a glass like cockpit, instead of some future space alloy plating with cameras all around the outside that project an image inside the "cabin" so I was safe. The cameras could even get hit and fail, and there would be holes in the players line of sight. This doesn't need to be the case in all ship designs but I think it would be some cool variety and the fact that the canopy can be blown out should signal that it is weaker than the rest of the hull.

(think of a 360 monitor/ projection similar to the one in titan-fall)
 
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Riepah

Riepah
Bambi said:
The gameplay gives the answer. I want you to go out and intentionally shoot out the cockpit of the first ship you see.

Not so easy eh?
Click to expand...

Isn't that exactly what you end up doing if you target their Life Support and bring it to 0%? At least I figured that's what causes canopy breach.
 

Leathersoup

L
domel said:
Being shielded against my enemies by milimeters of anything vs sitting safely inside ship's bellows? nay, I'm not convinced at all ;)

backwards camera useful anyway and invented already in 20th century ;-)

EDIT: There are countless sci-fi movies when ships are put down by shooting a bridge which is perfectly exposed on EVERY ship that I can think of...
Click to expand...

Then they could make the pilots cameras able to be targeted at which point people could shoot out your cameras and leave you completely lost in space.
 

Riepah

Riepah
Leathersoup said:
Then they could make the pilots cameras able to be targeted at which point people could shoot out your cameras and leave you completely lost in space.
Click to expand...

You could put the camera behind the same kind of "glass" that currently shields the pilot. In that case, if the glass breaks and the camera gets shot to bits... at least the pilot's still alive rather than dead.
 

domel

domel
Love your creativeness!!

And one more bit from me. If the hull-bellow-command-center weighs a lot, but helps to survive with canopy breach for longer than a few minutes, why don't allow players to decide?

Another thing with screens. Holographic 360' view (SPHERICAL) would be a killer, especially using Oculus! You'd appear sitting on a chair surrounded by nothing! Would be lovely for exploration and tight fights. Don't you think so?

No, not INSTEAD of classic cockpit. As an option!

Just switched to Adder from Sidewinder... and what a dissapointment! No Sun Window anymore :sigh:

;)
 

BigBadB

B
It was a game design decision, pure and simple. At least one of the designers talked about it during alpha or beta.
 

CMDR Darkler

CMDR Darkler
Alternatively eyeballs are not subject to EM interference like camera's etc. Stuck in the dark in the middle of a ship is not my idea of fun..
 
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