I've decided to implement the Ministry-approved method of gauging step depth by using the Cleese Scale - as can be clearly seen, the first step can be rated "Very Silly" with subsequent steps being "Quite Silly with Deep Lunge required"And as the SRV is 4.8m long and 2.5m high, that puts the step size at around 0.5-0.6 metre, similar to some of the other estimates here.
The other strange thing is that if you look closely, there's also a mini-step just before you get to each main step. It seems very user unfriendly, in more ways than one, unless perhaps it's an escalator.
It's almost as if it's just a scaled up version from a much smaller ship... oh wait...
Ships with proper ship bridges, not upscaled cockpits
- Thread starter Ted Striker
- Start date
Looking at the pictures i now understand...we've got it all wrong, they're not steps at all...
they're FLIPPERS
they're FLIPPERS
Your gauging step looks like he's 1.1m tall.
Anyway, SRV is 2.5m - and that makes it reach up to the 4th step - so about 0.6m per step.
So it's an escalator for sure and each step could support several people.
Feel free to cut and rotate The Cleese to compare with my Commander in the SRV bubble - they’re not far off the same position (well, apart from the sticky-out leg). Don’t let the RemLok helmet distort your sense of scale.Your gauging step looks like he's 1.1m tall.
Anyway, SRV is 2.5m - and that makes it reach up to the 4th step - so about 0.6m per step.
So it's an escalator for sure and each step could support several people.
As from a video I posted earlier, the SRV wheels are about my chest height. I’m not 110cm tall
Feel free to cut and rotate The Cleese to compare with my Commander in the SRV bubble - they’re not far off the same position (well, apart from the sticky-out leg). Don’t let the RemLok helmet distort your sense of scale.
As from a video I posted earlier, the SRV wheels are about my chest height. I’m not 110cm tall
2.5m is the srv height. Your small man is less than half that height.
De-legged and rotated:
...lower leg is at the wrong angle, but you get the idea. I know the Wiki has the Scarab listed as 2.5 high, but I wonder where that measurement came from?
Some of the other images leave interpretive wiggle room but if I had to make a headcanon decision based on that one alone -- with or without the Cleeses -- I'd say it has to be an escalator of some sort, assuming that the ships haven't "just been scaled up." Given the geometry the mechanism would have to be more complicated than a comparative 20th/21st century escalator, but that's not without precedent in the ED universe. Material science has vastly improved and energy saving doesn't seem to be an issue. Even if it was, it would be characteristically Imperial to have something so decadent anyway.
Given that the bottom step appears to be partway through a deployment or retraction motion I do wonder exactly what would happen to travellers as they got to the bottom. Being unceremoniously dumped onto the planet like mud from a dredger as you wave to the adoring crowds doesn't seem particularly Imperial, but of course this is all speculation and we're far from seeing the whole picture, literally or figuratively.
On the other hand it all adds weight to the argument that some of the ships have "just been scaled up" for some reason, which leads to speculation as to why. One answer might be that someone figured out the sizes of various modules and hangars partway through the design phase and realised none of the ships was large enough to accommodate them. But given that some patches have increased slot sizes without apparent issue, I'm not convinced that's an immediate concern any more. Although it might have been previously.
My favourite theory is that when all the models were done, someone important (in my head it's David Braben) noticed that all of the ships passed so easily through the enormous Coriolis slot that the whole terrifying feel of manual docking from the original game was lost even with the gigantic ships. So rather than scale down the port (which would have made the station look less like its historic counterpart) they scaled up some of the ships with the intention of -- but never getting around to -- doing an adjustment pass on the greeblies down the line. My main problem with this theory is that the Cutter wasn't added until a year after launch. Unless the basics of the model was already done prior to 2014, it doesn't explain why it wasn't built to scale in the first place.
An oddity for sure. And I suspect that even if a developer came into this or a similar thread and said either "it's rescaled" or "it's an escalator" the community would still be split on whether or not to accept their explanation. It's just one those things where the "real" answer -- even if one exists to the exclusion of all other factors -- won't sit well with everyone. FD are probably right just to let us bat this particular ball back and forth. At least it's keeping people talking about the game.
My view about boarding the Cutter is:
...and the slight problem of the first step is easily solved by one
You can fit a human in a Lamborghini Countach (1.07m height) and in also in a monster truck (3.5-4.5m height)
I'd say we go with what's accepted as official measurements
I asked Simon Templar about squeezing into various sized spaces, but he just raised a creaky eyebrow and got a twinkle in his eye.You can fit a human in a Lamborghini Countach (1.07m height) and in also in a monster truck (3.5-4.5m height)
I'd say we go with what's accepted as official measurements
Edit: ...I’m not disputing the Elite Wiki info; when I was making the video yesterday I couldn’t quite see to the edges of the SRV’s tyres in my 4m-wide room without clunking the headset into the walls, so that would agree with the 4m width from the Wiki. My eye level is about 1.64m and was about level with the handle on the front of the SRV scanner. My VR room is 2.57m high, so I should be able to see where the SRV measurement goes up to. I really hope none of my family catches me doing this tomorrow
“Emergent gameplay!” “I’m changing the light bulb...in VR!”
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Just try to picture Princess Aisling wearing one of her vaporous dresses climbing that stair
I tried to picture both, and the result was beyond shocking as well.
Source: http://i.imgur.com/u6KHoDY.gifv
(Expiring link sorry, had to update)
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Thankfully I didn't pratfall off the stepladder or, more importantly, get caught by anyone, so here is the video of my checking out the height of the SRV - I start off with my headset on the ground before eventually going up the ladder until my head touches the ceiling - the ceiling in my VR space is 2.57m tall:
Source: https://youtu.be/pDm2kWlse8g
...when I'm stood up, my head is at the same height as the retracted side-thrusters. When my head touches the ceiling (so an eye level of about 2.47m) I'm quite clearly still within the SRV bubble, not clipping through anywhere.
...when I'm stood up, my head is at the same height as the retracted side-thrusters. When my head touches the ceiling (so an eye level of about 2.47m) I'm quite clearly still within the SRV bubble, not clipping through anywhere.
So it's actually higher than 2.5m?
Without getting into the complexities of Cleese/Moore conversion tables for figure comparison charts, yes, it’s higher than 2.5m
If it's 2.5m then your head standing outside the SRV would be just about level with the pilot's head as it's positioned inside the SRV assuming a height of roughly 1.65m like mine.
A better comparison might be to put a cargo canister upright next to the SRV and Cutter stairs. People are generally pretty sure that those are close to 2m long.
The deployed SRV is certainly taller than 2.5m though. I think that number comes from the dimensions of the cargo bay, which implies that the SRV cannot be taller than about 2.5m when folded up prior to deployment.
That's a very good idea, but unfortunately my Cutter has disappeared in a poof! of Beta particles, so I'm left with just the SRV:
...I'm 1.78m tall and my head-height was roughly in line with the undeployed side thrusters or Cmdr's elbow, so 2m looks about right for the canister.
2.50m looks to be around the grill on top of the driver bubble, which I'd say agrees with the video I made the other day. In conclusion, the SRV is a bit taller than the Wiki says, and Cutter owners must have glutes like two hard-boiled eggs in a handkerchief.