absolutely... it's the mamba... !! \o/
may be the attendant to fill the newsletter has misread the name or maybe he made some confusion...
I HOPEFULLY WAIT A CONFIRM FROM THE DEVS: THIS IS THE MAMBA !
)(Michael, where are you ? reply to this, hehe)
That Fer de lance, though!
- Thread starter tresch
- Start date
absolutely... it's the mamba... !! \o/
may be the attendant to fill the newsletter has misread the name or maybe he made some confusion...
I HOPEFULLY WAIT A CONFIRM FROM THE DEVS: THIS IS THE MAMBA !
)(Michael, where are you ? reply to this, hehe)
Thing that I don't get is this: when I saw the ships in the original game, I imagined them to be pretty much that shape, and not much more complicated. I didn't think "oh, that's a rough approximation of the shape of the ship, it must be more complicated", I thought "that's the shape of the ship, there might be colours and surface details and a few other bits, but that's what it looks like." And that's coming out of the long tradition of book covers, the Terran Trade Authority and all that, where spaceships tend to be flat geometric planes.
On a related note: one of the coolest ships in science fiction (bad science fiction, but hey), the Lady Mac, is a plain sphere. The Heart of Gold is a running shoe. Culture GSVs are big ellipsoids with a cuboid inside. Heighliners are cylinders. Liberator is a microphone with bits stuck on it. You don't need to be more complicated than the original Elite ship shapes to have a cool starship.
Culture GSVs are cuboids only due to scale. They are often home to millions or even billions of citizens. Populated ones have landscaped surfaces, they'd probably look like the Orbis ring habitat without the glass, only grander (and not curved).
The Liberator doesn't fit your thesis either. It's an intricate design.
There are plenty of other counterexamples of "cool" ships that are not simple: Star Wars, Star Trek, BSG, Firefly.
And of course our real spaceships, when they don't need to re-enter, tend to be quite complicated designs.
Why ever would waste internal space hiding wings that have almost no negatives in space? Just to make it look better? That's insane.
I'm not very good at the potatochop but here's more how I remember/imagine the Fer-de-Lance.
Sleek, exotic, expensive, luxury, speed, extreme.
I really liked what i first saw when i clicked on the images on the newsletter but now i have seen the above I have completely changed my mind... it needs to look more like this and if it doesn't i'm going to have to take it into my workshop and attack it with the grinder/welder until it does
And personally i think most of you are wrong about the size... i think it will be way bigger than a Cobra.
Exactly what I was thinking. Apart from perhaps looking a little sleeker with retracted wings there really is no logical reason to waste so much money on retractable wings because there is no incentive to retract them in space anyway (only artificial reason being the mentioned slight reduction of attackable surface in space fights)
That would indeed be a "functionality" that doesn't fulfill any real purpose.
Btw., I like the design from the newsletter. Like some people already pointed out, that concept from the wiki was never officially announced to be that of a Few de lance, that was just an assumption of the wiki authors. The image in the wiki looks cool, but in my opinion much to large for a nimble and agile fighter. Much more akin to something between a Federal capital ship and an Anaconda.
This is a really big ship, Do not underestimate the size, That isn't a cockpit, it's a bridge, That rear hatch isn't a hatch, it's a Landing ramp for vehicles.
I for one think you are thinking along the right lines...
Not insane if you just acknowledge that there's some value in aesthetics too. So because it looks better and still presumably allows for better atmospheric travel when the wings are extended, but reduces the profile in space flight. Also because retractable wings are very 007 and a cool gadget.
If ED ship designs were purely functional that would be fine too, there's often aesthetic value to be found in that, but we are talking about a luxury ship with a distinctive hull shape in lore.
The logical extension of your argument is that all cars should be metal boxes modified only enough for reducing drag and saving material costs. But look around.
It's not mad, it's cultural.
It looks more like the old FDL than the ZPG Adder looks like the old Adder.
I expected something looking like this, and it still looks more like the old FDL than Mamba (which is a lot wider).
It was going to be more rounded as that is the ZPG look, rather than the Core Dynamics ship that was associated with being the FDL. Maybe it will be a right hand drive too, like another ZPG ship, though I prefer central position for the pilot seat.
I quite like it.
I expected something looking like this, and it still looks more like the old FDL than Mamba (which is a lot wider).
It was going to be more rounded as that is the ZPG look, rather than the Core Dynamics ship that was associated with being the FDL. Maybe it will be a right hand drive too, like another ZPG ship, though I prefer central position for the pilot seat.
I quite like it.
![[VR] Mad Mike](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/27/27910.jpg?1553527108){kind=avatar}
to minimise its target footprint? it is after all a fighter of sorts... like i said the other option as i see it would be an added module
Yeah Mike I agree, and I also felt at the time of release that the addition of big tail fins on the Asp was a bit too far off piste and broke up the iconic lines of the Asp from the originals too much ( although Ive softened a bit since as you can still tell its an Asp from a distance so fair enough) .
Perhaps as someone suggested that the design change is due to the need to tweak the build to make it more suitable for planetary landings and atmospheric flight,as the bottom of the FDL looks a bit like the old NASA shuttle.
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I always saw the Fer-de-Lance as a really expensive, extreme, sleek, exotic and fast ship, a ship that went it's own unique way. Not taking it's styling from a hauler.
I dont hate it but this isn't the Fer-de-Lance I imagined, where's the pointy nose for a start, they rounded it off, where are the angles?
More like this, lots of stealth styled angles, like a luxury stealth super expensive large speed yacht sort of thing:
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Like those but with a bit more width on the backend.
This is really close to what we need. I liked the fer-de-lance just fine until I saw this. I still want the FDL but this...
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Sleek, exotic, expensive, luxury, speed, extreme.
I like that
I'm not very good at the potatochop but here's more how I remember/imagine the Fer-de-Lance.
Sleek, exotic, expensive, luxury, speed, extreme.
Someone has played Wipeout 2048 way too much, here
Joke aside, nice effort.
I actually like the old fashioned designs in Elite. At first, I was not fond of them, overall, but they have quite a lot of charm. If anything, they are getting far from the mainstreamed (can I say that?) actual sci-fi designs. They contribute a big deal to the game personnality, which I think is very strong. Just my opinion of course.
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A quick Photoshop with the bits I dislike removed:
I'm not a big fan of the wings, but I do see the design 'family' with the Adder / Hauler. The above has more in common with a powerboat design which exudes a feeling of expensive power:
I'm not a big fan of the wings, but I do see the design 'family' with the Adder / Hauler. The above has more in common with a powerboat design which exudes a feeling of expensive power:
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We need a 3rd person view. Is that coming?
EDIT: That pic above is clean. Good photoshoping!!
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Those are from top of my head..
- Reduction in mass (wings could be more fragile hidden inside of ship therefore reducing mass enabling to attach more guns or more utilities)
- Reduction of attack surface (obvious, it's not a hauler so this is vital)
- Reduction of friction when entering atmosphere (less surface more "pointy" look, wings would be deployed in atmosphere)
- Reduction of repair costs (wings inside - profit)
- Improved stealth abilities (as we all know easier shape the easier it is to hide ship f117/b2/ix-529)
Also Conda, Python does not have wings and it was ok. Suddenly this has wings and ppl say it's also ok.
Adding wings is the most lazy and easiest way to make a space ship. I'd say make a ship for space, fix bugs, then make a proper desing of planetary landing/flying. They have too much ideas. Add them too early and produce more bugs. At this time everything I touch in this game is bugged more or less.
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If you assume the grey square on the underside is the cargo hatch, and that it's the same size as the Cobra's...
The concept is about the same size as the cobra turned sideways.
On the same scale, it's about the same bulk (if you ignore the wings as having no real bulk):
So I think we'll be getting an expensive, combat-focussed, cobra-sized heavy fighter.
With a polished walnut dashboard...
*edit*
The concept is about the same size as the cobra turned sideways.
~50x50 pixel hatch size on both images.
On the same scale, it's about the same bulk (if you ignore the wings as having no real bulk):
So I think we'll be getting an expensive, combat-focussed, cobra-sized heavy fighter.
With a polished walnut dashboard...
*edit*
That's awesome...A quick Photoshop with the bits I dislike removed:
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I started out not liking the wings, started thinking about atmospheric re-entry and maybe FD intend some ships to be space only vessels.
Looked at the various photoshop jobs above some of which are awesome to be honest looked back over some of the earlier concepts which I honestly hope still make it into the game as other ships..
Then finally came back and looked at the ship in the newsletter again and I've come to the conclusion I really like it, it isn't 'classic' fer-de-lance exactly but all the ships have had a makeover to some degree so I can live with it.
Given the choice between a totally faithful but potentially naff looking (aka sidewinder) or a 'bit' artistic license and desirable looking (aka Viper) I'd go with the latter every time. (the cobra is faithful but it always looked good anyway).
Looked at the various photoshop jobs above some of which are awesome to be honest looked back over some of the earlier concepts which I honestly hope still make it into the game as other ships..
Then finally came back and looked at the ship in the newsletter again and I've come to the conclusion I really like it, it isn't 'classic' fer-de-lance exactly but all the ships have had a makeover to some degree so I can live with it.
Given the choice between a totally faithful but potentially naff looking (aka sidewinder) or a 'bit' artistic license and desirable looking (aka Viper) I'd go with the latter every time. (the cobra is faithful but it always looked good anyway).
I don't particularly like it either - the upper section is just way too curving down towards the nose. Dat ass tho......
Oh wait having seen this I change my mind completely! Remove the wings & it looks way sexier, the top works and now I need some alone time with that rear view hnnngh!
A quick Photoshop with the bits I dislike removed:
I'm not a big fan of the wings, but I do see the design 'family' with the Adder / Hauler. The above has more in common with a powerboat design which exudes a feeling of expensive power:
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