Visible customisation of ship hulls

Paden

Paden
Hi folks. Apologies if this has already been discussed, but just coming back I the forums after a long absence.

First of all, I'm loving the YouTube footage of Alpha and it's great to hear the enthusiasm and positive response to the visual, sound and gameplay elements of the game so far. I'm really excited, and can't wait to get going (standard Beta, I'm afraid).

I guess I'd like to see more variation in ship exteriors as the game develops. I know that the combination of weapons, paint jobs, decals and eventually thrusters are going to make a visible difference. But I'd like to see things go further than that. I'd like to see external fuel tanks, scanning paraphernalia, shield generators etc. etc. mean that load out choices make individual ships visually unique. Would also like to see ship names painted on hulls with nose art etc. Not criticising the alpha, just hoping for more as the game develops.

Also mentioned a long time ago having modular cockpits which could change ship appearance and offer functionality / stats benefits & drawbacks.

Would like to hear other's ideas...
 

Aleksej

Aleksej
Paden said:
Thanks for the link @Aleksej, but no, that's really relating to cash for customisation. I'm referring to physical changes on the exterior of the hull as being standard with a wider range of equipment fitted - not just the weapons hardpoints.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Probably, it will come later. As now we have only three different hulls. But the game should allow much more equipment than currently is available. We need to wait and see.
 

Paden

Paden
I guess this image may illustrate what I'm on about, though I'm not suggesting that Elite Dangerous will go this far - but the concept is more significant variations on a theme...

otana_all.jpg


Does that make sense?

(Not suggesting these ships should be used - George Lucas may have something to say on that) :smilie:
 

Omegahunter

Omegahunter
While doing this would be cool can't see it happening as it would only add to the network load. As you would now have to send ship mod data as well as weapon loadouts. also if you did go this route you would expect adding a lot of extra modules to your ship would affect its handling and that would be more data that would be unique to your ship that would have to be transmitted over the network.

Anyways the current ship designs aren't really setup for that kind of modular swap out.

Dare I say it, but its more of something that other space game that's being made would do.
 

Paden

Paden
Omegahunter said:
While doing this would be cool can't see it happening as it would only add to the network load. As you would now have to send ship mod data as well as weapon loadouts. also if you did go this route you would expect adding a lot of extra modules to your ship would affect its handling and that would be more data that would be unique to your ship that would have to be transmitted over the network.

Anyways the current ship designs aren't really setup for that kind of modular swap out.

Dare I say it, but its more of something that other space game that's being made would do.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't know about the technical programming side of things, but wondered if there would be limitations with extra data requirements for networked games. Thanks Omegahunter.

Not sure it would make much of a difference in terms of handling in the vacuum of space, and the mass considerations would already be factored in with a 'modular' system anyway - I'm just talking about existing equipment changes having more of an impact on the external hull, rather than just being added to a list.

These changes would alter aerodynamics etc. for atmospheric flight though, which sounds like too much hassle once the game is expanded.
 
Last edited:

Omegahunter

Omegahunter
Paden said:
Yeah, I don't know about the technical programming side of things, but wondered if there would be limitations with extra data requirements for networked games. Thanks Omegahunter.

Not sure it would make much of a difference in terms of handling in the vacuum of space, and the mass considerations would already be factored in with a 'modular' system anyway - I'm just talking about existing equipment changes having more of an impact on the external hull, rather than just being added to a list.

These changes would alter aerodynamics etc. for atmospheric flight though, which sounds like too much hassle once the game is expanded.
Click to expand...

Take a look at what Star Citizen is doing with its ship designs.

You get engine modules and weapon swap outs. So you can see the difference between the versions of the same basic ships as most of the parts are on show, and you can even see what some of the ship are carrying weapon wise if you know what you are looking for.

While I do like what they are doing in ship design over on Star Citizen, I can't say that I like most of the current ship designs.

Also I don't think that this kind of ship modding fits into the Elite universe. I like my Corbas to always look like Cobras.
 
Last edited:

Rubbernuke

Rubbernuke
I seem to remember some concept art in ED that shows different engine types being externally different as to allow you to guess the other ships capabilities (like thrust vectoring etc). I will try to find it.

Edit: here we go:

Engines.jpg
 

Memnoch

M
Those are more than likely different designs that were being tossed around rather than optional components that could be purchased and fitted to your craft. One of these will win and make it into the game.

But having the ability to choose how you want your ship to look from a merely cosmetic standpoint would be great also. A possible MT option perhaps?
 

Bingo Brewster

Bingo Brewster
Paden said:
Hi folks. Apologies if this has already been discussed, but just coming back I the forums after a long absence.

First of all, I'm loving the YouTube footage of Alpha and it's great to hear the enthusiasm and positive response to the visual, sound and gameplay elements of the game so far. I'm really excited, and can't wait to get going (standard Beta, I'm afraid).

I guess I'd like to see more variation in ship exteriors as the game develops. I know that the combination of weapons, paint jobs, decals and eventually thrusters are going to make a visible difference. But I'd like to see things go further than that. I'd like to see external fuel tanks, scanning paraphernalia, shield generators etc. etc. mean that load out choices make individual ships visually unique. Would also like to see ship names painted on hulls with nose art etc. Not criticising the alpha, just hoping for more as the game develops.

Also mentioned a long time ago having modular cockpits which could change ship appearance and offer functionality / stats benefits & drawbacks.

Would like to hear other's ideas...
Click to expand...
I would like to see this implemented somewhere along the line. Anything that provides variation in the game has got to be good.
 

Cosmo Bozo

Cosmo Bozo
Memnoch said:
Those are more than likely different designs that were being tossed around rather than optional components that could be purchased and fitted to your craft. One of these will win and make it into the game.
Click to expand...

Nope, it's on the ship customization update on kickstarter, showing how different engines can be fitted to change flight characteristics.
So it was definitely the plan then....

I don't see how it is any harder to do than having customizable player characters in a ground based MMO
 
Last edited:

Paden

Paden
Body Kits

Come to think of it, I seem to remember Frontier mentioning 'body kits' for ships over a year ago.

Has anything further come out on this through the design discussion forum? Would like to hear more about this Frontier!

:D
 

Tinman

Tinman
Granite said:
That's the one, thanks!! :)

Don't want to highjack this thread, but does anyone know if Frontier still plan to include these levels of damage states in the game?
Click to expand...

In the twitch stream they did recently they said that the damage models were coming soon (tm). ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom