What sort of design would you like for Alliance ships?

[Edith_The_Hutt]

Three, not necessarily mutually exclusive options I'd like to see for Alliance ships:

1) Variants of existing or older craft. The Alliance doesn't have centralised shipyards, it's a collection of fleets from individual worlds so having the exclusive versions of existing craft which can only be purchased from the manufacturer with an Alliance military rank kind of makes sense for this. A centrally agreed contract with manufacturers which is open for members to opt in or out of is totally in keeping with the Alliance doctrine.

2) Modular builds. Similar to the above but with the variants being the result of modular add-ons or units made by individual member worlds representing the diverse internal market of the Alliance with dozens of manufacturers producing their own version and variant of a ship module made to a common set of standards. This would be awesome but probably way more work than FD have put in for the other two factions navies.

3) Grey, Octagonal and with non-Newtonian thrusters...

 

[Apos]

Asymmetrical design does not necessarily mean unbalanced center of mass / center of thrust, does it?

It does mean an unbalanced center of mass, but it doesn't mean that it's something you can't work around.

But artificially balancing the center of mass without being forced to and when you have an alternative that does it by design is a bit silly from an engineering standpoint. Why have to produce thrusters of different powers for each side just to keep the ship going steady?

 

[Jypson]

There's quite a bit out there. One of my favourite is the left one (Python concept) in the image below. Nice 'n' chunky.

Mmmmmmm, that's what I want right there!!

Here's a couple of ships done in Lego that show off the type of look I was taking about above. Sort of chunky and solid, with a sort of "that'll buff out" look to them.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kFptaHBEz...j1RWKfd_UUA/s1600/5118959955_b3112879d0_z.jpg

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Very cool designs! Would love to see these too!

 

[Gran Solo]

The Alliance doesn't have centralised shipyards

I was wondering when that old canard would come up.

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No, it doesn't.

But artificially balancing the center of mass without being forced to and when you have an alternative that does it by design is a bit silly from an engineering standpoint. Why have to produce thrusters of different powers for each size just to keep the ship going steady?

You do that every time you only need one module of a certain type and it's impractical to put it on the central axis of the ship. I get that it has advantages, but it's not strictly necessary from an engineering standpoint. You can just run the simulations. Maybe you have other priorities that make it more practical to go asymmetrical, like volume or budgetary constraints.

 

[Edith_The_Hutt]

The Alliance doesn't have centralised shipyards

I was wondering when that old canard would come up.

The Alliance does have centralised shipyards?

*shrugs*

I thought they didn't, I thought that they had a whole bunch of large civilian shipyards which could build to a common design if necessary but in keeping with the voluntary, fragmented nature of government in the Alliance they simply had common standards and trade agreements which allowed individual members to make their own military choices rather than a centralised military command which mandated specific design and procurement for individual navies.

I'm pretty certain I couldn't give you a reference for any this though, so I'm totally willing to admit I might be wrong. It's just my own logical extrapolation of the EU/NATO model the Alliance military seems to be written to in-game rather than the US/Roman model you find in the Federation or the Empire.

 

[Apos]

The Alliance does have centralised shipyards?

*shrugs*

I thought they didn't, I thought that they had a whole bunch of large civilian shipyards which could build to a common design if necessary but in keeping with the voluntary, fragmented nature of government in the Alliance they simply had common standards and trade agreements which allowed individual members to make their own military choices rather than a centralised military command which mandated specific design and procurement for individual navies.

I'm pretty certain I couldn't give you a reference for any this though, so I'm totally willing to admit I might be wrong. It's just my own logical extrapolation of the EU/NATO model the Alliance military seems to be written to in-game rather than the US/Roman model you find in the Federation or the Empire.

Alioth and the Lave cluster both have great shipyards. They would be able to supply a large amount of Alliance systems with ships.

Although you are correct that a member system wouldn't be obliged to actually buy them and use them. What way they fill their navy would be their choice. But such massive production is certainly within the Alliance's abilities.

 

[Gran Solo]

What he said; the Alliance has no centralized shipyards in the sense that Airbus doesn't have centralized shipyards.

 

[AluminumAlloy]

Let's go into Eve Online mode. Five big factions; The Amarr, Minmatar, Caldari, Gallente and the weird Jove.

Indeed the Federation ships do look like both Minmatar and Caldari style, while the Imperial ships look Gallente and Amarr. Thus, we only have 1 option to choose; the Jove. Jove ships have no looks similar to any of the rest of the four other big factions, so i'm assuming the Alliance ships would need to have a little touch of alien design in them? Of course, not too much but enough to look slightly un-human/odd than the rest of the other faction-specific and non-faction-specific ships.

Of course, the Alliance has no navy, but perhaps non-combat ships would be ideal; mining, freight, ect.

 

[bigian12]

Three, not necessarily mutually exclusive options I'd like to see for Alliance ships:

1) Variants of existing or older craft. The Alliance doesn't have centralised shipyards, it's a collection of fleets from individual worlds so having the exclusive versions of existing craft which can only be purchased from the manufacturer with an Alliance military rank kind of makes sense for this. A centrally agreed contract with manufacturers which is open for members to opt in or out of is totally in keeping with the Alliance doctrine.

2) Modular builds. Similar to the above but with the variants being the result of modular add-ons or units made by individual member worlds representing the diverse internal market of the Alliance with dozens of manufacturers producing their own version and variant of a ship module made to a common set of standards. This would be awesome but probably way more work than FD have put in for the other two factions navies.

3) Grey, Octagonal and with non-Newtonian thrusters...

+1. I like this, especially the modular design as in when buying the ship you can choose a variant and/ or mix it up a bit. Also, a ship need not be severally oddly shaped to be asymmetrical, for example the only thing asymmetrical about the millennium falcon is that fact that the cockpit is off-centre on the starboard side and an interesting note about that, the yt series of vessels from star wars are modular so you can have versions with a cockpit on the port-side and even centre-line.

Spoiler

 

[Arjin]

Something similar to the organic nature of the Imps but cooler,

 

[Jintosh]

Hmm, looks like the Alliance aready had Firefly, so hopefully we'll get one again

 

[bigian12]

Something similar to the organic nature of the Imps but cooler,

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Damn Romulans, they are at it again.

 

[Arjin]

Damn Romulans, they are at it again.

Yea buddy!! They have always had cool looking ships, the Spectre class is amazing!!

 

[Colonel Kenney]

And named after farm animals

I lol'ed.

I'd like to see ships that expand/fold up swept winged type like an F14. Fighter jet type styles.

 

[Lobstris]

Surprised noone's done this one yet (including its waggly tail)? http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Turner_Class

*Edit* Ah! A more careful reading of the thread shows InMemoriamSirocco got there first. Well, consider this a +1.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

Firefox - use thicker fuselage at the back though.

 

[Arjin]

I lol'ed.

I'd like to see ships that expand/fold up swept winged type like an F14. Fighter jet type styles.

View attachment 96162

OOOOO really like this one!!

 

[Starender]

Saker MK IV Fighter (successor of the Saker MK III)
Turner Class Multirole Ship

I love this two

 

[the-monk]

Its nice to see some good discussion going on here. The Alliance in Elite Dangerous are long overdue their own ships. I just hope FD are taking notes and actually planning to do something about it. I often feel the devs often forget about The Alliance (well at least it feels like it).

We know the Alliance have their own ship yards and ship designs. They just need some implementation into Elite Dangerous.

 

[Hexen]

Asymmetrical? Yes please!
Round just because feds got boxy ones and Imps got flying iphones? No please. That's lame

I want something utilitarian and all about effectiveness for once. No silly windows in cockpits, no extra plating where it doesn't needed, no overdesign, no aerodynamical "plane" shapes either. At least not to the point where it prevalent in a craft that spends majority of it's lifetime outside of the atmosphere. I want something that make sense as a spaceship, not a space plane. More wireframe, shielding of essential parts, more variety on outside of the hull. Like docking ports, external robotic arms, extra cargo containers outside, comms arrays, wiring and so forth. Some might be retractable, some don't. I'm just tired of the whole "space plane" thingy. To tell the truth never been fond of it in the first place.