Why are the BIG ships so small ?

Snakebite

Banned
Snakebite
I mean, the Python is NOWHERE near the size of a freighter nor is the Annaconda a huge ship. Both of these ships are different in game than they are described in various sources of Elite Lore. Also they are the wrong shape, the python especially looks like it has been squashed.

Also they are both far more manoeuvrable than expected. I have seen the python described as a slow lumbering beast... But in game it actually seem more like a 'heavy fighter' or fast gunship
 
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Asp Explorer

Asp Explorer
The Anaconda is about 250 metres long. That is slightly under the size of a cargo vessel you'll find at sea. It's still huge - have a look around one in the Rift. Even the Asp is massive.
 

777Driver

777Driver
What on earth is the OP on about? Dude, view this game in VR. Anaconda is larger then a Supertanker (height) , the Eagle is the same size as a single aisle airliner.

The Python is huge when viewed in VR, and that ship is pretty small compared to the T9 & Conda.

I agree about maneuverability, many of these ships feel way too maneuverable, just put it down to thrust to weight ratio
 
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Seonid

Seonid
Daud said:
You're not overly familiar with the concept of scale, are you?
Click to expand...

Humans are incredibly bad at judging scale with no reference points as the OP demonstrates.

jvnm.jpg

That's the Anaconda on the right next to the Elizabeth Tower which is 315 feet (96m) high. Yeah, tiny.
 
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Zplintz

Zplintz
I think the problem with scale for most is the (current) lack of a reference in-game.

The Anaconda looks like it could easily hold 3 Sidewinders when you put them next to each other. This makes the Sidewinder look like a wide flat Golf GTI when it is obviously so much bigger when you put a 2m human next to it and that initial error in scale judgement in turn makes the large ships seem not so large.

As mentioned earlier the Anaconda is 250m long and everything in ED is built to scale. Boeing 747s are about 70m long. The Anaconds is a very long ship.

Once we get the walking-around update I am certain we will be avle to appreciate the scale better.
 
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DoppelShifter

DoppelShifter
The problem is really the perspective we have while inside our ships, plus the speeds and distances we are dealing with.

When I began to tackle Anacondas, I was flying a Vulture, and indeed, the Condas didn't seem that massive. Okay, they were big, but it didn't seem like they could double as carrier like the in-game description says.

...That is, until I was flying with a wing that included new players, and one of them was flying a Sidewinder. When he saw my Vulture getting closer, he said "WHOA, your ship is HUGE". Then I went to a screenshot with a top-down view of the Vulture. I made some pretty rough estimations, but this ship is probably close to 40m long (which is roughly about 2.5 Sidewinders). And that's because I don't have a direct way to compare it to an Eagle, which has an estimated length of 29m (roughly two Sidewinders). And the Viper is bigger than the Eagle (35-ish meters or more, maybe?), and the Vulture is even bigger (being actually the biggest "small pad" ship in the game, apparently).

And the bigger the ship you're flying, the smaller the others feel in comparison, specially when you're not measuring your speed in kilometers per hour, but in meters per second (3.6x multiplier). For example, that 400m/s boost? That was actually a 1440km/h supersonic dash, roughly the low-altitude top speed of a F/A-18F fighter jet - considering that the F/A-18F will run out of fuel after roughly 4000km, meanwhile you can travel in the Mm (Megameter, or million meters) scale without breaking a sweat.

Also, as a matter of comparison, the average urban bus is about 12m long (18m if it's articulated).

TLDR? Ships in this game are BEEEEG. So big you get used to it and don't realize how big they are.
 
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Egg90

E
Try using the debug camera when docked, and moving it as if you were standing on the ground, You get a good sense of scale that way.
When I first got my Type 9 and did this I was in awe, the thing is like 5 or 6 storeys high, hell the "windscreen" is 2 storeys tall!

Here, dug out a pic. That tiny thing at the bottom is the front door.



Type 9 001.jpg
 
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rmhepton

R
Egg90 said:
Try using the debug camera when docked, and moving it as if you were standing on the ground, You get a good sense of scale that way.
When I first got my Type 9 and did this I was in awe, the thing is like 5 or 6 storeys high, hell the "windscreen" is 2 storeys tall!

Here, dug out a pic. That tiny thing at the bottom is the front door.



View attachment 30245
Click to expand...

Awesome pic .. def gives a sense of scale.
 

Lanciarii90

L
I always thought IRL that space shuttle was small spacecraft, only 20 m long, but some years later I had opportunity to see real Buran and this thing was freaking huge.

The same happens with some ships like Clipper, they look smaller in space, you can destroy them under minute, but they are big as Airbus A320.
 

Efrit

Banned
E
Like the previous posters already stated, its the lack of perspective that plays tricks on you. I've been flying an Anaconda for what feels like a forever now (I've never had Rift), and if I had to guess without actually knowing how big it is, I would guess about the size of a Boeing 777.
 

Poy

Poy
Lanciarii90 said:
I always thought IRL that space shuttle was small spacecraft, only 20 m long, but some years later I had opportunity to see real Buran and this thing was freaking huge.

The same happens with some ships like Clipper, they look smaller in space, you can destroy them under minute, but they are big as Airbus A320.
Click to expand...

I believe they're bigger than that since a Clipper is just a bit smaller than an anaconda.


I really hope we'll have ambient NPC humans on the decks sometime in the future.
 
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BillD

BillD
Seonid said:
Humans are incredibly bad at judging scale with no reference points as the OP demonstrates.

View attachment 30238

That's the Anaconda on the right next to the Elizabeth Tower which is 315 feet (96m) high. Yeah, tiny.
Click to expand...
Best example yet. Much better than a documentary I saw a while back where they kept comparing buildings to the sizes of animals. One comparison what that it was a high as 37 Elephants. I thought to myself African or Indian elephants :)

I tried explain this to friends a while back, and was using the door on the back of the ships to try and convey the sense of scale. Comparing to vehicles or buildings we are familiar with gives almost instant appreciation. I would throw a car and a Bus into the image mix too.
 
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