Would you like to see some asymmetrical ships in Elite: Dangerous?

Would you like to see asymmetrical ships in Elite: Dangerous?

  • Yes

    Votes: 179 55.4%

  • No

    Votes: 95 29.4%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 49 15.2%
  • Total voters
    323
  • Poll closed .

Momoka Azuka

Momoka Azuka
I know there's a lot of lore related ships people have been asking for that might very well show up at some point. (I personally would kill for a Cobra MK I. Just sayin) But there's just something about an asymmetrical ship that I love. I actually would love it if we got some ship, maybe a Lakon, that was more or less an explorer but cockpit was maybe on the port side of the ship and it hand some long antenna like array on the starboard side.

Think the Asp but with that cockpit left of that big scoop looking thing and a long satellite looking thing on the right of the other one. And just to make even more uneven, the side with the cockpit could be curved like the canopy along the entire side of the ship but the side with array could be more of a hard edged side. maybe even throw the cargo bay on that side as well to give it reason for it's shape.

Just a thought. Would love to see it. If I could draw at all I'd try to do a sketch of what I'm thinking but nobody needs to witness that mess :p
 

Iskariot

Iskariot
Scruffman said:
Would you like to see some asymmetrical ships in Elite: Dangerous?
Click to expand...

I don't care about the symmetry, but I do care about the looks.
The previous person who started a thread like this also showed examples of asymmetrical ships and they mostly looked uglier than the turds of my neighbours dog.
If FD can design a cool looking asymmetrical ship I am all for it.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course, but I fear that with asymmetry the chances of ugly designs increase.

I do like the YT-1300 series.
 
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Kaocraft

Kaocraft
Momoka Azuka said:
I know there's a lot of lore related ships people have been asking for that might very well show up at some point. (I personally would kill for a Cobra MK I. Just sayin) But there's just something about an asymmetrical ship that I love. I actually would love it if we got some ship, maybe a Lakon, that was more or less an explorer but cockpit was maybe on the port side of the ship and it hand some long antenna like array on the starboard side.

Think the Asp but with that cockpit left of that big scoop looking thing and a long satellite looking thing on the right of the other one. And just to make even more uneven, the side with the cockpit could be curved like the canopy along the entire side of the ship but the side with array could be more of a hard edged side. maybe even throw the cargo bay on that side as well to give it reason for it's shape.

Just a thought. Would love to see it. If I could draw at all I'd try to do a sketch of what I'm thinking but nobody needs to witness that mess :p
Click to expand...

I think maybe you want the ship from Infinity:Battlescape -

maxresdefault.jpg


https://youtu.be/TJqkiNAuBrw?t=3m20s
 

Salawat

S
Besides the established fact that the Anaconda seems to have been built from Meta-Alloys all along (dat Mass), wasn't one of it's biggest selling points that the bloody thing had a massively reconfigurable interior for the express purpose of CoM management?

But with the intent of actually contributing to the discussion, there is one major facet of Elite's ships that I believe may not be being taken into account when pushing for asymmetric (be it in the lay or pedantic sense) structures. That facet is Reboot/Repair.

The emergency repair system is entirely dependent on the fact that statistically speaking, most parts are standardized to the point that through application of some on board wizardry (and don't jump down my throat for using that term please, if I weren't at work I'd LOVE to think up something that feels more appropriate), the ship can cannibalize other parts to restore enough function to a kaput module to bring it back to life. SEVERAL TIMES. Even without a specialized AMFU.

Introducing asymmetry by definition sets a more restrictive ceiling on how effective these emergency systems can be. As one fond of anything that helps humans go where they were never designed to go, I can tell you that given the choice of being stranded because that one g part that can't be replaced except at great difficulty because there is nothing else on the ship remotely like it, or not being stranded because I can get at least SOMETHING working because of the "Forced redundancy" of symmetry... Well... I know which way I'd lean.
 

Momoka Azuka

Momoka Azuka
Salawat said:
Besides the established fact that the Anaconda seems to have been built from Meta-Alloys all along (dat Mass), wasn't one of it's biggest selling points that the bloody thing had a massively reconfigurable interior for the express purpose of CoM management?

But with the intent of actually contributing to the discussion, there is one major facet of Elite's ships that I believe may not be being taken into account when pushing for asymmetric (be it in the lay or pedantic sense) structures. That facet is Reboot/Repair.

The emergency repair system is entirely dependent on the fact that statistically speaking, most parts are standardized to the point that through application of some on board wizardry (and don't jump down my throat for using that term please, if I weren't at work I'd LOVE to think up something that feels more appropriate), the ship can cannibalize other parts to restore enough function to a kaput module to bring it back to life. SEVERAL TIMES. Even without a specialized AMFU.

Introducing asymmetry by definition sets a more restrictive ceiling on how effective these emergency systems can be. As one fond of anything that helps humans go where they were never designed to go, I can tell you that given the choice of being stranded because that one g part that can't be replaced except at great difficulty because there is nothing else on the ship remotely like it, or not being stranded because I can get at least SOMETHING working because of the "Forced redundancy" of symmetry... Well... I know which way I'd lean.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, the layout of a ship could very well still be more or less the same as with the ships in the game now depending on where the internals are placed and the general design of the ship. You could have a ship that has the same general layout as say the Anaconda but instead of the bridge being on the top of the ship it's on the left, and the hanger bay be on the right.

But the rest of the internals like the powerplant, shields, thruster, they could be were they could be on a standard Anaconda and not really change much in terms of how it functioned internally. Possibly the only change would be external changes, hitbox, thruster placement, how that fighter bay would launch, flight mechanics.

I get what you're saying and it makes sense but it does still depend on how the actual design choice made on the ship if that point factors in or not. Some cases it would but who know, maybe that could lead to some interesting gameplay mechanics simply cause by buying an asymmetrical ship
 

Rubbernuke

Rubbernuke
300px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1980-117-01,_Aufkl%C3%A4rungsflugzeug_Blohm_-_Vo%C3%9F_BV_141.jpg


Asymmetry is not unusual in aircraft. Burt Rutan has made asymmetrical stuff as well so it's not unheard of, although none of these are fast jets.

In ED? Would be nice, but nothing too wacky.
 

Frenotx

Frenotx
I'm fine with a ship being asymmetrical as long as there's a compelling reason / advantage for it. Look at it from the in-game ship designer's perspective and ask yourself why it's shaped that way.
 

Scruffman

Scruffman
Frenotx said:
I'm fine with a ship being asymmetrical as long as there's a compelling reason / advantage for it. Look at it from the in-game ship designer's perspective and ask yourself why it's shaped that way.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there's some sort of tactical advantage to it. Say for instance your ship's shaped a bit like a B-Wing from Star Wars, except each tip contains a turret (either the current turret hardpoint or some sort of new turret "pod" for multi-crew that a person actually sits in) - you'd have a much greater field of view and be able to shoot in a wider radius than if you were just mounted on the topside of any current ship.

Does that make sense?

EDIT: I'm sure there's other tactical advantages as well, any ideas would be appreciated, hopefully it'll grab Frontier's attention.
 
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RamirezKurita

R
Salawat said:
But with the intent of actually contributing to the discussion, there is one major facet of Elite's ships that I believe may not be being taken into account when pushing for asymmetric (be it in the lay or pedantic sense) structures. That facet is Reboot/Repair.

The emergency repair system is entirely dependent on the fact that statistically speaking, most parts are standardized to the point that through application of some on board wizardry (and don't jump down my throat for using that term please, if I weren't at work I'd LOVE to think up something that feels more appropriate), the ship can cannibalize other parts to restore enough function to a kaput module to bring it back to life. SEVERAL TIMES. Even without a specialized AMFU.

Introducing asymmetry by definition sets a more restrictive ceiling on how effective these emergency systems can be. As one fond of anything that helps humans go where they were never designed to go, I can tell you that given the choice of being stranded because that one g part that can't be replaced except at great difficulty because there is nothing else on the ship remotely like it, or not being stranded because I can get at least SOMETHING working because of the "Forced redundancy" of symmetry... Well... I know which way I'd lean.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that's not due to any degree of standardisation, but instead because our pilot is so good at improvising that he puts Mcguyver to shame. Seriously, the guy can make a dozens of high-calibre cannon shells out of some nickel filings, a graphite pencil and a chunk of pyrite the he has left over in his pockets with no tools of any kind. I'm pretty sure that to salvage components to repair others he is literally shaving parts of the circuitry off with his own teeth and using the ships thrusters as a makeshift soldering iron.
 

veryinky

V
Salawat said:
Introducing asymmetry by definition sets a more restrictive ceiling on how effective these emergency systems can be. As one fond of anything that helps humans go where they were never designed to go, I can tell you that given the choice of being stranded because that one g part that can't be replaced except at great difficulty because there is nothing else on the ship remotely like it, or not being stranded because I can get at least SOMETHING working because of the "Forced redundancy" of symmetry... Well... I know which way I'd lean.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't the extra mass of adding superfluous duplicate components to make the ship symmetrical purely because it looks "more pretty" be better spent on simply carrying spare parts?

The Fed Dropship has two coffee makers in it's cockpit, one on the left and right side. I'm reasonably sure that one coffee maker and a locker for spare parts would have been much more effective than carrying an extra coffee maker just in case the pilot needs to disassemble one for parts to repair the FSD. An asymmetrical ship would be more simple the maintain because it'd have fewer decorative parts, it would also be lighter and more maneuverable again due to not having to carry all that decorative extra weight.
 

syngyne

S
veryinky said:
Wouldn't the extra mass of adding superfluous duplicate components to make the ship symmetrical purely because it looks "more pretty" be better spent on simply carrying spare parts?

The Fed Dropship has two coffee makers in it's cockpit, one on the left and right side. I'm reasonably sure that one coffee maker and a locker for spare parts would have been much more effective than carrying an extra coffee maker just in case the pilot needs to disassemble one for parts to repair the FSD. An asymmetrical ship would be more simple the maintain because it'd have fewer decorative parts, it would also be lighter and more maneuverable again due to not having to carry all that decorative extra weight.
Click to expand...

...the Federal Dropship's cockpit isn't really symmetrical. You have a set of stairs on your right and an off-center secondary seat to the left and behind you, as well as a panel only on the left wall.

Edit: at least as far as the FAS goes, you do have additinal storage, there's a crate tied down to the left of the pilot's seat corresponding to where the stairs are on the right. Though it does say "Remlock" so it might just be an emergency shelter.
 
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