RFC: Fancy classics

[Simon B]

Though spaceship earth is a fancier geodesic.
It is possible to do a geodesic based on a dodecahedron .... for that matter, there's no need to itset the pentagons. In both cases we'd lose the dodo-slab/d12 look.


Of course, I'm basing this on only a couple of comments. Perhaps I'll come back to it later.

[Simon B]

Missile?


... "missile" is not really that good a name: more like a torpedo.

"Falcon deLacey Self-Guiding Torpedo" anyone?

Note - anything round really racks up the poly count - this is about 630 for eg. You'll only see it in preview or if you rig a screenshot to the fire-missile command. So it would seem sensible to use a simpler model for the game and keep a fancy model for the previews.

[Killer Wolf]

looks like a sex toy

so i'm told

[Screet]

Missile?
... "missile" is not really that good a name: more like a torpedo.

That was also my thought when I saw the image and didn't read beyond

Looks like a nasty toy for destroying big ships!

Screet

[Thargoid]

Or for those of a slightly more innocent mind, it can certainly use the force, 'cos it's a dead ringer for a light sabre...

[Lestradae]

I actually could imagine this working much better ingame as the standard missiles, it looks more convincing than the old box with paperthin wings.

The not so innocent people here have now created a situation where I will have to get those pictures out of my head again, especially Screet, I mean, "Captain, I'm going in!"

[Simon B]

Falcon de-Lacey Rapid Penitration design - with underslung clitoral stimulator. We guarantee you'll get a bang out of this baby.

However - all torpedoes look like sex aids.


and some peoples heads


In this case I think it's the two bulges that does it ... and I was thinking "zeppelin" myself:


However - it looks like the general response is positive.

[Lestradae]

The MK-48 can only be meant for the very experienced, though.

Must ... stop ... derailing ... thread ...

On a more serious note, Simon, I really do like your new missile design and think that it actually looks like a, hm, missile more than the original model.

[Gimi]

Torpedo vs Missile, what is the difference in space? Unless you assign some strange attributes to it, it really is a missile. Now, I would suggest that a torpedo would be a lot slower (0.45 to 0.6), but with a very long endurance, relentless and capable of following you for ONE hyperspace jump. Then making it very expensive also makes sense. It would make an interesting weapon and would allow for some good missions. Of course, if the torpedo does hyperspace, you do not get credit for the kill, except in a mission, because nobody saw you fire it.

[Simon B]

Well... a torpedo is a kind of missile. Albeit, one that travels on or under the water. Vis.

In common military parlance, the word missile describes a powered, guided munition, whilst the word "rocket" describes a powered, unguided munition. Unpowered, guided munitions are known as guided bombs. A common further sub-division is to consider ballistic missile to mean a munition that follows a ballistic trajectory and cruise missile to describe a munition that generates lift.

...from World War I onwards, "torpedo" only applied to an underwater self-propelled missile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedo

However - I was thinking in terms of analogy with the size and construction of torpedoes. eg. oolite "missiles" are unmanned self-guiding spacecraft launched from another spacecraft.

Torpedoes are unmanned self-guiding watercraft launched from another watercraft (or aircraft - OK).

Aircraft launched missiles are usually a completely different class of craft to the launcher. Rocket vs jet-engine etc. The word "missile" holds associations of pointyness, sleekness, etc.

Compare the model presented with the navy missiles above. Now look at this missile:
.

Or you want bigger:


While the oolite missile is fast - you can see them coming and have a decent chance to outrun it. Std craft with fuel injectors are faster.

(Though I have considered a fast missile with a lighter warhead.)

[Simon B]

... got rid of the blue, and the red in the exhaust. This would be how the model is mounted external to a spacecraft. Interestingly, only the gecko and the sidewinder are small enough to really benifit. Everything else seems to have space for at least one, internal.

You could fit a couple in a cargopod .... hmmm:

... I'm having fun with my new metal texture. I'ts off the same site as the alien hull skin. I'm using it grain-merged over the oolite light-metal texture.

I was intregued by the similarity of a cargopod to a treasure chest - so I've given this model a definate up and down, and reinforced edging. I tried giving it a curved "lid" but that didn't really work. Shame, because if you were going to try to represent a sea-chest in Elite, it would come out like a pentagonal prism.

I had considered putting grooves otc in it to imply some sort of apparatus for loading and unloading. That kept making the model too complex.

[Diziet Sma]

(Though I have considered a fast missile with a lighter warhead.)

Isn't this role already filled by the AS-5 Blue Neon High Speed Interception Missile which has an injection motor and smaller warhead?

[ovvldc]

As I look at the missiles in the missiles and bombs OXP, I wonder why they are shiny white (camouflage colour for airplane bellies), and also why Simon's sex toy torpedo looks so grimy.

I mean, you want the missiles to not show up agains the darkness of space, but it also isn't like they get a lot of wear and tear. At least, I haven't heard of a reusable explosive missile...

I suppose a sort of sleek uniform midnight blue would be the best option, though it would be less than interesting to look at..

Best wishes,
Oscar

[Screet]

At least, I haven't heard of a reusable explosive missile...

Hey, when I did launch my first photon torpedo and it ran out of fuel instead of hitting the target, I actually came close to that beauty and tried to scoop it up for refuelling. Didn't work

Screet

[Simon B]

... here's the missile mounted under the wings of a sidewinder.

It does not matter if the missile is flourescent orange - you can track it in the IFF and the exhaust plume is a bit of a giveaway anyway. Have you ever seen a missile in flight in the game?

The missile gets grimy from excess fonhandling - aint you glad you asked?

The combat drones fly around until they run out of fuel then can be scooped. IIRC: scoopable items need scanclass CARGO. Presumably there's some sort of law about missiles destructing once they run out of fuel - perhaps a renegade outfit could disable this feature? Though it may be hard to refuel. Also, care must be taken lest it detonate while being scooped.

I had thought of doing mines like this - when you get close enough, the missile engines start up. Then I realised that a military missile battery made more sense.

Maybe there could be a missile that hunts for a new target if it loses the first one?

Continuing the grimy-metal extras...


I have been amused that I pick up a pod and find a slave inside ... (no option to liberate the slave, perhaps a mission?) presumably having beat the commander to the pod. I sometimes wonder if a commander may put something else in there - his liquor supply maybe, his stash, a collection of his poems (for posterity) ...

Whatever - everyone ends up like this:

... a lump of twisted hullmetal.