Oolite Bulletins

Thanks for the links to the Paradox rescale - I'd forgotten all about that. I've grabbed the model and will most likely use it. I had actually tried to rescale the original myself but Wings3D refused to open the .obj file I'd made. This has happened before and it's a bit annoying - it says something about needing an earlier version or somesuch.
One of my first thoughts when I started looking at this was to produce two versions, a small Interceptor as Giles intended but with specs much closer to what Layne is using, and a more conventionally player-oriented small all-rounder which is where the larger version comes in. Paradox's is slightly larger than I'd originally planned, but is perfect for this role nonetheless.
Name-wise, OK the Elite Cobra Mk2 was a non-starter, but this is Oolite and we have a Mk2, so there! If I follow through where my thoughts are going, there will be a Cobra Interceptor and a Cobra Mk 2, with some suitable handwavium to explain how a failed design made it into production.
I also listened to Layne's comments regarding view positions. Normally I don't like to see parts of the ship in the views - surely they would place the cameras in locations with an un-obstructed view? - but sometimes this is necessary, albeit rarely.
Some ships really do need the views relocated though. I am actually working on the Asp Special (or X or whatever) at the moment and that is a case in point. It took a fair bit of tweaking to get the navigation strobe flashers out of the side views, and the forward view is very odd, as the cockpit/sensor/viewport is in a cut-out in the front top surface where a wedge has been removed. The original view had this great slab of hull dominating the bottom of the screen, so I felt I had to sort that out, which I have now done.
The best way I can show the cut-out and the forward view is to fly one of these out to another and take its picture...

I couldn't fly that Asp - always have disliked a lump of ship in view, no matter how it should look.

I know, it's horrible isn't it? Half the screen that took up. The revised view is clear of hull, which I expect most will be happy with. Truthfully, although there will be a Player version, it is not really suitable as a player ship anyway - no hold or scoops for starters.

Edited to add:- enough Asps, this is a Cobra 2 thread

Smivs wrote:

Name-wise, OK the Elite Cobra Mk2 was a non-starter, but this is Oolite and we have a Mk2, so there! If I follow through where my thoughts are going, there will be a Cobra Interceptor and a Cobra Mk 2, with some suitable handwavium to explain how a failed design made it into production.
I also listened to Layne's comments regarding view positions. Normally I don't like to see parts of the ship in the views - surely they would place the cameras in locations with an un-obstructed view? - but sometimes this is necessary, albeit rarely.

My view on the views is that it really is a view-- out the window. That's why I like it. Giant ships like Boas have cameras; tiny ships have windows, and you turn around. Personal tastes.

I like the idea of 'Cobra Interceptor' and 'Cobra Mk 2' versions, though I might suggest a few small alterations in the general outlines of the ship from one to the other, rather than just making them the same exact shape at a different scale. Perhaps use one model of the Cobra 2 from X-Ships and the other from Neolite, so the two vessels don't look completely identical.

Same shape, different size. The quirk that are the Cobra Mk 2s

Some possible handwavium:-

"Paynou, Prossett and Salem, the original designers of the Cobra Mk.I, filed for bankruptcy following bad publicity after the failure of successive Cobra Mk.II prototypes. They were bought out by Cowell & MgRath, who redesigned <it to eventually produce the> Cobra Mk 3."
So says the Wiki.
What it doesn't mention are the development hulls. Early on in Mk 2 development PPS were approached by the Navy and Galcop who were looking for a small-medium interceptor/fighter design. PPS gave them a prototype hull model for assessment, which was accepted as the basis for a light interceptor. However nobody mentioned that the hull they were given was actually a 1/3rd scale model, so work was started on it. The Military designers completed the development and in the course of doing so corrected an inherant weakness in the hull by bracing the front engine mounts with a framework which also acted as a mount for the energy banks. The Cobra Interceptor was born.
Around the same time, long before the buy-out, PPS also let one or two small specialist shipyards buy hull models (and un-usually the rights to them), it is thought in the hope that the manifesting problems with the ship might be solved. These hulls, full-size versions of the 'Navy' model, just seemed to disappear, until a year after the Cobra Interceptor came into service. Then, out of the blue, FreeLane Shipyards released the Cobra Mk 2. They had scaled up the military brace and found it also made the 'full-size' ship extremely strong. Cowell and McGrath were not at all happy about this, thinking they owned the rights to the Cobra 2, but PPL's lawyers were very foward thinking and had written clauses into all the various contracts to the effect that whoever bought the hull rights could use the hull and the name.
The situation now is that Cowell and McGrath, the Naval Shipyards and FreeLane Shipyards are all legally allowed to produce a 'Cobra Mk 2'. Cowell and Mcgrath decided to re-brand their development of it as the Cobra Mk 3 leaving Freelane free to call theirs a Mk 2. The smaller (but otherwise identical) Interceptor uses the Cobra name with no series number.

Well,

according to the Elite manual... wrote:

...the MkII was abandoned due to a design fault in the hull

Perhaps that fault was remedied at a later date and the MkII was belatedly released as a poor man's MkIII (or however you envisage it).

Redspear wrote:

Well,

according to the Elite manual... wrote:

...the MkII was abandoned due to a design fault in the hull

Perhaps that fault was remedied at a later date and the MkII was belatedly released as a poor man's MkIII (or however you envisage it).

I totally see that as a marketing plot:

"Now is the time of NEW.
Now is the time of REBOOT.
Now is the time of the COBRA!
Cobra MKI, Cobra MKII and Cobra MKIII are back with silver, gold and champaign hulls, more user-friendly than ever!

*: This is a homage to the Legacy Cobra MK Serie. Any true fan buying on the day of the release will get up to 10% rebate in exchange for their Legacy Cobra."

Day wrote:

I totally see that as a marketing plot:

"Now is the time of NEW.
Now is the time of REBOOT.
Now is the time of the COBRA!
Cobra MKI, Cobra MKII and Cobra MKIII are back with silver, gold and champaign hulls, more user-friendly than ever!..."

You could do that as a career!
(...or perhaps you do )

Redspear wrote:

(...or perhaps you do )

I take that as a compliment Nope. I do relish to prepare some quality rhetoric sometimes as a consultant, but I wouldn't do that as a main job.
Jobs grow on you and change you. I don't want to become a liar.

'Phew!'

Yes, I think I know what you mean... and I applaud your stance.