New missiles, bombs and equipment

[MadMax]

Could they be pointy simply for armor penetration? The wings could be used to stabilize or spin the missile in the launch tube, almost like rifling grooves on modern guns.

[Killer Wolf]

hey, maybe they're just pointy because it looks *cool*.

y'know, everyone's got an opinion about plating and shapes - does it really matter, at the end of the day? Nope. My thoughts about small replaceable plates seemed logical to me, so i'm happy about it. someone else likes all-smooth seamless ships, that's cool too - you'll just not see a Vampire like that, less you reskin it yourself. The only time stuff like this matter is if it cornflakes w/ an established universe - and in that respect, the E/Oolite universe is so loosely defined as to allow our imaginations to go hogwild. if the original game/DW fic had specifically stated "all welding was replaced by smooth composite plastics/ceramics 200 years ago" etc etc, then my skins would jar. but it didn't, so it doesn't.

bottom line, for me, is i think those missile look fricking AWESOME and i personally think we should be complimenting people's talent and enhancing of "our" game rather than getting into debates about whether their design is logical or not.

I mean, howay - there's been a pointy missile in ELite since day one, no one said nowt then....

[DaddyHoggy]

No stabilisation necessary in space no friction no gravity.

If anything the missiles should look like they're flying the other way round with the fins replaced with little thrusters to give maximum yaw and pitch movements.

[Ramirez]

Looks like I've kicked off a bit of a debate here!

As to the first question of why no rivets, weld lines, etc: these are pieces of precision military technology, made to exacting technical standards and not the kind of things you'd leave out in the open to collect space dust. Also, I'm no good at texturing and so drawing a few lines on a plain grey background is far easier than all that complicated layered stuff that others can do.

What's with all the fins and pointiness? Well, there is no point, except to make it clear to players that the long white thing with exhaust coming out of the back is indeed a missile and not some other random ship. In space, very little makes sense and so sticking with conventions is usually easier for everyone!

Anyway, here they are - comments and suggestions welcome:

Fuel Tank v1.0 - an extra few light years' worth of fuel for the long-distance haulers out there
Missiles and Bombs v0.1 - a collection of experimental weapons

[reills]

Great job Ramirez. Downloaded the two (fuel tank and missles) and then saw Dictators 1.2. Clicked on that one and got a "404" message. What is it?

[Ramirez]

I moved Dictators to another online folder but forgot to update the signature. It should be available now.

[reills]

Not to be a pain..... but

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/12/ ... 20v1.2.zip is still a "404"

[Uncle Reno]

Not to be a pain..... but

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/12/ ... 20v1.2.zip is still a "404"

Hmm, not for me, just tried it and Dictators started downloading.

[reills]

I got it now. Don't know what the lobstoid I was doing wrong!

[DaddyHoggy]

@reills - if you're using M$ IE - probably it cached up the link - so it didn't actually check that it had been updated... (another undocumented "feature")

[reills]

Ah, oh, more stuff from the "Gates" of Heck.

[LittleBear]

Also, the Military may somtimes want to bomb things inside atmosphers, like Pirate Bases, The Thargoid Homeworld etc. Although the missiles don't need fins when fired in space, you never know when you might need to use one in an atmospher so they are mass-produced this way.

Er, no. Seriously. The idea of a spaceship-to-spaceship missile that also works in atmosphere “just in case” is ridiculous. This is not to say that Oolite isn’t full of physical silliness (mostly inherited from Elite), but trying to make up plausible explanations that aren’t doesn’t actually help.

The Nasa Space Shuttle! It does not need to be areodanamic when flown in space (indeed they fly backwards to reduce the chance of damage whilst in low-earth orbit), but it does need to be areodnamic when it operates in an atomosphere. So you have a desgin that does both jobs.

[DaddyHoggy]

<taps screen gently> <rubs screen with thumb> The name LittleBear does not rub off! Rejoice. So you're a semi Lurker then...

Missiles I think need to look missile-like just so our puny 21st century intellect and perceptions can cope.

I suggest this - what we see out of our viewscreens isn't what's really out there - the computer takes the real object and adds a "peception enhancement" overlay so that the pilot reacts to it better - its a built in self-preservation mode - the computer is very smart - it knows its very smart - it doesn't want to become very dumb sub atomic particles of ex-computer - it does whatever it needs to do to make sure the dumb-ass organic thing sat in the pilots chair does as little as possible to aid the conversion process....

[Killer Wolf]

computer-imagined images?! nah, don't think so. if that were the case it would generate big bunnies instead of a hugely-armed Renegade so that the pilot wouldn't go into pants-wetting panic mode : a calm pilot is more effective :-D

missiles. apart from my earlier "why can't they just be cool?" argument, has nobody thought that a long slim cylinder is the easiest way to pack fuel, explosive, motors and guidance equipment into a form that is compact and easily storable, espacially given that some ships are small and have limited internal space?

[DaddyHoggy]

In space (without the worry of drag) the most efficient shape for anything from a surface/volume ratio (and other things inc. natural strength) is a sphere, closely followed by a teardrop shape - fans of EE Doc Smith will know this of old...