Which is a cooler small space ship design? by chrisisall

The laughing Chrisisall

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Sunday, December 12, 2010 3:24 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Which one of these is not like the other, which one of these doesn't belong ?

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Sunday, December 12, 2010 3:29 PM

Between a sublight one-man fighter, a sublight shuttle, a warp-capable shuttle, and a hyperspace-capable two-person fighter(*), I'm gonna have to go with the X-Wing. THough I will readily admit that the Firefly shuttle is a lot cooler than that fugly shoebox TOS gave us.

(* Yes, I count astromechs as people. Short, wheeled, metallic people, but people nonetheless.)

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Sunday, December 12, 2010 3:30 PM

Heh heh, that's pretty funny.

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Sunday, December 12, 2010 5:03 PM

YELLOWJACKET

The Viper.

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Sunday, December 12, 2010 6:15 PM

Zarkov's spaceship the brought Flash Gordon & Dale Arden to Mongo.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Sunday, December 12, 2010 6:50 PM

Out of these four, for me the X-Wing. However I'm partial to unconventional looking ships such as the B-wing from the Star Wars series

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Sunday, December 12, 2010 7:22 PM

Nice picture Somnambulist.
You can't imagine how hard it is to get a picture of Zarkov's ship. There must be one out there, but the best I could do was take a snapshot from the video. Not to great. In most scenes the ship is covered with engine exhaust and the ship is bouncing up and down on strings.

Here is a better picture of one of Ming's spaceships. See the exhaust I was talking about. I think they just used sparklers.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Sunday, December 12, 2010 8:11 PM

Traveler... To be honest I much prefer your picture. I'm a huge fan of the 30's serials and especially Flash Gordon. I have the DVD of The Purple Death which I absolutely love!! Buster Crabbe is the best and I love everything about that show. The retro future, the costumes even the hokey way the ships fly. They ran it on TV back in the 80's when I was a kid and on my summer holidays I'd get up early in the morning to watch it. Ever since then I love Flash Gordon. And yes I think they did use sparklers for the afterburn effects. COOL AS!!!!

Unfortunately I'm living in Australia these days and I had to leave my extensive DVD collection behind back in England so I can't take a screen grab for you of Ming's ship. Very sorry.

Have you seen this before:
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/was/cj_ming.htm

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Sunday, December 12, 2010 9:22 PM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:

The laughing Chrisisall

While all four have selling points, I'm honestly partial to this little beauty:

"The revenge of the beaten comes in refusing to fall." -- Mal, in "The Losing Side - Chapter 45" by jetflair

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Monday, December 13, 2010 4:40 AM

CLJOHNSTON108

^ Yeah, I love the Gunstar, but I just can't sit through the entire movie now. Doesn't hold up near as well as TRON does.

As for the topic at hand, those four choices are kind of limiting, huh?
Lots of great little ships in Sci-Fi < http://merzo.net/10ppm.htm>!

My personal favorite...

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Monday, December 13, 2010 6:24 AM

The Flash Gordon series was my introduction to science fiction back in the late fifties when they were appeared on Saturday afternoon TV. When I heard they were released on DVD I got all three series. I had forgotten so much about them, I felt like was seeing them for the first time.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Monday, December 13, 2010 10:18 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BlueEyedBrigadier:

Love the ship; love the flick!

The laughing Chrisisall

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Monday, December 13, 2010 10:21 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by yellowjacket:
The Viper.

Right there with ya, my man!

The laughing Chrisisall

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Monday, December 13, 2010 10:34 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

I'm gonna go w/ the shuttle. Sure, the Viper and x-wing are wicked cool. But neither one can be used as a traveling whore house.

And the FF shuttle just 'looks' cool. Almost alien in its deign.

I'm gonna break w/ tradition, and go w/ that.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Monday, December 13, 2010 10:38 AM

SAFEAT2ND

I've always been a fan of the original Viper. It's close between it and the X-wing, but I like the Viper.

Although, the Hammerhead fighter from Space Above and Beyond is a nice little ship and I liked the Thunderbolt better than the Starfury.

Traveller, Buster Crabb showed up in Buck Rogers in the 25th century as Commador Gordon. Loved that episode just for that nod.

Not a big fan of the Flash Gordon remake. Kinda smacks of the Sinbad series. Yikes.

Check out my blog for info and updates on my novels
http://drlong67.wordpress.com

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Monday, December 13, 2010 11:44 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by safeat2nd:
I've always been a fan of the original Viper. It's close between it and the X-wing, but I like the Viper.

Yeah, baby!!!

The laughing Chrisisall

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Monday, December 13, 2010 11:57 AM

If we're talking Battlestar Galactica then the Cylon Raider is way cooler to me than the viper:

The raider follows the 'Egyptian' theme more than the Viper does and I always wondered as a kid why they didn't give this to the 'Good guys' as it resembles the head of a striking Cobra! Awesome!

Hey I remember seeing Buster Crabbe in the Buck Rogers TV show. That was a fitting nod as he did play Buck in the original 30's serials.. He died shortly after sadly...

As for the remake of Flash. It is cheesey and campy but I must admit I still like it. I was only twelve when I say it and never the same again after....

Ornella Muti.... How's a boy to be the same after that...

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Monday, December 13, 2010 12:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by traveler:
The Flash Gordon series was my introduction to science fiction back in the late fifties when they were appeared on Saturday afternoon TV. When I heard they were released on DVD I got all three series. I had forgotten so much about them, I felt like was seeing them for the first time.

Hey Y'know if I had a time machine I'd go back to the 30's and make all those Flash Gordon serials myself :D

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Monday, December 13, 2010 12:07 PM

SAFEAT2ND

I meant the most recent incarnation of Flash Gordon. I think it lasted a season.

I liked the original Raider too. Far more than the new Raider.

I'd love to see a remake of Flash and Buck. Pay proper homage to them both.

Check out my blog for info and updates on my novels
http://drlong67.wordpress.com

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Monday, December 13, 2010 12:15 PM

Hey Safeat2nd...

I'd forgotten about the recent version. I only saw one episode and from what I saw it had no identity... No style. Pity.

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Monday, December 13, 2010 4:52 PM

ANOTHERSKY

Quote:
Originally posted by Cybersnark:
Between a sublight one-man fighter, a sublight shuttle, a warp-capable shuttle, and a hyperspace-capable two-person fighter(*), I'm gonna have to go with the X-Wing. THough I will readily admit that the Firefly shuttle is a lot cooler than that fugly shoebox TOS gave us.

Repost With Vengeance. Fugly shoebox. Haha!

--

Going for a ride.

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Monday, December 13, 2010 5:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:

Ornella Muti.... How's a boy to be the same after that...

Never.
I wasn't. *sigh*

The laughing Chrisisall

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Monday, December 13, 2010 5:36 PM

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Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:

The raider... it resembles the head of a striking Cobra! Awesome!

Yeah, it's an excellent design, but Vipers RULE!!!!!

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 10:40 AM

THEHAPPYTRADER

The B wing is shiny, but I've always been partial to the Y-Wing, probably from playing games like X-Wing Alliance. The Y has good armor, good shields, the lasers are already pointed straight forward so you don't have to deal with annoying beams converging. Sure it's a little slow, but with clever power management you can cruise around fast as an X-wing while being nearly indestructible! Too bad it has a less than stellar performance record in the films lol.

http://d.imagehost.org/view/0632/ywing-before"> src="

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 11:29 AM

Heh. People give me weird looks when I defend the Y-Wing. It doesn't deserve its rep; if you know what you're doing, you can dogfight TIE fighters in it. Plus it has ion cannon, so you can disable enemies without killing them.

The B-Wing, OTOH is a gorram FIRE MAGNET.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 11:41 AM

EVILDINOSAUR

I'm fond of a couple of the ships from Stargate. The X-302 is pretty cool, as is the Puddle Jumper/Gate Ship.

And when we say small are we saying outside or inside, because the Tardis is pretty freaking awesome, and it's only the size of a phone box.

"Haha, mine is an evil laugh."

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 12:36 PM

My Viper is finished. Took as much ruttin' time as my Enterprise did, the details are endless...

*falls down from exhaustion*

The meticulous Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 12:57 PM

Personally, I prefer Jeff Russell's site:

http://www.merzo.net/

It lets you click and drag stuff to compare.

(See what I've said elsewhere about sci-fi fighters being ridiculously small? Some of them are smaller than the people flying them.

)

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 3:39 PM

Nice work Chris.

Here's a little render for you.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8262014@N04/5262448238

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8262014@N04/5262447728

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 4:16 PM

THEHAPPYTRADER

I actually hadn't seen that asheepdog, nice link.

Of course, if we're going as large as lambda sized, ya can't leave out the good ol' YT 1300

As a design, it makes no sense to me, but it's hard not to like. It's Han Solo's ship!

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010 8:30 PM

Anybody read this:

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/misconceptions.php

Plenty of 'FACTS' that are interesing but ultimatley really dull if you like cool spaceships

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:08 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
Nice work Chris.

Here's a little render for you.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8262014@N04/5262448238

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8262014@N04/5262447728

Thanks. But the links don't seem to work for me...

The laughing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:22 AM

Yeah - that's strange... It engages my email account for some reason... Go figure.

How about this Big 'C' :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8262014@N04/5262448238

Ok weird things going on.. Chris you'll have to copy and paste the link into the browser. That's the only way it's working at the moment.. No idea why though?

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:27 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
Yeah - that's strange... It engages my email account for some reason... Go figure.

How about this Big 'C' :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8262014@N04/5262448238

Ouch. Same thing.

And if we're going as big as the Falcon, I gotta list Serenity!

Where will it end?

The laughing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:44 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/misconceptions.php

That's got some funny stuff in it. A must-read for peeps writing new shows & movies IMO.

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:00 AM

yeah it's fun - but it shatters my dreams about what space travel in the future might be... He's a real sourpuss as regards cool looking ships!

Anyway there's some top retro stuff.

Did you try copying and pasting that link into the browser C ? Did that work at all?

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:08 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:

Did you try copying and pasting that link into the browser C ? Did that work at all?

That just gets me back to FFF.

How's the land of Mad Max btw?

The laughing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:29 AM

It's OK... They drive like mad max! My girlfriend in particular. They speak like Americans. They say 'Yeo-gert' like you guys instead of 'Yog hurt'. They have a strange love/hate thing with us 'Englanders'. They by principal dislike us, yet they are obsessed with our Royalty. Right now they can't get enough of Will and Kate! Strange...?

Still I like 'em. They're friendly folk and the country is amazing! I'm really fond of the coasts - they're epic.

But I did a little research and where I am in Melbourne it rains as much as it did back in the South East of England where I'm from... So I've gained nothing in that respects.

They have a great football derivative - Aussie rules Football - which is ace to watch! It's totally bonkers but these guys must be the fittest athletes in the world. The pitch is HUGE!!!! and the players run like there's a sniper on the roof waiting to pick 'em out! Lots of fun!

Right now though I'm loving it here because England just beat them in the second test of the Ashes series (Cricket). He,he... Ahh the joy!

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 5:12 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/misconceptions.php

Plenty of 'FACTS' that are interesing but ultimatley really dull if you like cool spaceships

Interesting, yes, but there are a lot of loopholes that he doesn't consider.

Quote:
The floors will be set perpendicular to the axis of thrust, and "up" will be the direction the spacecraft is thrusting.

This would be true in a straight-line gradual-acceleration interplanetary run (say, Earth-to-Mars), but if your ship needs to quickly slow down, speed up, or change directions, you'll need either some sort of inertial dampening or for everyone aboard to strap in before doing anything. As soon as you have inertial dampeners/artificial gravity (the two fields are related), direction of thrust becomes meaningless.

While wings/airfoils are useless in space (except, as he notes a moment later, as heat/energy radiators), engine footprint isn't. Space and angle your thrusters correctly (and turn them on and off independently) around your ship's centre of gravity, and you can most assuredly swoop, spiral, jink, and weave. It wastes energy, but it is possible.

Quote:
So all those scenes from Star Wars and the old Battlestar Galactica where a hapless space fighter cannot shake the enemy on their tail are utter bilge. All they have to do is spin on their short axis and blast the tail-gater.

Which is fine for taking leisurely aim at a remote/unmoving target, not so much for avoiding the fire coming toward you, because you're now moving in a nice, predictable, straight line (and you have no cover). Doesn't do any good to spin on an axis if the fighter behind you is putting twelve rounds through your hull (at which point, yes, your lifeless debris will keep going in the same direction you were).

And while you can't "hide" in space (except on the far side of a planet, another ship, or an explosion), you can certainly avoid detection. Fully-powered sensors would ping every fist-sized rock between here and the heliopause; logically, most sensors would have a passive mode that would automatically ignore anything that isn't a known threat. Keep your ship small enough, in low-power mode, and a healthy distance from known patrols, and no one will know you're there until you power up and start shooting things.

Could also use ECM mines to "dazzle" an enemy ship --give them so much input that they can't focus on a single target.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 8:30 AM

THEHAPPYTRADER

They certainly wouldn't be swooping and spinning quite like a P-51 or a Japanese Zero, but I think there would be some form of "dog fighting" and maneuvers they could do. The vacuum just pushes everything to the extremes in comparison to atmo flying. Super efficient to go from point A to point B (assuming your patient) and super inefficient to "dog fight." Turrets would probably dominate combat, it would be far easier to angle a turret than to point the nose of the ship and fire fixed lasers, though the fixed weapons would probably be more powerful, perhaps enough to make it worth the challenge. In that respect my Y-Wing still wins cause the top side guns can be fixed forward or used as a turret!

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010 11:18 AM