Damn, and here I was thinking this thread was about the perspective skewing widescreen users get from switching to the new client. I know it's now correct but wow, it looks different :P.

Anyway, agreed. I'd love to have something that made me step back and say "whoa".

i think a lot of people don't seem to undestand how large some of the sizes perposed realy are:

so based on this sight http://www.merzo.net/index.html here are a few well know starships and their lengths.

U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-D (Galaxy Class): 643m
U.S.S Voyager (Intrepid Class): 344m
Goa'uld Mothership (Ha'tak class): 1km
the stargate: 6m
Galactica (Colonial Battlestar): 610m
Andromeda (high-guard ship of some sort): 1301m
Imperial lamda-class shuttle: 20m
ID4 destroyers: 24km
Executer (Super Star Destroyer): 12.8 km

and some real life objects for comparison

the Hindenberg (big-ass blimp): 245m
Boeing 747: 70.5m
B-2 (stealth bomber): 52.4m (wingspan)
F-14: 19.1m

Hm... in Marathon, the Jjaro used planet-sized ships to measure the universe (and to go shopping for their kids, I guess). One planet flew in one direction, the other in the opposite. And between them, there was a chain, made from the natural resources on the two planets.

"...should EXPECT and DEMAND from the devs..."

Think Again! If you seriously expect something like this sometime soon from the itty-bitty overworked, underpaid VO development team, then you're delusional... and if you're demanding it, then, well, you can go to hell and play something else...

sometimes I honestly wonder... the lack of appreciation and respect for the devs around here is nothing short of phenomenal at times.

Cunjo,
we know the devs are working on new atwork, and are planuing a variety of new ships. i think this thread is to re-enforce the idea that there needs to be a larger veriety in the size of the various objects in thie verse.

I think Lord Q sumed it up well, The devs have their plans, and if we can remind them of something they may be missing then all is well, however if i dont get a 2nd beta badge im going to lose my mind ^^

Oh, I was perusing some of Cunjo's rantings elsewhere in the suggestions thread and he mentioned sound effects.

Sound can also be used to deliver a sense of scale. In my opinion, Centurions should sound like F1 racers, these giant 1km long capital ships should have a deep bass thrum to them.

Busy stations should have an overlay of comm chatter when you're near them, with flight clearances, etc. Just a looping soundtrack effect. Perhaps some deep mechanical sounds as well, the clanks and clunks of a busy loading dock.

Cunjo is right about making demands of the Devs. When I first saw what they (an incredibly tiny group) had done with VO so far, I was simply in awe. I expect that anyone who has ever done any programming responded the same way.

I think this scale concept is a great idea and totally support it. I bet the Devs like it too and already have plans to make it happen.

Demanding anything from them though is pretty outrageous. IMHO, their work is masterful so far and they are dedicated to continuing to improve VO. I like the fact that they ask for our suggestions, but let's give them a little slack when it comes to implementing them.

Sorry but sometimes it seems that we give them too much slack and now it looks like they are hanging themselves with it. [completely untrue statement attributed to a developer removed] and what have the devs got to show for there last few months of work? a beta7 client, which still has bugs. When I started playing over 2 years ago they were talking about how it would be 6 months max before we saw the player controlled HAC's. And while I understand that a lot had to be done to get to that point, it's been as I said, 2 years, and I'm still waiting to see it, so excuse me if I am at a point where "demands" need to be made, I'm not paying to be a beta tester, I'm paying to play the game and I"m not seeing any large returns. And before you all say that i should take a break or what have you, the reason it's an issue is I like the game and want to see it come to pass. I feel I've been more then patient though.

Hehe. john, just be glad that the developers deign to listen to you at ALL. Imagine if they had no suggestions forum whatsoever? What would you complain about then?

...Them still not listening to your demands?

Well, I'm sure that the devs are working hard, hell it's just 4 of 'em. I am sure that your repeated calls to see instant gratification stems from a desire to see the game expand and grow, and not from some peevish narcissism. I can see the potential as well as you can, but I guess I'm just not as jaded, and I can wait.

However, I am positive that they don't realize your power over them, and how you graciously give them way too much slack. They're blissfully unaware of how generous you have been towards them with your extremely valuable "game-playing" time. I mean, who do they think they are?

>:P

Um, we now return you to your regularly-scheduled topic, which is... Sense of SCALE...

To touch on johns point, I believe the devs need a large developer to back them, like a Ubisoft type size company. However that is another discussion entirely, now it terms of scale, A temopray fix may be to down size the cockpits by half, and perhaps make all ships a tad smaller.

Nah, I'm firmly of the opinion that we need to make gigantic stations and constructs to fly in and around and get "enveloped". That'll definitely give us gigantic scaling differences that will deliver a "WOW" factor.

Making current things smaller won't do much at all I don't think.

i agree with LeberMac. scaling down the ships will just make the size and speed issues worse. adding larger objects is the only way to add that wow factor.

also like i inplied before, a lot of the wow factor comes from how things are perportioned not just how long they are. large flat surfaces with recognisable forms (towers and such) on the surface tend to look larger than more traditionaly shaped ships.

Someone delete that post, it obviously violates the *be nice* rules.

great link for illustrating, lord q

btw, this thread allso reminds me of:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/12978

:)

/me wants huge-scale ships/stations, with huge docking bays that you can fly around (big enough for one of those wonderfull mini-caps that should be player controled sometime)

Also, the devs have plenty of things to work on, lets not fantasize too much :P

I agree that huge-scale things would slow down travel and stuff like that a great deal, not to mention the amount of pollys used ¬_¬

Fine, chikira, how's this:

John,

When I started playing over 2 years ago they were talking about how it would be 6 months max before we saw the player controlled HAC's. And while I understand that a lot had to be done to get to that point, it's been as I said, 2 years, and I'm still waiting to see it, so excuse me if I am at a point where "demands" need to be made,

When exactly did you start playing john? I dont remember you from alpha/beta, and the game only went gold in november of 04, so thats 16 months unless you were significantly pre-release.

I'm not paying to be a beta tester, I'm paying to play the game and I"m not seeing any large returns. And before you all say that i should take a break or what have you, the reason it's an issue is I like the game and want to see it come to pass. I feel I've been more then patient though.

john, you dont need to take a break, you need to just get the hell out of the vendetta community. quit, stop playing, go elsewhere if you aren't satisfied. otherwise, stop bitching about the same shit over and over and just have fun.

If you feel like you are paying to play a beta and don't like it... theres an easy solution... STOP PAYING. I really dont think anyone will miss you all that much, and you can come back when (or IF, since you don't seem to think it will ever get done without your constant complaints) its more polished. Its basic economics, if you dont like the product you are purchasing, and dont like the support you are getting for the product, you stop purchasing it.

I think the progress the devs are making is pretty damn good in comparison to other games... even ones put out by 'bigger' game companies.

Lets look at another example for a moment, dreamcatcher games released a RPG title called "Dungeon Lords" back in April of 2005. The game shipped horrendously incomplete, there was a gamestopping bug 20 minutes into it, half the features were missing, the spells broken, the entire game was totally screwed up.
It is now march of 2006, they just released a patch for it that brings it CLOSE to the original game specs printed on the box and in the manual. During the intervening 11 months, the developers of the game posted a grand total of 9 times on the dreamcatcher message boards for the game. nothing was done to try to keep the playerbase informed, and to add insult to injury at the same time they finally released the most current patch they also put out a 'collectors edition' of the game that HAS the features the original promised... for 40 bucks. I've got half a dozen games at home that similar things happened with, all by big name companies that never even attempted to make it right with thier customers.
And you have the gall to complain about the support you get from 4 overworked and grossly underpaid devs?

You may like where you think the game is headed, but you sure as hell dont act like you have even the slightest clue about what is involved in creating it.

You can demand anything you want, but dont be surprised when no-one listens to you other than to flame your sorry posts.

/rant over

Chikira: the reason the devs are doing this on thier own is because no Ubisoft size company wanted anything to do with the project. The devs spent YEARS looking for a larger publisher before deciding to try it on thier own because they had too much emotionally invested in the game to just walk away from it. All of them would probably be much better off financially if they had just let it die peacefully, but they didn't, which is one of the reason's I continue to support this game even tho i hardly ever get to play it lately.

And getting back on topic as well...

All my thoughts on ships of varying scales can be found in this older post of mine:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/10941#127799

Even if you dont neccesarily agree with my ideas for fighter sized ships... the concepts for the larger ships are still good as a standalone.

Amen, brother Spell...

So long as the Devs keep this game running, I will continue to support them with my monthly, whether I have time to play or not.