Cmdr TwingTwang here and welcome to the paint shop!
This new scheme for Elite Dangerous provides a pirate themed spray job for a variety of ships. Unlike other schemes, this isn't manufacturer approved paint so isn't limited to one make of vessel.
Indeed we see entries for Lakon, Faulcon DeLacy, and Zorgon Peterson represented and the paint is available for these seven ships.
- Asp
- Cobra III
- Eagle
- Federal Dropship
- Python
- Sidewinder
- Viper
Overall the scheme is a striking black/red combo, and most of the ship detail is still picked out well and shows off the detail of the models. The white skull really tops off the Jolly Roger pirate motif without being too heavy handed. It'd be great to see more decals, gang signs and fleet insignia on ships.
The dark colours looks great in promo shots but the details are a little lost against the blackness of space, however I like the way the dark edges obscure the outline of the ship and think it's a really great design.
The sinister blood red scarring of the pirate ships is enough so that I'm not flying these colours just yet, and I'm wondering if any - or all - AI controlled pirates have been given this scheme. I wouldn't want to be mistaken for a pirate, and that's reason enough for me to avoid this otherwise gorgeous look.
My criticism is going to be that the Left-to-Right mirrored Cobra feels out of place, and I'd prefer it to have the same orientation as the others but this is really a minor niggle - you don't expect pirates to stick to a style guide.
The skull on the Eagle also looks a little distorted, and I think with such a nice flat wing space it'd be great to see that straightened up.
Lastly, the UV mapping on the Python appears to be completely whack, with the design rotated and out of place. I'm assuming a defect has been logged for this, but I don't own a python at the moment and can't check it out in-game to see if its just the rendering on the promo model that's wrong.
This pilots seal of approval goes to the Asp, whose crisp lines and flat surfaces really help make the image look good in a promo shot. Honorable mention goes to the sidewinder, and the way that the detailed areas aren't lost and the ship - despite being a triangle wedge - still manages to retain its shape with this great design.
Overall I'm really loving this pirate scheme, and am hoping for more themes that cross ship types so that our fleet can look a bit more coordinated and a little less rag-tag. It'd be nice if it could be bought in a bundle, as well as one-by-one, although there aren't many Federal Dropship pilots looking for a new paint-job for their sidewinder so I can quite accept that a pack just wouldn't be appropriate.
Have an article, ship review or trade route you'd like me to discuss? Let me know!
Fly casual everybody!
No comments:
Post a Comment