Asymmetrical Ship Sets

[DirectorTsaarx]

Originally posted by geoschmo:

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Originally posted by TerranC:

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Originally posted by geoschmo:
Humans are very visual and symetrical creatures. It is hard for us to look at an asymetrical craft and not think it's got a problem.

Many architecture is not symmetrical.

Humans are not perfectly symmetrical:
Facial features notably Eyes, Ears, and Nose are not symmetrical.
The human lung, liver, stomach, and kidneys are not symmetrical.

(One kidney is a bit bigger than the other... )

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Right. Which we have already discussed and I acknowleded earlier in the thread. But haveing one eye a milimeter bigger than the other is not really asymetrical for the purposes of our discussion. That would be like saying a battle ship is an asymetrical design because it only has an airlock hatch on one side of the ventral pod. If it were, would you even notice it in a 36 x 36 bitmap image? What most people are talking about with asymetrical ship designs would be equivalent to a being with two feet on one leg and both arms on one side of it's body.

I agree it makes for interesting and very alien looking ships. But since almost every life form on earth is basically symetrical, or at least tends towards it if possible, we are safe making some assumptions. Not hard cold assurances of course, but if the processes that formed life on earth hold true throughout the universe, you would tend to think that it is common for life forms on other planets to also be basically symetrical.

Geoschmo

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Not only is life on earth basically symmetrical, symmetry is one of the defining characteristics of beauty. The more symmetrical a face is, the more beautiful it appears to the average human. I found an article on this years ago, which included a couple pictures of Lyle Lovett (one of the weirdest-looking guys around); one picture was a standard full-face; but the second was a morphed Version, where the authors copied the right half of his face, reversed it, and used it as the left half of his face. Once they made his face perfectly symmetrical, he really was a decent-looking guy. So, natural selection should tend towards symmetry. Perfect symmetry isn't going to happen, but many people come pretty close. Barring major accidents, of course.

Besides, the asymmetry being asked for in ship design is major, not minor. Like having a wing/nacelle/control pod on one side of the ship, but not the other.

And one thought on why ships are usually symmetrical - in non-SE4 combat, where turn radius and weapon arcs are taken into account, it could be dangerous (if not suicidal) to only have weapons/sensors/etc. only mounted on one side of the ship, as the enemy (if they're intelligent) would focus their attack on the less-protected flank. Now, in SE4, where turn radius and weapon arcs don' matter, let the ships be as asymmetrical as possible. Have some fun. Or, if you get bored with asymmetry, try for more than just bilateral (i.e., right/left or top/bottom type) symmetry; go for tri- quad- or even pentalateral symmetry. Or more, if you're that talented...