Poll: Which One Is the Better Bretonian BC?

[Durandal]

nop middle part really doesn't matter for balance. It's about engine and front size.

Funnily enough, the way hit detection in FL engine works is pretty much the exact opposite of what you said.

[2:26:24 PM] aerelm: basically, this is how hitreg in FL works:
[2:26:50 PM] aerelm: the crosshair is aligned to wherever the model is centered to
[2:27:24 PM] aerelm: and then each shot getting close to that center point, is aligned to wherever the nearest surface (on the hitbox) is
[2:28:05 PM] aerelm: so, "center-heavy" ships (those that aren't either flat from one profile, or don't have any negative space near the center) end up bein bullet magnets
[2:29:28 PM] aerelm: getting hit even by shots that were supposed to be a near miss
[2:31:11 PM] aerelm: and ships that have mostly negative space in the middle end up with pretty much the same issue, just the opposite end of the spectrum
[2:31:49 PM] aerelm: won't be hit even with properly aimed shots
[2:32:16 PM] aerelm: and trying to fix those by recentering the model on the nose/tail breaks their handling and docking
[2:39:13 PM] aerelm: If you imagine the positive space of a model as black and negative space as white
[2:39:18 PM] aerelm: and draw a red circle ~50% of the model's size in the center
[2:39:41 PM] aerelm: too much of one color in the center red circle (where hit register tracks to) will cause that issue I mentioned
[2:40:34 PM] aerelm: though, as long as it has a balanced distribution of white and black in all profiles, it'll work decent enough ingame
[2:40:45 PM] aerelm: Manta, for example, will be all black in that circle from side but wont have that much black in it from front
[2:41:06 PM] aerelm: or eagle will be mostly black from top, but mostly white from front
[2:41:31 PM] aerelm: so it balances itself out
[2:41:41 PM] aerelm: sabre, on the other hand, will be mostly white both from side and front
[2:41:57 PM] aerelm: which is why its hitbox is broken, and can't possibly be fixed without the source code

So yea... as a couple of people already pointed out, model #2 (despite being a nice model) simply won't work in FL engine, due to having mostly negative space in its center.

You're actually wrong about this and it is perfectly possible to adjust a hitbox's center of mass, as I did recently to the Rabisu in the last balance patch. That said, it'd be impossible to put it literally anywhere on the second model without it being too thin or too far from the center.