|
This page is marked for cleanup to meet our wiki's Manual of style. "March 17th, 2018" Please discuss this issue on its talk page. |
 |
|]]Skunkworks
Overview
Skunkworks is a research and development organization dedicated primarily to simulating aerospace technologies in LBP. It is a LittleBigPlanet Union member state founded by Nine-TailedFox4. It is currently led by zbsp_ and represented by Nine-TailedFox4.
History
Skunkworks was founded by Nine-TailedFox4 on November 18th, 2017 to represent the interests of an unofficial association of military creators within the LittleBigPlanet Union. It was announced at the November 2017 Union Summit meeting.[1]
Origins (2010-2012)
The origins of Skunkworks is difficult to trace, but it officially recognizes its origins as the unofficial partnership between zbsp_ and Nine-TailedFox4 (at the time IAB98) forged in the early days of LBP 2.
IAB98 quickly rose to prominence in the LBP aviation community after his level, "Free Airplanes 2," received critical acclaim and mass appeal.[2] IAB quickly emerged as the industry leader in aircraft technology, making the use of stickers for airframe detail mainstream, as well as developing technologies such as multi-target lock and digital throttle logic.
Zbsp_ created technologies regarding airframe design, pioneering the usage of glitches and decorations in aircraft design before their widespread adoption in LBP 3. Most of zbsp_'s projects were of a highly ambitious nature and as such has a high rate of dropping projects.
The group also included several other noteworthy figures. Videogamer_1 was a pioneer of the aviation community who developed methods of stable flight for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft before the advent of movers with the arrival of LBP 2. He was also the leader of the now-defunct United Capitalist Organization, an alliance of creators and clans.[3] Lebes14 was an early pioneer of sequencer-based flight logic who formed the basis of modern jet design in LBP 2 and frequently collaborated with zbsp_. Dialanche393 was a creator who rose to prominence while the rest of the group hid their technologies during the Cold War with several vehicle giveaways.[4]
The LBP Cold War (2012-2014)
During what is commonly regarded as the golden age of LBP aviation, with a large, bustling, tight-knit community, a player by the name of Snowiieee (aka BlueKnight1379) obtained IAB98's F-22, cannibalized it for parts and logic, and made a knockoff version of the F-22. At the same, hatedhawkins (aka WhiteKnight) obtained an early version of zbsp_'s second-generation F-35 and completed F-22 and used parts from the F-22 to complete the F-35 and claimed the aircraft as his own. This led to a huge backlash from the group. However, Snowiieee had influence among several LBP aviation creators, including anthgunman, magaiver9000 and civilprotecter12. These events essentially split the aviation community in two, those who believed that IAB98 was the true innovator and industry leader and that Snowiieee was a thief and another group who believed that the opposite was true.
Despite the creators' attempts at distancing themselves from the thieves, the group was subject to several successful robberies through the use of proxy players who were not part of the aviation community and thus were not seen as threats, such as medic410. This development led to a period of strict isolationism in which any new aircraft were hidden from public view and several measures were adopted to prevent the theft of intellectual property, including but not limited to lag bombs which could crash PS3s, glitched objects which could diverge games and extensive internal documentation of aircraft design to provide proof of creation.
Post-War Period (2014-2017)
With the advent of LBP 3, the aviation community rapidly declined. Sumo Digital's botched launch of the game and its slow, if not absent, reaction to game-breaking bugs such as constant multiplayer connection issues, lack of a backup feature and constant profile corruptions led to many of the aviation community dropping the game. This heavily affected both sides of the LBP Cold War and Snowiieee (now BlueKnight1379) himself stopped playing the game. With the absence of BlueKnight, IAB98 (now Nine-TailedFox4) continued his innovation streak with the successful P-51 Mustang of LBP 3, proving that he was the primary driver of LBP aviation innovation.
While this brought an end to the conflict, the heavy losses on both sides left the aviation community in shambles. While Nine-TailedFox4 continued to innovate and develop new technologies at a rapid pace, the pace for the rest of the aviation community stagnated due to the lack of other creators building aircraft, and zbsp_'s initial absence from the game.
By 2017, the remnants of the aviation community who were still active and in contact, Nine-TailedFox4, zbsp_, B_IS_1 and USAFWRX (aka mtnbiker1998) gathered together and formed Skunkworks in 2017.
Skunkworks Period (2017-)
The Skunkworks period saw a massive shift in doctrine. With the lowered threat environment, the group reversed their isolationist doctrine in favor of strong publicity and public relations, posting pictures of aircraft, writing blog posts and giving away aircraft. Nine-TailedFox4 realized that the now small numbers of the aviation community put the group at a disadvantage should any other conflicts arise. On November 17th, 2017, Nine-TailedFox4 officially announced the creation of Skunkworks, named after Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Projects division[5] and at the same time sought membership in the LittleBigPlanet Union.
Today, Skunkworks continues to build aircraft and provides its creations for use within LBPU and the wider community.
Demographics
Population
According to the LBP Union Census, Skunkworks has four members.[6]
Language
Skunkworks consists of members whose primary language is English. The leader, zbsp_, also has limited conversational fluency in Japanese and can also speak some Spanish and Tagalog.
Government
Skunkworks is led by zbsp_, who acts as the mediator between members and makes the final decisions for the organization. However, all members hold equal influence due to the exclusive and tight-knit nature of the organization. Skunkworks only recruits people who are on the bleeding edge of aviation-related technology.
Foreign Relations and Military
Skunkworks is a member state of the LittleBigPlanet Union, and thus is allied with all the other Union member states. Skunkworks primarily operates as both a research and development organization and weapons supplier to the LBPU. It rarely engages in any conflict except in the case of theft. While the members primarily create modern military aircraft, they sometimes produce objects which do not fall under this category. Thus, Skunkworks has no clear military structure.
Research and Development
Skunkworks dedicates months to single projects as to increase the quality of the final product. For this reason, Skunkworks aircraft are perhaps the highest quality available in LBP. Unlike private contractors, Skunkworks is not very secretive about technological advancements and invests heavily into advertisement and public relations.
Products
The only combat aircraft in service from Skunkworks is Nine-TailedFox4's F-35A Lightning II. This aircraft is regarded as the most realistic frontline fighter in LBP, and is available as a community object. All documentation for the aircraft, including the design blueprints and pilot operating handbook, as well as the PS3 download version of the aircraft, can be found here .
Nine-TailedFox4 has also produced two technology demonstrator aircraft, the F-15 Eagle and P-51 Mustang. These aircraft serve to demonstrate LBP's ability to simulate realistic physics and aircraft avionics. The F-15 originally served as Skunkwork's frontline fighter, but its emphasis on simulation-level technologies made it a very cumbersome aircraft to use in combat. Eventually, the technologies pioneered in this aircraft were refined and applied to the F-35A.
Zbsp_ primarily operates in a research-and-development role in the organization, pushing the limits of airframe design. This, and the fact that he took a long hiatus after the release of LBP 3 means that the only aircraft he has in service are the AH/MH-6 Little Bird and AH-1Z Viper helicopters which were produced in LBP 2.
Projects
Currently, the only active project of Skunkworks is the Airbus A330/A340 by zbsp_. This aircraft was created to examine the complexities of airliner and large aircraft design in LBP. The aircraft builds upon technologies built for the AH/MH-6 using a single airframe for multiple aircraft, swapping engines and logic to convert from one version of the A330 to another.
Culture and Style
The design philosophy of Skunk Works centers around detailed airframes and simulation-level logic. The period leading up to the Skunkworks Era has been defined by incremental upgrades
Infrastructure
Skunkworks communicates using the LBP Union's Discord server.
- ↑ LBPU Discord Chatlogs
- ↑ http://lbp.me/v/m6qywg/topreviews?p=1&l=12
- ↑ UCO Info Browser http://lbp.me/v/6k169d/topreviews?p=1&l=12
- ↑ dialanche393 - LBP.me http://lbp.me/u/dialanche393/levels?p=1&l=12
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_Works
- ↑ LBP Union Census