FEATURE RQ: Automated custom ship names

In my last gigantic map game I had well over 800 ships, I think that would be a pretty big custom name file. And that's not even taking the AI's into consideration...

I agree it could get big. By no-means do i recommend removing the current naming system; it could still be used once "custom" names run out. However, for those of us who dont play gigantic maps it would be a welcome feature. Indeed if stardock implemeted this with say only 1-20 names; but make it expandable by users, i'd be more than happy to add 800 names on my own.

dawg

While certainly not a must add feature, it would be handy.

I would like it too. It would give the game more atmosphere. Like wrath said, just include the base. I'll gladly add my own names.

Do it like Birth of the Federation. The first "Andromeda" is A the next is B and so on. So when you get to the end odf the list, you just change the ID letter on the end and run through the list again.

See Brad other people want too!

Brad: "Hey Thrull there's a dead horse over there... why don'tcha go beat on it for awhile"

One HUGE improvement would be if AI ships would pull thier names from the ships name in the .ship file and not it's title. This was recently fixed for the human player (which I am sooooo appreciative of - thank you! thank you! thank you!!! :)) ,but the AI still fields SurveyShips, ColonyShips, etc. (verse Survey Ships)

Plus if I change a BattleAxe to a Destroyer, but I don't change it's title the AI still calls them BattleAxes. Anywho it's a small gripe (sorry)

Reposting from the overbloated 680-something long suggestions thread:

Maybe something like this in the English.str with one line for each ship and race:

[tablealias shipnames]
[surveyship0] Hero, Intrepid, Star Maiden, Fardrift, The Ion Flow, Survey Ship
[surveyship1] Conquestor, Claimer-of-Space, Star Rift, Eyes-of-the-Empire, Space Harvester
[surveyship2] Worldfinder, Moonglow, Watcher, Wanderer, Starmist, Star Explorer
etc.

To make it easy you could not randomize it, but just take the names from the list sequentially and when you got to the last name then just use that name over and over with the shipnumber tacked on the end.

Hmmm... I see possibilities:

[vengenceship] Die Humans!, Manhunter, Starslayer, Vengence is Ours!, Ravager

I dunno... I thought it was a good idea... of course I like to put a big bucket on my head and hit with a wooden spoon, so I may not be qualified to offer a good idea LOL

I think it would be a good idea to be able to name ships. In the middle to late game, I'm normally giving ships to the enemy of the most powerful civ not including me, and that would be so much easier if you could customise names. Up till now I've been giving the wrong ships away, the ones with battle experience, or are in orbit protecting a planet I don't want undefended.

I suppose you lot could say why don't you make a list of the ones you want to give away, but the damned Yor keep asking me for ships before I've worked that out, and there's no way from the diplomacy screen to see which ships are which.

~SDC~

Starvald. Exactly. I had the same problem.

Mk31. Yes indeed a good point I forgot about that BOTF feature; it would work well.

The one minor addition to this could also be putting in the following;
1) Allowing the user to create their own ship prefix on the options screen (Ie instead of USS into UFP, UTE, PCU, TLC..etc)
2) A bit more but adding a suffix after the automated name that denote sits class (two letters0.. ie DD, BB, FT..etc) that way we'll have random ship names such as

UFP Reliant C DD (vs battleaxe 345)
UTR Argos B FW (fighter wing)
CSS Andromeda Ascendant A DR (Dreadnought)
TLC Nostromo F CC (constructor ship)

Perhaps even having a test file/ line for each class as above such that certain names will correspond to certain classes (instead of class designation)

dawg

Yeah, great idea! You not only get individual names but a reminder of ship class. Very useful if you're loading a saved game after a couple of days not playing. (real life DOES intrude, ocassionally! (:( ).

nk31. Yes indeed thats one of the reasons i want it; it makes it easier to re-immerse onself in the game after time away.

dawg

StarVald, I rename the ship I'm giving away/selling, so that it will be easy to find at the top of the list in the diplomacy screen. If I am being picky, I even give it a number.

When I name my own ships, I use a system of:

SHIP ABBREVIATION-# Name

Like:
SCT-1 Lewis
SCT-2 Clark

I find this very handy.

Using USS or TF or whatever abbreviation before it merely eats into your display length, and puts all your ships that much futher down for names/class, numbers etc.

I don't know the reason why ships get a default random number. Wouldn't a simple sequential counter do? If you using files in the save games folder, then each ship could get its own counter. I find it's a bit easier to deal with really small numbers then random 3 digit numbers for most ships.

Default name files are nice... especially if we can specify the class!

Hold on a minute...

You can rename ships?

OK now I feel stupid, looked for it the other night and couldn't find it.

I REALLY wasn't awake properly last night when I started reading this thread (and others), but in my defence I work shifts and find that I'm up at really strange hours, but with much reduced mental capacity! I hate shifts.... My sleep pattern's all messed up, I'm always tired, yet can't sleep. My temper's stuck on irritable, and I end up going on little rants like this one. Either that or my sense of humour goes really strange (I'm not kidding here). I can't wait till they close our factory down so I can get my redundancy package, and NEVER work shifts again. Just till the end of the year.

~SDC~

Star Pilot - Are you sure the numbers are random? Maybe all the ships in the game are being counted.

Example: You build Battlehammer 100, and then the Torians build Battlehammer 101. This would keep duplicate ship names from occuring when you sell or buy ships. Dunno if it works like this, but it would make sense.

Yeah, most of the numbers on the ship names are random. However, starbases have their actual IDs.

I think that the request for custom prefixes and ship names is already on the list of suggestions.

OK found out how to rename ships!

And it's not readily apparant is it? I didn't bother reading the manual, but I've been told it wasn't very good.

Being able to rename ships will help my games a lot, as I sell or give ships to other poeple a lot!

But there's got to be a better way for the automated ones.

Something else that would be nice, would be if the ships you sell or give away stayed like they were originally. It's a bit hard to believe that they change completely when you give them away! They could even have the AI ask you why it's being attacked by 10's of Torian controlled human dreadnoughts!

We had discussed just superimposing a logo on the ships on traded ships, but it is easier both in code and gameplay to have it just change models.

That's understandable. But it would give you a clue as to how the Dregin (for example) suddenly got a huge fleet if they were simply Vor ships in Dregin colors! I'm not asking for a change, the thought just hit me, is all.

Actually, you will know with custom names. The names don't change on the ships. So if the Tors use TR Defender #, and you see it as an Alterian ship, you know the Alterians got it from the Tors.

Good point. I should have seen that myself.

Actually have you noticed, you can change the names of enemy ships? Also some enemy ships can be selected you you can view their experience and such, but some others can't. That's a little annoying!

~SDC~

Rename enemy ships?!? I see a very petty form of revenge in my next game... LOL

You should be able to select any AI ship if you're not in autopilot phase, and there it's buggy.

Re : enemy ships.. yeah in a bit of whimsy moment i renamed half the dregin fleet to "Sitting Duck 1xx", likely others have added less printable names LOL

Dawg