Stohrm

Join Date 06/2006

Ship Naming

Owner, Make, Model & Number

I would like to see the ship naming modified. As it stands, one has one line to use for naming which includes: the Owner; the Make; the Model; and the number. It would be extremely helpful if that could be broken out into four separate entries.

Setting the Owner entry (initials or acronym) should occur when one is setting up the new game (but also be changeable within the game should one choose to do such).

One sets the make and model upon original ship design and then only needs to change the model when making upgrade changes.

The number will typically be auto-incremented; but should still be adjustable. However, it should relate to the Owner & Make and not the model.

I find it rather annoying when the name of my ship gets changed because I upgraded the model. I have enough time-consuming-things on my hands without the need to go back in and rename my ship(s) (back to what I had...)!!! Just because I upgraded the model does NOT mean that the number is any different and I only include the model in the name upon designing the ship so I can tell which ship to build.

A really talented programmer would take this concept one step further and have the shipyard ship listing show only the available Makes until one clicks on the make and then have the available model listing pop up. This would reduce the need to "obsolete" things in order to reduce the clutter (although that option should still be available too).

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androshalforc

Join Date 03/2007

+62

i agree

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peregrine23

Join Date 02/2007

+79

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Sounds like a good idea to me as well!

Just to clarify, we're really looking at 5 identifying fields then:

Name: Name of the ship, changeable at owner's fiat

Owner: Current owner of the ship.. changeable through diplomacy and events

Make/Builder: The faction that originally built the ship. Not changeable

Model: Design of the ship , changeable through upgrade function

Number: This is open to interpretation, do we want this to be a permanent identifier like a BuNo, Serial VIN or Registry or something changable by the current owners like a registry number (NCC-1701 and the like)? Kinda seems to me that it should be the former, as if you want the latter you can just put that in the name field above

Edit: Or maybe put in two separate fields for the number concept, a changeable "Registry" and a permanent "Serial", for a total of 6 fields.

Next logical question would be though, which info should be view-able in which parts of the interface?

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I guess I am dense buy I am having some trouble following this...

When I design a ship I give it a name, model no. All that is required is a name but a model no. seems to be obvious. I can then upgrade any existing ship of a similar class ship to that model with no name change. I am referring to the 1-4 turn upgrades in game.

If I upgrade that ship and click save, it does not retain the name I gave it originally and I have to type it in. Is this what the OP is referring to?

If so I certainly agree that the game should retain my ship names. I also agree that the whole ship naming system should be overhauled. Including upgrading options and the ability to obsolete user designs instead of deleting, and getting a handle on useless upgrades.

I recall in SMAC, when upgrades were available you were given the opportunity to edit the upgrade and approve or reject them. With the current upgrading system this might be unmanageable but I would not mind a little micromanagement in this area.

What I am saying is that instead of giving you 10-15 upgrades per ship class/model, show you the ship with the available upgrades and let the player decide what he wants.

If I have gotten too far of topic, I apologize for the hijacking.

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I recently accidentally upgraded a Colonizer into a Constructor by accident. Luckily it was an empty Colonizer (built at a Shipyard that wasn't close enough to any of the three sponsors) and was of more use as a Constructor; but that's beside the point. So, there's one predominant instance where better naming conventions would be nice.

There are actually Five parts to a proper name (due to the fact that it can also make a difference where the vessel was physically produced). The exact proper names for those parts might be the hardest thing to determine; but might I suggest:

Producer - The faction that originally produced the ship (two or three initials such as "TA" for Terran Alliance).

Make - The facility that produced the ship (again, two or three initials {or numbers if the shipyard is simply numbered and not named}); as it matters whether the ship was produced at a facility near a planet with Hyperian devices.

Model - Constructor, Colonizer, Freighter, Scout, Survey, etc.

Version - This is up to the designer: maybe it's the turn the design was made; or "Mk" followed by a one up number (or Roman numeral).

Number - Sequential one up number

The two most important for me (right now) are model and version; but the game is automatically adding the Maker ("TSS" and I'd rather it was simply "TA"; but that's just me).

I, myself, am currently using the following conventions in my vessel naming (within the designer); due to the limited space in the upgrade display:

SBC Mk III 27-2 would be a Terran Alliance StarBase Constructor with a speed of 3, movement range of 27 and visibility of 2.

I then rename the vessel to simply:

TA Constructor 01

As I don't (currently) need all the other info cluttering the display; since the game renames the ship with owner, the designer name, and a one up number (rather than the name I gave it). Personally, I think that once you rename a ship it should stay whatever you rename it and not be changed with an upgrade; as the details appear when you mouse over it (or click on it).

No, the purpose of the naming conventions I suggest (except for the Number, of course) are for use in the designer itself; unless the game is going to continue to rename my vessels when I upgrade. it's extremely cluttered right now and a better form of filtering and sorting would be nice. What better way than to adapt a naming convention at least similar to the one above?

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