Ship Naming Conventions

[dracogeno]

I'm having a blast with the game. But at the momento I'm a little irritated with the way the game renames ships.

Right now I have two classes of cruisers CR Boarder and CR Defensor, and looking at the list of names (and lest be honest, this game is made of lists) I can't know without fiddling a lot which is which. I know that I can edit them one by one, but I have almost 50 of each...

I know that there has to be some reasons, like the AI making sense of things, to use the type of ships the game provides. But I think that It would be better and less restricting if the player is able to create his own classes of military Ships. In that way I can create missile boats, frigates, ... whatever, without having all of them mixed

I want to know if there is a way to include automatically the type (cruiser, destroyer, etc) and the class (the name you write in the designer) before the random name that the game assings, or if there is the possibility of a mod doing this.

From my point of view, and I say this more with future games in mind, the best solution would be to give the player three name fields: one for the type (Carrier), one for the type (Ariadna), and a selection of the list from wich the random name would be created (with the possibility of being edited). The na would be presented as a whole (CV Hornless Goat (Ariadna class)).

[glock30owner]

Until Matrix/CodeForce changes the hard coded elements, you are limited to one ship of each design class without tons of additional work (obsoleting/unobsoleting).

[Oblivion]

Originally posted by glock30owner:

Until Matrix/CodeForce changes the hard coded elements, you are limited to one ship of each design class without tons of additional work (obsoleting/unobsoleting).

Not true. I have multiple designs of frigates/destroyers flying about at any one time. Its not hard to manage different designs.

*edit to further clarify and address OP*

Originally posted by dracogeno:

But I think that It would be better and less restricting if the player is able to create his own classes of military Ships. In that way I can create missile boats, frigates, ... whatever, without having all of them mixed

You can. Just either copy as new an existing design, or start from scratch with new. You have to memorize your classification names, but you can make specific designs. I have missle frigates, and close in frigates, I have fully weaponized destroyers and some with long range scanners on board that stay back. You just have to name the design something you will remember what it is. Then you can choose which to build from any screen where you can build from. The suggestion pop up for ships has a pull down menu you can choose which design of whatever class ship to build. Manage their stances well and they can perform specific tasks. Missle boats set to stand off, laser boats set to all weapons or point blank, etc., etc.

[θάνατος]

having more than one cruiser design sucks, it is very difficult to manage imo. what you have to do is go in to ship screen(f11) select ships in question tell them to retrofit to X design, instead of clicking retrofit to "latest" design. this will cause it to make the ships the last modifed design.

its easy enough to build diffrent designs of the crusier type though, there will be a drop down box in the build order screen(f9)

[Halfinger]

I couldn't find a way to list ships by design as they were given random names which were useless to me. The game I am playing now does seem to do it correctly though by using 'DesignNamexx' where xx is a sequential number. So previously it may have been a bug or I was doing something wrong. With the correct naming its easy to sort and group them in the ships list. The class does not really matter.

[dracogeno]

"The game I am playing now does seem to do it correctly though by using 'DesignNamexx'"

I think that that naming convention applies only to Destroyers and escorts.
I would be satisfied if it did the same thing with the rest of types, but substituting the secuential number with the random game.

My escort class is called Byakee and my escorts are named ES BYAKEE 001, 002, etc. This makes easy to keep different escort classes. I think that the game should do exactly the same with the rest of the types, but adding the random name, instead of the number. In that case i would have my Cruiser "Light Cruiser - Black Liberator" and my "Missile Cruiser - Silent outcast". In that way you can even sort your classes alphabetically, and recognize them by name.

[Halfinger]

It was on a destroyer design yes but on the cruiser it defaulted to useless names. It is a massive pain, I do not care for a ships name, that is fluff, I need to know which design it is in a list I can sort and fleet up or whatever. I do not know why this is not done which suggests I am missing something. It is a massive job to select manually.

[Oblivion]

Originally posted by Halfinger:

It was on a destroyer design yes but on the cruiser it defaulted to useless names. It is a massive pain, I do not care for a ships name, that is fluff, I need to know which design it is in a list I can sort and fleet up or whatever. I do not know why this is not done which suggests I am missing something. It is a massive job to select manually.

The ships and bases screen, which shows you class and name (of design). The fluff name is on the left hand side, all the other information is further to the right. Also, if you click on the ship, in the lower left you can find the design name as well.

[Spock]

I typically rename all my ships with a naval prefix: DD, FF, CL, CV, etc. I don't mind the names the computer gives them, but I always want to insert the ship class before the name. So Shining Glory becomes DD Shining Glory, etc. Heck, I even do this with private sector ships: I want to know at a glance whether it's a small freighter, a passenger ship, or something else. Yes, it's a minor annoyance, but not a big deal to me.

[θάνατος]

Originally posted by Razzle:

I typically rename all my ships with a naval prefix: DD, FF, CL, CV, etc. I don't mind the names the computer gives them, but I always want to insert the ship class before the name. So Shining Glory becomes DD Shining Glory, etc. Heck, I even do this with private sector ships: I want to know at a glance whether it's a small freighter, a passenger ship, or something else. Yes, it's a minor annoyance, but not a big deal to me.

i use a similar system its very effective and minimizes the time i spend looking for 1 design, and as you said "I want to know at a glance whether it's a small freighter, a passenger ship, or something else. Yes, it's a minor annoyance"

[dracogeno]

"I typically rename all my ships with a naval prefix: DD, FF, CL, CV, ..."

I do the same, but I add the class of the ship. So I put "type, class, name". In a WW II setting, for example BB-Yamato-Musashi. The class is necessary because I have different kinds of BB. I didn't thought of renaming freighters, and I'll try in. On the other side, I like the fluff names, but by themselves, yes, they are an annoyance.

Is there any difference in the way the AI handles the hardcoded classes?

I’m thinking of building my fleet entirely of escorts, frigates and destroyers to take advantage of the auto naming feature, but I’m wary that this would break the combat AI.

[Oblivion]

Originally posted by dracogeno:

Is there any difference in the way the AI handles the hardcoded classes?

I’m thinking of building my fleet entirely of escorts, frigates and destroyers to take advantage of the auto naming feature, but I’m wary that this would break the combat AI.

Yes, when set to automate the AI will do different things based on the class of the ship(escort, frigate, destroyer, etc.). The only one Im sure on, because its the only one I automate without being in a fleet, is the escort class. They will escort ships to and from destinations. I've never had frigates/destroyers automated, but I would assume they would patrol and attack anything in system.