Custom Automatic Individual Ship Naming.

from GalCiv2 Forums
Currently when you create a ship the computer just assigns a name based on the class name and a random number (such as Constructer563). This means if you want ships to have more memorable names you have to change each ship manually (and this gets pretty tedious pretty quickly). Would it not be a good idea to assign a text file to a ship class containing custom names so the computer would use those instead? Then if it got to the end of the list it could start again but this time name the ship with a 2 on the end (preferable in roman numerals). I think this would add a lot to the game and it worked really well in Birth of the Federation. At the very least, the option to change the naming convention would be nice (Class name plus random number gets really dull after a while). Maybe have it similar to the AI's naming system.

Anyway, what do the rest of you think?

Charlie
5,766 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I like the idea. Seeing "YourShipName413" kinda spoils the effect.

There could be an option in the Shipyard to edit the list of names. And when you rename a ship, the new name gets added to the list of ship names for that class.

Would make the universe a more attractive place.

-tom
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The problem is that the number does not seem to be random, but seems to be the serial number of the unit. You build the first ship it's 1, three races build four ships, and you build the next one its number is the 6. It seems to be random to you, because you are missing the other ships. In my current game we are up to like 30,000 ships (many of them destroyed) One of my battleship classes has more than 70 active ships. You will quickly run out of names... when you multiply this by 9 races and I don't know how many ship classes.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As I just posted in another thread - using the Space Empires IV System (meaning you have a text file including some names of a specific type) would at least add some flavour to the game. And if you have duplicates - well, you can easily get out 26 times as many names by adding letters before you switch to roman numerals or arabic numbers. Then of course it would be up to the player, but the fact is that I would very much like to see the computer use more sophisticated names than "Heavy Fighter" and them some number combination telling me what generation the thing is.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well whether the number is random or only appears to random isn't the point. I mean it means nothing to the player and makes it harder to keep track of which ship is which if your looking at a list. Also custom names adds more to the 'experience' in the game in the same way building your own ships does.

Anyway, that's what I think...

Charlie
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Having a text file like this would be wonderful!

In all reality though, it would only have to be for the player. I never look at the name of the AI ships, though it would be nice if my ships were named, but it's a pain when you have a ton.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Agreed. Star Trek Armada had something like this, and it was great fun to see a ship get completed and assigned one of your custom names.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The numbers, I don't believe you can, but you can change the ship names by editing xml's though (heavy fighter, etc). I was setting up custom races with custom names, but stopped the entire project because the additional ship models simply used to much memory (the 2gb limit can still be reached very quickly that way).