arentol arentol

Ship Naming Strategies

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Ship Naming Strategies

from GalCiv2 Forums
I thought I would reveal my ship naming strategy to everyone since I have spent a lot of time on it, and I thought I would also ask what system other people use.

The name of all my ships follows the following basic format:
Race-Designation-Total Weapon Strength - Total Defense Strength - Speed
Here is a quick sample: Ter-DDK-20-4-9
Unarmed ships (colonies, constructors, etc.) do not include weapon and defense strengths though, so a colony would be: Ter-CNY-5
I sometimes also through on an extra number at the end when it is a long range ship, like 24 to represent a ship with a 2.4 parsec? range.

Here are the definitions for the less obvious section:
Race = 3 letters indicating the race the ship is designed by.

Terran Alliance - Ter
Drengin Empire - Dre
Altarian Republic - Alt
Altarian Resistance - Alt
Arcean Empire - Arc
Torian Confederation - Tor
Yor Collective - Yor
Dominion of Korx - Dom
Drath Legion - Dra
Thalan Empire - Tha
Iconian Refuge - Ico
Korath Clan - Kor
Krynn Consulate - Kry

Designation = 1 to 3 letters indicating the class and basic purpose of the ship
Here is a list of all the designations I potentially use, with the size of the ship and the primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, and quinary priorities for each class. If you see - - that means I am skipping a level of priority leaving it blank, such as in the first line with the BB, which has no tertiary focus and instead skips straight to engines as quaternary. The term "special" refers to the new fleet bonus items in TA, and should only appear on Carriers (otherwise, I wouldn't have carriers at all, as they would be redundant).

Battleship - BB (Huge - Weapons - Defense - - Engines)
Battle Cruiser - BC (Huge - Defense - Weapons - Engines)
**Command Battle Crusier - BCC (Huge - Defense - Weapons - Sensors - Engines)
**Light Battle Cruiser - BCL (Huge - Engines - Defense - Weapons)
Cruiser - CC (Large - Defense - Weapons - Engines)
**Light Cruiser -CCL (Large - Engines - Defense - Weapons)
**Hunter-Killer Cruiser - CCK (Large - Weapons - Engines - Sensors - Defense)
**Command Cruiser - CCC (Large - Defense - Weapons - Sensors - Engines)
**Attack Cruiser - CCA (Large - Weapons - Defense - Engines)
Destroyer - DD (Medium - Defense - Weapons - Engines)
**Escort Destroyer - DDE (Medium - Engines - Defense - Weapons - Sensors)
**Hunter-Killer Destroyer - DDK (Medium - Weapons - Engines - Sensors - Defense)
**Picket Destroyer - DDR (Medium - Sensors - Engines - Defense - Weapons)
Frigate - FF (Small - Defense - Weapons - Engines)
**Escort Frigate - FFE (Small - Engines - Weapons - Defense - Sensors)
**Hunter-Killer Frigate - FFK (Small - Weapons - Engines - Sensors - Defense)
**Picket Frigate - FFR (Small - Sensors - Engines - Defense - Weapons)
Carrier - CV (Huge - Defense - Weapons - Engines - Special)
**Attack Carrier - CVA (Huge - Weapons - Defense - Engines - Special)
**Command Carrier - CVC (Huge - Defense - Weapons - Sensors - Engines - Special)
**Escort Carrier - CVE (Large - Engines - Weapons - Defense - Sensors - Special)
**Light Carrier - CVL (Large - Engines - Defense - Weapons - Special)
**Reserve Carrier - CVX (Medium - Engines - Defense - Weapons - Special)
Corvette - K (Small - Weapons - Defense - - Engines)
Monitor - M (Medium - Weapons - Defense - - - Engines)
Orbital Defense Platform - ODP (Large - Weapons - Defense - - - Engines)
Starbase - SB (Huge - Weapons - Defense - - - Engines)
**Mobile Starbase - SBM (Large - Weapons - Defense - - Engines)
Patrol Boat - PB (Tiny - Sensors - - - Weapons - Engines)
AWACS - AWACS (Cargo - Sensors - Engines)
Troop Ship - TP (Cargo - Troop Module - Engines)
**Attack Troop Ship - TPA (Medium - Troop Module - Weapons - Engines - Defense)
Merchant Vessel - MV (Cargo - Trade - Engines)
**Merchant Marine - MVA (Medium - Trade - Engines - Defense - Weapons)
Miner - MR (Cargo - Mining - Engines)
**Attack Miner - MRA (Medium - Mining - Defense - Weapons - Engines)
Construction - MCV (Cargo - Construction - - Engines)
Colony - CNY (Cargo - Colony - - Engines)
Survey - ASG (Small or Cargo - Survey - Engines)
Science Vessel - SV (Medium - Survey - Sensors - Engines - Defense - Weapons)
Fighters - F (Tiny - Weapons - Defense - Engines)

Fighters receive a second letter based on weapon type, B for Ballistic, A for Missile, L for Beam, and M for Mixed.

The advantage to this method is that I can look at the designation to quickly determine the size or role of a ship. For instance, DD's are always medium, and ??K's are always heavy on weapons and engines, so a DDK is a medium sized fast attack ship, perfect for running around behind enemy lines.

Some of these also may not make sense at first, like the Starbase, or the corvette, so I will clarify a few things. Everything from from the BB to the reserve carrier are actual war ships that go on the attack. The Corvette through Starbase are meant to represent intra-stellar defenses only, so they actually have no additional engines at all (1 movement). The mobile starbase is supposed to be a smaller starbase with limited mobility, preferably with movement no higher than 4 (in the late game, 2 early). Patrol boats are early warning systems designed to move to a permanent position inside your empire and act as warning systems for any ships that get into your territory. Because they are slow they tend to die in place. AWACS are designed to sit on your enemies borders and warn you of incoming enemies. They retreat to a place of safety when necessary using their superior speed. The rest should be obvious.

In reality there are a few of these I don't use very often, such as the patrol boats and the picket destroyers and frigates. However, it is nice to have them around in case I change strategies ever (pickets are more useful in games where you want to win with alliance or scientific victories, which I don't do much).

BTW, my system is loosely based on a mix of Star Fleet Battles and the US Navy.

Anyway, hope you all find this interesting.
strategies
43,801 views 52 replies
Reply #26 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I am a pure Hydran's man myself. If I got my first three turns timing right (which I used to do about 70% of the time against the people I played) then my opponents biggest ship was eating so many fusion blasts at range 0 or 1 on a single shield that half of them would surrender then and there. Especially if the year was late enough for me to have fusion fighters with Phaser G's as well.

If my timing was off, THEN it was an even battle. In other words, I won at least 85% of the time.... But then again my opponents were mostly average non-tournament players, and they didn't know the rules as well as I did either. I am sure I would have gotten spanked handily in tournament play, at least at first.
Reply #27 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I make the first 3 letters an acronym based on the race:

Then I usually name the ship based on the nature of the race

Example: a Dominion of Korx Ship is "DKS"

Since I they're bascially a race of profit crazed 80's guys (futurama anyone?) I name their ships to match that theme like "Fiscal Protection" for a frigate or "Profit Projection" for a transport and so on.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #28 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Due to the Ship Naming algorithm, it's probably best to preface every ship name with a race specific initial, like "KX" for Korx or something. That way, you can name all your first Mediums "Frigate type-XXXX" and still not overwrite something.
Reply #29 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
arentol, very nice ship designation system. I could be wrong but I think many were confusing individual ship names with the broader ship classes.

I've used a similar structure in naming my various classes, as it allows me to quickly know what that design is/does, but I will name individual ships if they are the "flagship" of a fleet, the first of a design, or have won many battles. So a battle cruiser may be BB 400-750-9 for its designation building code, but be named the ISS Olympia.

still very nice :-)
Reply #30 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I name my designs based off the naming scheme I learned when playing Master of Orion (the original) and seeing it used in the strategy guide.

First I use a letter for the hull size followed by the speed. Example: A small ship with a warp drive - S4.

Then I use one of 2 naming strategies. If the ship is purely a non-combat ship, I name it for its purpose. Example: A colony ship built on a cargo hull with 2 Ion Drives - C3 Colony.

For armed ships, I use the total attack and defense value of each category separated into two fields. Example: A medium hull with 2 warp, 2 nano rippers, and 2 PD Combos - M7 0-0-10 0-6-0.

This helps me to design enemy specific ships and use the ones I need when I need them. After reading this thread, I plan to add a 2 letter race designation to the beginning of each ship.
Reply #31 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I tend to only use the tiny, huge and large hulls and I only use my custom race - but heres my naming strategy

Starts with a size designation (T, S, M, L, H or whatever) then a hyphen and then a number to seperate it from ships i have designed in other games. Letters are assigned so I know which are the upgraded versions, and I follow it up with some information on its armament/speed. EG. H-2C BM20SA20S5 (BM means beam/missile, and 20 is the total attack. SA is shield/armor and 20 is the cumulative defense) and of course the S is speed - 5. Obviously this is the third upgrade of this ship (C), and the second Huge hull design I have made :)

Oh, and of course, I custom name every ship from M to H that comes out of the factory :D. I tend to use the names of historic ships and mythical creatures with the appropriate rp prefix (not unlike HMS, USS .ect)
Reply #32 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I use a simple scheme. Best feature is that everything sorts out nicely on a planet's build ship screen with warships at the top.

Just take the values right off the ship design screen - very fast - no thinking needed.

Examples:

A3 060904 M10s9a4
is a medium hull warship, speed 6, range 9, scanner 4, 10 missles, 9 shield, 4 armor
(1=tiny, 2=small, etc) (B,G,M = weapons) (s,p,a = defenses)

T 052406 20
is a troop transport, speed 5, range 24, scanner 6, capacity 2000

K 043604 B1
is a constructor, speed 4, range 36, scanner 4, 1 beam weapon

C=colony, S=scout, V=survey, etc.
Reply #33 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I use a simple naming scheme.

The big benefit is that I get a sorted list on the planet ship build screen with warships on top arranged according to capability. All info comes from the ship build screen - very fast way to classify a ship - no thinking required. Any other info I might want goes into the comment field when saving the design. A few examples should give you the general idea:

A3 040903 M10s9a4
is a medium hull warship, speed=4, range=0.9, scanner=3, 10 missles. 9 shields, 4 armor
(1=tiny, 2=small, etc) (B,M,A=weapons) (s,p,a=defenses)

T 062405 20
is a troop transport, speed=6, range=2.4, scanner=5, capacity=2000

K 043103 B1
is a constructor, speed=4, range=3.1, scan=3, 1 beam weapon

(C=colony ship, S=scout, V=survey ship, etc)

I don't save my ship designs except as templates. I don't want ships I won't be using cluttering up my build list and I obsolete all the default ships as soon as they show up (they normally don't show up until long after I've been using a new hull type anyway and are less capable than the ones I've already built). I build my ships according to my needs in the game I am currently playing. Naming them in the way I do is a breeze and I've never had a problem. I like my build list to be short and having no useless content.

As long as I am here and if the devs are listening, a couple of things would be nice to have (or do these exist already?)
.
1) The ability to prevent the default ships from showing up. We have templates and they are more than enough as far as I am concerned.

2) The ability on the ship design screen to simply do a rename (or a comment field adjust) without it being considered a new design. That way you would not lose the count of how many ships you have of that type as happens now.

Now that TA will be coming out, I don't know how much more attention will be given to providing much future support for GalCiv2. This is a good game and it sure would be nice to be able to squeeze a few more things into it. There is talk of TA being the last expansion, but it would sure be nice to have one last "Things We Never Quite Got Around To Before To Tidy Things Up" release.
Reply #34 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I never realized how much thought some people put into this aspect of the game.

For all my attack ships, I just pick a word I think sounds cool and add a MkI, MkII, etc.. on the end as it gets upgraded. My utility ships, I just prefix the name with the type of engine it has: Ion Colony, Warp Transport, Hvy. Warp Transport once I have the Advanced Troop Mod, etc..
Reply #35 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I will admit that I like the OP's System for naming a Terran Destroyer. TerDD's rock!  ;p 

If I was the pilot I might have to boycott flying in a TerDD.
Reply #37 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I never realized how much thought some people put into this aspect of the game.

For all my attack ships, I just pick a word I think sounds cool and add a MkI, MkII, etc.. on the end as it gets upgraded. My utility ships, I just prefix the name with the type of engine it has: Ion Colony, Warp Transport, Hvy. Warp Transport once I have the Advanced Troop Mod, etc..
End of quote


I'm not surprised. I used to be scattershot with names, but then realized that having a system could tell me what sort of design it was at a glance.

My system isn't as complex as arentol's, but there are ideas in it that I could and should mine...
Reply #38 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I name mine to sound beautifull phonetically, with no meaning whatsoever.
Reply #39 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I confess, as a newbie, for a minute I also thought there was a feature for naming individual ships.

I keep mine simple
FF Frigate
DD Destroyer
CL Cruiser
DN Dreadnought
BB Battleship (Ah - Conjectural, since I seem to be dying before I get there -
Reply #40 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Interesting naming method arnotol, I do something similar (but usually without the weapon/def/eng stats).

I usually prefix with race (like Terran, or for longer race names something shortened like Alt for Altarian), then follow with a size designator (tiny - fighter; small - frigate; medium - destroyer; large - cruiser; huge - battleship/dreadnought) and finally with a model designation (incrementing with improved stats and modules.

For example:

Alt Destroyer Mk1 (first medium hulled ship)
Alt Battlecruiser Mk3 (for a heavier armed and armored version of the cruiser with sacrified engines)

Most common ship types for me are:
Tiny - Corvette (no engine fighter), Fighter
Small - Defender (no engine Frigate), Frigate
Medium - Destroyer Escort (fast destroyer), Destroyer
Large - Battlecruiser (no engine cruiser), Cruiser
Huge - Dreadnought (no engine battleship), Battleship
Reply #41 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
My method:
1-2 Letters to denote the race
Combat ships:
Letter to denote attack type (D for drivers, M for missile, L for laser)
Name for the size of the ship: Fighter-Frigate-Destroyer-Cruiser-Battleship for Tiny-Small-Medium-Large-Huge
Letter to denote shield type(s) (L for shields, M for point defence, D for armour)
Vx where x is the ships version; 1 for tier 1 weapons, 2 for tier 2 weapons, etc.
Add in _5 if have upgraded mid-tier (e.g. with better weapons, or other things like miniaturization+range)
Replace V with Z if using 'evil' weapons
Replace V with X if has the 'top-tier' weapons

Non-combat ships - name them after their role (e.g. detector, constructor, colony, transport), retaining the race and version formats.
Reply #42 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I also use a modifier on my constructors, colony ships and transports for when I use better engines or more range: Fast Transport or LR Fast Constructor
Reply #43 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
While the detailed naming systems described in this thread really do convey a great deal of information about the ships (and I congratulate you for inventing them and sticking with them), it's a little too much micro management for me. I tend to name my ship classes (especially when playing as Terrans) after the ship names in Iain M. Banks' series of novels about the "Culture". The ships in his novels are super intelligent "minds" who tend to choose humorously ambiguous names. My favorite is the ROU (Rapid Offensive Unit) Killing Time.

If any of you are science fiction fans (anyone? anyone?) and have not read any of his novels, I highly recommend them. My favorite so far is "Excession".
Reply #44 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well,

to join the chorus and tell you how I name ships, my format works as following.

First is race: eg. Terran, Altarian, Custom whatever.

Then comes the Class, i.e. Altarian Cruiser, Destroyer, Heavy Cruiser etc..

If I build an upgraded design of a Cruiser class, I call it "Cruiser 2". Higher numbers mean better technology on them. The small fighters I often give individual names. I.e. Torian Broadsword etc. . It works out pretty well, and I generally design ships with a specific purpuse in mind, i.e. Troopship, Scoutship, Destroyer etc.. If I find a class especially appealing, I give it an indivdual name instead of a class specification like cruiser, i.e. Terran Constitution :-) .

One can see pretty easy what a ship is meant for, and names do not collide with each other between different games.

Here´s an example list.

Terran Scoutship
Torian Heavy Cruiser 2
Dominion Invader
Dominion Freighter
Arcean Battleship
Iconian Avalon class
Yor Research vessel

Also, my ships do not have sensors on them. There is one class like a "Yor Scoutship 2" etc. which is only packed with sensors and 1 or 2 engines, and they provide the intelligence for the whole rest of the fleet. Works out pretty well in my games.

Have fun
JamesTSchuerk







Reply #45 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
One can see pretty easy what a ship is meant for, and names do not collide with each other between different games.
End of quote


This is an issue I have run into recently.. If I try to use a different type of weapon on a design it might still end up with the same name as a previous design, thus forcing me to overwrite...

So I have decided to try and rethink the numbering portion of my naming scheme.

Any ideas are welcome!
Reply #46 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Race: (3 letter code)
Size: T, S, M, L, H
Weapon: Rail, Pulse, Grav, etc
Tech level: I, II, III, etc
Attack #:
Speed or defensive value (if room)

Info section includes: maintenance fees, speed, defensive values

So a ship could look like:
TER S Rail I-1 3pc or
TER S Rail I-1 S3 (Shields)

An upgrade might look like:
TER S Pulse I-4 3pc
Reply #47 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Here's how I name my ships:

Terrans:weapons, generals, mythological creatures and dieties, and dinosaurs.

Krynn: 'Holy" + blade weapon


For everyone else, I just make up an alien-y word, like "Sharr-tan".
Reply #48 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Here is my ship's naming chart:

XYz1-[a name of my choice] IaM1

Let me explain:

XY is for the race's name design, as said before in this thread, in order to avoid naming conflict between different races similar ships.

z is the global class of the ship. Atm I only use 4 letters:

t for transport class ships (ie colony, constructors, miners, troop transports, and any unarmed "civilian" ship, ect...)
e for exploration ships (ie scout, survey, but also fleet support ships)
a for attack ships. By attack ships, i mean those with at least one engine (and weaps)
d for defensive ships. By defence ships, I mean those without engine, since I only use them for star/planets defence (even if I usually use them as "first strike defence" strategy ^_^ )
So that way, in planet shipyard, I quickly see where is wich ship when plenty ship design already exist. Just have to remember the needed ship's [a name of my choice] design name, and even if I forget it, I'll quickly find it again.

The number (here 1) is for hull class size. 1->5 Tiny->Huge, 6-> Cargo, since it will help getting each ship type be displayed also by hull size category, helps a bit to spare time :)

The [name of my choice] is obviously without the [ and ], and different for each ships. :p

Ia is a roman numeral followed by an alphabetical order letter. It is here for differents versions of the same ship, the leap between I to II to III is usually when I switch engine tech and the letter beyond is when new weaps, miniaturizing, ect, comes in.

M1 is not alway used. It means Mod 1, then M2 for Mod 2, ect. I use this when playing another game when I set a different path for techs using same ship design, since I saw that there was a flaw in the roman numeral followed by alphabetical letter naming chart, creating a new updated ship who was, let's say, between IIb and IIc. So that new ship got named **** IIbM1, ect. So no more trouble, no more naming conflict.

I don't bother naming ship with speed, attack, defense, and other stats in their name, I use the description of the ship for this. I tried to do so, but I found that ship names got really weird (especially military ones with different kinds of weaps and defenses) and painful to remember.
I'm french, so I don't really use "classic American ship naming chart" (such as DD, BB, BS, CVN, ect...) but instead a "classic French ship naming chart" of my creation (almost similar to american one, but in french) :) PM me if you want to know it.

So the description, in example, for an attack cruiser class ship would looks like something like this (english translated here):

CC v G-M/S-AM. (Large)

A Colony ship would be (french here):

VCl v rapide LP. (Cargo)

Obviously, CC is the ship type, I usualy says that tiny hulls are "fighters", Small hulls destroyers, med hulls cruisers, large hull battleships and huge hulls dreadgnaughts. VCl here means "Vaisseau CoLon" (colony ship), "rapide" means "fast", LP for "Longue Portée" (Long Range).

v comes here for "Version"

G-M means Guns-Missiles (no number behind the letter since a quick look over the ship stats is ok, it would be redundant to rewrite those numbers, and I like small desc easy to read), if the ship would use beam, i would use the B letter. The separator between weaps and def is /.
S-AM means Shields-AntiMissiles, A for armor if used.
Then the size of the hull for a quick glance since it is not truly visible in the interface in planet shipyard.

Since my military ships comes in two major versions, "attackers" and "defending" ships, I dont bother with speed naming chart since "attacker" means no more that there is 2 engines on board, and defending not at all. If needed, i will add "slowest", "slow", "fast", "fastest" for civilian designs with just zero, one engine, or more than 2 engines, ect, assuming that having 2 engines is "normal" speed, and no need to write it in the desc... Fastest means that the design is fully fitted with engines, and just the generic "civilian" module onboard.

I also don't put any range extender on my military ships, assuming the next war will be on my own civ borders, since I'm not really a "warmonger" (until I got really cool heavy sized capitals ships with plenty hi-tech weaps on board), but if needed I would design a special long range striker.
So in description (especially for "civilian" ships), SR will come for Short Range, LR for Long Range, VLR for Very Long Range, at my appreciation (translated in english here, using french in my game, as said before). The "default range" here is usually having just one or two range extender on board.

I also write in desc for those cheapest colony ships or constructors that they ARE actually the cheapest ship of a given hull size.

One last word, I have to say that it was this thread who made me create this relatively simple naming chart, before that, I was naming my ship in a pretty anarchic way, with only a (nice) name of my choice for a new designed ship, and only one letter in alphabetical order behind for different version types, like i was used to do in MoO and other older 4X space games, such as Pax Imperia, first of the name ^_^ ...

Needless to say, ship building is a waaaaaaaaaaay easier with a good naming chart, it makes you spent a little more time at the beginning but saves you a lot of time in the long term for those hardcore gamer (still get a real life, yes, thanks you for concern :p ) we are! :)

Edit: Added a number for hull size in the generic name of the ship.
Reply #49 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm not into coding or modding, but I know some games have third-party apps that work within a game (like mmorpg's that have apps that allow you to optimally loadout an in-game character). I wonder if anyone would be interested in making an app that would automatically generate ship names based on the size and type of ship. The names of course would have to be manually input into the application beforehand. For example, You could desgnate that all your frigates will be named after Olympian gods. You then make a list of such names, and each frigate you produce would then automatically have a new name attached. You could have the option to add a prefix, such as "TFS". You could even get more specific, such as naming cruisers with beam weapons after bladed weaponry, like "Broadsword", and those with missiles after projectile weaponry, like "Crossbow". I don't have the talent or wherewithal to do so myself however.
Reply #50 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I use the method the CPU uses, at least as much of it I understand.

The general format is [Race][Type] MX-Y

Types:
Fighter = Tiny Hull
Escort = Small
Defender = Small
Scout = Small
Heavy Fighter = Small
Frigate = Medium
Cruiser = Medium
BattleShip = Large
Dreadnought = Huge
Troop Transport = Cargo

Yes, there are multiple ships of the same hull

Small hulls:

Escort: Is as fast as a Troop Transport so that it can protect (Escort) it without slowing it down
Defender: Stuff the AI puts around its planets to protect them (I just use one of my other combat ships)
Scout: Self explanatory
Heavy Fighter: General combat

I don't know what the difference between a Frigate and a Cruiser is.

The last part of the name, the MX-Y, is M[year of initial development]-[revision]

2225 is year 0.

So a ship named "Arcean BattleShip M6-5" is Arcean, a Large hull, was originally made on year 6 (2231) and this is currently the 5th revision.

But an "Arcean Battleship M3-9" might be better than the previous because the 3 is only when the first version of that came along, and if the latest revision is newer, it will probably be more powerful.

Now, if anyone knows what the difference between Frigate and Cruiser is...