Help us out naming the ship classes!

[x4000]

First off, armed spy drones are not something you ever control, they are just enemy things you try to avoid.

In terms of the other stuff... well, I am open to feedback, obviously. But I am not hearing anything that makes any more sense yet. Going with the more obscure names I suppose would be not a bad idea to avoid confusion with other games.

Then again, we are talking here about learning 7 things, so I think it is hardly taxing compared to, say, ai war. So while clarity is always a good thing, I don't think we're in the territory of more than players can remember after a very short while with the game.

[Teal_Blue]

The word "sentinel" is absolutely perfect as a better name for "armed spy drone," so I'm going to use that there.  That is much more cool and menacing.

As for having something like "light cruiser," that could work, but again that is speaking to size.  The size specifications of these various ships really are not in line with what you may be thinking, too -- they don't vary in visual size to the degree that real naval ships would.  So going by size I think is tricky.  Interceptor and Corvette do work in that framework, though, I think.

Ultimately this is never going to be a clean naming system in terms of being consistent with anything real-world, because this is all made-up stuff and we are intentionally pulling from all sorts of sources, not just doing "naval combat in space."  See AI War in terms of what I mean from pulling from all over the place.  I really want to reserve the term bomber for orbital bombardment, as that's something that really fits well there and could be a gameplay.

In terms of things that are not immediately obvious, like Predator or Aegis, the main thing is "are they memorable once you do know."  Because the tooltip is right there.  Ideally it is immediately apparent what is going on, but that's just not always going to be possible.  With something like the "Garron," that doesn't work well because it is not memorable.  But predator I can create an associative link in my mind for.

I think I'm going to go with these names for now (including hammer for cruiser), and if there are tweaks that come up later, then we might look at them.  But I definitely need to focus on other things right now, now that we have serviceable names at least.  Thanks tons for the help folks, as the names are way better now.

Not to be contrary, but i agree with Chemical_Art that a functional naming scheme does a really good job of explaining what a ship does.

To that end i would suggest something like -



- Fighter/Bomber/Spy drones

- Escort/Troop Carrier/Supply transports

- Light Assault /Heavy Assault/ Counter-Measures craft

- Anti-Missile and Anti-Aircraft craft

- Assault and Support craft Carriers



In this way the 'Function' of the craft is very clear and not clouded with other names.

[chemical_art]

I understand, but at the same time, if there are so few things, they should be unique from names used in very, very many other games. And if there so few things, using generic names shouldn't be such a big deal.

To put it a different way, either:

A) Ship names need to be unique, in order to make them easy to remember and distinguish from each other with in game / from other games
B) There are so few ships, it doesn't really matter since it will be learned quickly in game.

What is it? If generic names are to be avoided, at least pick names that are really unique. And if there are only a few names to remember, have them correspond more closely in what they do, rather then in a very, very vague way. The current system is a compromise that doesn't fulfill either need very well.

[chemical_art]

To that end i would suggest something like -



- Fighter/Bomber/Spy drones

- Escort/Troop Carrier/Supply transports

- Light Assault /Heavy Assault/ Counter-Measures craft

- Anti-Missile and Anti-Aircraft craft

- Assault and Support craft Carriers



In this way the 'Function' of the craft is very clear and not clouded with other names.

I like these names for the very reason you describe. It describes their role, which really is the key thing, in a generic yet specific way. Size is secondary to this. What is important is that you can determine its role, including when compared to other craft. For example, I can tell easily the difference between Fighter/Bomber/Spy drones. I can't tell the difference between Sentinel, Hammer, and Aegis nearly as well.

[Teal_Blue]

To that end i would suggest something like -



- Fighter/Bomber/Spy drones

- Escort/Troop Carrier/Supply transports

- Light Assault /Heavy Assault/ Counter-Measures craft

- Anti-Missile and Anti-Aircraft craft

- Assault and Support craft Carriers



In this way the 'Function' of the craft is very clear and not clouded with other names.

I like these names for the very reason you describe. It describes their role, which really is the key thing, in a generic yet specific way. Size is secondary to this. What is important is that you can determine its role, including when compared to other craft. For example, I can tell easily the difference between Fighter/Bomber/Spy drones. I can't tell the difference between Sentinel, Hammer, and Aegis nearly as well.

Thank you!    I feel flattered. I just hope it makes sense to other people too. 

-Teal

(i'm really not in the navy, haha, i just watch a lot of old war movies with my dad) 

[Cyborg]

Maybe you could take those "hammer" names and make it the:


Heavy assault
USF Hammer


And I am saddened that nobody recognized the plasma starship joke. Should I have said dreadnought?

[Teal_Blue]

Maybe you could take those "hammer" names and make it the:


Heavy assault
USF Hammer


And I am saddened that nobody recognized the plasma starship joke. Should I have said dreadnought?

So we will have names on top of the type of craft? Well... I guess ships do now, haha, just seems like a lot to keep track of..

About the plasma starship?  Sorry i'm not very good at AI War, i lose a lot, but it is still cool, or is that a Star Trek thing? In that case i'm a Next Gen/Deep Space 9/Voyager/Enterprise kind of Trekkie... the plasma part escapes me though, what is that mean?

[Cyborg]

We don't need names on top. I was just thinking of a compromise that would incorporate easy labels with cool names.


As far as the plasma starship thing, I think Chris transferred ownership to Keith by that point. So maybe this is just too old of a joke.


For what it's worth, Captain Picard is the best Captain... ever...and no other series before or since has captured the magic of Enterprise.

[x4000]

The plasma starship joke was funny, sorry I didn't respond.

I see the point about names being really unique or really functional.  However, I don't think that the roles that are being described so far really describe the functions that the ships have in-game.  All that really matters is the basic classes at the moment, the other stuff is all specialized anyway and doesn't factor into squadrons.  And lancer and sniper are really easy to remember (heh) once you encounter them.

Okay, so for the basics beyond that:

- Interceptor: I think we all agree this is great.

- Corvette/Frigate: This is kind of a heavy interceptor in some ways, but in other ways not.  It is good at hitting midsize ships and thus more effective at taking out certain threats than regular interceptors.  But at the same time, these can't swarm and "run interference" like interceptors do.  Maybe Light Assault is really what these are, I don't know.

- Predator/Destroyer: I guess "bomber" would be a fit here, since it is specifically for hitting large targets hard.  So maybe that is what this should be after all.

- Hammer/Cruiser: I guess these are Heavy Assault, really.  They are big and they fire things that hurt, bad.  If they get near your flagship too long, it gets dead fast.  But swarms of frigates against these will take them down fast, because these just can't muster the rate of fire to deal with that.  They need tactical support, which is fitting for heavies.

- Aegis/Battleship: Man I love calling these battleships, it's a real shame.  I don't really know what better thing to call these, although they are not really battleship sized in a lot of ways.  These aren't about shielding anything from anything else, particularly.  Rather, they are these huge armored beasts that move really slow and fire these burst scatter shots that absolutely rip through crowds.  You can see 10 interceptors go down in a go with these things.  But their shots are readily absorbed by enemy flagship shields, so you need something like the heavy assault to finish things off.  You can't just stack battleships out there (particularly because also the light assault and lancers will eat these alive if they are not supported).  So what are these?  They are Armored Crowd Dispersal Units, or something.   I'm open to a name that is Armored ____, where ___ describes their function as kind of an area-of-effect little-guy-killer.


So...
- Interceptor
- Light Assault
- Bomber
- Heavy Assault
- Armored ____?


Sigh.  Okay, thoughts now?

[x4000]

For what it's worth, Captain Picard is the best Captain... ever...

Yes.  Unquestioningly.

and no other series before or since has captured the magic of Enterprise.

Eh? You mean TNG?  Or Enterprise?

[echo2361]

Armored suggestions that relate to area-of-effect weaponry:

Armored Desolator - a desolator renders an area devoid of life

Armored Decimator - a decimator deals a large amount of damage to a group of enemies

Also, with all the debate going on I think it will help a lot of people to see these things in action. Once we see exactly what we are trying to help name I think a lot of speculation and preconceived ideas about how a ship should be named will be resolved. Just my two cents though.

[x4000]

Armored Decimator is not bad, actually!

And in terms of seeing these things in action, here you go: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,14782.0.html 

I think all of the classes are shown there, but I wouldn't swear to it.

[chemical_art]

So...
- Interceptor
- Light Assault
- Bomber
- Heavy Assault
- Armored ____?


Sigh.  Okay, thoughts now?

These names are much, much better. Simply because I can mentally imagine their role.  The Heavy Assault is starting to sound like a brawler, or Carronade, a weapon to duel with single targets at close range. While the HA name isn't perfect, I like it so much more 

As for the Aegis, they sound like Flak platforms, pure and simply. They annihilate smaller craft but not larger craft. So some variant of it would work.

[x4000]

Flak.  *Facepalm*  That is indeed the word I was looking for.  All I could thing was MLRS or MIRVs or similar.  Though I'm not sure that Armored Flak Ship has a good ring to it, and it sounds like Flagship.  And they aren't platforms, they're mobile and mean.  But that's in the right direction.

Agreed on Heavy Assault not being great.  I really feel like it is too close to light assault in general, and just not interesting.  I'd rather call that something else, as you mention, but brawler seems too... small.  That's the general idea, though.

So:

- Interceptor
- Light Assault
- Bomber
- {Assault/Heavy/Brawler inspired}
- Armored {Flak inspired}

Glad you are liking those better, I am too, actually.  So I'm glad you kept saying something about it -- and you too, Teal!

[chemical_art]

Flak.  *Facepalm*  That is indeed the word I was looking for.  All I could thing was MLRS or MIRVs or similar.  Though I'm not sure that Armored Flak Ship has a good ring to it, and it sounds like Flagship.  And they aren't platforms, they're mobile and mean.  But that's in the right direction.

Flak Armored is no good, yes. No dispute there.

Agreed on Heavy Assault not being great.  I really feel like it is too close to light assault in general, and just not interesting.  I'd rather call that something else, as you mention, but brawler seems too... small.  That's the general idea, though.


Bigger then a brawler. Hmm, a ship that specializes in broadsides. Sounds almost like a boarding craft. I know it doesn't actually board, but that's the only reason for a large craft to need to get so close to kill. Unless you get technical in its weaponry. Like it uses {short range weapon}

So:

- Interceptor
- Light Assault
- Bomber
- {Assault/Heavy/Brawler inspired}
- Armored {Flak inspired}

Glad you are liking those better, I am too, actually.  So I'm glad you kept saying something about it -- and you too, Teal!