So, currently, I believe there are four possible names given to the ships in Conflict Zones:
* System Defense Force (for independent factions, including Delaine and Antal ships in Resistance Pockets and Violent Protests, as well as Anarchy factions which do not actually have SDF ships)
* Imperial Navy Vessel (for Imperial factions, including A. Lavigny-Duval ships in Crime Sweeps)
* Federal Navy Ship (for Federal factions)
* Allied Defense Ship (for Alliance factions)
This system is mostly fine, with the exception that the attacking faction in a (non-Civil) War will be assigned the name "System Defense Force" even though they are obviously not on the defensive. However, fixing that presents an opportunity to more broadly diversify what the CZ NPC ships are called.
I think the easiest change would be to make the names also reflect A. their owner's government type and B. offensive/defensive position (in Wars; in a Civil War, both sides are effectively defending).
So, for example, if a Federation Corporate faction is fighting an invasion by an Independent Communist faction, you might see, rather than invading System "Defense" Forces fighting Federal Navy Ships, something like Federal Corporate Ships defending against People's Assault Ships or something along those lines. An Imperial Feudal faction fighting a civil war against an Imperial Corporation might see Imperial Noble Ships and Imperial Corporate Ships.
Hopefully, this is a relatively easy change to make on the backend.
* System Defense Force (for independent factions, including Delaine and Antal ships in Resistance Pockets and Violent Protests, as well as Anarchy factions which do not actually have SDF ships)
* Imperial Navy Vessel (for Imperial factions, including A. Lavigny-Duval ships in Crime Sweeps)
* Federal Navy Ship (for Federal factions)
* Allied Defense Ship (for Alliance factions)
This system is mostly fine, with the exception that the attacking faction in a (non-Civil) War will be assigned the name "System Defense Force" even though they are obviously not on the defensive. However, fixing that presents an opportunity to more broadly diversify what the CZ NPC ships are called.
I think the easiest change would be to make the names also reflect A. their owner's government type and B. offensive/defensive position (in Wars; in a Civil War, both sides are effectively defending).
So, for example, if a Federation Corporate faction is fighting an invasion by an Independent Communist faction, you might see, rather than invading System "Defense" Forces fighting Federal Navy Ships, something like Federal Corporate Ships defending against People's Assault Ships or something along those lines. An Imperial Feudal faction fighting a civil war against an Imperial Corporation might see Imperial Noble Ships and Imperial Corporate Ships.
Hopefully, this is a relatively easy change to make on the backend.