Proposal Discussion Leaving a legacy (naming and describing systems)
- Thread starter CaptainSodom
- Start date
It sounds like we need a separate roleplaying server
I hope that doesn't include a certain CMDR CaptainSodom
I'm not a roleplayer really... I don't mind talking about out of game stuff, for example. I just find childish names... well, childish really!
Did they let your name through the checking process? I thought they weren't allowing titles/ranks?
I could name myself Commander Vequess and go about claiming I own the place. I don't think anyone will care.
I've asked DB exactly that 3 or 4 times now over the last few months, and just a few moments ago again in the live chat.
Still haven't had an answer though
But that's what I'd love to see in ED for explorer recognition.
Those rewards did have some caveats attached, such as core system or frontier system. If they were to buy the rights to naming a system it could well be on the other side of the galaxy.
Good point.
I've been CaptainSodom in mp games since mid-nineties, and am not about to change that.
Yes, it was approved, here official response when I asked about it in November by raising a ticket:
What I'd like to be is Lieutenant Commander CaptainSodom or Gunnery Sergeant CaptainSodom
Codename Andromeda you mean? Got my Alpha access confirmation this morning.
Note: Not serious....
I've been CaptainSodom in mp games since mid-nineties, and am not about to change that.
Yes, it was approved, here official response when I asked about it in November by raising a ticket:
What I'd like to be is Lieutenant Commander CaptainSodom or Gunnery Sergeant CaptainSodom
I see, something like Major Major Major Major from Catch 22.
"Otisville?"
This discussion is rather reminding me of that scene in Superman: The Movie, where Lex Luthor is crowing over his plans to create a new coastline for California (Costa de la Lex?) and spots that town named after his clumsy minion.
Perhaps a minor moon, insignificant asteroid belt, or small trading outpost could be named after the commander who discovered the system - but not the system name itself.
I wouldn't think that would be too controversial, and having a small trading outpost on a small moon (or in orbit) named "Stormprooter's Landing" would be cool, though I may get comments like "That's no moon!"
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I've been CaptainSodom in mp games since mid-nineties, and am not about to change that.
Yes, it was approved, here official response when I asked about it in November by raising a ticket:
What I'd like to be is Lieutenant Commander CaptainSodom or Gunnery Sergeant CaptainSodom
Then yeah, you'd go on my "silly names" ignore list!
I think that might become quite a long list!
<nods> Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?
Well, I'm likely heading for single player online so it will be a moot point! I've used crap names in the past in online games so I'm not sure why I'm so allergic in ED - perhaps because it's based on an extrapolated, semi-plausible, future, and not high fantasy or something!
As am I - but there may well be some 'silly' NPC names too.
Well, I'm likely heading for single player online so it will be a moot point! I've used crap names in the past in online games so I'm not sure why I'm so allergic in ED - perhaps because it's based on an extrapolated, semi-plausible, future, and not high fantasy or something!
Just leave your transponder ID off jabokai - and you'll never have to see another players name ever again.
The KS system name backers will no doubt have their moniker applied within the Core systems - there's a major difference between having a frontier mining system with a corrugated iron & duct tape outpost named after you, and a Core high-tech and tourism world with 50 million inhabitants!
The honour of having an already bustling and inhabited system at game launch bearing their name is really what that KS pledge tier was about, I feel.
When it comes to naming beyond the frontier, I see a relatively simple compromise : as things stand, unexplored systems have catalogue names, appropriate for their location within the galaxy. Players of Elite Frontier will recall all systems, no matter where they were in the galaxy, had names thanks to the random generator.
Seems logical to me to implement a system in ED where currently catalogue designated systems already have names, just 'under the surface' as it were, waiting for a player to scratch the catalogue number off.
Okay, so that means players don't get to actively name a system, but their Commander name could still be listed on the system's info page in a "discovered by Commander XYZ" note.
Using this system, it would make it immediately clear on the galaxy map which systems had been visited, because they'd all have a name rather than a catalogue number. It also saves dev resources because the system would essentially be automated, requiring only a Commander's name and the system's own 'hidden' name - both of which the game already knows.
Okay, okay, I can hear the grumbles, and fair enough, the protocol I've outlined above does seem a bit of an unsatisfying cop out.
But here's another compromise - the point of discovering systems is that eventually the AI will send out mining ships and station builders to those systems. And when that starts happening, I think it's only logical that a planet or moon within a system could be named after the Commander who first visited the system.
Anyone who's explored the edge of colonised space in Elite Frontier will remember names like "Nakasone's Rock", "Bradley's Wreck", and "Harrisonworld" that all were obviously generated by the same maths as any part of the game that required NPC names, like the mission bulletin board for instance.
So here's the really beautiful part - if ED's code can be set to acknowledge the discoverer of a system, it means it already has the Commander's name attached to that system (because it'd be on the 'Discovered by' section of the system info of course). From there it takes minimal effort to automatically rename the primary interest planet or moon of a discovered system as soon as the AI gets there and sets up a permanent facility.
The honour of having an already bustling and inhabited system at game launch bearing their name is really what that KS pledge tier was about, I feel.
When it comes to naming beyond the frontier, I see a relatively simple compromise : as things stand, unexplored systems have catalogue names, appropriate for their location within the galaxy. Players of Elite Frontier will recall all systems, no matter where they were in the galaxy, had names thanks to the random generator.
Seems logical to me to implement a system in ED where currently catalogue designated systems already have names, just 'under the surface' as it were, waiting for a player to scratch the catalogue number off.
Okay, so that means players don't get to actively name a system, but their Commander name could still be listed on the system's info page in a "discovered by Commander XYZ" note.
Using this system, it would make it immediately clear on the galaxy map which systems had been visited, because they'd all have a name rather than a catalogue number. It also saves dev resources because the system would essentially be automated, requiring only a Commander's name and the system's own 'hidden' name - both of which the game already knows.
Okay, okay, I can hear the grumbles, and fair enough, the protocol I've outlined above does seem a bit of an unsatisfying cop out.
But here's another compromise - the point of discovering systems is that eventually the AI will send out mining ships and station builders to those systems. And when that starts happening, I think it's only logical that a planet or moon within a system could be named after the Commander who first visited the system.
Anyone who's explored the edge of colonised space in Elite Frontier will remember names like "Nakasone's Rock", "Bradley's Wreck", and "Harrisonworld" that all were obviously generated by the same maths as any part of the game that required NPC names, like the mission bulletin board for instance.
So here's the really beautiful part - if ED's code can be set to acknowledge the discoverer of a system, it means it already has the Commander's name attached to that system (because it'd be on the 'Discovered by' section of the system info of course). From there it takes minimal effort to automatically rename the primary interest planet or moon of a discovered system as soon as the AI gets there and sets up a permanent facility.
I like this option. It would require limited effort to create a corpus of naming templates tied to the type of system or body being auto-named, perhaps an abundant mineral in there, commander name and maybe even an action (dying, fighting, mining). Examples would be a planet named "CaptainSodom's Folly" if I smashed my Cobra into an asteroid field nearby, or "Golden Turjan" if you find a rich gold deposit on said planet.
I'd still prefer the ability to name systems by discovering players, but the above is a decent compromise with low investment in dev time to set up, and practically zero upkeep costs, while allowing discoverers to get their name up there in the stars. And once again, it would offer great story-telling opportunities for Elite historians, novelists and roleplayer bloggers.
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